Your attitude is paramount I think. I've noticed that my husband tends to be a pushover and he's home with our furbaby all day. So she's developed some dominant behaviors. I was always disciplinarian when it came to our kids. One look and they knew I meant business. You have to not just get mad, that only feeds the agression. You have to remain calm, but in an "I mean business" kind of way. Remember, this is just a little dog and you're a great big human, so what you say goes. Besides, you own the world your puppy lives in.
When I want to stop our furbaby from doing something I don't like, I try to substitute an order that she understands. She learned how to sit in her first puppy class. So if she's jumping up, I tell her to "sit!" and she does. If I don't like her to jump and bark at the backdoor because we have squirrels in the yard, I stand in front of the door and tell her to "couch" which means to go back to the couch. She didn't get that at first of course, so I basically backed her up over to the couch and put her on it and then did a "What a good girl!" with a treat until she got it. Always reward with a treat any behavior that even comes close to what you want them to do. There are lots of websites with basic training commands you can teach your puppy. Just stick with the ones that use positive reinforcement. |