I'd say for being new puppy parents we are doing pretty well. It has been 4 days since the last accident (and before that it had been 7), Taco now knows his name, can sit and stay and come pretty well (sometimes he just looks at us stubbornly though, like what do you want to make me do?) and generally, everyone is very happy!
There are a few problems or 'issues' as Cesar Millan would call them.
First of all, The Walk. The oh-so-important walk is oh-so-difficult! I understand about the calm assertive energy and I actually tend to use it in the classroom with my students. I find it's important not to get upset or frustrated and to remember they probably just didn't understand what you wanted. I think the same goes for the dog, but the dog is a dog. He sees the world through his nose and is a puppy with a very very short attention span. Also, the whole dominant/submissive thing is tricky. As I mentioned above, in the house he does well. We have clear rules for no going on the furniture and no going into different rooms unless he's invited to do so. He has to earn his toys and food by sitting and staying. He can't jump on us or bite, and these are things that he's assimilated well. So I feel like in the house, we're in control. Go outside and it's a whole different ball game. Well the world is just so stimulating, I can imagine it'd be hard not to be distracted. Then again, if he were in the wild as a submissive pack member, he'd just follow us. Right now he tends to follow for about half a block or maybe a block on a good day, and then just start sniffing and pulling. He does his business before we start walking, so I know it's not that. And then trying to stay calm is difficult because I get frustrated about him pulling on the leash. URG! This brings me to my second point:
At times, he goes totally crazy with the leash. He bites at it, jumps and tugs and sometimes even growls. My hypothesis is this is his way of saying 'I've had enough, take me home now', but I'm not 100% sure. We usually correct him when this happens and wait until he is sitting calmly before we start walking again. It's really hard to tell what sets him off though, if it's that the leash was in his way or what.
Anyway, other than that having a puppy is really fun! He is just the cutest thing ever and I love snuggling up to him when he's all tired out at the end of the day. Hopefully these 'issues' will be resolved quickly and soon we will have the best behaved dog ever!!!
Aww! So fun, despite all the challenges. Kobe attacked his leash like crazy when he was a baby too - just his way of playing with it. We used a gentle leader (and still do) to eliminate tugging. It solves the problem during the walk, but it would have been better if we could have trained him not to tug, which was something we were unsuccessful with.
ReplyDeleteWe liked Cesar Millan's stuff, but we also trained at our local animal shelter. Maybe they have classes for you? We did training there as well as something called puppy socialization, where they had puppies play together and mediated that play. They also answered questions for us. It was a great way for Kobe to become familiar with other dogs early on too.
Good luck!!!