Puppy troubles

[x512dev]

Well, let's see, my father brought a puppy Pug/Beagle mix into our house (aka "puggle"). He's cute as a button, however, he's also stubborn as a mule. He's just turning 7 months now, and he's still slow to train.

His main problems:
1) He'll pick up (inedible) stuff off the floor and when you try to get him to get it out of his mouth, he'll run around and make you chase them. How can we make him stop picking stuff up off the floor?

2) He climbs on chairs/tables/desks sometimes, and picks up stuff like a pen, or a soda bottle cap. This is also a problem. We repremand him every time and tell him "NO! STAY DOWN!" in a firm voice.

3) He thinks he's a dominant figure in the house. Especially with myself for some reason, he tries to "play-bite" when we're playing ball or something, and other times he'll try to get me down to his level to er..."mount" my arm and start having marital relations with it...
(PS..we need to get him neutered...)

We really need to fix these problems since we're afraid to leave him alone in the house when we go out. My mother and father work full time and me and my sister are full-time students. What we do now which is hard and in my opinion, not good for the dog, we put his stuff in the bathroom when we leave (his bed, water, food, toys, etc), and let him hang out in his "room". However, he cries and scratches at the door. He already scratched/ate a hole in the door once and he's working on the patch we put on again.

I have hope that he's trainable and I really don't want to have to get rid of him.

Please, any suggestions would be wonderful to help me deal with my Mugs....

http://linode.512net.org/pics/mugs/mugs.jpg

Thanks,
Anthony

[x512dev]

Please? Any help would be much appreciated.

[Herschel]

1) He's a dog.

2) He's a dog.

3) He's a young dog.

He isn't stubborn, you just haven't found a good way to motivate him. What do you use to train him? Treats? Punishment? Toys? Are the treats high value? Is your dog food motivated?

If you haven't already, you should seriously think about enrolling in a puppy class. That way, you will learn how to train your dog in a group setting and your dog will learn to better focus on you.

If you don't want him to pick inedible things up from the ground, then don't leave them on the ground for him to pick them up. (Seriously, it's that easy!)

If he climbs on chairs, tables, desks, then don't give him a chance to do that. Leash him to your side so he can't jump on things. Obviously yelling at him isn't working, if anything, it's just motivating him more. Each time that he sits at your feet (instead of jumping up), give him a treat. Reward positive behaviors, don't punish your dog for things that he doesn't understand.

He doesn't think he's dominant. He's a puppy and he isn't neutered. Each time he humps your arm, just get up and move away. Don't reinforce it by making a big deal about it. Neuter him and then we'll talk.

Have you thought about crate training your dog? It really is a great tool. http://www.barkbytes.com/training/crate.htm

[showpug]

First of all, I agree with Herschel. Second, you need to invest in a crate. Third, your dog acts very much like a typical pug, even if it is a mix.

I would start with puppy classes and preventing unwanted behavior by making it impossible for him to climb and pick up non-edible items.

Puppies take time and work. They will reward you for your efforts about 3 years from now when they are a mature, well trained dog, LOL!

How much research did you guys do on raising a puppy before buying this dog:confused: