I am at my wits end!

paula6989

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#1
Hi,

I have two puppies, Dixie and Nico. Dixie is a chihuahua/toy poodle mix, female and is about 6 months right now and Nico is a chihuahua/pomeranian mix, about 7 months old. I have had Dixie since she was 7 weeks old and at 3 months I adopted Nico (4 months at the time).

Here is the deal... Dixie is driving me insane. I have tried everything possible, reinforcing rules on her from everything Cesar Milan has used, to training manuals, to tips from the internet and to obedience school. She is just out of control and will not listen to me, and trust me, I am doing everything possible for her to realize she is not the boss of me! :p She jumps all over me when I get home from work and bites my hands like crazy. She jumps up onto everything from furniture to my countertops (yes, she jumps that high!), she rips everything in her path (i.e. shoes, clothes, etc.), when I was confining her to a smaller area, she ripped my walls up to the drywall paper and ripped all my carpet up. She gets very jealous of my other puppy although I give her the most attention! She takes his food all the time! I lover her to death but she is making life miserable! My other puppy Nico is such an angel!!!

So this leads me to this avenue - boot camp. Anyone have experience with this??? A friend of a friend sent his dog away for a month and he came back like a doggy soldier!!! Let me know what you guys think!

Thanks!
 

silverpawz

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#2
I do doggie 'boot camp' for my clients ( although I prefer to call it Board & Train). Many people will say that your dog won't listen to you when she comes back, if trained by someone else.

And that can be true. But, I have had great success with my programs and the majority of dogs I send home have continued to behave well for their owners. The most important part of any board & train program is OWNER training. The dog is not the problem, in most cases the owner needs more training on how to behave around the dog and how to properly give and enforce commands. Without that training anything I do with the dog would be wasted time.

If you can find a trainer that works with YOU and provides in person, hands on training with you and your dog after she's been trained to show you the ropes then it can be a great option. But if you don't get trained too it will just be a waste of money and time.

It also helps if the trainer only takes on a small amount of dogs and keeps them in a home enviroment. There are plenty of 'in-kennel' options where the dog is in a run for most of the dog and only out for short training periods, and while that may teach her commands, it won't teach her house manners and how to live easily with people. A trainer that can work with your dog in real life situations such as going out in public and relaxing at home is what will help her learn manners and self control.

Just knowing how to sit, stay, etc. etc. won't mean a thing if she only knows how to do it at the training facility, in the training room.

Board and train can do wonders for many dogs and their owners, but it's not a quick fix without any requied effort on the part of the owner. If you are willing to put in the time to learn how to keep up her training it can work. I've seen it work. I've also seen it fail when owners were expecting to have a robot dog and never put in the effort to maintain the training.
 

elegy

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#3
how much exercise does she get? how much do you actively play with her? how much time do you spend on obedience each day?

a tired dog is a good dog. that's true for puppies, too.

i personally wouldn't want anybody else training my dogs. so much of training is relationship, trust, respect. how are you going to build those if your dog is with somebody else?
 

MomOf7

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#4
Good point you two!
The problem with boot camp/training/boarding is that you have to be trained as well. You need to continue the work the person you sent your dog to started.
I have taken in a few dogs and helped the owners out. Some listened while many did not take heed. One that listened says he has the best dog ever and refers people to us all the time.
You really need to listen and pay attention to the trainer and trust them.
Follow through on continieing the training otherwise all that work they did is gone. Most dogs get into a routine at home so you want to make sure she knows the routine has changed by following through..
Ok did I mention continue and follow through? :lol-sign:
 

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