Need help training puppy before puppy training classes

[jamiegirl]

I love reading all of the posts in the forums and getting great ideas from everyone. I was hoping you could help us with questions of our own.

Our GD is 3 months old, too young for the puppy training classes that we have checked into but not too young to be started on some training. We need ideas on how to correct certain behaviors as they occur now. She jumps on us and nips on our clothes. She would also bark on occasion. If I try to do any correction like "no" or pull her away from the curtains (which she loves tearing up, by the way)she would snap at me a couple of times.

I would want my kids to love her as much as I know they could love her but right now I think they have a certain fear around her because of the jumping, nipping and barking. I have about a month and a half before the puppy training classes so I need help surviving until then.

[Adina P]

hello Jamie,

Your puppy's behavior right now is very normal and will likely go away in a few weeks or so... or at least be greatly reduced in a few weeks. This depends on how you respond to your puppy. Because puppies nipping and jumping is how they play with their litter mates, it's very normal and how they learn. But your response matters. You have to be extremely calm and nonchalant about it. You cannot let yourself get riled up or angry. Remember anything interesting that you do will only make it more fun for the puppy. If your puppy gets your attention, it will often want to repeat certain behaviors to get your attention in the future.

So again you have to be calm and collected and give the puppy a consequence. The simplest consequence is to yelp loudly so the puppy knows she hurt you...and then give her a fierce ignoring. By that I mean completely leave the room or go behind a baby gate and wait 30 seconds to a minute. Then come back, and give her something appropriate to chew or direct her activity to something appropriate. If after repeating this many times ( and repeat you must for consistency sake) she just keeps doing it, then make the consequence be something a little bit stronger like putting her in her crate for a timeout. Keep in mind that this should not be unpleasant as far as your attitude. You don't need to look angry at her or yell at her. All you're doing is showing her that when she behaves this way her fun completely ends! And then she is stuck by herself.

Now when she is chewing curtains or other things that she should not be doing, practice redirecting her attention to something appropriate and then praising her for doing the appropriate thing.

finally, go to our main forum page and search for the following terms one at a time:

- nipping
- biting

You will find a lot of past discussions on this topic and many excellent pieces of advice including how to to behave around her to reduce her nipping. if you cannot find it, let me know.

[Adina P]

here's a good one: http://doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/2065244:Topic:56092 -- pay special attention to the response I gave about what the kids should do.

[Yvonne, Riley, Murphy and Luca]

I am a big believer in tethering. My trainer has me tethered to my puppy right now for a week and a half. He was really nipping and barking a lot before that and every correction we tried only got him more excited about doing it more. It has helped so much I can not believe it. At first I could not figure out why he wanted me to do such a thing but it really made a difference. Plus, since he has been tethered to me he has learned the down command with the word and hand signal and sit he can consitently by just using a hand signal.

My suggestion is to find a private trainer and follow his or her program all the way through, this way you get consistent training and help by one method.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

I would look for a puppy kindergarten class - here in NJ the pups have to be between 3 months and no older than 6 months. That class is much more lenient but the parents have all the same issues so you can share advice. We take our classes at the local shelter.
I advise classes where the trainer teaches you to train your puppy. I like the group setting because you need distractions in order to really have your puppy understand that they must look at you, and only you for guidance. The class situation also ensures socialization with others that are leashed and that there are peramiters (spelling??) that must be followed.
One of the best ideas that I got from our puppy class for socialization to take Samantha to new places all the time. We went to the train stations - the trains made her very nervous so we jsut sat there and when the train came in or left, she got many treats. Soon the train was a cookie friend. Same thing with buses. I introduced her to all the man and women working in uniform - they had different shoes, hats, jackets, etc. i always gave them treats to give to Samantha. She had many, many cookie friends. The hardest one was the fire station - oh, those cruel fire let Samantha smell the truck, the ladders, hoses, the uniforms - now fire engines are her friends. I would also have kids with skateboards, bikes and whatever do the same thing.
The mistake I made was the amount of cookies she got. When we passes the frightening stuff, I used she favorite ball as her reward for something wonderful instead of cookies all the time. She was getting a little round, if you know what I mean.
I can't help with the chewing issues - we have been blessed with a pup that NEVER chewed a thing that wasn't hers! The DG were watching over me. Getting Samantha was not planned - I saw her, had DH come and meet her and within 2 hours she was home with us.
Good luck - try and find a class that is age appropriate her for to start now.

[Debbie and Thomas]

Hi, We have a GD who turned five months old yesterday. He has already finished 6 weeks of puppy obedience classes which we attended every Saturday morning. He has now advanced to the intermediate level. I don't know what I would have done without these classes!! This dog was a little monster!! We had scars all over our hands and arms, ripped clothes etc from the biting. He thought it was a big joke, even when we got mad and reprimanded him. If we flew off the handle which we did occasionally because we were getting so frustrated., he got worse and would bark at us. I really thought it was some kind of freak accident that he was misbehaving so badly-because all of the doodle owners on this site said what angels their dogs were. Well the dog trainer straightened this out for us as she walked in with cuts all over her hands from her puppy border collie. Run, don't walk to a "GROUP" puppy obedience class. They can start at as young as 12 weeks and the interaction and support is incredible. I won't go into the commands that our boy Thomas has learned because it would fill 10 pages, but without them I think I would have gone nuts. I tried turning around to ignore him when he was attacking me-he would just jump up and bite me in the behind. Ouch! I had to leave the room for a few minutes-when I came back he left me alone for awhile. When he started again-I would leave, then come back, again and again and he stopped bugging me entirely and listens to me like I am the boss. Unfortunately, we would just vent his puppiness on other members of the family! He has really settled down now-he doesn't bite us anymore but does get annoying pretty much every evening. I guess what I'm trying to say is that they do grow out of this and become the wonderful dog that we wanted; I hope. That is what everyone tells me and I am starting to see it happening. It has been a LONG winter! So look into puppy classes that start sooner than 6 weeks from now. Your dog will LOVE IT and so will you. As I said, we started at 12 weeks old and he was smarter than some of the older puppies who were 8 months old plus.

[jamiegirl]

I had a hard time admitting that she was becoming a handful because I didn't want to be the owner of the not-so-perfect GD. We have tried to remain calm for the most part but the frustration is slowly creeping in. She, too, has bitten our behinds when we turn our backs to her and she has also vented that puppiness to my children when she knew she couldn't with me. I appreciate the great information.

[Eileen Ross and Cody]

Boy does this all sound familiar. Cody is 7 months old we had same issues. Thank god for Dog parks in California. They really need to burn off energy. He will still jump and bite at me but usually when I am going out without him. I

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I, too, am a huge believer in tethering your puppy to you. It helps prevent potty accidents, chewed household items and just generally helps a puppy to understand that this great big new space does not belong to him with no rules! Best of all it bonds the puppy to you and as a grown up dog they will choose to be near family members (evven if it you that they are always tethered to!) At any hardware type store buy three small cheap leash snaps and about 45-50 feet of lightweight nylon line. Cut line it in about 15 foot pieces and tie a snap to one end of each piece. You now have three cheap tethers - one to use, one for the wash and one extra. These will also come in very handy when you start classes for teaching stay and heeling.

The best way for kids to play with the puppy is to ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have two or three puppy friendly (smallish, soft and chewy) toys at hand. Before play starts occupy the puppies mouth with the toy. This works great for adults too.. Honestly I think anyone who sits down without a toy close if there is a puppy in the house needs to buy more toys! Puppies nip and chew and taste, it is what they do!

Pulling the puppy away from the curtains only invites her to pull back, it is an instinctive response. Especially with such a young puppy an adult (or older child depending on the child) should move toward the puppy - no words yet. Bring your hand from the front of the nose over the top of the nose and insert your thumb in one side and your other fingers in the other side as far back as you can - you should be stretching her lips. As her mouth opens say drop and if necessary remove the curtain (or whatever) from her mouth. Replace the curtain with a toy and say Good dog. All of this must be very calm and matter of fact. Only after many repetitions of this can you reasonably expect the word drop and a small pop (NEVER a pull) on the leash to have any effect.

The book, "Dogs for Dummies" is a great help for a first time or a veteran dog owner.

Jumping? That is really a biggy for some dogs. What the puppy wants is attention and you need to not give attention for jumping and nipping. Unfortunately even saying "no" IS attention. Many coaches believe a good defense is the best offense and for jumping I think that is true. Your puppy is certainly old enough to easily learn sit. Teach sit in a non jumping situation first. Reinforce with a treat. Asking the puppy to sit for each and every meal is a surefire way to get a good solid sit. If you want detailed sit training instructions write me back. For right now Adina's "be a tree" method for the kids is a great idea. Adults just walk through the commotion (if no kids are around) with no sound no eye contact and no touching. I will willingly admit my 15 month old Roo is still less than ideal on the no jumping. His brother Tigger at 8 months is nearly over it. Roo is the only really determined jumper I have ever had, but he sure is a jumper! Your chances of getting such a determined jumper are pretty small - I hope, although the doodle breed does seem to have a high propensity for this. They are just so happy to see you. Enjoy your puppy.

[Debbie and Thomas]

Great advice Maryann,
My five month old has also reduced his jumping up. We are turning around when he does this and ignoring him. When we do this he sit's automatically (most of the time-not always) Unfortunately, with non family members or when my son (who just moved out in October) comes over he is so excited he jumps a lot. What do we do when visitor's arrive? Should we keep him on a leash until they are in the house and the commotion of their arrival has died down? I know this is a trait of the GD but I hope with training this can be releived somewhat. Also, our dog LOVES to jump up and sniff at the counters. We have to tether him on a long leash so he cannot reach the counters when we are making dinner. But at other times, he constantly surfs the kitchen counter and if we have not put everything away-he will grab anything he can get his teeth on and run with it. Tonight he grabbed the box of saran wrap and took off with it like he had struck gold. He gave it up readily though. My son said-"who cares mom-at least he is not biting us" Laughter filled our house! Thomas, our GD really did look cute with this box in his mouth heading to his spot in the family room with this treasure he had caught. However, I imediately retreived it from his "jaws of steel" and told him to"leave it". After all the next time, it could be our dinner he grabs. These are trying times to say the least. It is all worth it, isn't it? We just LOVE this dog, he is adorable and most of all, he makes us laugh!

[jamiegirl]

You've pointed out something interesting - that when we pull her away from the curtains, she just pulls back. That is so true! We have automatically just pulled her away from whatever she is chewing using her leash because it is accessible. Is this probably why she still bites on her leash? We do the same thing when she jumps on furniture or people - pull her off using her leash. Is there a better method we could use?

[Yvonne, Riley, Murphy and Luca]

Use a POP of the leash don't just pull her away. If you are just pulling her away from the item she will not understand. You want to POP the leash so she looks around and thinks "where did that come from? I better not go after that again". You want to startle her.

[Mrs. K]

I went through similar problems with my Labradoodle when we first brought him home. He's just over 4 months now and he came to us at 9 weeks.

Nipping: The breeder told us to firmly grab his muzzle and say "NO!" when he nips. I tried that and did it over, and over, and over, and over again. After several weeks of that he's finally got the point. It's all about constant reinforcement. When he stopped I'd say "good boy!" and praise him. You might also want to try gently grabbing her lower jaw and saying "NO!" or, if it gets really bad, bite her back. I know that sounds terrible, but there was one time Indy would not stop nipping so I took his little nose and GENTLY put my teeth around it and clenched just a little bit. (The vet told me to do this as a last resort.) Well he looked at me after that like "what the heck just happened??!" and he stopped right then and there. In the dog world, this is how another dog would tell her that her nipping isn't good behavior, so dogs respond to it. But again, I only did this as a last resort. Try the muzzle/jaw thing first and see if that works. It probably will. Please don't think I abused me dog! :) I didn't BITE him, I just used my mouth to get the message across to him that his behavior was unacceptable, and he responded immediately.

When she jumps on you "body block" her. That is, if you're standing up or sitting and she jumps on you, turn your body immediately away from her so she'll slide off and as you do so say "OFF!" After a lot of practice, she'll figure out that "off" means get off of me! If Indy jumps on us now I just hold up my pointer finger and say "off!" He immediately gets off because he understands, and I praise his warmly. If he jumps on the counter (which he's discovered recently b/c he's growing tall enough to check it out) I tell him off. If he doesn't listen, I take a shaker can (empty can filled with pennies and sealed shut) and shake it loudly at him. He gets right off! If he ever jumps on the counter I just shake that and within I'd say 10 days or so he finally got the message and stopped.

The issue of barking: Indy is SO quiet now, but when we brought him home he barked a lot. First I would see if he needed to go out, and if he didn't do anything out there, I figured he just wanted to play. Usually when pups bark it's because they actually want to play with you, but it is your job to teach them that this is an inappropriate way to get your attention. When Indy barked, I would say "go get a toy!" I would bring him to his toys and point at them and he would choose one, then we'd start playing with it. This only worked because I taught him what "toy" meant. Whenever he got a toy on his own I would say over and over "good toy Indy!" Now I say go get a toy (even a specific one, like "Teddy," "keys," "wubba," etc.) and he'll get that specific toy! Now he rarely barks at me. Instead he'll politely bring me a toy, put it on my lap or the floor, and sit and look at me. I know he wants to play! I praise him for his good behavior and we start playing with the toy. Remember, we've only had him 2 months so these behaviors can be learned quickly if you constantly reinforce them with her.

Which brings me to my final point: the most IMPORTANT thing is constant positive reinforcement over and over again. When Indy does something good without my asking, like if he just walks to the middle of the kitchen and sits, I tell him "good sit!" I don't give him a treat, but I let him know that I notice his good behavior and he gets praised for it. They are so smart that they quickly learn they get good attention if they do good things. So try the "good toy," "good sit," "good down," "good quiet," when she's quiet, good whatever when you see her doing something good and see if that helps. I find it a lot easier to reward good behavior than punish bad behavior. The pup wants to look up to you as leader, and if you constantly punish she won't see you that way. Help her to see that you are firm, but kind and always ready to praise. Use lots of treats at this stage--that is ok!

In the meantime, and this is just a suggestion, I would recommend the Puppy Socialization class at a nearby Petco or Petsmart. In our area it's about $100 for 6 weeks but was worth every penny. Do they teach you all the commands? Well, they try, but it can be distracting for them in the beginning. The first time we took Indy he did the following for the ENTIRE hour: 1) pulled on the leash to the point of almost choking himself, 2) BARKING at everyone--both dogs and people constantly, 3) sniffing everywhere and trying to escape. He was TERRIBLE. I thought "we have such an awful dog!" But every week he improved in leaps and bounds and by the end, he was the best behaved dog in the class--no joke! The main things Indy got out of the class were: how to interact with other dogs, do certain commands like sit, down, etc. in a distracting environment, get used to the car, walk around the store and behave in public. Honestly, it was the best $100 we've spent on him so far. He now LOVES going in the car and going to the pet store, he made a girlfriend in the class (a GD actually!) and he's just so well socialized. When I walk him on the street and he hears a dog barking at him at a neighboring house he just keeps walking and ignores it. So I definitely recommend doing a class like that, and the pup only needs to be 8 weeks old and have the first set of shots to attend. He'll be taking a Household Manners class for dogs 4 months and older starting in a couple of weeks.

I hope that this helps you. What you're experiencing it totally normal, but correctly the behaviors when she's this young is SO much easier than correcting them when she's older, and by older I mean like 4 months. Bad behaviors in dogs as smart as Doodles can get ingrained quickly, so you are so right on for starting to work with her at 3 months. Indy's girlfriend, the GD I mentioned earlier, had the exact same issues you described, esp. the nipping. She's so much better now b/c the family (kids included) became a "united front" and enforced the same rules with her constantly. It can be done and will be done a lot more quickly than you think! Remember: constant and positive reinforcement! Good luck!