Dinner Challenges with Almost 6-month-old doodle

Comment by Shari Becker just now: Delete Comment
Hi Jane, Sorry about that. Will try to do that ASAP.

Comment by Jane, Guinness and Murphy 2 hours ago: Shari, would you mind starting a discussion with your questions....that way you'll get more responses. If you'd rather, let me know and I can do the "cut and paste".

Comment by Gwyndolyn Morasko 9 hours ago: And as for the price of the training, I WISH that my trainer was as affordable as yours. I'm only doing 6 sessions for $115 each. That is the normal price for one dog. Since she is only staying for the one hour, and since she knows and loves my pups from daycare, she is working with both for the same price. But $100 per hour for private training is very common. Your best bet is to go to a PetSmart for group beginner or even puppy kindergarten classes. I think I paid $150 or $190 for 8 group sessions for his puppy school. (I must admit that I wasn't that impressed with the teacher, but the socializing and distractions of the customers and other dogs in the store during lessons made it worth it to get him used to listening around distractions.

Comment by Gwyndolyn Morasko 9 hours ago: I caught the "85% potty trained at 9 months" comment. I remember being concerned when Kona had an accident at 11 weeks old! He was using the "hit the hanging bell at the back door" method by about 10 weeks old, and his last "intentional" accident was at 11 or 12 weeks old. The few after that were very unintentional accidents and completely my fault for not hearing the bell. Poor guy crossed his legs for just so long! If you haven't tried the bell method, you can google it. When I adopted a 10 month old stray this summer, she learned it from Kona in one day, so older puppies can learn quickly too.

Crating at dinner time with zero reprieve is what worked for Kona. Now that he has a sister, he reverts to barking a few times, when I'm eating but I just growl my alpha mom growl at him and he lays down pretty quickly. Sometimes I have to stand up over him and growl, but mostly seated growling does the trick. The trainer I hired last month to help with some of the barking and recall issues told me that holding him down to stop bad behavior was rewarding him because his mom was touching him. The non-touching growling is more how his mom would correct her pups from a distance. You might feel silly growling, but it is working for me. (And this barking and begging behavior didn't start for him until I adopted Maggie when Kona was 10 months old, so it can be reversed even as an older pup, but only with consistent approach by everyone in the house.) As a young pup, he was extremely good about being silent in his crate while I ate. I must have done it from day one, so he always just laid down for a nap until I got up from the table and cleared the dishes. Then he would stand up and be ready to be let out of his crate. (I wish he was that good when I'm eating a snack in another room an not at the table! Maggie can be lying on my lap while I have food inches from her nose, but she NEVER begs. The scraggly stray is the sweet obedient one. Who knew!?! I wish Kona would learn from her!

Comment by Ronna, Murphy & Wilson 12 hours ago: Shari, you need to utilize the crate. When you crate her and she barks and then yuk let her out because you can't stand the barking.... You have just rewarded her and she now she knows that barking equals getting out of the crate. Yes! You need a basic obedience class. One of the things you will learn is a long duration down stay which will be invaluable for situations like family dinner time. Until then, if you can't control the dog you must control the environment which means crating during your family meals and not letting her have alone time access to your rug. Good luck!

Comment by BG and Gavin 12 hours ago: Hi Shari - the comment section does not readily lend itself to much feedback. What I am hoping that you will do is copy your entire comment, go above to the left of the comment box to add a discussion. Open a new discussion and paste your comment there. Once you have done that, I (and others I am sure) will respond with advice :)

Comment by Shari Becker 12 hours ago: Delete Comment
Hello everyone. I am sure I'm not the first to post about either of these challenges, but I'm a first time puppy owner, and I'm really struggling to get a handle on these two bad habits. I'd love some advice. I know I should probably sign up for a puppy training class, but they seem so expensive around me. ($300 for six classes? Is it me, or is that insane? $600 for 12.)

1) Lexi She spends the entire meal time jumping up, trying to steal food. She frequently succeeds. If we crate her, she barks non stop for the entire meal. If we put her outside the kitchen, she does the same. We feed her before we eat, so she isn't hungry. The only way we can eat in peace is if someone literally sits with their hand in her harness, holding her down. Holding a dog while eating is hard, too. Because we live in a two family - with poor sound insulation - we can't really leave her barking. I'd love any advice!

2) Our second challenge is that Lexi has decided our hall rug is her favorite chew toy. I have sprayed it down with bitter apple so many times, but she doesn't seem to mind the taste. When I catch her, I say "No" and I put her in the kitchen, which is totally contained, but a day later, she's back at it. We can't remove the rug because our floors are freezing AND our condo rules say we need to have a carpet there. She's 85% house broken, and I hate to make her stay in the kitchen all day. (She hates it, too.) Am I missing something? Is there a trick I don't know? Again, would love some suggestions!

Thanks,

Shari