# my puppy doesn't respond to no plus other issues



## blindtheskies (Sep 8, 2009)

We adopted a pointer/lab puppy 2 weeks ago. He is currently 3 months old. 

In general, he is a loving and fun dog. We are crate training him and he does really well with this. He sleeps from 10-about 330/4, we get up and take him to pee, and then he goes back in the crate until we get up again at 6. he has never had an accident in the crate, and besides the first few days we had him, he hasn't had an accident in the house. ( exception below)

he is also crated during the day, but i am a full time phd student, and when i have breaks in my schedule i come home to take him outside for a walk and to play. He gets lots of attention whenever we are home. 

I know he is a puppy and hasn't fully learned yet that biting is bad but we are having some really frustrating issues. 

He is not allowed on our couch. he can fit up there now but we don't want him on the couch when he gets to be full sized so we are trying to keep it at bay now. the problem is he LOVES being on the couch. the second we aren't looking he jumps up on the couch. We tell him NO and take him off the couch. But getting him off the couch is a struggle in itself. he nips and squirms and i'm afraid that the will really get me with his biting or that he will squirm so much he will fall and get hurt. 

we thought that maybe he just like the comfy-ness of the couch. he has a doggie bed in his crate and we took it out of the crate and tried putting it by the couch when he is in the living room, and he just pees on it. each and every time we have tried this, he just walks over and pees on the cushion so we have stopped doing that. 

he is also doing the apparently common puppy activity of nipping. whenever he does it i yelp, stop playing and walk away from him. but it hasn't helped at all. 

my general problem is that he never responds to no. i say it firmly and louder than my normal voice but he just looks at me. very rarely does saying no produce any kind of response. 

what am i doing wrong? this is the first time i have ever had a dog. my fiance had a dog as a kid but he just doesn't remember anything about training it. i've been reading websites and book on how to best train him but i feel like it just isn't working. 

any help you could offer would be very much appreciated.


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## FilleBelle (Aug 1, 2007)

I'm just going to quickly address the "no" part of your post.

Your pup doesn't respond to "no" because "no" doesn't have any inherent meaning to a dog. If you want your dog to do something when you say "no," you must teach it what you want it to do. Look at you? Stop moving? Drop whatever is in its mouth? You have to train those behaviors in the same way you would train "sit" or "down."


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## blindtheskies (Sep 8, 2009)

FilleBelle said:


> I'm just going to quickly address the "no" part of your post.
> 
> Your pup doesn't respond to "no" because "no" doesn't have any inherent meaning to a dog. If you want your dog to do something when you say "no," you must teach it what you want it to do. Look at you? Stop moving? Drop whatever is in its mouth? You have to train those behaviors in the same way you would train "sit" or "down."


yes, i do understand that he doesn't understand the words. but it seemed like from everything i read that they respond to the tone of voice, is that not true? i give a tone of voice, i correct his action, but the second i stop he goes right back to what he was doing. this would go on for hours if i let it. we have tried redirecting him, playing with something else, engaging him in another room, but the second we stop he runs right back to the couch and jumps on it. he is very aggressive if we try to take him off.


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## DogPaw (Jan 11, 2009)

Do you reward him when he stops doing what you don't want him to do? If you are frustrated with him then he probably senses that and may not respond. I would start using some really good treats and use them to reward him each time he stops doing things you don't want him to do. You want him off the couch, tell him off, lure him with a piece of cheese or hot dog when he's off GOOD BOY and treat.

NILIF is a very good place to start. You can google it. You need to let him know that you are in charge not him. You have to have patients and be consistent. It takes time and a lot of work, but in the end you and your dog will be a lot happier. 

The Other End Of The Leash is a good book to get. Theres other books that I'm sure people here can suggest also.


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

For the "No!", pair it with stamping your foot on the floor and lean into the dog (slight threat). Most dogs understand the stamping foot...it's how Mom stops the pup from doing something.

The couch....you're trying to train him to get off when you say so but, that does nothing to teach the dog not to get up there in the first place. To do that, you have to stop him BEFORE he gets up there. The split second you see his muscles tensing to jump you have to intercept and stop him. Use your hand like a stop sign, stamp your foot on the floor, No!....Lots of praise for NOT jumping.

He also does this for attention and that's the 2nd part that's a little harder. If he wants your attention what does he have to do? Some people teach the dog to get their ball, a tug or just sit politely for attention/affection. Your choice.


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## blindtheskies (Sep 8, 2009)

thank you for the advice. there is some good info posted. 

i will start giving him a treat when he does come off the couch. i was just afraid that he would start associating jumping on the couch with coming down and then getting a treat, and teaching him that whenever he wants a treat he should just jump on the couch. 

we do attempt to stop the jumping, sometimes we physically catch him in the air. sometimes he worms past us. most times we can see him look at the couch and get ready to jump and tell him no. sometimes if we are close enough we will hold him so he doesn't jump and praise him for not jumping. i will start giving him treats for not jumping though

part of what makes this so hard is he just looks so darn cute snuggled in the cushions! but i really think it is better to just stop it now instead of trying to stop it later. 

thanks for the info about stomping my foot. i will try that too.


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## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

> But getting him off the couch is a struggle in itself. he nips and squirms and i'm afraid that the will really get me with his biting or that he will squirm so much he will fall and get hurt.


Ditto what others have said before me. I'll just point out that a 3 month old Pointer x Lab pup is not typically one of your more fragile creatures. I'm not saying you want to try drop-kicking him over the garden wall, but many pups of that type are like natures crash dummies. Be gentle but firm--not tentative--in your handling of the pup.


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