Puppy Training

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

My fiancee and I are trying to figure out how to continue/start training our puppy. He is becoming a big pain and quite dominant. Actually he was dominant from day one but he now seems to disregard most commands and only listens maybe 50% of the time.

Just thought I would see if any of the dog people on here have any advice or know a really good trainer IN Vancouver (not in Burnaby or somewhere). At this point, I don't mind paying a lot to have him (us) trained.

He is a Boston Terrier, Miniature Pinscher with a little Jack Russell. If we had known about the Jack when we bought him, we would have never bought him. Both of us really dislike Jack Russells.

We expected hyper, but he absolutely ridiculous. More energetic than any dog I or my fiancee have ever had...by far. He seems to have a problem still with meeting people and other dogs. He just cannot calm down. He literally starts shaking and whining, jumping, nipping. He knows he is suppose to sit before anyone can approach him and he used to but now he is starting to just go nuts if he is restrained or made to sit when he wants to see someone. He cries so loud that it sounds like he is dying lol. Its very embarrassing.

The other problem is his lack of obedience in the house. He was progressing very well for months but the past little while seems to be going backwards. By about 8 weeks, he was starting to nip hands a lot and chase the cat around the condo. He was terrible on walks but this was all to be expected. Over the next few months he got better on walks and actually stopped the nipping of hands quite a bit. Now he is starting to do it all over again. We have obviously lost his respect.

He does listen but often it takes a long time to get his attention and he ends up listening more on his own terms than ours. He has also started to bark back at us when we give him a command. He has also started to bark at the cat a lot which he never used to

Any ideas? He is just about 7 months old now and was neutered yesterday.

I guess I should give him some credit for the good things...he was "paper" trained very well and quickly, only going to the bathroom outside on the balcony (on paper) or waiting to go for his walk. He has also never chewed anything he is not suppose to after being told to stop other than paper if he finds it. He has no problem sleeping in his crate at night.

So we seem to have been lucky with a few things

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Here are a bunch of pictures of the little bugger (Diesel) ....

When we first got him:



Few weeks later:



Few weeks ago:

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

And just cause I love this one!

[365seasons]

Adorable puppy! I really like his coloring.

I'm not an expert on dogs or anything, but I figured I'd share my experience, and you can take or leave what you choose from it.
My parents actually have a 7 month old boxer puppy right now, and have been going through a lot of the same thing right now, so a lot of this is fresh on my brain.

First off, neutering should help him be a little less dominant, so lets hope for the best there. Hopefully he will calm down a little. As far as the biting, and barking at you goes, you are right. He is pretty much in his teenage years and telling his parents "NO!". My parents and I have found that with Zephyr (their boxer), when the dog starts biting, to calmly say no, and go to another room, or up on a high chair or somewhere where the dog cannot bite. Usually they are doing this for attention, and regardless if you are trying to break the bad habit with techniques, it is still bad attention. So by leaving them, you are telling them that you do not appreciate that and will not tolerate it.
As well, when he barks at you when you ask him to do something, I would suggest putting him on a time out. This should not be a bad thing, where there is yelling or pulling, just a calm time out so he can calm down and realize that you are, indeed, the alpha & boss, and that that behavior is unacceptable.

Something I'm sure you've been doing already, but will mention anyways, is the reward system. Whether your dog is praise oriented or responds to food, you need to let him know exactly what behavior you like and praise him generously for it each time he does it, whether you commanded it or not (at least for now). By doing this, the dog will be trying to please you constantly because he will associate that with praise.

Other than that, he is in his teen years as far as age goes, and as long as you keep on doing what you'd been doing in the start that worked, I wouldn't get too discouraged. He should just be going through a phase and by staying constant, he will come out of it well trained. As he is an energetic dog, try working with his commands and his temper after he has had a long walk or exercise. This may just help your sanity as he will be worn out and more compliant.

Hopefully I could be of some help, and I really hope that you and your fiancee can figure out a solution for the problems you are having. He is an adorable puppy and I'm sure he will grow into a great dog. =)

[The Grizz]

How much exercise is he getting? He needs to be totally played out before you do any training. If you wear out his energy he will be easier to train. One idea is a hulla hoop, with treats oin one hand and the hoop n the other get him to jump threw the hoop over and over untill he doesn't want to any more. If he seems like he want to stop get him focused on the treats on the other side of the hoop. Keep your tone of voice calm & monotone when training commands. If you get excited so will he to. Play play and more play is your key to success.

[Navigator]

I have a Labrador that I adopted from the SPCA when he was about a year old and he was very dominant. It took a long time before he stopped embarrassing me in public, but I took him to Petsmart Obedience, and lucked out that the trainer was very knowledgable. Jack Russells are what they are, but they are smart little suckers and probably would respond well to some formal training since it gives their brains something to do. My Lab loves learning new stuff (comes with food!) but I find it does help calm him down too.

The books by Ceasar Milan are pretty good, and they do advocate a lot of walking, and restrained walking - not one of those zip line leashes, keeping them close to establish dominance. I find long walks with a little training session after really worked for my dog and he's pretty good now, very few slips. The one thing that I really liked from training was teaching them to walk on a loose leash - I guarantee if you have a puller - you will look ridiculous for awhile but it works. Take them out on a 6 ft leash and the second he pulls - stop. Have him come back to you and sit. Then carry on - every time he pulls you stop. I must have taken 25 minutes to walk half a block the first night but I now have a 80 lb Lab that walks like an angel on a leash with no gimmicky collars or rig-ups.

[workn2hard2day]

I know that the treadmill saved us. Our Golden never really got tired on outside walks. (2 - 1/2 hr during day and a 1 hour at before dinner) He walks on the treadmill at 4mph for about 10-15 mins.
It is cute to catch him standing on it looking at the control panel wondering why it isnt moving. Started him on it when he was under a year, but the older lab wont even go near it.
I got the idea from Cesear Millan.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by 365seasons

Adorable puppy! I really like his coloring.

I'm not an expert on dogs or anything, but I figured I'd share my experience, and you can take or leave what you choose from it.
My parents actually have a 7 month old boxer puppy right now, and have been going through a lot of the same thing right now, so a lot of this is fresh on my brain.

First off, neutering should help him be a little less dominant, so lets hope for the best there. Hopefully he will calm down a little. As far as the biting, and barking at you goes, you are right. He is pretty much in his teenage years and telling his parents "NO!". My parents and I have found that with Zephyr (their boxer), when the dog starts biting, to calmly say no, and go to another room, or up on a high chair or somewhere where the dog cannot bite. Usually they are doing this for attention, and regardless if you are trying to break the bad habit with techniques, it is still bad attention. So by leaving them, you are telling them that you do not appreciate that and will not tolerate it.
As well, when he barks at you when you ask him to do something, I would suggest putting him on a time out. This should not be a bad thing, where there is yelling or pulling, just a calm time out so he can calm down and realize that you are, indeed, the alpha & boss, and that that behavior is unacceptable.

Something I'm sure you've been doing already, but will mention anyways, is the reward system. Whether your dog is praise oriented or responds to food, you need to let him know exactly what behavior you like and praise him generously for it each time he does it, whether you commanded it or not (at least for now). By doing this, the dog will be trying to please you constantly because he will associate that with praise.

Other than that, he is in his teen years as far as age goes, and as long as you keep on doing what you'd been doing in the start that worked, I wouldn't get too discouraged. He should just be going through a phase and by staying constant, he will come out of it well trained. As he is an energetic dog, try working with his commands and his temper after he has had a long walk or exercise. This may just help your sanity as he will be worn out and more compliant.

Hopefully I could be of some help, and I really hope that you and your fiancee can figure out a solution for the problems you are having. He is an adorable puppy and I'm sure he will grow into a great dog. =)

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.

Originally Posted by The Grizz

How much exercise is he getting? He needs to be totally played out before you do any training. If you wear out his energy he will be easier to train. One idea is a hulla hoop, with treats oin one hand and the hoop n the other get him to jump threw the hoop over and over untill he doesn't want to any more. If he seems like he want to stop get him focused on the treats on the other side of the hoop. Keep your tone of voice calm & monotone when training commands. If you get excited so will he to. Play play and more play is your key to success.

He does NOT get enough exercise and we do know that. Not having a yard is a problem and something we have considered before and after getting him. We have talked a lot lately about whether keeping him is even fair. He is walked daily but I cannot always take him for hours and hours to tire him out. Actually I have taken him for a day long walk around the seawall here and down to the beach but he was still crazy when we got home. I don't think walks or even runs wear him out. I have yet to see him really tired other than going to sleep at night. I suppose it's impossible to never be tired but I don't know what it would take.

We do try to keep calm and monotone with commands as he does respond very negatively to yelling or worse yet, excitement in our voices! If you get excited around him, you have to understand he is going to go nuts! lol

Originally Posted by Navigator

I have a Labrador that I adopted from the SPCA when he was about a year old and he was very dominant. It took a long time before he stopped embarrassing me in public, but I took him to Petsmart Obedience, and lucked out that the trainer was very knowledgable. Jack Russells are what they are, but they are smart little suckers and probably would respond well to some formal training since it gives their brains something to do. My Lab loves learning new stuff (comes with food!) but I find it does help calm him down too.

The books by Ceasar Milan are pretty good, and they do advocate a lot of walking, and restrained walking - not one of those zip line leashes, keeping them close to establish dominance. I find long walks with a little training session after really worked for my dog and he's pretty good now, very few slips. The one thing that I really liked from training was teaching them to walk on a loose leash - I guarantee if you have a puller - you will look ridiculous for awhile but it works. Take them out on a 6 ft leash and the second he pulls - stop. Have him come back to you and sit. Then carry on - every time he pulls you stop. I must have taken 25 minutes to walk half a block the first night but I now have a 80 lb Lab that walks like an angel on a leash with no gimmicky collars or rig-ups.

We have a few books from Milan. Although I do like his methods, I don't think much of his methods are for us but I may have read the wrong books. In the books i have read, he is mostly training using a pack which is an advantage we obviously don't have. He is also using basically a "no love" approach (for lack of a better term) where he is not showing the dogs "human" love and affection but treating them purely as dogs. I have really butchered that description and I think I may have read the wrong books. I will check the others. We did take some stuff from his books like the walking strategies. The long lease....never worked. I tried for a week straight about an hour each day but after I stop, he is stubborn enough to never come back no matter how long I wait and call him back. Maybe I didn't try long enough? We just literally were getting no where. Keeping the lease very short so he cannot walk ahead of us is how it is now but he pulls like crazy and ends up choking a lot. I am stubborn enough to never give in to him but I amount of people who comment on how mean I am gets annoying. I walk him mostly at night now...not good either.

It's amazing how many people on the street have an opinion on how to "fix" the puppy and a majority are just stupid. Someone even told me to beat him and he will listen. I looked at her poor dogs and felt really bad for them

Thanks guys!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by workn2hard2day

I know that the treadmill saved us. Our Golden never really got tired on outside walks. (2 - 1/2 hr during day and a 1 hour at before dinner) He walks on the treadmill at 4mph for about 10-15 mins.
It is cute to catch him standing on it looking at the control panel wondering why it isnt moving. Started him on it when he was under a year, but the older lab wont even go near it.
I got the idea from Cesear Millan.

I bet this would help but we just don't have room for one and I don't think my gym would like me bringing him along lol. My girl would probably think I am taking the dog to the gym to "pick up chicks" Actually that's one thing he was good at when he was really little. Now he just jumps all over them Not that I'm using him for that hahahaha

[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....