I need help.
Roxie will be 10 weeks old on Thursday, I have tried to start training her with the whole "secret to training the perfect dog" thing.
It's so hard.
Originally I was for treat training.
Watched a bunch of episodes of the Dog Whisperer and some other videos online and decided I was against treat training.
I felt like the dog wasn't really being trained, but always looking for/constantly sniffing your hand for/following/wanting the treat and not really obtaining the command being taught.
I see this infomercial for the perfect dog, read the reviews and thought this was it.
At first Roxie was great. She was very calm, loved to sit, cuddle and follow you, never barked, or bit you....
Now she has about 3 "psycho" spells a day. I would much rather have just 3 than for her to be like this all the time, but it's 3 too many for this lady. She's pretty much bipolar and turns into a completely different puppy and it's a little scary. She gets into this big-I-need-to-bark-and-bit- everything-and-everyone. hard. and then two minutes later she is back to Snugglefest 2010.
I am thankful that she isn't like this all the time. I have no idea what I would do if she was. Lord knows I wouldn't survive if I had a dog like that.
When we first got her, we realized she was too little to understand what she was doing and how to be trained, but we also didn't want her think she could get away with certain things. But as the days go on she is learning more and more and we decided it's time to be serious.
So we pulled out the "command collar".
It breaks my heart.
I realize this is part of "parenting", you discipline out of love, but I am starting to feel uncomfortable with this whole mock choke collar situation.
It seems to be making her more aggressive. She doesn't obey like the dogs on the DVD. I am wondering if maybe she is too young. But either way she needs to learn these things now.
I'm thinking about getting my money back from the training DVD and doing the puppy classes, although the dogs that I know that have been don't seem to be the most obedient....but then again when you see me in the backyard dragging Roxie through the grass as she remains extremely stubborn and laying on her back- my dog doesn't look too obedient either.
So I am feeling a bit discouraged.
And sad.
I don't think this is something I want to stick out. It seems to be getting worse, not better.
Between her red neck, her cries, squeals, yelps and barks and feeling like she hates me..I am not sure this is the method for me.
So please tell me what has been successful for you!!
She is really good at sitting, being cute, potty outside, being cute, sleep through the night and being cute.
Still needs to learn all the other commands (including how to walk on a leash), tricks and when to stop biting.
Oh, that's another thing. I am having a hard time figuring out where the line is drawn between puppy play and the evil crazy puppy that has taken the biting too far. I tried spraying water on her face and of course..she loved it. I will try again with a little mouth wash in it and see what happens.
Please help.
Sincerely,
Ms. J and Mr. B
14 comments:
DO the training classes, we did and Rudy is really well behaved. And thay have different age levels so you know she isn't too young.
Also, our trainers told us that when the puppy bites you, just give it something that is OK to bite. Like a toy. This saved us and our poor hands. Also chew sticks. Get chew sticks and you'll never look back! We did treat training and now we don't need to give treats all the time. Rudy does all his tricks without treats, it's only the new ones that we treat with. Once he got good, we traded in treats for toys (just ones he already had) and then just for love (hugs and pets). And that is JUST as rewarding to a dog as a treat is! Sorry for the long comment!
Oh girl, I could talk to you forever about this!! My baby Clyde also has evil spells. He is just WILD. They say to continue to give toys and never play with your hands. He bites hands too when he is wild and I try to stay out of the way and throw toys for him to chase and keep him interested until he gets tired.
We are doing puppy classes and really like them. We will start with the correction collar soon and see how he does. Ours is 14 weeks, but we got him at 10 weeks as well. He is doing great and we are treat training. I have heard about the pros and cons as well, but it is what works for us.
Really try to stick with a schedule no matter what. She is smart and will figure out when it is time to settle down and when it is time to play, go outside, etc.
You are welcome to email me...we are going through many of the same situations!!
I read Cesar's book "How to have the perfect dog" and it helped, but even our vet just keeps saying, "he's just a puppy...it won't last forever...this is normal." So...hang in there!!
I would say ditch the command collar. What puppies take away from their human interactions at this time of their life will drastically affect their behavior down the line, and you definitely don't want a dog that's fearful or aggressive toward humans. Stick with the treat training. 10 weeks is still so young that she can't perform consistently. I agree to always transfer the puppy behavior to something that's good-- give it a chew toy when it chews, take it outside when it's hyper, etc., and keep it consistent. Treat training will be a slow process but it will work in the long run! Hope this helps a little bit!
i definitely don't think she is too young to understand. it might seem like it but puppies are pretty smart. we did perfect dog and we really liked it. i think if you stick with it for awhile your dog will pick up on it and you will see some results. I understand you feel bad about the collar too but i don't think you're hurting her. i love on my dogs so much so i would never do something that would hurt them! We didn't do classes so I'm not sure but my in-laws didn't have good things to say about them.
another tip i heard is that when she nips or bites you-like in her evil spells-you should yip a high pitched yip like a puppy would. apparently that's what the moms and other puppies do to train them when they are biting too hard and that's what makes them stop. we didn't try it but it supposedly really works. our puppy eventually just grew out of that phase. the first year is definitely the hardest but it's so worth it! don't give up-it'll get better!! : )
What it all comes down to is time. Our puppy is now 10 months old and is finally starting to become a more easy going dog. She's always listened to us but would have her "crazy time" just like your puppy. You just need to keep being consistent and slowly you'll start to see it working. It's all about patience. I don't think you need the collar because I don't think it's really necessary to get the results you are looking for. Most importantly- wear her out! The more walks the better- An exhausted dog is a happy dog (that can't get into trouble)
Oh you poor dear! I'm so sorry you're going through this tough time. All of us who got our dogs as puppies have though. You will make it too! We did do treat training, and yes, it's possible to wean them off of that. Just treat sometimes, and not all the time.- And praise, praise, praise! They'll start responding to praise too.- I agree w/ Nat - do the high pitched yip when she bites. We did do classes, and yes, it was worth it. The trick is PRACTICING inbetween. When you don't, there won't be any progress. You truly get out of it what you put into it.- As others have offered, feel free to e-mail me w/ questions, or in need of support or a pep talk :-) Sending a hug, and a scratch to your little Rox. Hey, at least she's cute! Imagine how hard this would be with an ugly dog!! :-) BUT, don't let her get away w/ things b/c she's looking cute. It's hard! But be firm. EVERY TIME. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile! ~Kristin from Windy Poplars
As the others, I could go on and on all day sharing our tips. I commented before and told you that we had the worlds worst dog (Cohen) when we brought him home. I cried for about 3 months before things go better. I called my mom and told her that I was just not cut out to be a puppy mom and she laughed at me and told me kids were harder. NOTE: She kept him for me a few weeks later and she then informed me that yes, my dog was MUCH MUCH harder than a kid. He really was that bad.
As for the biting... just buy lots and lot of chew toys and keep telling her no and giving her something that she is allowed to chew on. If you need to, put her in her kennel for a "time out".... more so to calm down. When our dogs would have crazy spells we would put them in their kennels and they would settle down.
She will get better... it just takes time. Personally, we did treat training and it worked great. HOWEVER, we only chose certain things to "treat" for. Like potty time and getting in the kennel. Everything else was just learned and expected. Of course... after they got the hang of going potty outside we stopped the treats. You don't give a little kid treats after they get the hang of peeing in a pot :)
Sometimes we still give them a treat at night when it's bed time, but over all the treats are just random now.
As for the Collar... I'm not sure that I would use it. On top of that it's only supposed to be yanked VERY VERY quickly and released. It's NOT supposed to stay tight around their neck for more than .0001 of a second. Therefore... I feel that she is to young. It's more for older dogs. (My cousin is an officer and trains police dogs. That's where I get this info).
Overall, she is just a pup. It's tough in the beginning, but you will all get through it and things will get better. They are a great training aid for kiddos.... More for the reason that you and your honey can work together to agree on discipline and such. Makes you see things from each others perspectives.
Girl you sound just like me about a year ago!! We took our 10 week old lab on vacation to Hatteras was us and she was AWFUL! She started this thing where all she would do was bite. You tried to pet her, she'd nibble. You picked her up, she nibbled. It was obnoxious, but she outgrew it in about 2 weeks. In fact, I got so tired of it one day, that I smacked her on the butt pretty hard. The rest of the vacation she nibbled on everyone else but she knew not to nibble on me. I promise I didn't hit her hard enough to hurt her, but it was hard enough for her to remember it for a week or so.
As for the crazy psycho dog spells, we still get those about once a week or so. Usually it's when she hasn't had enough play time. We play with her a TON, but she still has crazy puppy energy that needs to get out.
And sometimes when you scold her for something, she goes nuts! Tucks her tail & runs laps around the house. We just wait those out. I know in a couple of years she'll be lazy all the time, so we don't worry too much about it.
I'm sure you guys are doing just fine! The puppy stage is hard!
You shouldn't take advice from me. My yorkie is 3 and still not trained with others. Only her momma can read her body language!
Oh my goodness! We went through the same problems with our 23 month old puppy. He was TERRIBLE when it came to potty training!
The only thing that worked for us was crate training. We put him in his crate while we were gone and at night. The very first thing you do when you let them out of the crate is take them outside immediately.....VERY important! Once he would pee outside we would praise him and love on him. While we were home and he was out roaming freely we just made sure to take him outside all the time. Once again, anytime he peed outside we praised him like he just did the greatest thing on earth. Eventually he caught on. It takes time and can be frustrating but you just have to stick with it.
As far as play biting goes we had that issue too {imagine that}. We just had to immediately stop playing, hold his nose shut and sternly tell him no. When he gets too wound up we stop playing and tell him "easy" and refuse to engage with him until he calms down. It has slowly begun to work. He seems to understand what he want when we tell him "easy" now.
I know that different things work for different dogs so it is so hard to say what will and won't work. I guess my only piece of advice is just try to be as consistent as possible. They eventually will catch on. GOOD LUCK!!!!
Treat training worked for us and now she knows when she needs to go to bed or sit or heal.
Each dog is different but make sure your comfortable with the training you choose cause they could probably sense if your not.
I don't know if you have spoken with someone who has boxers - but her hyper moments are just a part of being a boxer. Boxers jump and are high energy. You can certainly try to train them not to jump, lick and bark - but it's a part of their nature and she will be that way until she is about three. We have two boxers and they are both two years old and still full of it. It's one of the joys/pains of having boxers.
We started our treat training with both our dogs. Actually really just our oldest, because our youngest did whatever the older one did once we got him. But I digress...the treats! We used treats religiously and now we don't use them AT ALL and they still do what they are trained to do. Just wanted to give you some hope that if you start with treats, you don't have to do it forever.
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