Strong willed puppy
 

It is my fault that my 4 month old puppy rules the house. I had never had a small breed before and I baby him. If you try to clean his face or hold him when he doesn't want to be held he thrashes and fights, he acts like a wild animal. I know when my lab was a puppy the trainer had us hold him down until he relaxed and understood we were the boss. Pippin is so little I'm afraid he'll hurt himself fighting me. I would love some suggestions.

I do it to Mischa.. I do it to him until he settles down.. Pippin's mommy would do it to him, as that is a dog thing.. I had to rehabilitate a Pom puppy for a friend that was at her wits end.. The pup had became the alpha dog.. She was bitting, attacking, and growling at my friend and anyone else. I got bit by her and still have the scar.. The thing to remember is to be calm assertive when dealing with the puppy and never use anger to discipline your pet. I am happy to say that the pom puppy is now 7 months old now and is a lovable little girl..
:D

It sounds awful but ... you're either the boss or the b*tch.

Being stern doesn't mean abusive or harmful. You'd be surprised how fast they'll shape up once they get the message.

Ok. I put him on the floor on his side. Place on hand on his shouldier and one hand on his hind quarters. He twists his head something awful. Are you sure he can't hurt himself?

http://www.canismajor.com/dog/alpha1.html#Exercises

That link has a few good techniques. It's difficult for me to explain ... I hope none of this comes out wrong ... but there are a few different ways I have worked with Mogli over the years. He has never injured himself or cried in pain, nor did I feel that I was being overly physical.

Mogli doesn't get in trouble very often. More than anything when he does it's just him being a showoff anyways.

... I have picked him up by his loose neck skin from day 1. So at almost 7, he does not mind and is totally comfortable being picked up and handled that way. That being said, if he's acting up, I might secure him by the loose skin, then lay him on his side, while holding his skin like a handle so he does not move. This is the best way since holding him like that asserts me complete physical control.

You can him on his back, and hold gently but firmly over the neck. Don't GRIP the neck, but almost like a handcuff around, hand shaped like holding a cup ... so fingers touching the ground like a C ... while blocking his side or with a hand on the chest or belly to prevent squirming.

You could gently but firmly hold his snout closed while forcing eye contact.

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The biggest thing with any training is to be consistent. Use the same tone and words, combined with hand signals to convey your messages. The problem is you have to extablish this physical component before they really grasp the meaning in this case.

These days with Mogli I snap ... hold up my index finger ... place it in front of my face and say "look at me" or ... "enough" ...

thats a great link mogli, thanks for sharing! i also have a very strong willed baby :)

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: Ditto :)

Thanks, Mogli. That was a fantastic link.

4 months is still very very young. If you do a little bit at a time and reward them eventually it will get better. If you want to brush him and he won't, even if he lets you do two strokes with the brush reward reward reward and praise. My AprilLove was exactly this way when she was a pup. Now she has long hair and lets me brush her, doesn't jerk her head all around (lol, I'm having memories of what it used to be like), sits patiently, knows when to lay her head down to do the topknot/ponytail, lets me wash her face, etc. I guess I am just a very strong advocate for patience and repetition, all of a sudden, one day everything is going the way you hoped and you have a happy little furbutt in the process!!:) Have never used force or pinned them down, just kept at it every day until they realized, hey this isn't so bad

I was just trying the steps of the link and it was so funny, when I started glowing pulga looked at me like: WTF? :2omg: Mommy went nuts? :confused: Ha,ha,ha, I am not sure if I will be able to do this, its so funny and she is so cute! I need to work on it a lot!

strong willed puppy
 

It gives me hope to hear another with the same problem. I have a 6month old who is trying to rule the house. My other Yorkies are trying to cope. What do I do?:animal-pa

I used to hug Barney and speak in a soothing voice. They can only throw a fit for so long. I wasn't abusive at all- but I would pick him up and just hold him to my chest. It was a good thing- he was uber little and this was safe and felt good to me. I hate discipline or aggressive mean behavior.