By Sarah Groves - your puppy training specialist covering Neath, Port Talbot and Swansea
Just when everyone in the house is getting ready to settle down for the evening - 7pm hits and you prepare your self for the WITCHING HOUR!
If you already have a puppy at home - it's likely that you're already aware of what the 'withching hour' looks like.
This is a period of time in the evening where your pup becomes WILD and really difficult to control.
During this period of time you are likely to see:
- Zoomies
- Nipping/biting
- Pulling on clothes (with play growls)
- Stealing objects
- Hyperactivity
- Chewing
- Barking
AND MORE.....
This behaviour can feel exhausting and quite scary for some people who didn't expect this from their pup.
At the moment it feels like no matter what you try, there's nothing you can do to stop getting bitten!
Why does this happen?
This behaviour is VERY COMMON and COMPLETELY NORMAL and is generally the outcome an over tired and overstimulated puppy and is the pup's inability to regulate these feelings.
As puppy grows older things will get a lot easier because puppy will be able to cope better with these feelings. Eventually the witching hour will become more manageable for everyone, and eventually non existent.
What can you do about it?
There are lots of things you can do to ensure this time of evening becomes easier to manage:
- Avoid over stimulating activities through the day (such as LOTS of exercise, chasing a ball, rigorous tugging of a toy)
- Provide your puppy with lots of chews (chewing is naturally calming for dogs)
- If you know the witching hour starts at a specific time, prepare enrichment activities for that time (or just before it starts) to help with redirecting their energy and focus onto something more calming and appropriate.
Take a look at my ENRICHMENT BUNDLE HERE for simple solutions and tips to help to transform the chaos of the withching hour into calming, engaging activities!
- Make sure puppy has lots of naps through the day (young us need around 17 hours in a day)
- Keep some of your pup food allowance in your pocket so you can reward any calm behaviour through the day
- Teach a settle on a mat/settle in the crate
- Note that some activities such as lots of chasing and catching a ball can be overstimulating and be a contributor to the behaviours that you're seeing
- If your pup starts getting over the top to the point of 'no return' where you're finding things totally unmanageble, then pop puppy in a crate/playpen/safe space with a calming activity such as a licki mat or long lasting chew to help with calming them back down.
Do you have a puppy who is WILD, and would like some support with learning how to manage this?
I'm now offering puppy video call consultations for anyone within the UK who are looking for help with setting their puppy off on the right paw!
During these hour long consultations, we will dscuss EVERYTHING that has been going on with you and your puppy so far, any training that you might have started, the dilemmas that you are facing in depth, and then I can help you by giving you my expert tips and advice on how you can overcome these current dilemmas.