Help! Is my dood turning into a bratty boss!!?

[Amanda & Riley]

Although my Riley may be small (10 pounds at 12 weeks), I am afraid her some parts of her personality keeps on getting bigger and bigger. It started about a few weeks ago...

 

Barking to get our attention whenever she wants it. We try our best to ignore her..

 

This past Saturday I took her to her first puppy class. I was prepared to have the star student in the class!! Now Riley is smart... and she knew how to do everything that was asked of her, but I was absolutely SHOCKED that I ended up having the "loud, obnoxious" dog in the class!! She would not stop barking the entire class. I was absolutely horrified. The instructors were telling me to give her treats to keep her quiet.... But isnt that reinforcing her behavior?? I could only imagine the other families going home and speaking about how annoying Riley was and why I could not get her to calm down.

 

I realize it might have been partly my fault... I did not take her for a walk before the class, but I am not sure if just taking her for a walk will stop this behavior next week!

 

Any suggestions?? --- For both at home and in class??

I dont want to have a bossy pup!

[Alex/Mindy/Georgia/Coral]

We had the same problem initially. The first thing we did was to master the Cesar Millan "Sshht!", and the second was to teach her the command to speak by waiting until she barked naturally and saying good speak and treating her. After she had successfully learned that, we would give the command quiet or the Sshht sound. You will no longer have a need for chewy distractions any longer.