# How can I punish my puppy?



## EasyBreezy (Mar 19, 2011)

I know the thread name sounds cruel, but my puppy won't listen to anything we try.

My family got a chihuahua puppy 2 months ago. But he's 5 months old now and does whatever the hell he wants. He got really attached to my brother, but he doesn't respect him. Whenever my brother leaves the house or goes into another room and closes the door, the puppy will sit at the door and cry and whine. He walks in front of him and constantly bites his socks and tugs at his pants. He doesn't do that to anybody else. He never bites skin though, if my brother isn't wearing pants or socks he won't bite. But if we say "NO" he'll just look at us and continue doing it. He doesn't respond to "NO" he just doesn't care. We made a shake can with pennies, and at first he was afraid of it, now he doesnt care, he just goes back to what he was doing. If we try to physically remove him from what he's doing, he'll start running and turn it into a fun chase for him, if we stop chasing, he'll just go back to what he was doing.

Not to mention that potty training is going nowhere. I thought he was getting good at it, but the only time he consistently pees outside, is right after waking up. Our house is so full of pee and poop spots. When we catch him in the act and say NO or BAD and go towards him to take him outside, he'll run his little ass off as fast as he can and turn it into a fun chase again. If we don't give into the chase, he'll find a hidden spot to pee or poop in. When we take him outside he'll play for 15-20 minutes, then pee/poop inside when we bring him in. 

I don't think he understand punishment, but I don't want to do anything cruel like hurt him or anything. He cries in his crate, but he's supposed to like it so I don't want to put him in there as punishment. I just don't know what to do to make him understand that what he's doing is wrong (peeing inside, tugging at pants, chewing furniture)

I understand that you can only punish him when you catch him in the act and not afterwards, and that rewards are better than punishment. But we try to reward him so much for going outside, but its like he doesn't care lol.


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## RBark (Sep 10, 2007)

Put a leash on your dog, your dog has all his freedom revoked, get a crate. If he bites at your socks, put him in the crate. Attach his leash to your belt so that he is never more than 6 feet away from you. Do this for a long time (weeks/months) and start to give him freedom as his behavior improves. You are not controlling the environment. You need to control it. So snap that leash on him, if he's not on a leash then he's in the crate. If he's out of the crate then put him on a leash.


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## theyogachick (Aug 2, 2009)

^
THIS!

Your puppy needs boundaries, and right now it sounds as if there are none. 

Keep in mind that he is a puppy and doesn't know what rules you want him to follow--you have to show him. He doesn't know what NO means...not yet. When he stops doing the behavior, immediately reward him (yummy treat) with lots of praise.

If the puppy bites, make a loud "OUCH" noise and turn away. All play/attention stops.

And do what RBark said--it is great advice.


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## luvntzus (Mar 16, 2007)

Agree with RBark's advice.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

Agreed, and this is a common problem with small dogs, owners forget to put the pups into boot camp, so the pups think everything is play.
1. For all nipping, Read the Sticky: The Bite Stops Here. The pup is playing, so you have to teach him not to nip.
2. For all chasing, STOP. The moment he runs, it has become a game. If he runs and you run the other way. he may chase you... consider that, as a way to catch him. However, as mentioned above, it's time to start over and remove all of his freedom, using the leash or the crate. 
3. He doesn't understand English, yet, so he doesn't understand NO, BAD, or anything else... It is all a game.
4. A 5 mos pup can be house trained. You have to keep him on leash or in the crate all the time, until you understand when he needs to go out to go potty. Then, say "Go Potty" and take him out.. And, keep him on the leash outside... He'll pee within 30 seconds if he needs to, and then stand still, letting him walk around you as he sniffs, and eventually poops in a minute or so. When he poops, say "Good potty" and give him 3 tiny treats, one at a time. Then let him off leash for a little freedom. If he doesn't go potty, then take him back in and put him into the crate.


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

Pups can be frustrating believe me, lol. I have a 7 mon old & sometimes with her I Want to pull all my hair out lol. She knows no very well, has learned drop it & almost had leave it down (I don't mean to plug VS, but I use her method of the treat in the hand one behind the back, when the dog takes his nose away from treat in closed hand, mark leave it, give the treat behind the back.).


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## cynster (Feb 26, 2011)

The leash idea is excellent. We did that when my 8 mo puppy had a relapse in housebreaking. She also is stuck to me like glue and will cry if I shut the door to my room to get some alone time (like when I'm feeling ill). Otherwise she is in her crate when I am gone - and she has learned it is a safe place to sleep and have her own alone time. She used to hate her crate too, but I did a lot of desensitizing training with her so she will actually go in on her own now, sometimes, and if she does, she gets the yummiest treat I ever give out.

EDIT: In the meantime, you ought to remove anything like rugs or other things that can be picked up that your dog has peed on, make sure they are clean, and wait 2-3 weeks before putting them back so they don't become regular places for your dog to want to pee/poop on.


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

Mine stay outside during the day & only come in at night so I can't give too much advice about day housetraining, Jo sleeps in a crate tho.


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## Puddin's Training Tips (Apr 9, 2011)

Dear Easy Breezy 
Puppy Nipping: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/latrenda/2011/03/puppy-nipping/
Potty Training: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gyRgonLk74cPOY0a7rZfcNeT1etc_U1LuK2YlOKsKHA/edit?hl=en

Starting thinking about "training" and teaching" rather than punishing
And once you start training, consider that pups and dogs have to "proofed" before they can perform a requested behavior in different environments.

Ian Dunbar says that it's not fair that we keep house rules a secret then punish a dog for breaking secret rules.

Remembr that it's natural for dogs to nip, it's natural for dog to pee on the carpet, it's natural for dogs to chew up shoes, get into the garbarge etc. They are never ever doing this out of spite. They are doing this because they don't know that you want something different.

Set your dog up for success not failure. Teach the dog what you want and praise and treat when he does what you want. Don't punish a dog for being a dog.

I suggest finding a good, positive reinforcement based trainer to get your pup on the right track. The pup will be happier and calmer and the family will be happy when the puppy isn't chewing everything.

But make sure that the trainer is positive. Any trainer who wants you to use punishment after the fact rather that setting the puppy up for success - is a really bad trainer. 
And please don't listen to anyone who tells you to do anything mean or scary or painful to your dog. No spray bottles, no can of pennies, no yanking, no poking, no squeezing lips, no tapping on the nose, no rolled up newspapers, etc.. These are all outdated and mean.

And/or start off right by reading some books from experts
Start with Puppy Primer by Patricia McConnell - http://amzn.to/fY057I
When you are finished, find all of her other books and read them
Then start reading
Ian Dunbar http://amzn.to/fb7poY
Jean Donaldson http://amzn.to/fllgtJ
Victoria Stillwell http://amzn.to/eaviwl
and others

If somone says it doesn't hurt, it probably does: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/latrenda/2011/05/when-someone-says-its-doesnt-hurt-it-probably-does/


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## Nargle (Oct 1, 2007)

I do agree about keeping her attached to you with a leash at all times, and crated when she can't be supervised. But I disagree that the crate should be used as a punishment tool. Do not put your puppy into her crate when she misbehaves. Your puppy needs to love the crate, make it a happy place. Feed her in there, play games with her in there, throw treats in there, etc. It will make life much easier for you in the long run if she enjoys being in her crate. 

Instead of putting her in her crate when she bites, just go into a different room and shut the door for a few seconds. Ideally make sure she's in a puppy-proof room. Losing attention from you is punishment enough, and she will learn that she only gets your attention when she doesn't bite. Also praise calm behavior like sitting and making eye contact with you when she greets you, so she learns the appropriate way to say hello. 

I also wanted to ask you how often you take your puppy out to the yard to relieve herself? You should keep her potty schedule (and feeding schedule) regular so you can teach her to expect when to go out, rather that just going randomly, and you should start taking her out to the yard every couple of hours or so for now so she is always totally "empty" when inside, and she never even gets a chance to go in the house. Also, do you praise her and give her treats when she relieves herself in the yard? Basically throw her a party every time she goes in the right place and she'll learn that it's a really wonderful, fun thing.


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## RBark (Sep 10, 2007)

The point was not to use it as a punishment tool. The issue was that the dog has many issues when out of sight (pottying, etc) that leaving her alone does not seem like a good solution to me. So since we do not want to leave the dog unsupervised, the crate is used. If all the other problems did not exist, I would not use the crate.


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## Nargle (Oct 1, 2007)

Having dealt with a dog that needed over a thousand dollars in dental work done because he can't handle being in a crate, I'd honestly rather take my chances with a couple of potty oopsies than teach a dog that a crate is a negative place to be. Being alone for a puppy is already difficult to deal with, and it looks like the OPs puppy already has some minor separation problems. So I'd only put the puppy in a crate with a treat or a toy to keep it a fun place to be, and I don't think it would make sense training-wise to do that when the puppy is being a pest.

Also, you don't have to leave the puppy alone for an hour, a few seconds should do.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

If you have carpet, you need to clean the entire house; anywhere the dog might have toileted. Really deep clean- rent a steamer and go over every inch of it. Use a 50/50 white vinegar and water solution to clean any spot where you know the dog has gone potty. 

If you have hardwood or vinyl tiles, get a steam mop (that says "safe for hardwood") and clean everything with that. 

If the dog has peed on blankets etc, then wash those with a cup of white vinegar in the washing machine. You can take comforters and heavier blankets to the laundromat to use an over-size front loading washing machine.


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