Hi,
My male puppy is a 6-month-old mutt, mostly lab and American pit bull. we adopted him when he was about 10 weeks old but he had been in a kill shelter and separated from his mom at a very young age.
He is a sweet boy but very spirited, and super hyper. He hasn't met a toy he doesn't like. He's crate trained and we use the crate to enforce naps because ….and here's where I need the advice …. he will NOT settle outside of the crate EVER, even for 10 seconds. I can get him to sit if he thinks he's going to get a treat or something but other than that he's just running around trying to get toys to play within running them back to me.
if I try to ignore him he just continues to run around and find toys and put a big stack next to me and ram his little body into me trying to get me to engage with the toys. occasionally he will give up and just play with the toys for a minute by himself but then run back over to me and try to hit me with his paws so that he has my attention.
he is very cute and sweet and he doesn't mean any harm, but he is just always jumping around and ramming into me wanting me to play as if I am a dog or puppy and we can't get him to settle down and just lie next to us on the couch or cuddle or anything.
Even if we put down his own bed outside of the crate next to it he won't settle in it he just picks it up in his mouth and tries to run around with it like it's a huge toy. he sleeps fine in the crate but we can't get him to lie down or sleep outside of it at all or even just chill. he gets plenty of exercise and play it's just that he doesn't seem to understand how to calm his body unless he's in his crate with all of the curtains fully down and his sound machine on.
if we leave the crate door locked but not covered with a blanket, he will cry and cry and cry. but if we cover the crate, he will go to sleep.
does anyone have tips for how to get him to learn how to chill outside of the crate so that he would want to just cuddle on the couch or is he too young or that's just his disposition? thanks!
submitted by /u/CometLion
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