Puppy Training

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

Tagging along. Our Min Pin can be a handfull most of the time too. Hyper as heck. Even with a cast on!!! She was wrapped up in the daughters blanket when I went to put girl to bed. Dog fell out and smacked coffee table Tough Pup though, I will say that. I splinted it, and she slept till morning when we could get into the Vet....

Oh man Im sorry to hear that! Our pup seems to be very tough too.

[banditpowdercoat]

Ya, I felt really bad. snapped it clean in 2. Was out of work at time too, so Vet bills were scaring me to say the least. But she got the cast off the other day the Wife said. So she's doing great now. Was really siprising how well she could get around on 3 legs. Barely slowed her down any.

[365seasons]

Thanks. We are hoping the neutering will help a little too but so far, he has come home the same dog. Day after and he is already back to his old ways. We did not expect him to calm down but maybe loose a little dominance. Maybe with time.

Many of the things your mentioning are similar to what we have tried. Many people have told us it will just take some time. This is my first dog but I grew up with many puppies over the years and none were like this. They were all large dogs though.

Hopefully with time and consistency, he will learn. Most of my experience is with large breed dogs as well, so that may be different, but just keep trying.

Good luck! =) All great advice so far on here. And luckily none about beating your dog like the lady you saw. That's horrible.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by 365seasons

Hopefully with time and consistency, he will learn. Most of my experience is with large breed dogs as well, so that may be different, but just keep trying.

Good luck! =) All great advice so far on here. And luckily none about beating your dog like the lady you saw. That's horrible.

The dogs we had growing up in my house were: German Shepherds (brother and sister), Rottweiler and the biggest, a Rottweiler x Bernese Mountain Dog, so same thing, all big dogs.

This little guy is way more trouble and work than any of them ever were!

I was shocked at what that lady told me Sad to think she had a few dogs with her at the time too.

[michika]

I'd look around for a dog walker. They can be invaluable. If you can find a great one they'll both exercise your dog, work in its socialization skills, and often you'll find that their general responsiveness to commands improves. All on top of your dog getting lots of great long walks.

You're vet could also probably recommend a behaviorist if you feel like you need additional outside help.

[The Grizz]

That was another this I was going to sugest was the treadmill. He is young enough to learn to how to work with it. You have your hands fun with this little guy. We have 2 huskies and they still get to be a hand fun and need to bust out and run there buts off. I am lucky we live on an acreage were the ajacent farmer's let me run them with my quad in there feilds.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by michika

I'd look around for a dog walker. They can be invaluable. If you can find a great one they'll both exercise your dog, work in its socialization skills, and often you'll find that their general responsiveness to commands improves. All on top of your dog getting lots of great long walks.

You're vet could also probably recommend a behaviorist if you feel like you need additional outside help.

Ok this is a good idea that I had not thought of. I am going to look into this for sure. Eventually I may look into the behaviorist too I guess. Lately I am kind of feeling a little guilty even keeping this dog. We are both very attached to him and love him a lot but maybe we are not the best home for him without a yard? We really do want what's best for him. We are looking into selling our condo and buying a house but because of our wedding next year and some roof problems with our condo, it might not be for a few years which doesn't really help diesel.

[imisky]

i have a male jack x schnauzer which is not neutered and he can be a handful sometimes but usually if he gets too aggressive during any event whether play or greeting someone simply sit him down with a firm "NO" does the trick, otherwise if your at home flip him onto his back (watch for the teeth) until they have calmed down before standing up and walking away into another room. by calm i mean they will lay on there back without you pinning them down. mental training on a dog is more tiring for them then physical training, it will wear them down fast from my experience.

I find that indoor games is useful with training them mentally, telling the dog to sit and stay and walking away, stay within his sight for the first little while then move onto walking out of his sight and calling his name and letting him find you works well both for bonding and training and wearing out his energy.

[michika]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Ok this is a good idea that I had not thought of. I am going to look into this for sure. Eventually I may look into the behaviorist too I guess. Lately I am kind of feeling a little guilty even keeping this dog. We are both very attached to him and love him a lot but maybe we are not the best home for him without a yard? We really do want what's best for him. We are looking into selling our condo and buying a house but because of our wedding next year and some roof problems with our condo, it might not be for a few years which doesn't really help diesel.

Not having a yard can also be a blessing. Remember there are some dogs who never go for walks, runs, or off-leash adventures. All their owners do is let them out in the yard and thats it. I bet he appreciates walks more then you know. My dogs love it when the dog walker comes, its definitely worth the price, the benefits completely outweigh the cost.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by imisky

i have a male jack x schnauzer which is not neutered and he can be a handful sometimes but usually if he gets too aggressive during any event whether play or greeting someone simply sit him down with a firm "NO" does the trick, otherwise if your at home flip him onto his back (watch for the teeth) until they have calmed down before standing up and walking away into another room. by calm i mean they will lay on there back without you pinning them down. mental training on a dog is more tiring for them then physical training, it will wear them down fast from my experience.

I find that indoor games is useful with training them mentally, telling the dog to sit and stay and walking away, stay within his sight for the first little while then move onto walking out of his sight and calling his name and letting him find you works well both for bonding and training and wearing out his energy.

Yeah I remember your dog He was very calm compared to my dog though! He was kind of more what I had expected when I got diesel. We knew he would be a handful but nothing like this. We actually do exactly what your saying already and he's pretty good with sitting and waiting.

I think I should be more clear. He does listen, is very smart and very, very affectionate. He just has a hard time listening once he is distracted by the cat, new people or dogs he doesn't know, birds,ect. Normal puppy stuff but like a million times worse than a normal puppy.

Then add the dominance and he can be tough to deal with. One huge mistake we made was pinning him with our hands when he was young and also putting a finger in his throat when he bites. These were things a few people had given as advice but I now believe are totally wrong...at least with this dog. He is now a little scared of hands or at least he associates hands with being in trouble. Scared is maybe the wrong word. So now he nips and tries to avoid hands even when you go to pet him. We really messed up there and are trying to fix this. We also made the mistake of going after him or chasing him when he wouldn't listen to his commands and run away. My mom has since told me never to chase after a dog as it shows them your not in control and its what he wants us to do. I'm sure we have made many more mistakes along the way which is why I know we need to be trained probably more so than diesel.