Naughty Puppy

[OhMarley]

Hello Everyone I’m new to this forum, I need some advice.

I have a 20week old CKCS puppy named Marley. I love him to bits he's a character and a half! However when Marley doesn’t want to do something Marley will NOT do it! He grumbles when taken of my bed, he'll mouths and bites constantly (and I know he's teething) and I’ve tried redirecting his biting to toys but it doesn’t work if he wants to chew my clothes or my hand he will! He is so stubborn and will bluntly refuse to do things, if he doesn't want to come he wont, even when I’m jumping around like an idiot trying to be more exciting then the thing he's interested in...!!!!!!!

He's enrolled in obedience training (the RSPCA course) but it doesn't start till September!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So any advice of what I can do in the meanwhile to make my naughty puppy listen to me?

[Dogsfevr]

I wouldnt bother with the RSPCA course,i would enrol in a good obedience club where you do training until atleast 12 months.Most RSPCA courses are only 6 weeks & you wont learn much at all.

Simply sounds like pup has you well trained.

When picking up from the bed always make sure the pup is aware your there ,amny people just sort of grab & frieghten young pups,they should never growl but a bad experience can create a reaction so make sure you acknowledge yourself & request the pup to respond.

Pups can be stubborn but you must be consistant of the rules & that means all house members.

Pups respond to what the humans create,expect & instruct.

You dont have a conversation with pup,you use a simple key word with a fun voice tone & reward with praise.make sure you respond to doing the right thing quickly whilst the pup nows what it has done.

Cavies are very smart breeds,they are super obedience dogs & luv life to the fulliest.They must be treated like a dog not royalty.

[Poodle wrangler]

Go to Training/ Obedience/ Dog sports subforum. Pinned to top of page is "Triangle of Temptation". Do this with your dog.

He has to eat and it only takes an extra 5 minutes to also do this too.

Practice NILIF- Nothing In Life Is Free- philosophy with your dog, too. All good things come from you and are dependent on his cooperation.

Might sound a little harsh, but your dog needs you to be a leader and it will make it so much better for you both :cool: .

[Doghouse]

20 weeks is coming into teenage behaviour too..

Id do what has been suggested and ascert your position in the pack not the lovey dovey mummy but Alpha dog and pack leader.. A dog should never ever growl at you unless in pain.. My dogs know the difference between cutie talk and mums in charge talk.. its all in the tone.. I only have to drop my tone and inclination two octaves and they know its not on..

As cute as dogs are it must be remembered that they are dogs.. and you are in charge.. otherwise there will be trouble further down the track..

[Staff'n'Toller]

Which State do you live in?

Mel.

[OhMarley]

Which State do you live in?

Mel.

WA.

For starters it’s not me he growls at it’s my Mum, she's too soft on him. We've had dogs before and never had a problem so making the assumption that we're are being soft, inconsistent and such is not a fair or correct assumption. With my Father and I he never growls. Sometimes he’s good and will listen, however the moment there is a distraction he suddenly goes deaf. We aren’t planning on taking him to just one lot of training, we have to start somewhere and we have tried other places and found them to be useless. It was recommended by the vets I work with to go to the RSPCA training and so we are. After that we’ll reassess where to go.

What I was hoping to get when posting this message was suggestions on how to gain and keep his attention as that is the biggest problem. As well how to handle situations in which he is refuses to do what he’s told.

[sas]

Hello Everyone I’m new to this forum, I need some advice.

I have a 20week old CKCS puppy named Marley. I love him to bits he's a character and a half! However when Marley doesn’t want to do something Marley will NOT do it! He grumbles when taken of my bed, he'll mouths and bites constantly (and I know he's teething) and I’ve tried redirecting his biting to toys but it doesn’t work if he wants to chew my clothes or my hand he will! He is so stubborn and will bluntly refuse to do things, if he doesn't want to come he wont, even when I’m jumping around like an idiot trying to be more exciting then the thing he's interested in...!!!!!!!

He's enrolled in obedience training (the RSPCA course) but it doesn't start till September!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So any advice of what I can do in the meanwhile to make my naughty puppy listen to me?

Puppy needs to know who the leader is and thinks its' him.

I wouldn't be jumping around like an idiot to get his attention, he can hear you just fine, I'd be careful jumping up and down and being all exciting with a puppy who currently is bitey and jumpy as it may over excite them :rolleyes:

I would reccomend the below reading:

1) Understand the different phases puppies go through: http://www.k9force.net/index.html?row2col2=develop.html

2) TOT: http://www.k9force.net/index.html?row2col2=tot.html

3) NILIF: http://www.k9force.net/index.html?row2col2=nilif.html

4) A great book called Dog Listener from Jan Fennel

What I was hoping to get when posting this message was suggestions on how to gain and keep his attention as that is the biggest problem. As well how to handle situations in which he is refuses to do what he’s told.

By being a good leader you'll be able to get his attention. There is an activity we do at puppy school: Get a plastic container, fill it with coins or rocks, shake it and when puppy comes give puppy a reward and say "Good Come".

Puppies do have short attention spans but to simply get his attention should be fairly straight forward.

Good Luck

Edited August 12, 2007 by sas

[OhMarley]

Thankyou very much, I shall try those sites out. The coin in container idea sounds like a good one to me