Better behaved dogs?

[Sirius]

Well, I muzzle Dakota and Harley when they are being bad boys and I can't exactly muzzle Sam because well she has none. So I was thinking, they are WAAAY better dogs when muzzled. They are sweet, and obedient. Off-muzzle is a different story.
Can anyone else think of a way to help me get them to behave this way off-muzzle?

Another thing;
Dakota and Harley are ALMOST fully potty trained, but not quite. Sam is already there and has never had an accident so she is allowed upstairs. The other dogs aren't. My house is kind of different as my bed is on the 1st floor. But the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors are off limits to Dakota and Harley. They whine whenever I am upstairs and they know not to be on the flight of stairs or else Mommy will be mad. Does anyone know how I can get them used to this?

One more thing;
Walks. Sam is beautiful. I love taking her for walks. Dakota and Harley are a different story. They pull, and bite, and just today Harley got bitten by another dog at the dog park because he doesn't know any limits.

Does anyone know how I can get my puppies to behave?

-Laurr

[Athebeau]

I would get them signed up for puppy obedience classes as soon as possible. Puppies learn behaviors that earn what they want, if you have been training the pups on a no no no basis you won't get too far. What I did for all my dogs (all of my dogs were adults when I took them in, 2 of them rescues, the other 3 straight from a kennel never lived in a house before I got them).
First you have to get to classes, have a family member help you. Find a trainer who practices positive training methods only. This is very important, the dogs mind works basically on reward. For instance, with my dogs my recalls are flawless even in emergency situations and my downs are fantastic because they learned that by displaying this behavior they get rewarded. I also inforce the Nothing is free in life policy in my home, having 5 large dogs I need my dogs to be well behaved. My dogs learned sit as a default action, they want meals they sit, if they want up on the couch to cuddle with me they sit. You need rules in the house, all animals including humans need rules. Imagine bringing up children with no rules, they would be running the household, biting other children, hitting them, just being intolerable (I have seen children like this :rolleyes: ). Rules are very important, same goes for walks and when meeting other dog...bait the dog to look at you when walking with other dogs and reward for calm good manners. It's also a good idea to find a few other dogs that your dogs get along with and meet those dogs for play sessions...there is nothing more important than learning to play with others. Keep a whistle and train your dogs to come to the whistle, that way if they get out of control you can get them to come over to you and reward for that...unless it's esculated.
Try to get into a good obedience program and keep on socializing.

[doberkim]

well, being new to the board -

what breeds of dogs and how old are these dogs? how long have you had them, and what type of training have you had with them?

if they really ARE puppies, why muzzle them? its never going to teach them to behave and learn bite inhibition --- i would get them BOTH in training.

[Whitedobelover]

first off... you need to walk each one seperately with sam until they learn what is accepted and what isnt. secondly if they arent well trained they shouldnt be out aloud to be around other dogs unsupervised. and they need to be in training classes before anymore outings to the dog park. because it seems they arent supervised at the dog park... you can control the dog if you are supervising him/her...

secondly to keep them from pulling you can try gentle leader. or even prong collars... hehe i know i used them on prince and tasneem (prong collars) and she is doing great now not pulling and realizing what is right and what isnt. they still jump but arent aloud near other dogs unles they are sitting next to me. and the dogs are brought to them... :D... that is my opinion

[Chithedobe]

Am assuming you have Mastiff pups from your signature :-) In my quest to find information on how to work on the problems I'm facing with my own pup, I found this link... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/campnaughtydog/ It's a list devoted to positive training methods for all breeds but concentrates on Mastiff pups :-) Maybe you can get some good breed specific advice there :-)

[Sirius]

well, being new to the board -

what breeds of dogs and how old are these dogs? how long have you had them, and what type of training have you had with them?

if they really ARE puppies, why muzzle them? its never going to teach them to behave and learn bite inhibition --- i would get them BOTH in training.

No... Sam is my only mastiff. Harley is a bouvier and Dakota is a Kuvasz.

[Sirius]

Am assuming you have Mastiff pups from your signature :-) In my quest to find information on how to work on the problems I'm facing with my own pup, I found this link... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/campnaughtydog/ It's a list devoted to positive training methods for all breeds but concentrates on Mastiff pups :-) Maybe you can get some good breed specific advice there :-)

Thanks for the site :)

[Doberluv]

You've gotten some great advice. Yes indeed, muzzling will not teach them anything and will probably tend to frusterate them more. Training, exercise and understanding what normal puppy behavior is, is the only way to fly. They're not being bad boys. They're just being dogs. Give them a reason to behave the way you'd like them to behave. Motivation and reward based training will do this. There are lots of threads right here on the forum which can give you pointers and some good stickies and links. Good luck.

[Chithedobe]

Okay so you have a working and a herding breed that could very well just be acting like they've been inherently bred to act. Herding breeds use their teeth to move the flocks, working dogs are on alert at all times to watch for "bad-guys". I would imagine that redirecting their inherent response to stimuli to something socially acceptable would be the easiest course of action here rather than trying to stop something that is hard wired in their brains. Meaning, it's okay if they alert on something, not okay if they bite something... Biting bad but sitting is excellent. Does that make sense?

I can only imagine a Bouv pup at a dog park, I bet he's trying to herd them all into tight little circles and probably gets very frustrated when they don't comply LOL Barking the Kuvas to help or to remind him to stand guard in case someone approaches! Sorry have a vivid imagination :-)

With patience and lots of practice though you can teach them to sit instead of pull or to hop up and down instead of bite... The possibilities are endless if you're creative and patient enough :-)

Would love to see pics if you've got any :-)

[Sirius]

Thanks for all of the great advice! I could really use it!