Alittle help please

Hi, I'm new here and pretty new to having my own dog. shes about 2 years old now and I have been trying to keep her downstairs in my room because my parents don't like her upstairs because she is always hungry and trys to get into our other dogs food bowl, and our other dog always growls and braks at her when she does, and that really iritates my father because he wakes up very easily. and I have had trouble getting her to relax and go to sleep in my room. she always wants out and upstairs and scratches at the door constantly, I try to guide her to relax by sitting on the floor next to her and petting her and when she does lay down and relax i give her a treat and some praise for doing good and relaxing. can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong and what i can do to make her relax. because my dad will get rid of her if she keeps waking him up. Thanx in advance

Hi! I feed my dogs and then pick the bowls up. I don't allow my dogs to free feed, that way there's no doggy disagreements. Even if your other dogs are not used to feeding on a schedule it won't take them too long to learn to eat when it is given to them. Good luck!

yeah I should be doing that, it's a good idea. Thank you

Do you exercize her to tire her out? That what I find relaxes my dog, after I take her out for a long walk, she's tired out, and just wants to curl up and go to sleep.

Good advice. Seperate all dogs when feeding and pick up their bowls after about 15 minutes. Exercise is the way to get your dog tired. Also some obedience training using positive methods is good to keep her mind busy. When she's whining, barking, scratching on the door, don't start patting her or paying attention to her. Wait till she's quiet, then reward her. Give her an alternative when she starts acting up, an obedience command, teach a trick....get her interested in a toy and praise lavishly when she does those things. Maybe when she becomes better behaved through good training, she'll be allowed upstairs with the rest of the family. That's what she probably wants....to be part of the whole group. Look up some info on positive training and try to work with her as much as possible...as long as her attention span allows.

Thanks for all the advice you guys, this should be very helpfull. thanks

Another question I have is how to let her know I'm the authority figure that she should be listening to? She doesn't really listen to me cause she was originally my brothers dog but he moved out and can't have her where he moved, and I just didn't want to see her go away cause she is a great lovable dog. I believe she thinks that he will come back for her even tho it's been 3 months now. Any ideas that can help me with this would be greatly aprecciated

The best way to ensure that she knows you're her leader is training, never harshness or getting all emotional. When you teach her manners and ask her to, for instance, sit and wait while you put her food bowl down (just for a few seconds) and then give a release word ("OK") which says that she can now eat, that helps show her that you control things that are important to her. When you want to give her a treat or toy, you can ask for a sit too. You don't have to do it every time, but give her the idea that without you, she wouldn't have these things.

Obedience training, teaching to walk nicely on a leash, sit, stay, come, down all reiterate this to her. You'll have a much better relationship with your dog when you obedience train her. It builds a working bond between the two of you. That's what dogs are designed to do....help man with his "work", while we help them by providing for them.

You shouldn't have problems with a dog as long as you're assertive and consistant...setting up rules for her to go by and motivating/rewarding for good behavior. Don't spoil her and let her have her own way when you want her to comply with you. If you give a command, make certain that you can enforce it, or else....don't give it at all. You can teach her to pay attention to you if you practice and make it a habit....starting out in low distraction areas. "Watch me" equals a yummy treat. (for example)

I encourage you to find out about positive training methods and use those. It makes it so much more fun for both of you than domineering, collar yanking, scolding kind of teaching. And it makes the dog more eager to learn. This link, following, is a good one to give you the idea of how positive training methods work and how you can get started. You don't have to use a clicker, but the distinctive sound it makes seems to make a difference to a dog. They hear our voices all the time and don't tend to pay as much attention or notice. This sound has been shown to reach a different part of the brain which makes it very effective. (according to some studies that I heard about 2nd hand) But studies or not, I notice more responsiveness from the dogs with it. Just make sure your reward is something the dog really really loves.

http://www.clickerlessons.com/index.html

I totally agree with Doberluv... positive training is the way to go. I think it is also important to consistently use the same word for the same behavior. For instance, when I want my dogs to stop jumping up I say "off". I had to train my son and husband to also use the word "off". They would sometimes use the word "down" which would be confusing to the dogs because I use the word "down" for laying down. My dogs know alot of words and listen well and I think it is because of consistent training with those words.

Good information, this should definately help me bond with her and help her listen to me. Thanks