Help, My Doodle is Smarter than ME!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Hey everyone, last week Sophie graduated top of her obedience class. She's awesome at obedience, IN Class! Outside of class is a different story.

 

Last night I had them running around inside the tennis court because she would not settle down and I didn't want to go to the dog park in the dark (it was like 10pm). She was playing and jumping really agressively with winston and I could tell he was getting frustrated even though he didn't really react, he never does. So I tried to grab her and she bolted...story of our lives.

 

There was neighbour walking by with her dog and we were chatting a bit and it started up again with the aggressive play. I sheepishly told the neighbour that this is somewhat new behaviour and I'm working on it. Then I tried to leash them up to go but Sophie wouldn't come anywhere near me. I kept calling her and she just stood there looking at me. I told my neighbour she graduated from obedience class with near perfect marks but you'd never know it. She said she totoally believes it, Sophie is a smart girl and knows exactly what she is doing! I guess that's true. My doodle is outsmarting me!

 

Sometimes I feel like I'm begging her to come. It's so frustrating. If I pull out a treat, she's there instantly, but otherwise, forget it! I have to get someone else in the dog park to grab her for me because if she senses I want to leave she won't come near me. She's such a brat! Sometimes I just pretend to walk off with Winston, and go out the gate to the leashing area where the water fountain is. So far that has worked, she follows us thinking she's getting some water, which she does, but as she's drinking I make my move and grab her harness.

 

So yea, I need to nip this in the bud. I've started doing more training at home, like down stays and such, but she's even defying me on those. Winston sets a perfect example, and goes straight down, getting his treat instantly, and then waits patiencly as I have to repeat the cammand like 5 or 6 times and she just sits there looking at me like "what the heck lady??, hand over that treat now". I then have to lure her down with the treat, which is something I never needed to do in our obedience classes.

 

Did I meantion she's 10 months? *sigh*.

 

So I need some tricks and tips for improving recall, and generally reminding my puppy that she is not in charge here (even if she is *slightly* smarter than me).

 

 

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

when you figure it out, let me know.lilly has trained me well and at 5 months, it is time to take control.