help with my lovely dog...

[rupertspal42]

this is something i've noticed.. she's like in her terrible twos!!! she wants to do what she wants to do when she wants to do it.. lol she's been doing ok with the chewing..again.. i'm sure she'll start when she gets mad again. lmao we're going to my mom's house and she'll be able to play with their doggys lol Layla runs back and forth through the house when she wants to play..she chases Jane around (she's the cat) and even crawls under the bed to get to her lmao.. but i'll have to look for a crate that fits her.. i'm not sure where I could put it in our house!!


*layla doesn't like to be far from me already.. when I put her up in the kitchen for the night she crys herself to sleep.. :cry: she's such a smart and wonderful dog but her stubborness is making me ccrraazzzyyyy :evil:

 

[kittywings]

Do you make a big deal about it when you leave her alone? They say that kind of a thing can contribute to the dog's separation anxiety.

We always just stroll out of the house, whether it's for 2 minutes or 2 hours... then again, my dog will squeak at the door whenever my husband leaves the house regardless of the amount of time that he's gone.

I think the dogs who don't like their crates, weren't introduced properly and thus have a prejudice about them (like mine: without knowing better, I plopped him into it the first day we had him when it was time for bed, thinking 5 minutes sitting outside it with him was good enough. He howled like someone was murdering his family right in front of his eyes... so I got a cardboard box so he could be in our room, which he climbed right out of... I think that's how the sleeping in the bathroom business started).

It sounds like boredom/terrible twos... which our dog is JUUUUUUST coming out of. According to what I've read, they try to push boundaries, etc. Basically, they're teenagers at this point and... well you catch my drift.

Luckily, Baz stopped chewing excessively pretty much after teething and (knock on wood) I haven't lost any shoes (can't say the same for DH) we did lose every area rug downstairs though, but bitter apple spray helped a lot. HIS big issue was potty training, he picked up everything else SOOO fast, but going "potty" inside was a nightmare. LITERALLY, every single time we would say (or think... seriously) "I think he's finally potty trained!" he would come into the room and pee right in front of you. I THINK we're past it now... but I'll report back if he immediately gets up and does his business on the kitchen floor. I followed every potty training thing I could find and it just wasn't coming across. What finally worked for me (I think) was every time he was being a complete ass and not leaving us alone, to let him outside... 9 times out of 10 he immediately went to the bathroom. It was confusing though because most times he would go to the door and "oof" but sometimes he wasn't letting us know in the right way that he needed to go out.

I'm rambling now...

 

[rupertspal42]

i'm starting to think its the terrible twos because even as I sit here an type this she nudges my arm to get me to keep rubbing her ol' goofy head just like spoiled child lmao.. I try not to let her see me leaving the house because she'll try to escape out the front door if she sees me!! right now she's laying behind me chewing on a rawhide.. she's perfectly content.. but she's very attached to me i've noiced lol if get up to go 5 ft she's right behind me hehhe

 

[kittywings]

We trained our dog to sit at the door and to let us go through first before he goes (it's a dominance thing)... it works pretty well (except when we have my mom's dog, because she barrels right through!).

 

[Rosey]

One of my dog follows me around too. You need to do some training with her.
My dog will misbehave if I lay off the training. If I do, he won't come when called and basically do what he wants.

What you need to do is not give in to her whines and things will go better. If you put her up for the night, leave her there, don't go back out there. It's like a baby. If you go check on her or to calm her, it's teaching her that whinning = you're going to come.

You also need to do training about you leaving. Pick up your stuff like you're leaving but then just set them down and don't go anywhere. Do that a few times. Then when she doesn't react to that, go the next step, go outside and come right back in. After a while, you leaving will be no big deal.

Training every day is not a big deal. It's not going to be 30 minutes a day. It can be just 5. I make my dogs sit and wait while I open the door and they can't run outside until I say "ok". I do this because of 2 things: first of all so they don't door dash and second of all, especially for my boy, that he knows that I am in charge and he has to wait for *my* ok to go outside and play. It makes him focus on me better.

Definitely crate train. The crate here stays mostly open and they go in there when they want to relax or get away from us. They do start viewing it as a den.

Good luck! It does get better. My boy is 2.5 and my girl will be 2 soon and over the last few months, they have mellowed out. I have pitbulls and they are also a breed that stays puppy a little longer.

 

[TessC]

We taught our Murphy that he's never to go through the door to go outside without sitting and waiting for an "okay" from us. For us it originally was purely a safety thing, he's a big boy (close to 90 pounds of golden retriever happiness and energy) and I have a wrecked knee, so it'd be very easy for him to knock me down the steps and put me back in physical therapy.

We found out over time that it has some very nice side effects, like keeping him from being a butt and running out to say hi when the UPS guy shows up. He wants to go say hi, you can see it on his face as plain as day, but he knows he has to wait to hear that "okay".

He has a lot of energy but it's not so bad to cope with, he likes being taught silly little tricks and tasks and keeping him busy really keeps him out of trouble. He's never been destructive, thankfully, his only real fault is that he still doesn't get that the cats hate him with every fiber of their beings, so he gets swatted a lot, lol. You'd think that 18 months of swats and hisses would have gotten it through to him, but not yet....

 

[kittywings]

He's never been destructive, thankfully, his only real fault is that he still doesn't get that the cats hate him with every fiber of their beings, so he gets swatted a lot, lol. You'd think that 18 months of swats and hisses would have gotten it through to him, but not yet....

lol... only one of our cats hates Baz, and it drives him NUTS! Because she doesn't want to play with him he usually corners her and barks, which of course, scares her and so she hisses, etc. which makes him freak out even more. He was being an ass to me the other day freaking out because his ball was under the couch (which is why he's not SUPPOSED to have his ball in the house, because he puts it under there on purpose so we have to get it every two seconds... but DH keeps giving him balls in the house [he swears that he doesn't and that Baz just has a "stash"]. Well, he didn't realize Pam was right there next to me and she hauled off and CRACKED him on the side of his face! (The look on his face was priceless) This, of course, upset him so he goes a safe distance from Pam (of whom he's now scared) and tries his little swat like a cat move... which doesn't work, because he's a dog. It was pretty funny.

I guess that's what you get with one dog in a house with 3 cats... he grooms himself like a cat too (sigh...).

 

[TessC]

I think if Murphy ever barked at either of our two cats, they'd kill him right there on the spot, poor boy. Both of the cats are snarky with him, but Kimi actively bullies him, the evil heifer. :roll:

Prime example, he was sound asleep in the floor behind my desk chair earlier, Kimi wandered through the room and stopped in front of him, got this look of pure hatred on her face, and hissed at him. The hiss woke him up and made him pick his head up to look, which prompted her to slap him on the nose. Luckily they very rarely use their claws, but still.....evil heifers I tell you.

 

[kittywings]

lol, poor puppy!

I feel bad for Baz sometimes because he just desperately wants to be friends with Pam. He always looks so happy when the other kitties rub up against him and snuggle with him... but Pam, she's wants NO part of him.

 

[wendybyrd]

Oh dear lord that is too cute!

My cats get along alright with Boomer, our bigger dog, but if Radha comes within 18 inches of them, they'll bleed her. It is sort of funny, sort of sad to see them let Boomer pass by unmolested, and see Radha try to go past right behind at the same distance and get cat claws in the butt.

Oh well, winter is on it's way again, and that means that the cats will lay off, because winter time is when the cats start sleeping on top of the dogs. To them "dog" means "heating pad".

 

[Yummo&YAsMommy]

I have some crate training tips. We adopted a 1 1/2 year old shepherd mix last year. He likes to chew. He HATED the crate at first but we bought him a kong and would fill it with peanut butter and treats and give it to him in the crate. Now, he loves his crate. It's his escape from the kids, although they do sometimes crawl in it with him. My recommendation is the black Extreme Kongs. Our mutt would go through one a week of the regular ones. They are not as indestructable as they seem. Another thing is to cover the crate. It makes it more den-like. But make sure there is still good airflow. There are several places to buy ready made sets of covers and cushions for crates. The bitter sprays and peppers work well sometimes they're not practical. Our dog likes the bitter sprays and I'm not comfortable using pepper as I have small children who put thing in their mouths. Be patient, most of them do grow out of it. Good Luck!

 

[rupertspal42]

kittywings -
that is the cutest picture in the wordl!!

Yummo&YAsMommy -
great tip that was one of the first things I got her!! She gets mad sometimes becaue she can't get her treat out but it keeps her really busy!! I love it! We also got her a bigger tennis ball that she can't chew on either and she likes to play with that.

Now going out the back door, she's fine.. I guess because she knows she can't go anywhere but the yard?? but like I said if she see's freedom out the front door.. holy cow!! I try to train her but it's my room mate who plays ruff with her and doesn't tell her to sit or anything. I have to yell at him all the time because he lets her walk all over him.. and it doesn't help.. I woke up yesterday to a box of chewed up crayons on my floor because since she had been doing so good I let her sleep in my room with me.. yeah.. she got the kitchen for that one.. lol I honestly think she is way to smart for her own good though... she catches on to things.. like when she would tell me she needs to go outside to go potty I would give her treat.. now if I LET HER outside.. and then she comes back inside she runs to where I keep her treats EXPECTING one.. I don't always give her one because I want her to understand that i'm boss lol but I know she gets that because if I raise my voice she rolls over on her back "submitting" to me I guess you would say or sometimes she does the kid thing when she KNOWS she's in trouble and tries to hide or go to my room mate lol she's a very interesting pooch.. and she's not your normal dog either.. she is truely one of kind and i've been thinking about taking her to that petsmart training class.. but then she starts to do really well.. then she has her bad days haha and I want to go play in the road because she's making me crazy!! I truely love all of the advice everyone is giving me to!! I've been working on finding a crate that looks comfy for her.. she's hit her height but not her weight according to the vet.. she has ALOT of extra skin to.. which scares me lmao.. but again thanks for the advice guys it really means alot that ya'll are taking the time to pitch in some hints and ideas!!

 

[kittywings]

She gets mad sometimes becaue she can't get her treat out but it keeps her really busy!!

lol, Baz freaks out when he can't get the treats out of the kong ball too... but he is too smart as well: he walks around with it squeaking (read: crying) and then he continually slams it on the ground to make the treat pop out either that or he keeps dropping it on our laps until we throw it for him.

We took him to the Petsmart class and he's SO much better afterwards!

I think the main thing in training dogs is consistency... I have somewhat of the same problems that you have with your roommate with my husband. The dog will be doing something bad and Nick'll be petting him at the same time and I call him on it and Nick says "but it's Bazzybear." (sigh....) For example: we decided not to give him balls inside the house anymore because he is OBSESSED with them and he constantly rolls them under things that he can't get them out of again and then FREAKS OUT 'til we get the ball (I just put it away, DH gives it back to him). We know he does it on purpose to drive us nuts because if we give him a ball and leave the house for hours, he'll still have it when we get home, if we give him one when we're here, it's under the couch 2 seconds later (I've watched him purposely roll it under the couch!). It's not just with us either, at my mom's he tries to jam it into her box of canning jars... (sigh) he's got issues. :?

I'm just venting now, because he's driving me nuts tonight! The weather just got really nice this week and he wants to out, then after 2 minutes he wants in, then out, then in, then out ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ibariaSoap]

I have two labs that I rescues at 2.5 weeks old. they were CHEW CRAZY! They chewed a hole in our drywall! They chewed our couches... pillows...everything!

How did I stop it?

I made sure they had LOTS of excersize, in addition to lots of nylabones to chew. Also, when we left the house, we put soft muzzles on both of them, until they learned to not chew.

Of course, we didn't leave the house for more than an hour or two at a time.

Good luck!

 

[rupertspal42]

you know my lab baby just started chewing/scratching the drywall out of the wall where we keep her at. I've been tryng to teach her that being penned up is a good thing and she gets treats but she isjust like a two year old!!

 

[ibariaSoap]

Sounds like she may need more exercise! A tired pupple is a GOOD puppy.

 

[kittywings]

Sounds right to me! When they're being a pest, it's time to run their puppy a$$ off!

 

[rupertspal42]

That's something I wish I could do! lol i'm broken though.. i'm lucky if I can stay awake at work with all the meds they have me on.. i'm working on getting back into walking her after work especially now it's FINALLY cooling off... but we play with her outside.. fetch is her game.. and she plays tug n' war with my room-mate.. so she gets some exercise

 

[kittywings]

Sorry to keep jumping on anything that people say... BUT it's not good to play tug-of-war, and you ESPECIALLY can't let them win. It's all a dominance thing, but also... I heard of a little girl being strangled to death by the family's golden retriever because she had a scarf on and the dog (who was used to playing tug of war) thought it was a game.

That being said... I catch my husband doing it with our dog sometimes (...sigh). I don't know if it's within your price range but maybe you could hire a dog walker ... OR as the Dog Whisperer suggests, you could get a dog weight vest so that the walks it DOES get are more effective in tiring the dog out.

 

[rupertspal42]

ooo i like this doggy weight vest thing.. might need to invest into that one.. :twisted: