chopsui

He definately needs more exercise. Maybe he isn't defiant in the human sense but he has learned that he doesn't always have to do what he is told, probably by his last owners not following through 100%

For example today he got ahold of some shoe laces in my closet, as soon as I saw him take them I said no and he dropped them, I put them back. Later I find he has them in his crate chewing on them again.

It usually takes 2 corrections before he completely stops something. Example him scratching the carpet to chew on the wires. First correction "chht" and "no". He stops for 5 seconds then continues. Second correction he finally gets up and moves.

He needs some work but overall he's a good pup, just needs some exercise, discipline, and manners.

He is an adolescent, 10 months that is probably where some of his rebelliousness is coming from, still working with him and he is getting better by the day, just takes a lot of consistency and repetitions.

The book I read and am constantly referring back to Dogtips from Dogtown is very insightful. It comments on how most dogs won't repeat a command over and over, for example they say he may only want to sit 3 or 4 times by command in a short time. (my parents are constantly telling him sit! sit! sit! sit! sit!, they don't abide by what I tell them which is to say the command once and then enforce it (with a light tap on the butt). In a way they are setting him back training-wise but hey what can you do, they just won't remember/listen no matter how many times I tell them.

Usually he only sits on the second command unless there is a treat for him, I guess his real issue is following through. He probably walked all over his previous owners but not I. Typical spoiled pooch.

BTW he is potty trained for the most part, no accidents and he can usually hold it for 8-12 hours. I take him out 3 times a day for the bathroom and havent had an accident except one time on the 2nd day, I wish I could find a way for him to tell me when he has to go instead of me guessing.

fjm

Sounds pretty typical adolescent dog, to me - in fact, he sounds very obedient and obliging for a typical adolescent! I am not a fan of CM, although some of his advice is good. The whole "me pack alpha, you lowly subordinate", and having to be dominant over your dog thing is now very much an explodeed myth.

One thing that I think we all tend to forget is that for dogs learning is situational - we say "Sit!", and eventually the dogs learns to sit (although as he has no idea that the word means anything, it may take some time - luring him into a reliable sit, and only then adding the word is a better way!). We humans then assume he has learned to obey the word Sit!. What the dog has probably learned is "When this particular human stands in front of me in the sitting room, and looks at me in a certain way, and waves his hand in the air in front of my nose, and makes a noise beginning with SSS, it may be worth sitting". Jean Donaldson's book "Train your dog like a pro" is excellent on how to generalise commands, and on just how much patient repetition is involved in truly training a dog!

Many people on here have had success teaching their dogs to ring a bell when he wants to go out. Others have removed the bells because of the incessant ringing ... !

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To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring- it was peace.

~ Milan Kundera

chopsui

Thanks for the compliment and the insight. I will look into that book it seems interesting. And yeah my girlfriend did the whole bell thing but now he just rings it whenever he wants to go into the back yard. Wish there was a solution to that.

Thanks again to everyone who's been involved in my post it helped me understand a lot more about my dog and we're doing much better, we've been enjoying him too much so taking him back to the pound is out of the question, time to bring on the training.

petitpie

Yes, there is a solution. Just put a bell on the outside for him to ring when he wants to come it.

happybooker1

You need to physically GET UP and provide him with an alternate to do. Dog digs at rug--you get up and physically remove him from situation and give him an acceptable chew toy. Praise him when he busies himself with the toy. You may have to repeat it a dozen times before he gets the message you mean business.


Occassionally toss him a treat when he's laying on his bed or rug quietly. Praise him. At first he will get up and come to you to see it more treats are forthcoming. Ignore him. As soon as he goes and lays down again toss him another treat and praise. He'll soon get the idea.

catsaqqara

I have my dogs ring the bell. I say give him opportunities to just be outside, and when your guessing when he has to go, hang the bell for him to ring before you take him out to potty then put it away until next time. Do that for a couple weeks, its what I did for Jaden and he rarely rings to go out and hang.

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Rowan

Bolding is mine.
I agree with everything that Searcher, fjm and other posters have said. You need to remove your emotions from the situation. He's not a human toddler, he's a dog and anthropomorphizing him is only going to cause additional problems and stress on your part.

Basically, you need to go back to square one and start his training as if he were an 8-week old puppy. In the case of the shoelaces, you caught him in the act and corrected him. But then what? He's loose so he was able to go right back and nobody corrected him because nobody was watching him. That's inconsistent! Puppies should never be left out of your sight and this little guy is still a puppy, in both age and training. If you can't watch him, crate him or tether him to you. That's the best way to set boundaries.

Dogs learn through consistency and repetition. If you catch him chewing a shoe and correct him, he'll stop. If he tries it again and you don't correct him, he'll continue with the behaviour. He's not being spiteful or defiant. He's taking advantage of an opportunity. Dogs like to chew. Period. He'll eventually learn what's his and what's yours (to chew) but he won't learn via mind reading. He needs you to guide him. Same goes for getting up on furniture. If you only correct him or catch him 50% of the time, he's not going to get it. That's where crate and/or tethering come in until he's learned his boundaries and what is and isn't acceptable.

Take solace. Most puppies get over the rambunctious puppy stage around one year of age. They stop teething and have passed through all the puppy phases. Alex stopped scratching bath mats when he hit the big O-N-E.

As for letting you know when he wants to go out: when I took my puppies or rescues out, I looked at them and said, "Do you want to go out?" in an excited voice while taking them to the back door. They now give me 'the look' or go to the back door when they need to go out, and if I ask them if they want to go out, I get a little dance. (While they're eliminating, it helps to repeat a code worse or phrase like "go squirt" so you can then get them to go on command while traveling or during storms, etc.)

I did the same thing for walkies and they now run to the front door and/or grab their leashes. Again, it's all about repetition and consistency. A lot of hard work goes into well-trained/mannered dogs, but it's incredibly rewarding.

Best of luck and I hope this helps.
ETA: These are just my opinions and what has worked for me with five poodles. I'm not a trainer and I'm certainly not an expert.

JE-UK

What she said .

Dogs do what pays. Full stop.

Suzanne Clothier has a grid in her book, showing the difference between how we see household items and how dogs see them.

Table leg - chew toy
Shoe - chew toy
Linoleum - chew toy
Stair riser - chew toy
Rawhide - chew toy
Sofa - comfy place to sit
People bed - comfy place to sit
Dog bed - comfy place to sit

It's up to us to make it MORE rewarding to do the things we WANT the dog to do, rather than just imagining the dog is some mutant Lassie freak that will just MAGICALLY UNDERSTAND that the shoes are off limits. We can do that by constantly supervising so the dog doesn't practice behaviours we don't want, and by offering legal substitutes for the things the dog chews that we would prefer he not.

Poodles are eminently trainable!!

If you are training with food, and the dog is holding out for the offer of payment before executing the behaviour requested, you may be guilty of luring rather than training. "Look, Fido, here is a biscuit, please sit" quickly becomes no biscuit, no sit. There are some good references out there for how to move to a variable reinforcement schedule, including some good articles on DogStarDaily.com on how to fade the food lures.

Good luck!

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"Yes is so much important than No." Dominique Barbier

Sookster

I'm not going to say much here as a lot has already been said, but the BIGGEST thing I notice in every post that you have made is "I correct" or "I say no". You are constantly telling him what NOT to do. We can spend all day telling our dogs "don't do this" or "don't chew that" or "leave that alone" or "don't sit there" but in doing so we never actually let them know what they SHOULD be doing. So they are constantly guessing, and since they see things a lot differently than we do they tend to guess wrong a lot.

Spend more time telling and showing him what to do instead of what not to do. Catch him chewing the rug, go ahead and tell him to leave it and then physically redirect him to an appropriate toy to chew on. Catch him going into the kitchen? Go ahead and tell him "no" and then redirect him to do what you would rather him be doing (I recommend the place command, just search it). Catch him on the sofa? Tell him "off" and then show him a better place to lie down (his dog bed). Show him the RIGHT thing to do and reward him for that, and he will be more likely to choose that option in the future.

If you continue to have problems, I highly recommend finding a professional trainer to come in and work one on one with you and your pup so that they can SHOW you how to do these things. Good luck, and hang in there. Sounds like you are pretty diligent and want this to work out. Be patient with him and reward for the small steps. Don't wait for him to make huge monumental leaps on his own. You are going to have to help him get there and show him the way.

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