Deliberate Dog, help!

[ali1050120]

Help! I recently adopted a puppy, mixed breed, and she's an okay dog but she's extremely deliberate. She's now 16 weeks and she will not listen at all. She jumps,barks,won't stay off the couch, and worst of all she will take something of mine, walk right past me, then take off running! We've tryed yelling at her, putting her in her crate, putting her outside, squirting her with the hose, and even spanking and she doesnt respond. Any help?

 

[DaVinci]

Have you signed up for an obedience class yet? I think she is seeking attention. She is wanting you to do something with her. What do you do with her? Does she have a schedule like walk time, fetch time?

 

[adojrts]

Help! I recently adopted a puppy, mixed breed, and she's an okay dog but she's extremely deliberate. She's now 16 weeks and she will not listen at all. She jumps,barks,won't stay off the couch, and worst of all she will take something of mine, walk right past me, then take off running! We've tryed yelling at her, putting her in her crate, putting her outside, squirting her with the hose, and even spanking and she doesnt respond. Any help?

I would bark at you, and absolutely I would leave if you spanked me, sprayed me with hose and yelled. None of that is training a puppy or a dog.
She is not being delberate, she is just being a puppy.

When she jumps, turn you back to her and ignore the behaviour, when she stops and has all four feet on the floor, then reward her with a treat or praise/petting. Also keep in mind not to encourage her to jump when you want her too, if you do put a cue to it and reward. That way she will learn that with the cue she is allowed to stand up for a greeting. But if you want her to always keep four on the floor be very aware of what you are doing. With very young pups, we often encourage them to jump up on us, then as they get older we change the rules on them.

It is your responsiblity to keep the house puppy proofed, so she doesn't get things, we are the only ones that put a value on things. To the puppy they are just some else to chew on.
Instead of chasing her, train her to trade for something like a bone or toy.
Stop chasing her, that is the number one game that puppies and dogs play with each other, its called the 'keep away game'. Give her a reward for giving up such an item. My new pup (now a year old, still think of her as a pup lol), searches the house for things that she can bring me, because she has always been rewarded for giving me items that she finds. I know others like Dekka (chaz member ) that have had the same results with their dogs.
Ignore the barking, reward when she stops, but be careful of your timing, wait a few seconds before rewarding. If you give a reward too quickly, they often think they being rewarded for the barking.

Go to puppy classes with a good positive reinforcement trainer. The old Yank and Crank type of training is being avoided by people these days for good reason.

Good luck, plus there is tons of info on this site if you reseach it on all the issues that you have listed.

 

[corgipower]

Help! I recently adopted a puppy, mixed breed, and she's an okay dog but she's extremely deliberate. She's now 16 weeks and she will not listen at all. She jumps,barks,won't stay off the couch, and worst of all she will take something of mine, walk right past me, then take off running! We've tryed yelling at her, putting her in her crate, putting her outside, squirting her with the hose, and even spanking and she doesnt respond. Any help?

At 16 weeks they really don't know anything. They are in the process of learning, and it's up to you to teach her what is and is not acceptable.

Yelling is ineffective at best and at worst is scary. She doesn't understand the yelling, and you risk making her nervous when she's around you.

Putting her in the crate should always be done under positive circumstances. Dogs don't understand it as a punishment (as in sending a child to their room), and if you are angry when you put her in there, she may associate the crate with your anger. Putting her outside, pretty much the same as with the crate. Meaningless. Squirting with a hose for most dogs is either fun or scary, but it's not communicating what you want. Spanking is another way to make the puppy scared of you.

Keep in mind, puppies are not born knowing how we want them to behave. Everything she does is normal puppy behavior. You need to use positive methods (treats, toys, praise) and set her up to be successful. Keep her confined (crates, baby gates) when you can't supervise her, make sure she gets plenty of exercise and play time, and when you catch her doing something you like (sitting quietly, standing still, etc.) praise and reward her.

Keep things you don't want her to have out of reach, make sure she has items of her own that she can play with. To keep her off the couch, give her a place where she can be - a dog bed, a mat - and put some treats there to encourage her to be there instead of the couch.

I would definitely sign this puppy - and yourself - up for puppy classes.

 

[adojrts]

CP, ^^^^^ excellent post.

 

[corgipower]

Thanks, so was yours! I'm surprised my internet connection didn't die while I was typing all that.

 

[Dekka]

well said you two :hail:

 

[mightymitedoggear]

Help! I recently adopted a puppy, mixed breed, and she's an okay dog but she's extremely deliberate. She's now 16 weeks and she will not listen at all. She jumps,barks,won't stay off the couch, and worst of all she will take something of mine, walk right past me, then take off running! We've tryed yelling at her, putting her in her crate, putting her outside, squirting her with the hose, and even spanking and she doesnt respond. Any help?

The last behavior you are describing is a doggie "game" - many dogs play "keep away." They will take the owners possesion (or another dog's) and bait the human (or dog) into chaising them to get the object. By making a fuss, you actually encourage this behavior. My suggestion is to turn your back on your dog, even walk out of the room and close the door behind you. Your dog will quickly learn that the game STOPS when she takes things that don't belong to her and that are not toys.

The other thing you need to do is teach basic commands (and please don't spank!). Your dog can be taught to fetch, come and "get it" - that makes DELIVERING things to you more fun so you don't have to play "keep away." This is what is meant by training an "incompatible behavior" - if your dog is "fetching" she is not "keeping away."

 

[ali1050120]

thanks

thank you guys for all your great tips! More are welcome. The only problem with waiting for her to stop barking is that there is a small child in the house and she barks while he is napping.

 

[lizzybeth727]

What is she barking AT?

One thing you can do is exercise her for 10-20 minutes, just before your child takes a nap, then put her in her crate so hopefully they'll both nap at the same time!

 

[ali1050120]

good idea about naps she usually barks whenever she's outside she wont ever stay outside alone and barks when she wants in which is all the time

 

[adojrts]

Would you leave a very young child outside by themselves when they start to cry from being alone when they are not use to being alone?
I would expect the answer to that is no.

The puppy is still a baby, it is unreasonable to expect a pup to remain outside on their own, its a scary place to them when by themselves.
As they get older and they get use to being by themselves, the more time they will spend outside.

How is the puppy outside, tied out or loose?

 

[ali1050120]

loose

 

[milos_mommy]

I'd cry if someone left me outside when I was a baby, too.

 

[corgipower]

One thing you can do is exercise her for 10-20 minutes, just before your child takes a nap, then put her in her crate so hopefully they'll both nap at the same time!

Yup. And if the puppy won't nap you can put a toy in there - a stuffed kong works great - to keep her occupied.

 

[ali1050120]

Yet another naughty thing. A couple minutes ago she walked up to a houseplant and ripped a branch off. Naturally, I yelled. She walked away. 2 minutes later she walks back and rips another branch off. Deliberate?

 

[lizzybeth727]

No.

It takes puppies at least 30-50 tries before they figure out what "sit" means, and that's if you're a professional trainer. There's no way that she will learn in one try that when she ripps a branch off the plant and you yell, that means she shouldn't do it again. Mostly because she isn't really capable of remembering 2 minutes ago very well (ALL puppies have A.D.D.)

The MOST IMPORTANT part of teaching puppies house manners is to NOT LET them do anything they're not supposed to. If you don't want her ripping up the plant, keep the plant out of her reach or physically keep her away from the plant. This is called "puppy proofing" the house, it's just as important as baby proofing the house when a baby comes home. Once she settles in a little more and grows up a little more (in maybe as soon as a month or two), you might be able to put the plant back where it goes, assuming that by that point she has learned the appropriate items in the house to play with.

 

[adojrts]

All puppies, just like all young child use their mouths to investigate. Nothing your pup is doing is deliberate on any level. Dogs as adults very seldom do anything deliberate and just to make our lives harder or too **** us off. They are dogs, it is up to us to learn how to train them without harsh or unreasonable methods within a reasonable time frame in relation to the dogs age.

 

[Squishy22]

She needs more mental stimulation, period. That will do wonders!

 

[Ilyena]

Tired pups are good pups.. More exercise, more mental stimulation, and more playtime with you to teach her what she is allowed to play with should help. And manage the environment. At this point anything she can get her teeth on is fair play to her, whether it's a chew toy, a book or your cellphone. That's not her fault, it's yours for not keeping things away from her.

I know it can be a hassle to keep all your things off the floor, but it usually doesn't last for long and it makes living with the pup much easier so you don't have to yell at her all the time (which by the way she doesn't understand, it'll just tell her that you're unpredictable and possibly also scary..)