Stubborn

[Pam Thomas]

I love my 12 week old Jazzy silly, but she is driving me nuts. She is not a cuddeler-which I was hoping for. And shw is a digger-everywhere and anywhere. She is white and looks like a mud pie when I finally catch her. Runs away, won't come and I can't catch her when she gets going. I don't know how to stop the digging. I can't give her a bath every day. I am having landscapers come in to get an estimate to see about putting stone in-but she will pick random spots in the yard. Any suggestions?

[Tammy and Violet]

Can you go out with her to go potty and play and if digging starts redirect her.. with treats,ball ,,, and a lot of "leave its"?

Violet never has been off leash as I live in a townhome and her recall is non existant

[Malenie Piscetelli]

She is a puppy and she will cuddeler when she get older. I walk my puppy with leash. She doesn't dig at all. Maybe you should a trainer for your puppy. That's an option.

[Laura]

I hear ya! We live in a new development, so our backyard used to be all dirt...boy, was that fun! I'm thankful we now have grass :) She still digs in dirt, though, given the chance.

Unfortunately, I don't have any advice for you, as I'm in the same boat! My girl isn't a cuddler, either, and her recall is terrible when I don't have a treat in my hand. I can empathize!

[Tammy and Violet]

My Violet is sorta a cuddler? I read here where some are really cuddlers... some .. not so much :)

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

Hi Pam - Until she understands commands and has a reliable recall, can you keep her on leash, or even a long training lead?  Beasley is 4 months old, and until recently I let her run in my fenced yard with her leash dragging behind her, for the sole purpose of being able to catch her when I say it's time.  (I did the same with Eloise throughout puppyhood, which lasted a *long* time.)  Beasley will come when called now; Eloise would not.  When she ran and I couldn't catch her (or was getting into something she shouldn't, like trying to eat plants & shrubs), I could get close enough to be able to step on the leash, and then I could grab it and/or her.  I basically don't give them the freedom to be doing anything I don't want them to do, in the house or outside, until they earn it.

Cuddliness just depends on the dog, as with most everything with these guys.  Eloise, as a puppy, was not a cuddler AT ALL.  But she turned into one, and now she is all too happy to squeeze as much of her 58 pound-self onto me as possible. :)  Or, she'll snuggle up next to me.  A lot of times, it's still on her terms though.  On the other hand, Beasley has been a cuddler from day one - but who knows if she'll stay that way.  Hopefully your girl will become a cuddler if that's what you want. 

Jazzy sounds a lot like Eloise as a puppy (minus the digging, lol).  With Eloise, I seriously thought I would tear my hair out.  If it's any consolation, Eloise has grown into a wonderful, loving and calm girl, and I'm sure Jazzy will too with lots of training and direction. :)

[Judith and Addie]

When my pup was younger - she is 7.5  months now - I would play a game with her that I call "chase". I don't run all that well as a senior citizen so it probably looked funny to anyone watching. In my fenced back yard, I would run away from Addie. Her puppy instinct was to chase me. I would stop, turn around, give her a small treat and tell her  "good, here" when she caught up to me. We would do this in the house as well. She has a fairly good recall now.

Also, when she was outside, I would be with her. She is not a horrible digger, but if I stopped to pick a weed, she would demolish the area where I had just pulled the weed. I would tell her, "no dig" and move her away and then distract her with something thrown. Some areas that she especially liked to dig I ended up putting an 18" garden fence around. She does less digging as she is getting older.

Good luck! I have found with my little girl that the behaviors that have frustrated me, suddenly seem to get better as she gets older, although, of course, new ones pop up.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Agreed! Until you have total recall on her, she should always be leashed. Nothing more frustrating than chasing after a pup who runs the other way. And they learn very quickly...running away is FUN and encourages them to run off, all the more, making it more difficult in teaching them to come when called. Leashing her will also prevent that digging and will be much cheaper than replacing your landscaping.

[Chris & Abby]

I use a 30 ft. lightweight line with a clip attached. Every time Abby (12 weeks) goes out, she is clipped to the line. My yard is small so the line gives her plenty of distance to move around it. If she gets into the plants or flowers I reel her in and call her. There is always a treat at the end so recall is coming along nicely. I feel like I can control her even at a distance yet she has a bit of freedom if she's behaving. She too is not one to cuddle but I think it's just that high, puppy energy. She does like to be loved on when she's calm so that's a good sign there may be more coming later on!

[Gretchen Nastrom]

Preston is almost 1, and we still keep him on a long 15 foot lead when we are outside playing.  He's really good about coming to me, but only when we are outside and I have treats.  If I tell him to come when we are in the house he will completely ignore me.  He did dig in our yard last fall when we first got him, but he hasn't done that in a while - I wish I could tell you what made him stop, but he just did.  I think it did help that we got that long lead and we take him out to play ball, run around the yard and generally tire him out.

[Toni Clayton]

I think 12 weeks is still pretty young, and recall is a challenging thing to learn for them. George is 7months and he recall is not anywhere near perfect. It just takes training it again, and again and again and so on..  As far as cuddling, George has just started being more cuddly and lovey. We have digging issues also, and I just haven't addressed it yet, but there are a lot of suggestions out there. Training them to dig in a certain spot, calling them away and redirecting...I think keeping them on a lead so you can follow through on commands is a great idea, inside and outside.