Beautiful puppy. Just hang in there and remember they are really in pain with that teething so they chew like mad. I'm sure you'll get through the whole thing at the cost of some furniture and maybe a few layers of skin. LOL. One lady I know keeps gloves on when playing with them and I never went bare foot around the house.

Gotta say I love the bat ears! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Thank you all for the encouragement and suggestions!

It is soooo nice to know that others have experienced this same behavior.
I have raised Huskies previously so I am used to stubborn, but Marcus is quite a bit more aggressively stubborn than any of the Huskies I've owned.

Yeah his ears make him look like a giant evil bat lol.

Scott~

Leaving the puppy in the crate for 8-9 hours is very hard on the little guy, he has SO much energy pent up and ready to burn. Is there anyway you can give him a break or two in the day, even if you hire a pet sitter to come by? A lot of his behaviour is because he dosn't have an outlet for hours on end which enough to drive any high energy person or dog over the edge.

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Sorry Polly,
He is out of his crate from 5pm when I get home until 11pm when we go to bed, during that time he is either playing with me, chewing a rawhide or napping at my feet.

He is super inteligent but incredibly obstinate and stubborn at the same time, its sooo frustrating.

He is great with everything except the biting <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

When is the walking? A long (brisk) walk, with you being pack-leader, before you leave him in the morning and again when you return, will (IMO) do many things: Release frustrated energy; alleviate boredom; help establish your pack leadership in his mind; leave him ready to sleep a lot of the day away while you're gone; help avoid obsessive or destructive activities.........

Dogs are hardwired to travel, following their leader, all day every day. Of course, we can't do that, but we can give them good doses of that most natural of all activities. JMO! Took me a few years to really recognize the importance of the walk. I remember I used to think that the freedom of a big yard was enough. I was so wrong.

IMO, this is something that can show you immediate results. When he is marching along on his leash, not pulling you, not allowed to decide the direction or when to stop and sniff, following you, his leader, I think his perception of your pack structure will be easier to change.

i absolutely agree w/connie--good long WALKS (not just him out screwing/sniffing around) make for a tired puppy. mine is 15 wks old, every night after work (when, at worst, he's been crated for 12 hours), we walk not only the perimeter of 4 acres, but criss-cross it, with me throwing "something" for him to go find and "bring". after that, he gets crated for 1/2 hr, then we go do tracking imprinting, then the rest of supper. then hangin' out w/the family with at least one 1/2 hr walk before bed.

the other thing i do is, motivational OB during all this (i ALWAYS have treats in a pocket somewhere these days).

this pup ate me up the first 4 weeks he was here, and still takes bites, but he's mostly learned that the family is not for biting--and i taught him that using ed's latest advice. grab him by his cheeks, look at him, and say "NO". not mad, just a firm "NO". at first, when i did this, he'd turn right around and bite again, at which point, i grabbed his cheeks again, with a firmer "NO". looking him in the eye also. sometimes i had to repeat it 3 times cause he'd just come back at me, but it DOES work. that and screeching "OUCH"--which still startles him and reminds him i'm NOT a chew toy.

this has not decreased his drive or his bite on the tug, BTW. he has no qualms about killing/fighting for the tug. but he just (mostly!) gives me kisses around the face--an area i think we're all a little nervous about when all they want to do is bite! my hands/arms/legs/pants still can be fair game, but i don't have open wounds all over my hands/arms anymore <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

hope this helps. we're just coming into teething now though, so all bets are evidently off <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Looking again at the title of this post (seriously hard puppy), I want to add that I do NOT have working dog experience. I work with behavior problems in pets, most of whose issues are the result of weak (or no) pack leadership.

So while I believe very strongly in walks at heel to reinforce pack structure and relieve a dog who is stir-crazy, I probably have not run into really hard dogs like other members of this board have. Also, I've dealt with a few dozen, all pets with problems, and others have dealt with a few hundred, all strong working breeds.

I don't belong on a thread that has "seriously hard" or "dominant working breed" in the title! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

(And no, no mod here has ever berated me in a PM. It's just good practice to reassess whether we have gotten outside our areas of expertise when we advise on the 'net.)

i also should probably add a disclaimer that i have worked with only one other puppy, and that's been 20+ yrs ago (rescue dogs since then, all adults). but for this pup, who is at least a moderately hard pup, the methods i stated above have worked really well for me.

I'm interested - how is your "Hard Puppy" doing after all these months????

Me too!? Perspiring minds want to know.