Dog Issue - Help.

BananaPancake

We adopted a 5-month-old Great Dane puppy in March. We were not planning on having another baby for at least 3 years. This twin pregnancy was a huge shock, and here we are with a 7-month-old Great Dane, 3 toddlers and two infants on the way. Stone is a wonderful dog, but he is rambunctious and a LOT of work. His training is slow and my hormones are so unpredictable that he and I are hit or miss 100% of the time right now. This morning I just couldn't take another second and we dropped him at the vet for stay and play, so that we can get a break. His recall isn't great, he ONLY listens to his trainer and he can't be left alone with the younger kids yet. I have a lot of experience with dogs, but I'm just overwhelmed and was not anticipating this huge twin curve ball to be thrown into his training. I'm just so tired and snippy and poor Stone is the one getting the brunt of it. I don't know what to do. My husband seems to think that he'll have settled down more by December and everything will be fine. It just seems like a lot of work between now and then and it's still not a guarantee. I am not the kind of person to give up a dog because she bit off more than she can chew, but I've also never gotten pregnant with twins unexpectedly in the middle of training a puppy. Please help. I'm just lost on this and I love my dog.

AmyJoy728

I've never met a great Dane, but I do know most other breeds don't settle down until 2yrs old. Training a dog plus 3 kids is a lot let alone with being pregnant.

I do wish you a long and healthy pregnancy but you should also be planning for the what-ifs that can come (ptl, bed rest, etc). If you are (god forbid) put on bed rest what will you do with an untrained puppy who can't be around your other children and won't listen to you or dh?

I think I would try to find someone to keep the dog for the next few months who can work on the training more consistently. But that is just my thoughts.

ColleenS629

We have a 6 year old yellow lab that was trained but chooses not to listen when he wants attention,... AKA when I am feeding/ taking care of the babies. He's 6 and is still extremely high-energy. I can't handle him alone with the boys and I can't leave the boys alone to walk him (no fenced in yard... we live in a townhouse) so he's been staying at my parents' while DH is at work. They're kind of getting tired of it, though, so I don't know... I'm sorry, I don't have any advice but I sympathize. 

ramee151

I've got 2 black labs--no experience with Great Danes. I would say that he should be calmer by December. I agree with PP he probably won't truly settle into his adult calm until 2+ years, though we did see significant improvement in the puppy-hyper every couple months when ours were under two. I think we were really settled into adult dog lifestyle by 2.5 years old. 

Ours have picked up training a LOT better as they have gotten older as well--so the training situation may be significantly better by December. There was a long time when our male would only listen to DH (and sometimes only when DH was holding a rolled newspaper--not that we prefer to use that training method). What has your trainer recommended regarding the difficulty Stone is having with transitioning to taking commands from you? 

Is doggy day care/stay & play a routine option? So often with ours, they just had too much energy to pay attention to what we were trying to get them to do (kinda made me think of the toddlers I knew at the time). When Stone comes home from doggy day care, is he calm? Does he take commands?  

I'd be really cautious with the idea of re-homing or fostering--unless you are ready to find him a permanent new home, which I'm sure would be a really hard choice to make.  If it were me, re-homing would be a last resort--and we would probably be looking to find a permanent place, not just a temporary fix.  The transition to a new family, new masters, new house rules, new commands (etc) and then back again (when you've added 2 more little ones to your family) could put you back in this same situation--difficulty listening, too hyper, not able to be with kids alone... (minus being pregnant, of course). 

shaket83

By December he will be improved. He still may not be obedient if you don't work with him on it, but he will be a bit calmer! Great Danes are very well known for being pretty quiet dogs, that doesn't mean that you might not have a "wild" one on your hands.