Oh saleen....

1270 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Blue Fox, Mar 24, 2009

WonderPup

Discussion Starter · Mar 21, 2009

..... HAS BEEN DRIVING ME NUTS!
I don't know what I was thinking. Hey honey lets get a puppy, Wow that'll be fun. :shot: Not quite... but we love her anyway.

Honestly the last three days I have really been seriously considering sending her back to the breeder. I can with 100% confidence say I have NEVER seen a puppy behave anything like she does. It isn't that she's bad, far from it and god bless her she is smart. Par for the course with most spoos. However,
It has become astoundingly obvious in the past week that she didn't really care to associate with us two legged family members. She would much rather be joined at the hip with Jazz, or off on her own.

So we quickly reached a point where we had three choices,
b)send her back and look for a puppy who had better human social skills right out of the gate since I wanted a new performance dog, my two tibbies are about ready to retire and be couch potatoes.
a) let it go and she can just be a friend for Jazz and congrats you're new performance prospect flunked out before you ever got started. And you have to wait forever to get another puppy because we are at our dog limit now.
c) get really serious and see if you can correct the problem and make her a happy, well adjusted pet that you can excell in the ring.

I chose C wich as it turns out has ment major changes in our household.
I have seperated Saleen and Jazz and now they are not allowed to eat, sleep, come to work, ride in the car, or just hang out together for free. Honestly Jazz is glad for the break from crazy puppy antics. They are allowed free play, morning and evening (and afternoon on weekends when I'm home) supervised only. Saleen has to be pottied on lead with non of the other dog's present most of the time before she is allowed to play. The rest of the time, her lovely little pink six foot lead is tethered to my belt and she has to stay with me. Which is making potty training a breeze. I also, much to the tibbies annoyance, had to remove most of the "free" toys that are in the livingroom. Given the choice if Jazz or another dog is unavailable Saleen would much rather occupy her time with a free toy than give me so much as a glance. We really started to think she was deaf, seriously, because neither of us could get so much as a twitch out of her when we spoke, made funny noises, or squeeked a toy.

I have raised many a puppy with the mindset that nothing is free and all good things come from me. I control all the resources so I must be a pretty cool person. It's a great method if you have the time. Saleen is also crated at the shop with me now and I leave her from time to time with friends or family for a short while so we dont get any seperation issues. She has work for about half of her daily rations of kibble as well as other treats.The other half isn't totaly free either. Her lunch is put into a kong or a buster cube and she has to work to get it out. She she is getting fed very little from a bowl, she doesn't seem to mind which is good. She's liking the simulation now.

I am pleased to report that the turn around has surprised me :whoo: In just two days the results are amazing. Now I have a puppy who wants to be around me 70% of the time and is happy and eager to work, go for a walk, help cook dinner... whatever. Hoping she will get even better and like to be with me and be working more than she does now. She is also starting to understand that uhhh sorry a crate is just a fact of life - get over it sweetie. I actualy got a little bit of sleep last night! Whoooo!

Today was the first day of puppy kindergarden, she had a blast and of course showed off to all the other dogs lol. Several people make comments on how smart she was and how they wished their little puppy learned sit that quickly. I said she didn't learn it in the class that we've been working on ita few days now. The class' instructor was funny, She says "now wait a second, don't anyone try and keep up with Saleen, She's cheating, her mommy is a trainer! LoL" Already we've learned sit, down, and target and we're working on stay. *grins sheepishly* she's also learned a couple of different markers since I didn't realize I was teaching two at the same time until today when hubby pointed it out.

finger crossed that she gets over her "ewwww I hate people, even YOU mommy" attitude forever

It kind of hurts your feelings when your dog doesn't like you LoL.

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mercymoon

· #2 · Mar 21, 2009

I think you went with the right choice by keeping her especially if
you've already seen some improvement in her behavior by seperating
her and Jazz. I hope things continue to improve, I know it would
break your heart if it didn't work out, I know it did mine when I had
to re home my dogs *sigh*.

Haha, "sit" is easy to teach, I use a hand gesture and say "sit", Loki
can sit and is already working on "Touch". :whoo:

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starkeeper

· #3 · Mar 21, 2009

Having any puppy can be pure miserable.

They are so cute so that we will hang with them most of the time and yet....some people do say "no thanks. Can't take more."

I have never had an easy poodle puppy. They all have brought their own challenges.

Star is a big challenge to deal with since she inhales things even when I have puppy proofed a room, she will find something to gobble up that isn't meant to be gobbled....while I am watching her....lol.

I also have problems with Star and my other dog Wolfie (a toy sized maltese) playing more than I want and it interferring with training. They have to get my permission to play these days (took quite a while to get this across to them!). I potty them seperately or Star will pounce on Wolfie and distract him from his job of going potty.

I hope Saleen gets it all internalized very soon and life is easier for you all soon too!

I call the first many months "puppy hell"

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kathyd

· #4 · Mar 22, 2009

I'm glad you're sticking with it and seeing positive results.

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Blue Fox

· #5 · Mar 22, 2009

We found this with T too for the first few months. I put it down to him having Locky who was certainly his preferred play mate, a long way over me. Just the last 2 months really he seems to be responding to me and looking to me for good things. I'm glad you are seeing positive results, it is quite heartbreaking when you feel like the dog doesn't like you.

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Mandycasey'smom

· #6 · Mar 22, 2009

oh hun we have all felt that way. I got Casey when Mandy was 5 months old something like that and man I was kicking my ass. Mandy was such and easy pup still is Casey is a brat. Sweet cuddly funny but he took forever to house train and will still piddle in house if nobody watcing in past 3 hours. Has food issues that we have finally fixed with probiotics but still a pain. Chews woodwork if you are not beside him when out of crate. I had that feeling a couple times but at a year old I love them both to death and would not part with either of them.
Give it time she will come around and personally I find female dogs bitches anyways. I will never get another again as Mandy and last dog we same way. Mandy loves to cuddle but is very independent.

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WonderPup

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 23, 2009

LoL I agree with you on female dog thing, personaly I would rather have a male. Especialy for any type of competition. I find a lot of boys easier to train, and more cuddly, and happier to please you. Wonder is very cuddly but it's more of a 'I am the wonder puppy and you are the hired help so pet me now". Howie is very happy goofy boy who sweetly requests that you pet or cuddle him. Problem is he occasionaly marks in the house and hubby hates him for it. He wouldn't agree to another male for any reason with one exception. When I first started seriously looking for a spoo we made a deal that if the oppertunity came to own a blue or a silver that he would agree no matter the gender. Of course since there was a silver boy and a girl available in Saleen's litter I had no choice but to choose the girl lol. Darn, should have found a breeder who only had boys maybe LoL. I'm a little but surprised in a way since over the weekend I haven't had her tied to me nearly as much as I did at the end of the week because we are working on the landscaping. (Whooo new house, new yard! Yay!)

Saleen and I have continued to improve our relationship and last night she actualy slept on the bed with me for about a hour before hubby came to bed and she had to go in her kennel. She seems to have stopped throwing a complete fit in her kennel too which is helpful in restful night's sleep department

This morning Hubby put her up on the bed again because he got up earlier than me and again she squeezed hersulf between Jazz and I and curled up in a little ball.

She is also more responsive to her name which is HUGE. Now I'm not worried about her being deaf. My mother on the other hand, (who still doesn't much like Jazz and downright hates the fact that we went and got another one) still insists that deafness is a possibilty since she has party in her background. *eye roll* She keeps saying " She's a party, (which she isn't), she's party factored, she this..., she's that.... blah blah blah.." I can tell the dog can hear me, OK, so knock it off!

Now if we can get her totaly potty trained we'll be well on our way. We've had a couple of opps moments where mommy wasn't paying attention in spite of her being tied to me and she had no choice but to pee on the floor. Dang mommy.

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starkeeper

· #8 · Mar 23, 2009

Enjoy the stressful time!

(I think Star is housebroken finally at 6 1/2 months.....knock on wood.)

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WonderPup

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 24, 2009

Hehehe,
The lady who's puppy class we are taking was talking about houstraining in class last week. I guess a lot of folks in the class are having problems. She talked about catching the dog in the act so we could stop the behavior and take them outside to "go". She also had a solution for what to do when you find a puddle or a poo from your puppy with love on the floor somewhere and you didn't see it happen. She says, take a newspaper or magazine and roll it up. Stand in front of your puppy and family and take aim... whack yourself upside the head three times and repeat "shame on me for not watching the puppy!!!" Then clean up whatever your puppy left for you. ROFL

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Blue Fox

· #10 · Mar 24, 2009

WonderPup said:
Hehehe,
The lady who's puppy class we are taking was talking about houstraining in class last week. I guess a lot of folks in the class are having problems. She talked about catching the dog in the act so we could stop the behavior and take them outside to "go". She also had a solution for what to do when you find a puddle or a poo from your puppy with love on the floor somewhere and you didn't see it happen. She says, take a newspaper or magazine and roll it up. Stand in front of your puppy and family and take aim... whack yourself upside the head three times and repeat "shame on me for not watching the puppy!!!" Then clean up whatever your puppy left for you. ROFL

I love this saying, and it really sums it up. I always felt so bad when T had an accident inside cause I kept thinking I was failing the dog. Luckily he only had a few cause I couldn't live with the guilt :rofl:

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