Dog Community

It's happening . . .

Posted : 8/19/2006 12:46:42 PM

Ash is starting to misbehave. She no longer listens to my commands immediately and is REALLY testing her boundaries with me. She'll jump up to look on the table, I tell her "Off!" and she just stands there, daring me to make my next move. I tell her "Sit" and she doesn't move until I start to come to her. I tell her "Down" and she walks away. I tell her "Come!" and she stays frozen.

I don't know if it has anything to do with her now being left in the crate or what. It was not like this before. Is this a hurdle that we all must cross at a certain age? I don't know how to handle it. I do NILF (to a certain extent) with her, which is how I got her to obey me on first command. I would tell her "Sit" before I fed her and make her wait until I said it was o.k. for her to eat. I would tell her "Sit" before I puit her leash and she would. I'd tell her "Down" before a treat and she would. Or "Rollover" before a treat. I'd make her "Stay" at the top our the stairs to our apartment so I could check the surroundings before I would take her to go potty. I used to be able to leave my plate of food on the table and not even worry that she would try and eat it and now she inches her way closer and closer, even while I'm eating! She knows she needs to be a certain distance away when I'm eating and now she comes right up to me.

Should I take her bed privileges away? She sleeps with me right now. I don't know what to do. I find myself repeating commands over and over again and then I have to catch myself because I shouldn't have to say it more than once and my me repeating it, I know it's telling her that it's o.k. not to listen to me. This is frustrating.

jones

Posted : 8/19/2006 1:12:13 PM

Well, I'm sure I'll be the only one [

] but I'd say losing her bed priveleges isn't going to do much to solve this problem. Instead of boosting NILIF, boost your obedience training. Having her obey commands just when she wants something is probably not enough. Make a "session" of it a couple times a day, and reward the session with her favorite game. It's possible that she doesn't even really know her commands and was just kind of picking up on what she's supposed to do before getting a treat, her leash, etc.

ashland

Posted : 8/19/2006 1:21:35 PM

She knows her commands. I was giving examples of how I use NILF sometimes. She knows them very well, which is why I don't get it. We do training sessions together daily, not for very long, but for about 15 minutes maybe twice a day. After we enrolled in agility, it became even more concrete for her and she loves training. I almost always have one of those belt loop treat bags with me or treats in my pocket. She doesn't get a treat though EVERYTIME. I don't want her to completely rely on treats. So the other times it's just praise and affection. She's been through 2 obedience classes, her first one and then a refresher one. Plus the agility. So I don't get it. If I would tell her off, she was off. She never jumped on me when I came through the door and now it's constant jumping. I really don't think it's that she doesn't know her commands. It's just frustrating for me because I catch myself repeating it over and over again! [

] It's embarrassing! Lol!

ron2

Posted : 8/19/2006 1:47:03 PM

I forget how old your "wolf" is but they have an adolescence, sometimes compared to humans, where they are testing boundaries. Me, I spoil Shadow pure rotten and give him bits of meat from my plate. He sits and waits for it. When he wants to get up next to my plate, I command obedience until he is sitting where he is supposed to sit. My wife, OTOH, gives him nothing from her plate. A month or two of un-uh (as in, no) at just the right tone of voice and he doesn't even bother her. We've had him for almost 2 years. You just have to re-iterate that it will be done your way, not his. That may mean some crate time with a distraction or feeding him the same time that you eat.

sillysally

Posted : 8/19/2006 7:33:47 PM

If it were me, I'd up the NILIF and take away the bed. Sally has to be invited on the bed, and she sees it as a great reward. One thing that made a difference for us was when I stopped giving in to Sally's demands for attention. She would put her head under my hand, and I would pet her. Now, I pet her plenty, but when she is called over for it, and sometimes has to do something for it.

She sounds like she is getting pushy, and you just have to address it. If she is in the adolesent period that probobly has a lot to do with it. I have read that frequent "downs" are good for pushy and/or dominant dogs, as down is a more submissive position. Good luck.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 8/20/2006 5:44:53 PM

Emma gets pushy, too. When that happens, she stops getting away with stuff. The leash goes on, the furniture becomes off limits, I feel like a horrible mother, and she doesn't get anything without working for it. One week of boot camp is usually enough to straighten her out. I should probably just be a little more strict all the time, but I'm not, so we have boot camp, about twice a year.

tashakota

Posted : 8/21/2006 12:02:45 PM

Ashland, wasn't she outside, running around in a yard all day before? So now when you come home, she has even more energy and she has a harder time "controlling" herself because she's never had too?

labcrab

Posted : 8/21/2006 1:24:52 PM

How old is she? This sounds *exactly* like adolescent behaviour to me! I didn't have to do anything with Slick except be consistent, patient and increase the exercise a bit. He's just over a year now and is slowly coming out of it. He's basically just stopped doing many of the teenager things that he considered to be rebellious: raiding the laundry, galloping away with the remote control, counter surfing, shredding the tp and the BIG one - totally ignoring commands. He still occassionally ignores us, but is WAY better than he was just a month ago.

ashland

Posted : 8/21/2006 2:08:05 PM

Ash is a year and half now. And yes, she had access to a yard before, but she was never left outside. She was going to my mom's house during the day and my mom would let Angel and Ash play outside off and on throughout the day. So yup, she's had a huge adjustment. She's crated right now, all day. That's why I mentioned that in my original post. I was thinking maybe that had something to do with it. I try to exhaust her as much as possible when before I leave and when I get home, but I wasn't prepared for this seemingly blatant disregard for my authority! Lol! She's also started to go after my shoes and socks, which is a huge no-no. She hasn't done this since she was a puppy.

Last night was my first time making her sleep on the floor. Oh boy, was it hard. She kept hopping back up and I kept making her get off. Finally she stopped trying and then I was falling asleep and all of sudden I feel her slithering her way up to the bed, trying to make as little noise as possible. Her ears were all tucked back when I sat up and she just knew she was in trouble. I just pointed and she got off, but it broke my heart. I've also not been allowing her on any other furniture as well.