Night time walks - crazy puppy

[tomatosaucegirl86]

Hello,

We have a male 4 month old dachsund/jack russell puppy. We're getting on fairly well with his lead training, he goes to the park in the morning and is getting much better at listening to us, not pulling and not running up to everyone he sees. He is very friendly with other dogs and we've also let him off the lead a few times and his recall is pretty good. All this still needs work but we're seeing definite progress.

However if we take him for a walk at night, usually around 7pm it's like everything he's learned goes totally out the window, he's like a different dog. He picks up absolutely everything in his mouth, refuses to move, lunges in random directions and pulls like crazy etc. its very hard to keep his attention.

We try to make sure he has a good balance of exercise, training and sleep throughout the day and at the moment have just decided to stop the nighttime walks in favour of training indoors during the evening instead. Any suggestions on what might be the cause would be much appreciated! I've heard people reference 'the witching hour' so dont know if it's that, or zoomies, overstimulation, nervousness about the dark?? The only other thing we've noticed is that if we go for a walk at night and it's a bit rainy he seems to behave perfectly well

Thank you for reading, any advice will be much appreciated!
Sally

 

[JudyN]

Mine's more wired if we walk in the dark, so on the whole we don't. It might be something to do with the JRT hunting instincts with your pup - or it might just be his age. Pups often go a bit wild in the evenings at the best of times.

For now, I'd carry on doing what you are doing and not take him out in the dark. You could even undo all the good habits you're forming in the daytime. As the evenings get lighter, this issue won't arise, and by the time they close in again, you might find he's fine (though there's no guarantees!).

 

[Rinkydinkydo]

You've got a sent hound mixed with a terrier. Dachshunds were bred to hunt badgers, foxes and rabbits. Your dogs super nose maybe going into overdrive on a night, now throw JRT into the mix. If you look at the two breeds things may start to make sense.

 

[JudyN]

Dachshunds were bred to hunt badgers, foxes and rabbits.

D'oh, I homed in on the JRT bits and completely overlooked the dachshund bits - yes, you have double trouble!

 

[Rinkydinkydo]

D'oh, I homed in on the JRT bits and completely overlooked the dachshund bits - yes, you have double trouble!

It's easy to forget about Dachshunds and what they are. Some have to take drastic action to stop them following that nose.

 

[tomatosaucegirl86]

Thank you for all your responses. I think you're right, there are quite a lot of urban foxes around our area so maybe the smells are just too much for him to ignore in the evenings.
He's back to being absolutely good as gold today so I think we'll stick to daytime lead training for now so he doesn't undo all the good habits he's learned so far

 

[JudyN]

Oh gosh he is gorgeous! And good as gold at 4 months is awesome!

 

[tomatosaucegirl86]

Oh gosh he is gorgeous! And good as gold at 4 months is awesome!

He's taken so well to training, he's definitely an intelligent little fella!