angelamarie
Posted : 7/21/2006 7:36:22 AM
Hi there,
Yikes, don't ever use the crate for punishment, he needs to love it and want to be in it, don't do anything negative ever with it's use.
For puppy mouthing me--there's a few things I've done. If the puppy is in a really playful mood and I know it's going to start getting mouthy, I'll spray my arms and hands with bitter apple. PRoblem with that method is you have to be ready to be covered in bitter apple ahead of time all the time, kind of a pain. Also, I will take a toy and stick it in the dog's yap, to redirect. Another method is to turn your back on the dog, as if to "shun" him and just walk away.
For jumping up, the only way I've ever been able to stop that is to instill in the dog a very reliable SIT command, and not pet them or give them attention until they would sit. When there are people coming in the house, don't answer the door until the dog is on a leash. When they walk in, make him sit, and they cannot greet him until he sits. So, start working on that sit command.
I'm sure others will have lots of ideas, jumping and mouthing are standard puppy problems and there's lots of ways to deal with those problems.
Good idea to get them under control now. They are easier to deal with in a puppy than an adult.