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!!

 

 

[Adina P]

Here are the FREE online books I recommend for puppy owners:

Part One is called Before Getting Your Puppy -- Ian Dunbar kind of overdoes it when he tells you your puppy SHOULD have been raised with Kongs at the breeder--not really necessary...so take that part with a little grain of salt.

Part Two is called After Getting Your Puppy and you can download it from here: http://stores.lulu.com/dogstardaily

Also be forewarned that Ian Dunbar makes it seem like if your puppy has ONE accident the world will come to an end. I would ignore that general line of thinking because it is simply not true and not the experience of most of us. But the rest is very simple, useful, etc.

Just remember your puppy will be a spazz for some time. That's normal. Just envision yourself standing there, calmly, knowing it's a silly little dog while your puppy does her tazmanian devil impressions while circling you at lightening speed. Act like it's so boring you could fall asleep (don't actually fall asleep just envision your FEELING being that of "yeah...whatever.") This too shall pass. Her jumping on the couch repeatedly and trying to get away with it is not indicative of you raising a dinosaur who will eat you. She's just a happy, hyper, let's-try-everything-once puppy who is learning about her world.

You have to tell her what is OK or NOT Okay in YOUR house...and you have to tell it to her until you turn blue.
And when you realize she'll do certain VERY bad things anyway and you're tired of repeating yourself and turning blue (or red), it's okay to crate her so you can breathe and let your face return to its normal hue while you get other things done.

There's Management: Making sure she is physically incapable of practicing some behaviors (by crating, leashing, closing doors, closing blinds, putting up baby gates, etc). This part's relatively easy, but doesn't fix things...only prevents things.

Then there's Training: Teaching her to respond to your commands in a timely manner the first time you say it -- this part takes a lot of work and practice over many many many months.

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

Consistency is SO SO important with these pups. As Adina said, it's short term and truly will get better. I think we've ALL been in tears at one time or another with these pups out of frustration and feeling incompetent. Kind of like real kids too...at times:)
I just have to make one comment about the cats - I disagree about throwing the cats into the mix at this point. It is so overwhelming for you at this point, AND Daisy. Let them deal with each other safely through a fence for another month or so. Then the cats and Daisy will be calmer and more accepting of each other.

Definitely start her in puppy socialization and training classes. It's so important.

Scat mats - go to Home Depot and have one of those clear runners with the teeth cut to the length you want. They are narrower and more flexible than the desk chair mats. Just a suggestion:)

[Minga & Malu & Costa]

Oh ya, those runners are what I was talking about....nice and floppy!

[Christine and Daisy]

Hi:

We have blocked the cats off still. I know the behaviourist told us not too, but we have in a different way. It was much too challenging with a plastic 8 panel dog pen stretched across about a 5 yards space. The 36" panels kept leaning over so we had them stacked with heavy boxes which the animals just jumped on to get over anyhow. Now we have the upstairs blocked off with the one panel that has a cat door on it. The cats sleep with us at night while D's on the main floor in her crate and not minding it at all. Cat's food dishes are in the den which is a really large room with french doors. We discovered that D was loving to dig in the litterbox and eat the cats poop so we needed a new solution!!

Also, now Daisy is only on a leash inside the house and another member suggested to me to use the Feliway diffuser for the cats to calm the cats down during this stressful situation. My one cat did start pooping on our things in the house but stopped recently...fingers are crossed that she won't continue.

Hubby is at Home Depot so often these days since we moved a month ago so I'll ask him to look into the custom cut mats. If we don't have that option here, I can check over the border in Washington as we are now living closer to the US. Tin foil was also suggested to me. That would be less expensive but we'll see what option causes success.

Thanks so much for your suggestions!

[Karen P]

I too, can say that it will get better. Chewie was so "puppy" bad when we first got him. He bit us all the time when we tried to stop him from doing something he was not supposed to do. We used to call them his "puppy temper tantrums". What used to really upset me was when we were told to yelp like a puppy when he was biting us and he should stop. NOT... this just got him going more and escalated the situation. There were many, many, many nights I thought what have we done while I was crying !!! But we have taken him to 2 puppy classes and a basic obedience class which he graduated and got his Canine Good Citizen Certificate. I noticed the biggest change was when he got his all of his adult teeth around 6 months. It was like a switch was turned and he never bites us anymore. I truly belive that with constant training you will get to this point. Chewie is only 8 months now and at 8 weeks I never thought we would get to this point !! Hang in there!

[Laura & Chewie]

I couldn't possibly add much that already hasn't been posted...just want to offer the same encouragement that this too shall pass. We also have been there, done that with Chewie. Not all methods work for all dogs, so experiment, but not to the extent that it confuses her. Time and age work wonders. Chewie is turning a year old this week and the difference in him is amazing. He certainly still has his "puppy moments" as we call them, but overall is such a good boy. Have patience (I know, easier said than done sometimes)...it will truly be worth it!

[Donna K & Quincy]

When Quincy was a puppy someone suggested we put aluminium foil on the sofa. I did exactly that, a long strip along the length of the couch. The first time he jumped on the foil he jumped right off again like a scalded cat. He didn't go near the couch again until I took the foil off. Might be worth a try. Shelly also had great suggestions to let her know who's in charge. Good luck.

[Christine and Daisy]

I will try this definitely. This I can do right now, then I can try the upside down office mat if the foil isn't working. Great idea!

[shelly]

Oooo Donna! I have never heard of using tin foil! Great idea.... wonder if it would work if I shook it for her barking - lol At this point I'll try anything (except a shock collar)
:O)

[Kyoko]

Wow , you got a lot of advice here.....and I am going to add one more.....
I am all forpositive inforcement. Charlie's trainer tells me not to say "NO".
How about clicking or saying "yes" when she gets off the couch followed by a treat?

[Christine and Daisy]

I just started this and like the end result so much better!

[shelly]

:O)