Ok so my Hubby had been hounding me constently about getting a German Shorthair Pointer pup to go hunting with ever since his last one died (way before we met). So about a month ago instead of paying out the wazoo for a perfect bred pointer, I went to the shelter and rescued one that needed a home. It was a pointer/lab mix 12 week old male. Brown and white, brown head, brown spots and alot of freckles on its body and legs. He fell in love and named him Copper.
Along with rescuing him we bought a brand new 6'x10'x20' outside kennel for him. Landlord wants no pets in the house. We have a decent sized fenced back yard (we do live in town).
Now puppy is 16 weeks old now.... 
I walk him about an hour in the morning around 7am, I take him to the dog park with me around 11-12 and when hubby first comes home from work at 3pm; he works on training in the back yard for about 15-20 minutes then takes him on another hour walk that evening.
Copper hates his kennel! He is already digging out, biting and pulling at the wire, learned how to use a corner of the kennel as a ladder to climb to the top, and barks/yelps/howls none stop!
So we figured we will have to make a concret slab so he cant dig out and a topper for the kennel so that he cant climb out. So currently, he is in the house which is aginst the landlords rules because he will get out within 30 minutes of putting him in the kennel and we dont have the money to update his kennel till tax time.
In the house he has his nose in the trash can, trys to get into his dogfood bag, jumps up on you 24-7, scrached the couch up by hopping up and down. Just a pain in the butt. You give him the command "NO" and you have to repeat yourself about a million times, while pushing him off of you or keeping him out of the trash ect ect... for him to finally get the point, listen and finally stop. Give him afew seconds and he has already found another annoying thing to do that drives you nuts and the list goes on.
So when we put him in his indoor kennel at night or so we can eat or something, he yaps and yaps and yaps and yaps and yaps some more! Will NOT quit no matter what! Will do it for hours on end and I have actually got little to no sleep at night because of his constent barking. Only time he is actually a good laid back puppy is after our walks and then he takes a 10-15 minute power nap and he is back running around getting into things.
Is this how Pointers are?? Constent energy around the clock? Should we take him for longer walks more than 2 times a day? should we bump it up to 1 1/2 hours 3 times a day? What about his manners in the house? The barking 100% of the time while he is in the kennel? My hubby loves this pup and when he is home he does all the care, training, corrections and walks that most pups only dream about. He takes him to a puppy class once a week, takes him to the lake to run his heart out at least 3 times a week on top of me taken him to the dog park to run everyday... but yet it just dont seem to be enough to keep this dogs energy down.
I have owned alot of high spirited breeds and I know it takes not only physical excersise but also mental and working excersise to keep them happy; but there just dont seems to be enough hours in the day for this pup to be happy!
Should we get rid of him and break my hubbys heart?
We need some tips!!!  |