More attention = bad behavior?

[calismama]

It sees like the more attention and treats my pup gets, the worse her behavior is. For example, if you spend a lot of time playing with her or petting her and such you can pretty much expect she will be all over you and yelp/scream anytime she is separated from you. If she gets treats in the form of human food, she will spend the rest of the day frantically searching for more, jumping up at people's plates, or jumping up at tables looking for food. She totally has the type of personality where you give an inch and she takes a mile (..or 5 miles) and it makes it difficult to find a balance.

Does anyone else's dog act this way? It frustrates me so badly!

[Graneet]

Oh yea boo. Butthey have to learn. Theyjust get excited. I give boo vegies cause he begs so much. My papilon has never been in my face we would offer her food while eating and she would turn it down until we were finished. My boo is 6 months old you cannot close a door he has a fit. No both dogs are that way. Sometimes im in my bedroon and will close the door so i can watch tv with out hearing my husbands tv. They can take it for a while but have to get to there daddy.

[calismama]

Originally Posted by Graneet

Oh yea boo. Butthey have to learn. Theyjust get excited. I give boo vegies cause he begs so much. My papilon has never been in my face we would offer her food while eating and she would turn it down until we were finished. My boo is 6 months old you cannot close a door he has a fit. No both dogs are that way. Sometimes im in my bedroon and will close the door so i can watch tv with out hearing my husbands tv. They can take it for a while but have to get to there daddy.

Glad to hear it's not just me! How does Boo act after bath time? Cali has a terrible attitude after bath time or being groomed.

[matese]

Spare the rod, spoil the child. Same holds true with these lil yorkies. As hard as it will be, you have to be, firm, strict, consistent, never give in no matter how much they give you "the eyes". If you say no, it's no, you cannot give in no matter how pesty they become. Use the same command words for each of her bad behaviors. I am sure the more experienced trainers will join in with some tips and help.

[Buster Brown]

Originally Posted by matese

Spare the rod, spoil the child. Same holds true with these lil yorkies. As hard as it will be, you have to be, firm, strict, consistent, never give in no matter how much they give you "the eyes". If you say no, it's no, you cannot give in no matter how pesty they become. Use the same command words for each of her bad behaviors. I am sure the more experienced trainers will join in with some tips and help.

Buster will bug me and I won't give in but then he turns to Jack who is a pushover and he gets his treat so he has developed into a demanding little boy. I am working on it...now if I could only teach Jack

[LunarBerry]

Ugh, sadly I tend to give into my little yorkie girl's whims and come at beck and call (the rest of my family does sometimes too). She doesn't exactly misbehave more with more attention, just gets more demanding (particularly when I've been home more) and will find ways to get some kind of attention once we don't give her the attention she wants ^^;; I have to find certain triggers or tricks to get her to chill out on things. I find some do work under certain situations and then some don't >_< Granted I've not taken her on an outing as much the last few weeks since I had to work more, but now that I'm back on schedule she's wanting more attention than before. Gonna have to get back on track and take her out more again.

[Graneet]

I haventhad a problem with bath. Barking oh yes buti love this little bubbar hes teething and chewing everything. And like a child finds all kinds of things

[matese]

It's very hard to be firm and strict with these sweet, melt your heart lil critters. I spoil my boy rotten, he is such a good boy. His previous owner trained him very well, but,like a 3 y/o with a new baby sitter, they will see how far they can go. When I adopted him one year ago (11/12/13) he was like the kid with a new baby sitter,seeing what he could get away with. Me feeling so sorry for him that his prev. owner surrendered him allowed him to do what ever, also I wanted him to gain trust in me, not correct him for fear he would be afraid of me and not trust me. When I had dinner he would sit by the sink, about 6 feet from my kitchen table and hang his head, not watching me eat. OMG how awful I thought, how could anyone teach a sweet lil baby to hang his head while ppl are eating. I would call him to me, pet him, but not feed him what I had. After a week of this when I ate, he would sit by me watching but not asking for table food. (I always feed him before I eat). All my past dogs did this, I always felt guilty because I knew they wanted what I was eating, I never feed my pups while I was eating. So I decided it was best to re-enforce what he was taught and did for the 2 1/2 years he was with his first owner. I made him sit away from the table. I myself am very weak when it comes to these babies. I find it very hard to be firm, I have to force myself to be strict, and no means no. They have to obey commands, know who is the boss, this can be for their own safety. It is hard, I will be the first to admit that. All and all, Cody IMO is a very good boy. Being firm, consistent, using the same correction commands, he will get it. Now if you have a mate, that does follow through on what you are training to do!!!!! send mate to obedience school lol, that is a tougher one to train.

[ritapatt]

I read thru the "nothing in life is free" (NILIF training, humane society) or a "say Please" program once in a while just to keep myself from bad habits. I know these are helpful because my girls are well behaved for me but act horribly for my pushover husband.(he treats for no reason, they bark in his face, argue over who's first etc...)

[shelbysmom]

They have a lot of energy, plus they are SMART. Do something once and they remember! We found that a walk in the morning and a play session at the same time of day/evening helps. No treats except a piece of kibble or a green bean/carrot once in while. She is still a pain when we eat but getting better.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Even more fun for the dog from its perspective would be time spent enriching her life, more walks, exercise activities and obedience training her in very short 5-minute sessions(toy dogs lose focus pretty quickly working with inexperienced trainers) 2 or 3 times a day teaching her how to work with you to learn and achieve something she's proud of herself for, while she both bonds with you and learns to respect you as her leader, finds she has lots of positive reinforcement for doing what you request. During fun, upbeat training and interaction with you, the dog learns that if she gets her command right, she INSTANTLY gets your smiles, praises and a treat - all good things - and she builds her self-confidence and her brain is flooded with oxytocins - all the while coming to recognize you as her leader and the giver of all good things in her life. She'll come to connect her obeying you with feeling very good and happy.

In the wild, dogs do not cuddle, kiss and show lots of open affection as humans like to do. They are more action-oriented and working to learn with their favorite human serves two good purposes - it gives them the brain/mind stimulation they so lack in domestication and serves as a fun, social interaction that rewards many of their pleasure centers even more than cuddling.

Save the extra cuddling, kissing and affection for down-times after exercise and work are done and you will find you have a happy, feisty, well-behaved dog who never disrespects you and almost never misbehaves. Life enriching activities for the dog and short, simple, fun obedience training sessions can totally reshape a dog's attitude and behavior.

Pet dogs release same ‘love hormone’ as humans | New York Post

[calismama]

Thanks for the responses and commiseration! I agree that a big problem is consistency. Cali is crazy persistent, so for example she wants to lay on me all of the time if I'm sitting and sometimes I don't let her. Does she take no for an answer?? Of course not lol! She'll jump on to me over and over again and finally I give in because I can't focus on anything I'm doing for having to tell her to get down.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by calismama

Thanks for the responses and commiseration! I agree that a big problem is consistency. Cali is crazy persistent, so for example she wants to lay on me all of the time if I'm sitting and sometimes I don't let her. Does she take no for an answer?? Of course not lol! She'll jump on to me over and over again and finally I give in because I can't focus on anything I'm doing for having to tell her to get down.

That's where you are losing control of your interactions with the dog and will lose major control of that baby in time unless you make some changes. Training a dog in self-control is just a series of little games you play with them. One way I handle what you've just described is to refuse a bossy/pushy-type dog from approaching just any time he wants and make him work for it. I'll tell him to "Stop. Lie Down." and wait until he does in order to gain respect, control of the situation and remind him who is in control. After 30 - 60 seconds - or more - of him going down and waiting in the lying position, I tell him "Release. Come" if I want him on me or direct him to his toy basket, pre-prepared kong toys, chew toys if I'm working. Now he's learned that by doing what I've asked, he got even better rewards then he originally was going for. And once I'm done working, he gets his cuddles and a hard play session as a second reward for controlling himself while I was busy. They soon learn you will come through after work is over if you always do and they learn to wait for it.

These short, timely efforts to help gain control of small slices of hyper behavior will help him begin to learn some impulse- and self-control and begin to learn he must listen to and obey your commands in order to have his best life. Disobeying gets an "uh oh" or "No!", you standing up, clapping your hands, sudden three-finger flank-touching to distract him from any manic behavior and staring him down until he turns away, gives up and relaxes. Then you relax and go about your business.

Obedience training in 5 min. sessions only 2-3 times daily for the little one you've described, a super excitable dog, is absolutely essential to gaining control of him and teaching him how to control himself in order to get even greater rewards than wildness or acting out brings him - the rewards of your happy praise, his growing self-confidence/less stress and anxiety because he doesn't presently really understand what you expect of him and a great, tasty treat reward.

Once he "gets it" that obeying you gives him more positive reinforcement, pride in his accomplishments and the benefits of a happy you, which net him only good things such as smiles, praise and treats, you'll begin to have a happy, less volatile, more submissive, well-behaved dog. He'll begin to sense you are very pleased with him when he controls himself and obeys you and want to keep you that way as he learns that his life is better that way.

You can spend your time being frustrated with your dog and correcting him all the time or taking some well-chosen time when he's misbehaving to train and direct his behavior to that which you prefer. He's really putty in your hands, to mold as you see fit, but it requires something of you during the training period. You can do it!