I have a few problems that I need some help on. Maggie, my puppy, is twelve weeks old (thirteen this Saturday). She's half choc lab, half beagle/bull terrier. I picked her out and named her when she was a week old and brought her home when she was six weeks old. I knew she was a bit young to leave her mama, but that's another story.

The night I brought her home, I didn't know what to do with her, so I stuck her (sans kennel/crate) in a corner of my bedroom. In the middle of the night one of my cats woke me up to take care of her. Needless to say, I knew I needed to do something or my cats were going to move out, and my hardwood floors were going to be ruined.

That's when I came upon the Leerburg site. The information on housebreaking a puppy was perfect and worked like a charm. Maggie was housebroken within five days, and beyond a few accidents (for which I accept full responsibility), she's been absolutely ideal. She took to the kennel without any trouble.

With my first problem fixed, I started in working with Maggie to teach her to sit, lay down, etc., and Maggie has learned very quickly. She learned how to roll over in one evening with only circular movements from a fist with a treat in it. I was surprised but figured I had a prodigy.

However, Maggie is incredibly stubborn, and I'm concerned I will have dominace problems with her unless I can curb it quickly. I also am concerned she's not getting enough play/exercise, and the nips were so bad a week ago that I didn't even want to touch her.

First problem: Stubborness and dominance
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Again, I'm not sure these are issues or if these are even related, but Maggie isn't always obedient immediately. Sometimes I have to tell her several times to sit if I'm not in the middle of a training session before she listens and sits. We've been in obedience classes since she was eight weeks old, and she knew how to sit on command before that, but recently (within the last two weeks), it's like adolescent rebellion. She looks at me like a rebellious teenager. I know she knows what I'm saying, but it's like she's testing my limits. For example, when we play fetch, I always make her sit quietly first before I throw the ball (a prelude to making her stay before fetching). Since I brought her home and introduced her to her toys, I've asked her "Do you want the ball?" (or toy or frog or whatever). I taught her to sit quitely when I ask that question and wait for me to give her the toy. Even if I tell her directly to sit, she'll look at me with this stubborn glint in her eyes, and then after a few seconds sit very slowly, like she's obeying under duress. I keep hoping that she'll grow out of it, especially if I keep working patiently with her, but the trainer in the obed. classes says that she should be able to sit (or do any other task she's been taught) immediately on command regardless of distractions at her age.

How can I maintain control yet still allow for her natural energy and puppy-ness?


Second problem: Play time
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I've read several things online, in books, etc. about puppies and play, and the only thing that I've come up with is a statement on a Web page that said that puppies need "sometimes as much as 40 minutes a day of play." I know that isn't 40 straight minutes. It's 40 minutes total during the day, but Maggie seems to NEVER be tired. Our general daily routine is as follows (although it may change because of the weather or day of the week or whatever, but I try to be fairly consistent with this routine):

- Get up at 7:30a, go potty, get back in kennel and eat breakfast (at this point I usually climb back in bed until my second alarm rings at 8:00)

- Go for a walk (on leash) or play/work in the back yard (off leash) for as long as Maggie can (or until I can ... she usually outlasts me)

- Usually at 9:00a, Maggie goes back in her kennel, and I get dress and go to work.

- At 1:00p, I leave work (1.5 miles away) and go home to let Maggie out to go potty and play/work. I'm back in my office by 2:00, so Maggie has a good 30 minutes to work off some energy.

- At 6:00p, I go home, let Maggie out, play/work a bit (maybe 30 mintues), then Maggie's back in the kennel for dinner.

- Usually sometime between 8:00 and midnight, I let Maggie out of her kennel for awhile (not the whole time but part of it). I'll sit on the floor with her between my legs and a bag of treats beside me and we'll do sits/downs/rollovers. I'll force her onto her back and rub her tummy and legs, basically force submission, and Maggie doesn't have a problem with it.

The problem is this: I'm never perfect with this schedule. If I miss ANY part of this schedule, Maggie becomes a holy terror. For example, if I have to work late and can't get our evening play session in or I was up too late the night before and can't get up in time for our morning play session, Maggie is completely unmanageable for the whole day until she's worked off enough energy to once again be calm. But even on days when everything happens perfectly, Maggie still has more energy and drive than any dog I've ever seen (except perhaps her mother). This is when she listens the least and when she chases the cats around the house. I've taken to keeping her on leash at all times when she's out of her kennel because I need a way to maintain control, but I need her to be off leash in the back yard so that she can run off some excess energy.

Plus, Maggie yawns all the time. I can't figure out if she's tired (which she shouldn't be because she can sleep all day AND all night) or if it's because she doesn't get enough exercise to start with or if maybe she doesn't get enough oxygen.

How do I know how much playtime/exercise that Maggie needs? And how can I maximize that time to make the most of her energy and drive in the time I have available?


Third problem: nips
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This seems to be only a problem with me. Maggie went to the vet today for her 12-week exam, and one of the other patrons commented that Maggie didn't nip or mouth at all, which she thought was unusual for a puppy her age. For a few weeks, she'd follow me around the house nipping at my jeans, and when we would play, she'd nip at my hands. I have a booda ball and a tug rope that we play with in the house. She always wants the part I'm holding, so her mouth comes open and she nips at my hand. As I said earlier, it has been so bad that I didn't want to touch her because when I would try to pet her, she'd start nipping at my hands. Our nightly tummy rubs seem to be helping with this, so I continue to be hopeful that she'll grow out of this, and the nips are definitely playful and not agressive. I'm not fond of putting my hands in a dogs mouth, but I'm working on this so that she understand that there are times when I need her to open her mouth but that biting is not acceptable.

I really have tried everything for this. I've "ouch"-ed in a high-pitched voice; I've stuck my fingers down her throat (which I think has caused more harm than good because now she doesn't like me putting my fingers in her mouth); I've held onto her lower jaw so that she couldn't bit me; I've even rapped her across the nose (which I don't like doing but did only in frustration at being constantly nipped at).

What is the best way to teach a puppy not to nip (something that works quickly and effectively without pain for either the puppy or the parent)?



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I know this is a long post, and it probably sounds like Maggie is a constant terror. She's really not. She has the makings of a wonderful dog, a first-rate companion, and I keep telling myself that it's just the puppy stage that we need to survive, but this is the first dog I've really had. We had dogs when I was growing up, but we lived in the country, and dogs were outside animals that we never trained beyond sit and down and maybe fetch. I want to teach Maggie correctly. I want her to be a model of dog obedience who sits when I say "sit" and stays when I say "stay" and if I say "jump," she waits until I tell her how high.

I've purchased the puppy training DVD and am hoping that it will help, but if there are any additional ideas for handling a stubborn puppy (which I understand is a Lab trait), I welcome the advice. Right now, I'm just trying to gather as much info (books, sites, etc.) so that I can understand what to do. Quite frankly, the Leerburg information is the best that I've found online so far. Eventually, I want to get Maggie AKC obedience certified, so having to untrain her later is not okay.

Good Lord..this is a baby... let her be a baby...

I read your post and thought you were talking about a year old dog here.. cut her some slack, don't expect much from her except lots of energy, play and poop.. it really will make for a happier pupper in the long run!

I think it's great that you are so enthusiastic with your puppy, but I too, think you might want to dial it back a little. Sometimes we can stress out a puppy by demanding too much too soon. The yawning could be her way of telling you she is getting to the breaking point! Also, try to remember, they grow up SO fast, you may want to slow down & smell the roses (or puppy breath!).

Aside from what the others have told you, there are a couple of things that caught my eye.
First: If your obedience trainer told you this 12-13 wk old pup should be doing fast sits with distractions, you need to run from this person as fast as you can.
Second: Since your pup is a mixbreed (nothing wrong with that) you wont be able to get any AKC titles on it. There are many mixbreed clubs and trials that you can get lots of titles on. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

This is a relief. I thought that 12-13 weeks for complete obedience was a bit much. Of all of this, the nipping is the only thing that really drives me to distraction (that and the fact that I'm afraid I don't know as much as I need to know about dog training).

But the AKC certification isn't a purebred certification. It's an obedience certification. Sorry. I think I misnamed it. It's the Canine Good Citizen. As I understand it, it's not dependent upon being purebred. I may be wrong. I'll have to look into it a bit more.

Your correct on the CGC. It is open to any breed/cross.
The mouthiness will usually settle down when the adult teeth come in.