Help?

[xavier]

We recently adopted (By adopted I mean a few days ago) a five month old Schnoodle named Guinevere. We we're informed that she was trained, which turned out to be completely false- I know, it was my fault for not making sure. Anyways, she is my first puppy, and I would really like to do well and have her be a little educated puppy. XD

The thing is, she is my first puppy so I've never witnessed or tried to train a dog properly before. So I'm in need of some help and where to start really.

I've noticed a few key problems.
> She nips hands often while she's playing and enjoys chewing on the telephone, remote control, socks, etc.
> She has a problem with jumping up for attention, as if she demands it. I need to teach her she isn't in control in the household, but how?
> Her former owner had her using puppy pads to urinate- she won't poo there, but she's very inconsistant with it in general.
> She wants table scraps, so its uncomfortable for people to enjoy a meal in the house without being harassed by Guin.

Reading throughout this site, I think I've compiled an appropriate list to things I could be doing wrong or what her previous owners have done wrong.
> When she begged for attention, she got it, regardless.
> She sleeps in the bed with me. =/
> She thinks when I say "No!" or "Ow!" when she nips that I'm playing.

So how would I exactly start correcting these problems and begin working with her properly? I'm not sure where to start or what to do exactly- because I really want to do this right.

[Aussienot]

It sounds like you have a very normal puppy who is just in need of rules and structure. There are good articles and posts on the board already on Nothing in Life is Free, which is an excellent place to start. NILIF is not training, it's a way of life. It's dog management in a way that dogs understand. That is where I would start, because all successful training evolves from that.

House training has also been covered in depth in a couple of posts. I can't recap it here and do it justice. I do think you need to start over on the potty training; unless you want to use the pads.

I'd recommend crate training - that is, the puppy is in the crate unless you can watch her 100% of the time. Having just gone through this myself with a new puppy, owner attentiveness is the hardest part in training a dog to eliminate outside!

Make sure you take the puppy outside and watch what happens. Be there to praise. There will be a lot of dry runs, and it takes heaps of patience. If you just chuck the puppy outside and hope for the best, a lot of the time she will not go outside and you'll have an accident in the house later. Don't just put her out, take her out.

All puppies need to chew, and will chew many things that they can get to. Make sure there are plenty of chew toys around the house. Don't leave them lying around on the floor for her to grab at random. Leave them up on a counter but handy. When you see her chewing inappropriate things, hand her an approved chew toy and redirect her away from the things you don't want chewed.

You can also puppy proof your house. Crawl around on your hands and knees and see how many things your puppy can get her mouth on. Move them if at all possible. Also be super vigilant not to leave things lying around, like socks, shoes and jackets. It might be inconvenient, but it's only for a few months.

Puppies do tend to use their mouths in play. Having said that, mouthing/nipping is just not on and needs to be stopped. Every time she nips, you need to stand up, cross your arms, stare at the ceiling and completely ignore your puppy for a few seconds. Then go back to play.

If she nips again, you need to stop playing. Ignore the pup. Put the toys away and do not even look at her for a minute or so. Everyone in the household needs to do this every time she mouths. If you are consistent in the rule that biting stops play, your puppy will soon make the link. Social isolation is a punishment for dogs, and with soft tempered dogs you should get a result quickly.

And with all rules, you need to put things into context. If you want the dog to sleep on the bed, it's not necessarily a bad thing unless you are having dominance issues. The important thing is that you make the decision where the dog sleeps.

Right now I'd keep the puppy on a short leash, so to speak and not allow too many privileges.

[xavier]

Thanks so much! This is going to help tons.

We started using NILIF yesterday and it had some effect on her, she patiently waits for her toys and to play fetch and she learned the sit and stay command. I attempted, along with my parents, to ignore her completely when she nipped- it would work at first (she would sulk XD) but then she would go back at it and just thought we were playing again.

She still is jumping up on people's legs to get food and attention, How would I adjust that? Especially the food part.

OH and I suck with commands, hahaha. It takes me longer to learn how to do it right than her to know what to do.

[Richard]

Hi there.

First off, I'm very impressed with your attitude in how you want to train Guinevere - it's nice to see. By giving her the structure and training she needs, she will become a valued member of your family and a joy to have around.

I'm also glad to see you're making some progress with her. She sounds like a great dog and if you and your family stick with the program, she'll be even better!

I can't add anything to the post by Aussie as she nailed everything, especially the chewing and crate parts but I did want to say to make sure that everyone is on the same page with her. In your other post you said "we" when referring to the NILIF program and that is good - everyone has to be consistent with her so she gets the message quicker.

Keep us posted.