# I neeeed help!! I think my dog doesn't like me!



## chewbaka (Jan 27, 2011)

Ok, I have a dog who needs help and I don't know what to do. When I try to tell him to come he doesn't listen to me. When I try to pet him, he backs away a little bit and he nibbles a little bit on one of my fingers. He is a 1 year old Pomeranian-Chihuahua male who I love, but I think I did one too many things wrong with throughout the past 9 months. He is quite stubborn. He used to growl and bark at me quite a decent amount. He is not completely potty-trained and he likes to pee and excrete in certain areas on the carpet. Me and my mom live in a 1 bedroom apartment, so we prefer it if he doesn't bark too much. 

I sadly fell prey to the method of hitting him sometimes as a form of discipline. Now, I do not hit him anymore whatsoever, but I don't know what to do. I am trying to calm him down and show him I love him, but I am not sure how to approach it. I tried this method of holding him in my arms until he stops squirming and looking at him in the eyes and it seems to have calmed him down decently, but he still isn't the biggest fan of me. I adore the dog, but I know that there are a decent amount of behavioral problems with him, like he barks a lot whenever there is human food around. 

I am hoping for some kind of help because I really want a nice healthy relationship with my dog.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Don't work on training until you have gained his trust again. I'm not going to lecture you on why you shouldn't have been hitting your dog, because it seems like you've learned the hard way. But I'm glad you've decided to change.

Don't force him into interaction with you. Offer him treats throughout the day and reward him with a soft friendly voice when he decides to come to you willingly. It might take quite some time for him to rebuild a relationship with you, if he ever will, but if you really want to keep your dog, you'll have to just be very patient. He has learned to mistrust you and his trust must be EARNED back.


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## FilleBelle (Aug 1, 2007)

I wouldn't suggest holding the dog in your arms or looking him in the eyes until he stops squirming. A squirming dog is a dog that doesn't want to be held, so continuing to hold him is only going to make him dislike you more, and staring a dog in the eyes for no particular reasoning can come across as very threatening.

As Kafka said, don't force interactions.


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

I do that to my puppies, when I pick them up I hold them til they stop squirming. But I don't hit them though. After they stop squirming they get set down & given the command to 'go play' as a reward, but that is a comoletely different deal from this.

I second not forcing enteractions, also you could try as you walk by, dropping a high value treat to him without saying anything to him.


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