roseylovestosho | 12-21-2010 06:46 AM | Quote:
Originally Posted by smepperson
(Post 3364243)
Was that Petsmart or Petco? My vet suggests petco but I'm not sure. Also were they puppy classes? I am having the same problems with my Teddi (believe it or not). All was going well until I started to use the hand 'nipping' correction and now he barks at me and challenges me more than ever. It's maddening because I just want him to like me. :( He seems to get truly annoyed at me and the last hing I want to do is make him afraid. I want him to know that he is not the alpha but that he is safe and secure as well. | Hi, this was not at Petco or Petsmart. In fact, you can go to either of these places and I'm pretty sure they do not use negative reinforcement. The person that used negative reinforcement was a private trainer that my vet (he's not really my vet I was looking for a vet and that was one that received good reviews online). For the biting and barking, personally I think it may be boredom. First of all, when he bites you hard make sure to yell "OW" really loudly, enough so that it startles him into stopping what he's doing. The second he stops say good boy and give him a more appropriate thing to chew on. If he starts biting again yell "ow" once more and if he is absolutely not paying attention to you then you need to walk away from him or put him in his crate. When you put him in his crate only leave him in there for 30 seconds because he will start doing something else and forget why he's in there in the first place. Once the 30 seconds are done, try again. If he is still biting at you, then put him back in his crate. You need to MAKE SURE that you catch him when he's doing something right and PRAISE HIM LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW. Most of the time, myself included, we only correct when they start jumping, but you may have not even noticed that he was sitting first, and that went unnoticed. After sitting didn't work, he will start jumping. Usually the barking is out of boredom. You need to find things that HE ABSOLUTELY LOVES to play with so much that he does not mind that you've left the room. This is a problem with Teddy for sure. He starts whining, and then barking at me from his crate when I'm sitting in the living room and he's sitting there bored in his crate. What I've started doing is giving him bully sticks, wishbones, and beef trachea to entertain him for a while in his crate. The SECOND that I see that he is getting bored or restless I open the crate and I let him come out. This lets him know that he will not be in the crate forever, it is only temporary. This helps him build confidence in being alone. Another thing you might want to do for the barking/boredom is buying a chase it. They sell them at mychaseit.com, and other places as well. You can play with it in your own home and he GOES CRAZY over it. He just runs and chases all over the place, and this is great because Teddy REFUSES to play fetch. It bores him...the chase it though he loves. When he seems to get bored, just switch it, give him something else to preoccupy himself with and he'll definitely stop the biting because he is having so much fun with you that when you put him for 30 seconds in the crate after nipping too much or too hard he'll come back out and want to fix the "bad" behavior because being with you is so much fun! Teddy also barks/whines at me when he is thirsty. Make sure that there is always water in his crate for him to drink...you'd be surprised how much water they drink....Finally, if he is barking at you, and you've already fed him, he's gone to the bathroom, drank water, and you played with him more than enough, then usually I just use a squirt bottle and he goes STRAIGHT to sleep! Honestly, I think that puppies just want to keep going and going and going and they themselves don't realize that they're tired sometimes! After two mile walks with Teddy I put him back in the crate sometimes and he just starts whining/crying and I spray him once with water, he lies down and goes to sleep for HOURS! Sorry for the long winded response, it's just that I am still dealing with this problem myself, but I think its getting better. Just hang in there it'll get better! He doesn't hate you, animals don't think like that!!! It's hard not to be offended when they bark/bite/maybe even growl but sometimes they're not really doing it at us they're just frustrated by the SITUATION, which is something we can easily fix!
Hope this helps!
Oh and they do have puppy classes at PETCO/Petsmart |