3 Month Old Puppy Help!

[Sue R]

You can also teach a "leave it" command to a young pup in a similar fashion, with the reward being higher value than the "no-no".

[D'Elle]

I strongly second the above advice. "Leave it" is one of the most important commands that you can teach to any dog. And teaching a dog to let go of what she or he has is almost as important.

 

I do this: I let the dog have something that is of low value, then put a piece of very yummy food under the dog's nose and ask the dog to let me have the toy. When I have it in my hand, the dog gets praise, the treat, and then gets the original object back again. This way it is completely a win for the dog. Not only does the dog get a treat, but the dog also gets the toy back again.

 

Start in a room with no other objects around that the dog might want and a toy that the dog is not crazy about, and treats that the dog IS crazy about. You will have no trouble getting the dog to relinquish the object in order to get the food if you just offer the food under the dog's nose. Practice this several times a day with the dog until it becomes a habit. Eventually it will be ingrained in the dog to give you what she has when you ask for it even if you don't have treats. This may take days, weeks, or months, depending on the dog. Be persistent and calm and patient. Remember that dogs learn best when things are presented to them as choices with either enjoyable or not enjoyable consequences rather than crimes and punishments.

 

As for dresser and counter, the best thing is not to leave anything up there that will entice her. Shut her out of the room when you are cooking. Close the bedroom door and don't let her in there if you want to leave things out on your dresser. But if you do see her with paws up on the counter, you can simply take your foot and (gently) sweep it into her back feet so that she is knocked off her feet, while saying "no", or "off". Don't get angry or yell, just say it in a normal voice.

[Dyeates]

Do you perhaps have any recommended videos?

 

Yup. This ^^^

The first thing that I taught my pup was "bring" and I'd trade his something for whatever he had. It only took a week and he'd bring me all of his treasures to trade instead of trying to possess them.

[Dyeates]

Do you perhaps have any recommended videos?

 

Controlling the mind is better than physically controlling her. Teach her to do what you want-which is to drop the object she has. Teach a solid drop command and teach her to 'trade up', use videos on YouTube if you are not familiar with how to teach this. Of course, you want to start with lower value objects.

 

If people keep grabbing her collar or prying her mouth open or chasing her around, it just gives her more reason to guard what she has. It is confrontational to her. Once she knows how to 'drop' you can calmly ask her for what she has.

[Dyeates]

Thank you for all the wonderful advice! A brief update of my now 5-month old girl Ailee - She's learning a lot of tricks and her biting has gone down quite a lot. She still barks sometimes but definitely not as much. It's been over a month since she's been spayed and she's doing fine. She's even walking around the apartments and pretty much anywhere now.

 

One concern - whenever I take her out for a walk it starts off completely fine, and then suddenly she gets this huge burst of energy and starts to run around me quickly and jumps side to side. I try to calm her down and she will calm down for a few seconds and then have another burst of energy. This worries me because I don't want her to get a sudden burst of energy and attempt to run into the street. Keep in mind I do have her harness and leash on, but it's still a scary thought. She also has attempted twice to run after a car.

 

And while I now know to not run with her I will jog a few yards to try and get her used to that feeling, and she will begin to herd me. A few people have recommended a spray bottle because they say that really nips it in the butt. More patience and training or spray bottle?

 

Other than those couple of things she's doing fantastic! Plays fetch pretty well and likes to go out and socialize. Big dogs still scare her, but she's still a baby! Sometimes she'll get a bit territorial with other dogs, for example, if I have my bag on the ground and a dog comes over to sniff the bag Ailee will walk over and smack the dog with her paw or jump on the other dog. Not really aggressive but kind of saying "Hey that's mine!" Is this something I should be worried about? Like I said it's not necessarily aggressive.

 

Thanks!

[D'Elle]

My thought is that the sudden bursts of energy are a good opportunity for her to practice self control. If a young dog did that while walking with me, I would simply stop and stand completely still no matter what the puppy did until she settled down. Even if she put her butt on the ground for one second, she would instantly get praised and a reward and we would start walking again. If she started going nuts again, we would stop again. This may mean not even getting a block down the street in a half hour. That's OK. It may take weeks or even months for her to learn that unless she behaves you go nowhere. Just be persistent and 100% consistent. Let the walks be training time until this is under control. Her exercise can be had in the fenced-in yard, doing fetch or other play.

 

If she does herding behavior after you when you run, don't run with her.

[Dyeates]

My thought is that the sudden bursts of energy are a good opportunity for her to practice self control. If a young dog did that while walking with me, I would simply stop and stand completely still no matter what the puppy did until she settled down. Even if she put her butt on the ground for one second, she would instantly get praised and a reward and we would start walking again. If she started going nuts again, we would stop again. This may mean not even getting a block down the street in a half hour. That's OK. It may take weeks or even months for her to learn that unless she behaves you go nowhere. Just be persistent and 100% consistent. Let the walks be training time until this is under control. Her exercise can be had in the fenced-in yard, doing fetch or other play.

 

If she does herding behavior after you when you run, don't run with her.

 

That's what I have and will continue to be doing with her then! She's still a puppy and there's a lot more for her to learn.

 

When she gets old enough, I want her to be able to run with me so to stop running completely isn't really an option. Just hoping to find perhaps a more efficient training method.

[MeMeow]

When she gets old enough, I want her to be able to run with me so to stop running completely isn't really an option. Just hoping to find perhaps a more efficient training method.

 

For now I would hold off on running with her at all and work on leash training at walking pace. Once she has a solid heel, you can try jogging for very short intervals while she heels and then build up to longer runs when she's done growing. Every time she starts herding you is very rewarding for her, and you don't want that to be her association with seeing you run. If you get her heel really solid, short jogs are unlikely to trigger that drive since she'll be focused on keeping pace with you, and once she gets into it she will probably understand that it's not play/herding time.

 

My ACD/BC mix does 5 mile runs with me and will stay at my heels for short sprints. But if I take her into a field and just casually jog around she thinks it's play and will start herding and nipping.

[D'Elle]

That's what I have and will continue to be doing with her then! She's still a puppy and there's a lot more for her to learn.

 

When she gets old enough, I want her to be able to run with me so to stop running completely isn't really an option. Just hoping to find perhaps a more efficient training method.

She will be able to run with you when she gets older whether or not you run with her now.

You need to stop running with her now, until you get her walking nicely on a loose leash, not going nuts or pulling. Until you establish that, and she learns to control her impulses, you will only be creating problems for yourself if you run with her. A young pup should really not be running with you in any case.

 

Another good impulse control exercise is to put a treat in your hand and put it in front of the dog. When she stops mugging your hand to get it, she gets praised and gets the treat. Once she is doing that really well and consistently over a period of a couple of weeks, you can put the treat on the ground a few feet from her but close enough that you can put your hand on it if she goes for it. Same thing. If she goes for it, she doesn't get it. If she waits for you to release her then she gets it. Use one word consistently for your release word. Make it something that doesn't come up in normal conversation. Even a nonsense sound can work.

Along with that you can work on attention. Stand in front of the dog, and let her see you put a treat in each hand. Wait until she stop looking at your hands and makes eye contact with you, then give her one of the treats. Repeat. A lot.