Quote: westy bell

 Quote: michael_wise

You just described every pushy, bratty, non-dominant puppy I've ever been around.

Heh, well, whatever she is, I am now stuck with her and it's very stressful for me. I'm almost solely responsible for training her and taking care of two young children and I realize that if I don't train her properly we'll end up having to get rid of her then I'll feel like such a failure. I was just hoping to have a nice family dog, no different than what most want, but in hindsight if I'd known what I was in for... I may have waited longer, til my kids were older...

Actually, I don't see the scenario as being disastrous or undoable.

You might need some guidelines, but a plan is step one on the "less stressed" road (for you and the pup).

Can you outline the dog's usual day, with exercise and ob work?

Oh, definitely doable.

Connie's questions about exercise, and obedience will help towards using all this puppy's energy to something more productive than buggin' the kids.

The puppy LIKES the kids. This is great, and SO much better than NOT liking the kids. It's just a matter of showing the puppy how to behave and avoiding problems before they arise.

Big ditto to Michael (whose breed of choice, by the way, is sometimes known as "crazy lil bassids" ).

Also, Westy, please don't think anyone is discounting the energy it takes to deal with a puppy and two kids age five and under!

What IS important is that it's doable.

The exercise and basic ob questions will get us on the right track.

She gets a 30-45 min walk everyday weather permitting during which she is heeling and learning to ignore things like other barking dogs, horses, getting over her fear of cars driving by and bulls across the road, etc.

I also try to let her loose in our yard (5 acres) once a day and throw sticks for her to chase then try to chase her with them, just a play session.

With the separation anxiety I am mainly trying to be a confident, firm, and consistent pack leader, not rewarding her for the panic type behavior, making her lie down before I let her out of the cage, telling her to wait, making her lie down and stay when we are getting ready to leave. I put her in the cage with no sort of emotion whatsoever and when we come home I ignore her for a while before I even go to get her. When we go upstairs I tell her to lie down on her bed and stay, same thing if I have to go outside, she seems to be getting better and I will just keep extending the time I'm gone. She also has to sit and wait at the door if we are taking her along, we all go out first and then I tell her to come. We all get in the vehicle first, I open the door but tell her to wait, then tell her "hup" to jump in. I'm doing everything I've read you should do to basically make sure I establish that hubby & I are pack leaders and being careful to not reward her in any way shape or form for things like fear, over-excitedness, panic, etc.

Excellent start, Westy! You have done some reading and put it to good use!

That exercise is not enough -- that leaps off the screen and smacks me in the eye.

The "loose in the yard" part doesn't even count. (Most dogs don't frolic in the yard on their own. They pretty much wait for something to happen or someone/something to join them.)

The fetch game totally "counts"! Is that every day, and for how long?

There are no daily basic ob sessions happening (don't worry; easily corrected)?

 Quote: michael_wise

Oh, definitely doable.

Connie's questions about exercise, and obedience will help towards using all this puppy's energy to something more productive than buggin' the kids.

The puppy LIKES the kids. This is great, and SO much better than NOT liking the kids. It's just a matter of showing the puppy how to behave and avoiding problems before they arise.

Thank you. You all are making me feel better.

As far as the training goes, it's pretty much an ongoing thing everyday. When I have time I bring her out into the living room on a leash with the kids and practice telling her "leave it" cause of course there are toys, coats, shoes, etc, all over the living room floor that she wants to go bite on or play with. I always make her sit before the kids are allowed to pet her then I gotta keep correcting her for trying to bite when they go to pet her, usually once I make her sit she won't jump. She is just so super hyper and over-excited whenever she is allowed out of the kitchen that it's difficult to make her listen, she just cannot control herself. Sometimes once we put the kids to bed we'll let her run loose in the living room and she'll settle down after a while but as soon as one of us moves too much in our chairs she is trying to jump up, gets crazy right away cause it's like she thinks it's play time. You definitely can't lie on the floor to watch TV cause she will NOT leave you alone, it's apparently an invitation to play. Even when hubby and I are sitting in chairs to watch a movie sometimes we end up putting her back in the kitchen cause she just refuses to settle down and is continually trying to jump into the chairs with us while we're watching the movie. She's just incredibly frustrating right now.

A TON of this* is directly related to frustrated energy. You are not going to believe the difference between this and a tired pup.

I will ask the pup experts to chime in on how much structured (with her humans) exercise she should be getting. (A half-hour or so walk that is incorporating heeling practice is very close to "doesn't count" in my book. )



Also, have you used a short drag line, and/or have you tethered the dog to you?

Have you heard of marker training?




*
"She is just so super hyper and over-excited whenever she is allowed out of the kitchen that it's difficult to make her listen, she just cannot control herself. Sometimes once we put the kids to bed we'll let her run loose in the living room and she'll settle down after a while but as soon as one of us moves too much in our chairs she is trying to jump up, gets crazy right away cause it's like she thinks it's play time. "

Frustrated energy in a pup is comparable to the sugar rush of a toddler having a big unlimited bag of Halloween candy.

 Quote: connie sutherland

The fetch game totally "counts"! Is that every day, and for how long?

No, not everyday, I can only do that when hubby is home to watch the 2 yr old and most days during the week one or both of us is busy in the evenings either with appointments or going to the gym.

 Quote:

There are no daily basic ob sessions happening (don't worry; easily corrected)?

Not anything structured, things like, everyday I have to take my son to school so she gets training that way also whenever we take her out to go pee, she practices the wait command, heeling, lie down, sit, and stay everyday multiple times a day as well as some other tricks we taught her like "shake" and "high five", "roll-over. Of course anytime someone goes into the kitchen to eat she has to lie down on her bed and stay. I am always having to tell her "off" cause she jumps up onto the gate. She has to wait at the bottom of the stairs when we bring her up for the night, things like that are everyday things. In other words she has to practice all the usual common commands everyday multiple times a day. I realize she does not get enough walking and play time though cause like tonight for instance, when my husband comes home I am off to the gym and hubby has to do an online test for a class he's taking. Yeah, like I said, in hindsight I should have waited til the kids were older, I've just got almost too much going on to train a puppy. If the kids were both older I could take her for walks and have play time even if hubby wasn't home. I'm just so limited with when and what I can do with her when I've got a 2 yr old running around. I haven't even been able to get outside to clean up all the dog poop in way too long.

Oh, and I have not heard of marker training.

One of the most frustrating things about her is that you can't even pet her without her trying to bite or paw at you. Even if I make her sit, when I go to pet her she just tries to bite my hand. So none of us can show her ANY affection cause she can't accept it without trying to bite. I mean it's pretty bad when you can't even pet your dog. The only time you can pet her without her tripping out with excitement and trying to bite is when she's super tired or when she's lying down on the passenger's seat in the vehicle. It's just so frustrating, she's so hyper all the time that even just to go into the kitchen with her we have to make her go on her bed and sit, that she'll do, but then when you want to pet her and tell her good girl she tries to bite. It's just so frustrating!!!

The pup needs an hour minimum of real exercise every day.

Truly, you are not going to believe the difference. It will not only affect the hyper super-active behavior, but it will be much better to leave a tired pup in the crate when you leave (there is more to that .... but step one is always to tire the pup before a crate stay).

Do you have a stroller? Do you have a playpen to put outside where the baby can be while you play fetch?

I would probably think too about how to convert some of the gym time to exercise that includes the dog.

I think that the folks with little kids and dogs/puppies will join the thread (especially when I slightly modify the title ) with their practical suggestions. Weekends are the slowest time on a dog board, but you won't be abandoned.