# Am I too strict with my puppy?



## anthony1832 (May 21, 2009)

I have a 9 week old puppy. When I first brought her home a week ago I kept her in whatever room I was in, and then slowly just started letting her roam the house. I found out that was a bad idea, she got into to much trouble. Now I leash her in the yard and around the house. If she nips I pull her collar and stop her from biting. Sometimes I yell pretty loud at her, which scares her, I know that's bad but I get so frustrated I can't help it.

She hates me. She no longer cuddles with any people like she did when she was first brought home, she won't come sit in my lap, she absolutely dreads being in her crate. 

Am I being to mean? Is it too young to train her not to bite? How can I get her to like my company again?


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## rosemaryninja (Sep 28, 2007)

It's not too young to train her not to bite, but you're going about it in the wrong way. There's no need to scare your puppy into obeying you. Pulling her collar, yelling at her are all completely unnecessary... there is no need to EVER physically manipulate your puppy to train ANY behaviour.

Read "The Bite Stops Here" sticky in the First Time Dog Owner section. That will take care of your puppy's play-biting.

Leashing her around the house is not a bad idea; it prevents her from getting into trouble and is actually a recommended training method. Your puppy should never be left in a room unsupervised; if she can be supervised, she should be leashed to you and if she cannot, she should be in her crate.

Dogs will perform whatever behaviour is most rewarding to them. If you want her to stop biting, make it rewarding for her not to bite. (Read the sticky.) If you want her to spend time with you, make it rewarding for her to spend time with you. By yelling at her and hurting her, you make it punishing to be around you. It's not at all too late -- from now on, toss her a treat when you see her, or squat down on the floor and coax her to come to you, petting her if/when she does. Handfeed her meals. Take her on fun walks and play games with her. 

Remember what I said above. *Dogs will perform whatever behaviour is rewarding to them.* That's the ground rule of dog training.


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

I strongly encourage Puppy Kindergarten classes ASAP. You won't regret it!


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## anthony1832 (May 21, 2009)

When I pull her collar with the leash I don't pull hard. I just let her know she can't eat/chew something. 

I would like to reward her but every treat I buy her she becomes bored with. She will eat it for a day then the next day she will play with it and leave it on the ground. Thhis makes it hard to reward her behavior.


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## rosemaryninja (Sep 28, 2007)

"Hard" for you is different from "hard" for a young puppy. 

How does she respond to praise?


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## pugmom (Sep 10, 2008)

When you are rewarding with food it should be a very small bit of something really yummy like hot dog or small dog treat....like the size of a dime....


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## anthony1832 (May 21, 2009)

She will be happy when I praise her, then I give her a treat and she tosses it around the floor then leaves it there. So I feel like I'm not getting through to her that I was happy. I reward her with small bits of treat. First I bought two types of "healthy" treats. She hated the one right off the bat, liked the other but got bored. Then I bought some tiny milkbone treats that look like Combos, and she ate those for about a day then got bored. So I bought her Beggin strips, she seems to like those.... for now. 

This morning she was better with me, I think maybe last night she was just tired and wanted to be left alone. If anyone sat next to her she would get up and move away.


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## pugmom (Sep 10, 2008)

with treats I have found the more stinky and mushy the better....I use hot dogs cut in half (longways) and then cut in half again ..so you would have 4 long pieces...then chopped into small bits...my dogs love them...


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## anthony1832 (May 21, 2009)

Thanks, I'll have to try that. I'm always scared when it comes to human food. Do you recommend beef or pork hot dogs?


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## FourIsCompany (Apr 18, 2009)

anthony1832 said:


> When I pull her collar with the leash I don't pull hard.


To a nine-week old puppy, any pull is too hard. Her neck is weak and you could *really *hurt her. Stop pulling on her and yelling at her. You're likely doing physical and psychological damage that will show up later. All her time with you should be fun and wonderful. 

You can say, "eh-eh" (very softly) when she misbehaves, but no yelling.  

And you can reward her behavior with praise and good treats. Tiny chunks of cooked chicken or something. I don't recommend hot dogs because of nitrates, sodium and other yucky stuff.


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## Westhighlander (Sep 28, 2007)

Measure out 50% of her daily kibble and train her throughout the day. If she is currently not responding to treats, you are probably overfeeding her or not using the right treat. You don't want to devalue the most important resource to your dog. You can also randomly give her a kibble here and there. This will train her to follow you and also remind her good things happen around you.


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## pugmom (Sep 10, 2008)

FourIsCompany said:


> And you can reward her behavior with praise and good treats. Tiny chunks of cooked chicken or something. I don't recommend hot dogs because of nitrates, sodium and other yucky stuff.




eh...to each their own 

Hotdogs work for me...they are cheap and require no cooking

Chicken is a good substitute if you are concerned .....but I doubt 1/4 a hot dog is going to be a detriment to your pups health...Epically if you are already giving beggin strips.


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## rosemaryninja (Sep 28, 2007)

The stinkier the better... cheese, hot dogs, roasted chicken, Natural Balance rolls are all great ideas. And as always, everything in moderation, and be careful to cut back the calories in her kibble meals if you are giving high-calorie treats.


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

I don't think you're being too strict- enforcing the rules is good- but I do think you're being a bit too physical about it. 

One rule to keep in mind is that it is always better to prevent the puppy from even TRYING a bad behavior than to correct him once he's already enjoying himself doing something naughty. For example, if you see Chompy heading towards a corner of a chair with his mouth open, obvoiusly prepared to have a good gnaw? BEFORE he gets there and settles down, make a "Ehhh" or "No!" sound to distract him from his evil plans, then make a squeaky noise and call him to you. Then you can praise him for coming and hand him a really delicious chew toy (I'd use a raw meaty bone, like a chicken back, personally, but marrow bones form the pet supply place filled with cream cheese or peanut butter work too- the point is you want him to learn that by choosing to come when called, you provide DELICIOUS CHEW THINGS- and that you don't approve of chewing. - I don't know if your parents ever did the whole "Don't even THINK about it, buster." routine when you were looking like you might get into something- but this is the same idea.


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## Cheetah (May 25, 2006)

anthony1832 said:


> Thanks, I'll have to try that. I'm always scared when it comes to human food. Do you recommend beef or pork hot dogs?


I always go for the turkey dogs. Less grease. I tried to give mine the beef ones and they got the runs from it.


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## anthony1832 (May 21, 2009)

rosemaryninja said:


> The stinkier the better
> 
> I got her a pig foot once and she loved it! Until I realized it smelled like horse sh*t. Literally... I had to throw it out, lol.
> 
> ...


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## Westhighlander (Sep 28, 2007)

anthony1832 said:


> I got her a pig foot once and she loved it! Until I realized it smelled like horse sh*t. Literally... I had to throw it out, lol.
> 
> Its official, she is now bored of beggin strips.
> 
> Making the trip to the grocery store today for either turkey dogs or chicken.


If your dog gets tired of treats this easily, I would either change the amount you are feeding her or train before she eats.


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## anthony1832 (May 21, 2009)

Just an update, went to the store and bought apples, bananas, and chicken hot dogs. She loves them all so far. Did about 15-20 minutes of training with her this afternoon and played with her all evening. I watched a few episodes of the dog whisperer and stopped yelling. Now when she does something that upsets me I just walk towards her calmly and give her a soft poke and an "ep" and she stops. Hopefully this type of interaction will continue!!


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

Don't poke her. That's really obnoxious, from a dog POV (and if you insist on using dominance terms, the subordinate is the one who approaches the other dogs.)- a verbal interuption is going to be effective if you deliver it early enough. If she's already into something? Use a leash and pull her away from it, rather than making your approach into a predictor that she's about to get jabbed.


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## rosemaryninja (Sep 28, 2007)

What Dogstar said. If a verbal correction isn't enough to grab her attention, you can clap your hands or squeak a toy.


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## Lolas_Dad (Apr 28, 2008)

rosemaryninja said:


> What Dogstar said. If a verbal correction isn't enough to grab her attention, you can clap your hands or squeak a toy.


I do not think squeaking a toy should be used as a correction for bad behavior. By doing that it could turn the dog off on playing with squeaky toys. I would use a squeaky toy as a reward for good behavior and as a distraction from bad behavior.

Also a little touch is not going to hurt a dog as a correction. It gets their attention that they are misbehaving. I would use a little touch with a verbal "NO" or some other word you want them to learn that they are misbehaving. Puppies are corrected by their K9 mother by touch when in the litter for bad behavior so a little human touch to a puppy when training is not going to hurt.

When teaching Lola the leave it command I would drop a treat on the floor, say "Leave it" and block her from getting it with my hand in front of her and give her a slight touch. The result is now when I drop a treat on the floor she sits and waits for me to let her know it is ok to pick it up. I have taught her this so that if anything does drop to the floor she will look to me first for my permission to get it. If it is not a treat or a piece of food I do not want her to have I pick it up and throw it away.

The other night during Lola's certification test for becoming a therapy dog as well as her CGC test the evaluator dropped a small piece of a begging strip on the floor. I was to walk her right past the treat, turn around and walk her back. When I was walking back with her past the treat the second time I was to pick it up off the floor without her lunging for it.

Prior to the exercise I had told the evaluator how I had trained Lola with treats and the leave it command. After I had picked it up and returned to where she was standing she said I could give it to Lola. It was then I was able to show the evaluator exactly the way I had told her I trained Lola prior to doing the exercise.

After dropping the treat to the floor in front of the evaluator Lola sat there looking at it. I then pointed to it and told Lola to get it. She did exactly the way she is supposed to and the evaluator was quite impressed.


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## anthony1832 (May 21, 2009)

I used a leash and was told I could hurt her neck, lol. What im doing now seems to work, and causes no harm to her.


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## Lolas_Dad (Apr 28, 2008)

anthony1832 said:


> I used a leash and was told I could hurt her neck, lol. What im doing now seems to work, and causes no harm to her.


The reason someone said not to poke the dog is because you also mentioned watching a few episodes of the dog whisperer. You will find that most people do not agree with his methods and some will probably see it as abuse. If what you are doing now works then I would stick with it even if it is poking or touch. If when you poke the dog and it does what you want it to do and does not yelp then it is not poking or touching the dog to hard. It is a method I have used with good results.


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## Westhighlander (Sep 28, 2007)

Lolas_Dad said:


> When teaching Lola the leave it command I would drop a treat on the floor, say "Leave it" and block her from getting it with my hand in front of her and give her a slight touch. The result is now when I drop a treat on the floor she sits and waits for me to let her know it is ok to pick it up. I have taught her this so that if anything does drop to the floor she will look to me first for my permission to get it. If it is not a treat or a piece of food I do not want her to have I pick it up and throw it away.


You can train this without ever having to touch your dog. It's better to let them figure out that if I don't go for it then I get it. I used the same covering the treat technique but just waited until she stopped going for it, then rewarded her it. Now I can have her lay down, put a treat on top of her paws without her going for it until I say ok.


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## anthony1832 (May 21, 2009)

lol cruel? ****, when I was growin up everyone taught there dogs with a rolled up newspaper and a smack on the head. I find it in no way cruel, we need to remember, its a dog not god.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Anthony,

Much more is known about dog behaviour and the consequences of punishment now then many years ago when rubbing a pup's nose in it's accidents and popping the dog with a paper was the only form of training available. There CAN be a lot of repercussions with punishment. A TOUCH is one thing, a POKE is quite another.

Your puppy needs to learn that HANDS are SAFE. Especially your hands, but even others as well. 

Punishment may teach a dog NOT to do something, but they can also learn not to do the things you may be trying to teach them, unsure whether it will earn them another poke. The recommended way is to teach your dog what YOU WANT them to do. If they jump, teach them a sit command, for example and reward the behaviour you DO want. 

Even Cesar does not punish if the dog has not been TAUGHT what he SHOULD do. I used to be a huge fan of his. He has done a lot of good and is not a bad man, but his methods, used after watching his show, without proper guidance can do a lot of harm. The more I learned about dog behaviour, from the true experts, the less I followed his methods and the more success I experienced with the dogs. Keep an open mind, for sure and do some research.

Please be aware, a common misconception about positive training is that the dog is NOT ever given consequences for unwanted behaviour. This is a myth. There are many consequences available that do NOT involve physical punishment. You need more information to be able to make the best decisions for your pup.

Some great books are:

The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller
Before and After Getting your Puppy by Dr. Ian Dunbar
The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson
The Puppy Whisperer by Paul Owens

Good luck with your pup!

Edited to add:
No my dog is not a god, neither am I..well maybe a goddess (LOL) but she IS a living being with intelligence, instincts and feelings. Respecting this does not "elevate" her to a deity, but it does mean we have a great relationship that we BOTH enjoy and learn from. She is treated like a DOG, not a human, but that does not mean I cannot empathize or try to understand her view of the world.


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## TxRider (Apr 22, 2009)

Puppies are imprinting at this stage in development, both fear and imprinting with humans. They are learning about the world and forming their basic character.

It is not good to scare your puppy or correct them harshly at this age, it can result in a fearful dog and the effects can last for life.

What happens at this age can be the difference in an attentive confident happy go lucky or a fearful dog. You don't want to traumatize him at this age, it'll stick.

You have plenty of time for training, let your pup learn humans are good, not scary and use all positive training and avoid yelling and such, be gentle. 

Condition secondary reinforcers like human praise = much pleasure by treating and praising at the same time now while it'll stick and become imprinted well. Teach him attention with his name and imprint it well. socialize him. You'll be glad you did in a few months when he learns he can run faster than you and you can't catch him.

He'll be past this in a month and he'll be better at taking corrections then if needed, next month he should be starting to try to figure out his role in the world and the family and begin to be a little more independent and testing.



anthony1832 said:


> lol cruel? ****, when I was growin up everyone taught there dogs with a rolled up newspaper and a smack on the head. I find it in no way cruel, we need to remember, its a dog not god.


It's a puppy, without a fully developed brain. Not a dog.

It'll be a dog in a several months.

If you want the dog to mind out of fear, to have a tendency to run away instead of come to you, hitting it with a paper at 8-9 weeks whenever it does wrong is a sure way to do it. Lots of people do.

I'm trying to fix a dog that was quite likely raised like that now.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

anthony1832 said:


> lol cruel? ****, when I was growin up everyone taught there dogs with a rolled up newspaper and a smack on the head. I find it in no way cruel, we need to remember, its a dog not god.


Yep, and back then the dogs that got mean or scaredy from such treatment were knocked over the head or shot. Risky business, treating a dog like that, and if someone whacks their dog for punishment and later that dog mauls him, he'll get no sympathy from ME.


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## Cheetah (May 25, 2006)

anthony1832 said:


> lol cruel? ****, when I was growin up everyone taught there dogs with a rolled up newspaper and a smack on the head. I find it in no way cruel, we need to remember, its a dog not god.


It's also a dog, not a human. Sure, I suppose primates can learn from being hit... they hit each other all the time, it seems to come naturally to them... But dogs are not primates and they don't hit each other. It's also a PUPPY. A baby. Would you hit your human infant?

Eevee was hit as punishment all the time by my family (rolled up newspaper, hands, FEET) in her early years, and even though she's a LOT better now than she was, she still flinches sometimes and she's often got a worried look on her face. I'm really SURPRISED that she grew up and still lets people handle her for anything (grooming, medical, etc), even though she's obviously scared. Regardless, she can rest in the knowledge that nobody will EVER raise a hand to her again.

Now that I have Shippo and have been able to train him the way *I* wanted to, away from my family, I see a complete difference in his attitude toward the world, compared with Eevee. 

Cracker has hit the nail on the head and I agree 100%.


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## anthony1832 (May 21, 2009)

Just in response to my newspaper comment, I have NEVER hit my puppy,and never would, was just comparing that extreme to a little nudge to get her attention.


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## MaddieTheDog (Jun 3, 2009)

yelling=stress on the dog. They get scared and they think barking is ok.
But with nips/bites a firm "no!" is ok, I think. Dont be a whimp about it, but not raising your voice, either. I think one of the only times to really get after your dog is with a full-on bite. Small dogs/puppies probably not apply. "eh, eh" or sound distractions may work. For large dogs that have been trained, it works to be more firm. Our trainer said her lab bit once and she just picked him up to face her and, yes, she did yell, say "NO! NO BITE!" It only occurred once-if it was a regular occurrence, I'm sure she'd have dealt with it differently. Maddie isn't aggressive and if she feels a finger in her mouth, she stops and backs up. Sometimes she will accidentally chomp down and she gets a "no bite!" 
It's like my philosophy with spanking-really save it for extreme cases. I dont think a child should just be spanked left and right. If a two year old ran into the street after you said no, I would save the spanking for that, if at all.


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## rosemaryninja (Sep 28, 2007)

Lolas_Dad said:


> I do not think squeaking a toy should be used as a correction for bad behavior. By doing that it could turn the dog off on playing with squeaky toys. I would use a squeaky toy as a reward for good behavior and as a distraction from bad behavior.


The squeak is not a correction. It is a distraction. It is just a way to get the dog's attention shifted away from the edge of the carpet and on to you.


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