Why is my puppy disobedient

Take the 8 week old bull mastiff puppy: You let him out of the crate, he is so excited to see you and he jumps up on your legs. You, just as excited to see him, love and pet him all while he is jumping up. Flash forward 6 months. That same puppy is now 80 pounds. You let him out of the crate, and he jumps up, knocking you down. How does he know what he did wrong?

You allowed it when he was little and he has learned that it is ok. Or, take the little 10 week old Lhasa Apso… She is just too cute with that little button nose and those big brown eyes. She really enjoys play biting and chewing on your fingers. You think… She is so little and it must feel good on her puppy teeth so you allow it. Now your little princess is 10 months old. You are all dressed up to go out to dinner and her she comes… She grabs hold of your skirt and starts tugging. You are so worried she will tear it that you reach down to stop her and to your surprise, she bites at your hands!

You let her when she was little…. It is up to us to teach them the right things. Inconsistency is your worst enemy when raising a puppy. These devices will allow you to somewhat control the movements of your dog, especially when they are misbehaving. Go to the pet store and test out the strengths of various leads. Make sure that the collar fits well enough so that your dog cannot slip out of it. Try out head halters.

For those dogs who are particularly unruly, a head halter, also called a halti or gentle leader, may be a good option. This is especially helpful with dogs that lunge and pull on the leash. Some head halters are designed for long-term wear and you can keep them on your dog while you continue indoor training. Use positive reinforcement. You can reward the dog by providing tasty treats or by giving tons of affection.

After your dog does something good, you want to reward it immediately in order to get the maximum benefit. It is also a good idea to reward your dog when they are behaving calmly. Ignore bad behaviors. Some dogs behave badly in order to get attention, even negative attention. To remedy this type of interaction, give your dog plenty of positive chances to play and learn with you.

However, when they do misbehave, turn your shoulders away and make a point of paying them no attention. Use a disruption device. When a dog starts to misbehave they might lose control of themselves and just continue until they are exhausted.

One way to stop this snowball effect is to disrupt it mid-cycle. You can keep a can filled with coins nearby or an air horn and give it a quick go whenever your dog starts to act out. You should still give your dog a positive outlet for their emotions. Catch your dog by running away. This may sound a bit odd, but it often works. If your dog enjoys running away from you, then make a bunch of noise and run in the opposite direction.

This will usually incite their hunting instinct and they will turn and follow you. However, only do this if it is safe to do so. Method 3. Start training early. If you adopted your dog or purchased it from a breeder, you may not have too much control over the initial training schedule.

However, it is best to start training your puppy prior to 9 weeks, if possible. This is a crucial time for socializing with other puppies and humans. It is also a good time to introduce some of the rules of self-control, such as refraining from jumping or biting.

It might be helpful to choose one trick or behavior to focus on before moving on to something new. For example, you can work on teaching your dog how to sit. Or, maybe you'd like your dog to stop jumping on others.

Give your dog plenty of exercise. Some breeds, such as border collies, are highly intelligent and require daily stimulation. If you fail to give them that attention, then they will find trouble elsewhere. If your dog is an active breed and begins to act in an unruly way, you may want to add in a few extra play sessions somewhere.

Avoid potentially problematic situations, at least at first. This will also reduce your stress as well, as you can simply watch them behave in a good way. For example, busy dog parks or areas with lots of screaming and running children can overwhelm your dog and create bad behaviors. Look into dog obedience courses. This is a good way to teach your dog new skills or to reinforce lessons that they have learned, but forgotten. You can also look for a class that will address specific behavioral problems, such as biting or jumping.

Look for classes that use positive reinforcement methods. Do not physically punish your dog. No matter how frustrated you become, do not hit or strike your dog. This will only make your dog fear you and can prompt a whole new host of problem behaviors. Instead, take a deep breath and think about what you would like to happen differently in the future. Then, make sure to be consistent in establishing rules for your dog to follow.

Any advice on this would be great, I have been trying to work at this for months and months on my own. Thanks, Brittany. Hi there, for help with the topics covered in this article you are very welcome to join the forum. Hi Pippa. I know this post is old but I need help.

I have a 12 month old female pitbull. I have completely trained my dog. I know you have to be consistent. If she doesnt follow my command I walk away and come back when she is calm. Lately its been becoming a pain in my toosh.

I have always made her lay down to eat. Both back legs have to be flat on the floor and front. There are times she goes ahead and lay all the way down so i can tap her bowl to eat. But Lately when I say lay down she will only squat. I dont repeat myself. I give a aht aht if she doent obey. I walk away. She will bark and whine for minutes.

When she is quite. I come back. She does it again. She goes on for another 45 minutes. When she is calm I come back. She will not move. She will lay down wait for my command and all. I dont agree that dogs dont do things out of spite.

If she knows how to hide her poop under a cover. I wait 3 minutes for her to be quite to return to her with food. Now she has a enough sense and soon as 3 minutes hits on my timer she cant hear it she starts to go off again like hey your not moving fast enough. I will be crazy to let that dog think she will run me…please help.

I have a german shepherd rottweiler mix. He is 2 years old. When have his training collar on, he minds perfectly I have not had to use it but twice, just putting it on works.

He totally understand the commands and obeys off leash as well every command — slowly, he will never have heart failure, it takes him a full 10 seconds for him to sit or down or anything, but he does it. Without the collar, he minds when he wants. I tell him to leave the kitchen which he knows he is supposed to do , he will walk away, turn around and come right back.

With the collar on, he leaves and goes to the living room and lays down. Without the collar, it takes him 30 seconds or more to sit, down, etc..

What can I do? Leave his training collar on? For openers? Reread the material above. Do you need to be doing more basic training? Rewarding more? Putting him on a leash or line — and then asking him to respond? Add a new behavior on YOUR part? Or is he fed somewhere else? Read up, also, on clicker training if you are of a mind to. We cannot walk him outdoor. He barks to everything people at street strangers motorcycles….

When he jumps or bites us the more we say no or become angry the more he insists and continue doing that. Did the trainer respond to you. We have a almost 6 month old Westie that obeys all commands, and even comes when we call him! But he refuses to listen to us when we tell him no to bad behavior. We have tried everything. Can someone help my puppy is 4 months old he destroys his pad he shews on door and any wood surface he pees out of his pad on the floor.

Really helpful article on willful adolescents. Other articles mostly talked about reinforcing training but it is helpful to know about the changing relationship. Makes sense. As a teen I certainly found it more fun on my own than with Mother.

Hi I have a six month blue heeler mix,i feel she is very aggressive constantly bitting. I have that problem too. He was fine at first but danger wise as he poked me in the eyes twice. I rather a already trained dog next time not too big easy to pick up and put in car less issues. Now winter over, enjoying spring and having a garden again. I have a six year old female dog which is two-thirds golden and one-third cocker.

She is the most strong-willed dog we have ever owned. Otherwise she is a very loving dog. My problem is that she only comes if she feels like it. My dog is disobedient in subtle ways. If I tell him to go to his bed while pointing at the bed, he will lay next to it. He may sleep in the bed when I am in a bedroom but as soon as I walk around my apartment, he will only lay in areas where he blocks the pathway, so constantly have to tell him to move.

I have to tell him several times just to sit. Hearing is fine I also have 2 cats that he has suddenly became jealous of. I try to make sure I give them all attention, however my dog can never get enough and the more attention I give the more he craves.

I tried teaching him to fetch, he will bring the object back, however never to me. He will instead bring it back to a spot about 5 steps away from me and drop it on the ground. This happens even if I have treats of try to encourage him to bring me the object. I also wait until we are alone and in a small fenced in area so he has no distractions.

He is a horrible walker, I bought a gentle leader harness that has made him tolerable to walk, however he now walks with his head firmly in place, making it difficult to lead. He also, will go days wothout eating because he wants to eat the cats food. I have tried getting him bones that distract him momentarily and food game toys that he refuses to play with. I have had him for 2 years but I have lived with him his entire life. Does anyone have any suggestions.

It had a bad start in life, and I have tried to give it a happier life — but must now face failure. I really liked this article and found it very helpful! We have been given so much often conflicting! Thank you! And wish me luck! I think there are two types of dog, people dogs — those whose favourite game has a human at the other end; and dog dogs — those whose favourite game has a dog on the other end. You can make yourself look like a total clown and he will still run off to another dog no matter what.

My dog, now aged about seven years, was adopted two and a half years ago. However, he is getting better the more I walk him off lead. Well, to be more accurate, I walk and he runs. Today, I took him to the playing fields by the river and he was behaving better than he ever has. He stayed within metres of me.

Usually he runs metres ahead. After 45 minutes, 1 headed back to the car and suddenly he tore off and headed for the street, ignoring my call. In the end, I spent over ten minutes following him in the car while he broke off from time to time from chasing cats to run up to the car only to dash away when I opened the door.

Finally, l had to lure him with the tube of liver pate that I use for rewarding quick response to recall. My only comfort is that he has every intention of coming back and now he does come back much sooner than he used to. Hi, i have read your article and found it very informative. I have a problem and wondered if you could help me with. I realize from what i read that it is me, but need help, my 17 month old staff will stay by my side if I have his ball in my hand.

I excersise him for an hour twice a day, ball throwing to burn off his energy, and train him constantly indoors. Please can you advise how I can correct what iam doing wrong please.

Hi Nick, learning in dogs is not easily generalised. You need to proof all the cues that you teach your dog in different places. It also sounds as though you may be using the ball as a bribe rather than as a reward so this article may help too.

When training is not progressing or has broken down it is often best to pick one command and get that right first. I suggest you start by proofing your recall cue.

Join the forum for help and support with your training.