Bad behaviour getting worse :(

[Christine and Daisy]

Hi All:

 

I am saddened that my puppy whom I've only had for one week is beginning to exhibit some really negative behaviour. She is 4 months old and keep jumping up on the couch where she is not allowed. Everytime we catch her up there we tell her "NO" and grab her collar. Usually she gets off on her own. I did a search on the site on couch jumping and couldn't find anything that supported ways of keeping her off as the majority of people allow their dogs on.  I would love to have her on the couch but at the moment, I believe, she is thinking she's Alpha which we are trying to discourage. She's not sleeping in our bed either.

This new behaviour that we are getting a really good taste of is whenever she's on the couch and we ask her to get down she doesn't listen to "No" or a hand clap. We can't even reach her to pull her off with her collar as she darts back and forth away from us. At one point we were both trying to grab her and she started growling at us! Finally one of us grabbed her collar and my husband said "No" to which she responded by running frantically around the livingroom jumping up on us and biting us like crazy. Bites that hurt with her puppy teeth. He took her by the collar over to her crate and put her in because we didn't know what else to do with her, she was totally out of control.

 

This is our first dog, we read books and we watched a well known dog trainer (not Cesar Millan) show beforehand. At the moment we are doing obedience lessons with her daily. I get up at 5:15 am to start her day with a walk, then she goes out two more times/day. She has a backyard to run around in, we play ball with her.  We are affectionate with her. I just don't know why she's acting his way all of a sudden or how to handle it. I really need some pointers with how to deal with her acting out behaviour.

 

Thanks for any tidbits!!

 

 

[Christine and Daisy]

I don't have kids so I am inexperienced with that kind of behaviour also! I did want to point out about the couch thing. I would LOVE to have her come up and cuddle with us because I know she wants to be up there, but we chose to not allow her to be on the couch - at least not now so she's never been on it as far as I know. We don't leave her unattended so she can't be getting on it while we're away as she's always in her crate then.

She was definitely getting riled up and I think you're right. She's overtired and trying to get our attention because maybe we weren't paying enough attention to her. I ended up sitting on her dogbed with her and giving her affection which she did respond too, but like a child a few mins later she's up and running around the room jumping on the couch. When we'd pull her off and she'd bite us we dragged her over to her crate and left her in for about 5 mins. We had two of those 'timeouts' before she stopped the crazy behaviour. Then we took her out for a nice walk and she kept laying down in the grass. Tell-tale sign that it's bedtime. I did give her treats on the way for good behaviour and we came home and she easily went to bed.

Tomorrow she will be tethered to me in the house after work and I know we will have a much better day!

I feel so relieved to have found this useful site with friendly people who reply to my questions. Thank you!! I honestly don't know what I would do without it :)

[Adina P]

Christine, Christine, I can feel your worry, but really you need not worry. She's not doing anything worthy of great fear. She's just a young, bratty pup who wants to do what she wants to do and then gets all riled up when you tell her NO and wants to either play or get her way. But none of this is likely her trying to dominate you any more than a 3 year old wants to dominate you (though sometimes naughty 3 y.o. act that way!).

If you're not on the couch when she does this then just give her leash a quick tug and pull her off without making a big deal of it. Then if you ARE on the couch and she appears to want to get on, body block her and bump her off. Mostly it's just repetition and repetition at this young age until they realize...' awwww man she's serious...I'm really *not* allowed on the couch.." But don't worry about this being indicative of any big issue...it's NOT.

Our dogs are NOT allowed on furniture. It took many months for one of our doodles to figure this out (she was a rehome)...we had to put luggage and chairs on our couches when we'd leave the house. Then one day she finally quit sneaking up there. But for me it wasn't about exerting our pack leadership, it was just about not wanting muddy paws and stinky doodle butts on our sofa and reducing the chaos that inevitably ensues when dogs decide it's time to wrestle and play. That's all. I'm sure it may have influenced the dogs' view of us and our status, but it's not THAT big a deal. I think it does help your dog to learn to ask permission to do high value things like enjoy a comfy couch...so in that sense I do believe it's good to wait until you have better obedience and compliance out of your dog before allowing them on furniture, but it's an individual thing.

[Wendy and Eddie]

To keep my first dog off of the sofa, I would put the ironing board across it whenever I left the house. She was a rehome too, and It took her a long time to figure it out.

[Christine and Daisy]

Adina you are always such a wealth of information and I thank you for replying and helping me out and calming my nerves!

I don't have children so I have no experience with 'terrible twos' behaviour, but I feel like I've been thrown into with the arrival of Daisy at times.

She was so overtired tonight, we took her out for a walk after the couch episodes and she was just laying in the grass not wanting to move so I stimulated her with treats for her good behaviour and we finished up the walk, brought her home to bed and haven't heard a peep out of her since.

Tomorrow I am heading back to work so she'll be crated from 7:15am to 2:30. Hubby will come home around lunchtime to take her out for a walk. I am hoping to get her on a regular schedule so she can continue to trust and get confident with us that we are doing the right thing for her.
I have two of Cesar Millan's books and will read them both from cover to cover. I don't know anything about my dog asking permission and so many other things so I look forward to learning much more about her so we can have a better connection.

I can't thank you enough for all your thoughts & ideas.

[Adina P]

Well it's not really asking permission per se...it's just training them to not act so impulsively on every whim.  But that comes with working on obedience over some time and managing things in the meantime.

Not sure Cesar is the right guy for you to read without a HUUUGE grain of salt.  I would recommend Ian Dunbar's books for puppy raising general stuff.  I'll look for some links for you.

[Minga & Malu & Costa]

Yes Ian is great too. Patricia McConnell, as I suggested earlier as well, read read read, then practice practice practice!!

[Christine and Daisy]

I've got Cesar's books but actually haven't started to read them....I am going online now to look up Patricia McConnell and Ian Dunbar. In July I will buy Sophia Yin's book when it is re-released...unless I can find it here somewhere.

[Holly Doodle]

Be careful with the Cesar Milan books, my husband and I really like to watch him but most of his theories are for dogs who already have serious behavior issues. They don't really apply to young puppies who are just learning and sometimes you can get the opposite reaction. Try and keep training positive and you'll get a much better response!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

This is all such great advice. Let me just add...try not to be discouraged. My Murphy is about the same age, and he is also "testing". He "knows the rules", but loves to challenge them. It's a stage that we went through with our older dog as well. I would definitely keep a leash on her so that when she misbehaves you can grab her quickly and not have to enter into that "chase game". And, definitely be calm and consistent with your reactions. Putting her in the crate when she's "out of control" is a good response, in my opinion. When they're this excited, it's difficult to teach them anything. It also gives you a chance to calm down so you can approach them from a more rational place. It's great that you're doing obedience every day...that's so critical. As for the couch, every time she jumps up there, I would calmly take her by the leash and remove her saying "off". I'd then make her sit, and when she does I would give her a treat and affection. You will probably have to do this many, many times before she really gets that this is one battle she is just not going to win. It's all going to get better with time and training.....

[Lori]

The thing that worked best w/ Casper was a squirt bottle...we used it mainly for nipping, but I would imagine that if you squirt her when she jumped up on the couch it would work for you too. Good luck & don't get discouraged, those little annoyances that come along with a puppy seem to disappear a little at a time and then you gain a best friend in the process : )

[Melissa]

We got Buddy at 8 weeks and he is now almost 5 months and he still has those "puppy" moments. He will run around us in circles and bark and try to bite us. Then he is fine. And he also would want us to chase him in the house. If he went up a level ( we have a split level house) I would call to him and he would not come. THen I would go up there and he ran away. I then sat at the top of the stairs with my back to him. He realized I was not going to play and he walked right up to me calmly.

I think it would benefit Daisy and you to get her into a puppy training class. She may already know some of the basic commands, but the classes also help with socialization, with other dogs AND with people. You said that she is afraid with other people she doesn't know. We are halfway through with our puppy class at Petsmart and Buddy loves it. He knew a couple of the commands before we joined, but it allows Buddy to interact with the other puppies and with their owners. They get 10 minutes at the beginning and end of each class for play time. And also when you train the dog at home with commands there are few distractions. Our instructor actually takes us into the store on occassion to run through the commands. People are walking by, there are noises and it really teaches them to focus on you. Even if you don't go to training class, when you are on your walks work on the commands then, where there are other distractions.

And one more thing, remember that you have only had Daisy for one week. It will take her time to get adjusted to her new surroundings, especially since she has been with the breeder for 4 months. And now that you are on a new schedule with her, she will also need to adjust to that.

My husband and I have had dogs but never a puppy and we also do not have children. So we went through the same issues that you are going through as well. It is not only an adjustment for the puppy but also for us. You life gets turned upside down, but it will get better. We posted a few discussions on here when we were having a very difficult time with Buddy in the beginning and there was so much support and kind words. We were almost at our breaking point. But just like everyone said, it does get better and it did. He still has those moments, but then when they look at you with those big eyes, your heart melts and all the bad just goes away. :)

Good luck and hang in there.

[Leigh & Allie]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say what I believe everyone has thought for at least a brief moment. O.K. here it goes and I have to say I am not proud of this passing thought..............there has been a time or two where I actually thought..... I am going to put this dog on the corner and leave. Now would I have ever really gone through with it? NO. Have I said it to my husband? YES. Have I told him she is HIS dog? yes. Here is the GREAT thing. It passes!!! Allie is almost 9 months old now and does she still occasionally do something that makes me go bizerk? Yes, but these moments are few and far between now. I think you get to know each others' personalities and learn each others' quirks. That great thing to remember is that this too will pass!