Niki surprised me today!

[greekblue]

Niki and Biting was the only problem and one that I had lost my patience several times and yelled at her -- never yelled at her but when she was biting. Then, she would be growling, biting harder, doing everything to bite me more even when I had ignored her and went to the other room. A couple days ago, I had promised to myself that I would never lose my patience again when she bites; I will be to her as patient and gentle as I am to her on everything else. Sooo I had to try.... her biting hurts me ten times more than it would hurt a healthy person because I have a chronic pain disorder, so that is why I would lose my patience. Well, I tried and held my breath when she tried to bite me again or made sure that I wore a thick sweater when she was getting in biting mood, so she was able to grab the sweater instead straight on to my bare skin. Very softly this time, but still firm, I said "Niki, NO BITE!" looking straight into her eyes and getting my hand or leg out of her mouth. I've done that several times even with seconds difference. Niki even when she would not stop immediately, she was able to calm down faster.

Today, however, Niki surprised me!! Everytime she put her mouth on my hand too hard all I had to say was "Oh Niki, no bite. We said no bite," and she would take her mouth completely out of my hand immediately. A couple times, she even took it out before I even had time to say "No Bite". I said "Niki..." and she took her mouth out of my hand and onto one of her toys. Later, she was biting one of my cords, and I told her: "Niki, No Bite that. Go get your toy, your toy." Niki left and when and got one of her favorite chewing toys!
Later on she would mouth my hand without biting for a second and then lick my hand. We still work on her to not bite my clothes, but that is better than biting my skin Now I know for sure what she needs, and we are almost there -- of course there will be setbacks, but we are well on our way of a very well behaved puppy.

Well, Niki likes to be treated with respect (stupid me)
She hates it when you yell at her and she gets MAD! She will do everything under the sun for you if you speak to her in a soft loving voice even for the worst thing that she has done. Never losing patience with my puppy again. She is sooo lovely and soooo very sensitive (also charachteristic of her breed to be sensitive to the owner's voice).

Niki is housetrained, on command sits, goes down, comes, gets her toy sometimes, brings the ball to be sometimes, and goes to her sit in the car sometimes. I am training her without treats because so far when I tried to use treats she has not show any care for them. I just tell her that she is a good puppy and good job. I only use treats in the moments when she is too distracted to listen and that after she already knows the command. She always sits before she gets her food or water, and she began to respond to the word "quiet."

I think it is pretty amazing as she is still only ten weeks old and she has a silly owner like me for a trainer.

And guess what else! Niki will sit fully alert for very long time (over an hour) in front of the piano everytime my landlord plays, and she loves it when I put classical music on the radio in the car. She will put her head on my shoulder and listen calmly. I put classical when she stays in her crate also. Now that is a high class puppy with taste

Sorry for the long email, but I had to share.

[Sophie45]

That is FANTASTIC!!! I'm so glad she has made such wonderful progress Of course, a lot of credit to you, too!

One of the greatest joys of raising a puppy is when you figure something out about their personalities and how they tick-like if you speak logically to her, she listens, but if you yell, she gets more hyper. She MIGHT have some *minor* set backs with the puppy biting, but you know exactly how to handle it now and that's the most important part. The key is she understands what you are asking-the rest will follow as she grows up and learns more self control, and how well worth it it is to listen to her mommy and she gets so much more that way!

I'm so impressed that you haven't been using treats-that is wonderful! Since she isn't used to getting treats for obedience, you have a better trained dog because you don't have to 'wean' her off the treats and onto just listening because you said so, and also you can save those treats for extra special occasions, and she will enjoy it all that much more.

Keep up the great work

[greekblue]

Set backs have already started (Grrrrrrrrrr..........).

I cannot wait for her to start professional classes. She is a VERY DOMINANT -- ALPHA DOG and the more she grows she becomes more willful. I have read that you should roll them on their back and wait a few seconds until they stop struggling and sumbit. Niki not even once has show any sign of sumbition in any way and she will not stop struggling no matter how long. She was a very easy puppy to housetrain, teach basic commants, but she will not listen if she does not want to with treats or without does not make any difference to her if she wants to bite or be difficult. She is becoming a very challenging dog. I will definitely need professional help as soon as possible after she has all her shots complete. She is a true represantation of her breed.

[Ritz459]

Well, what I've learned with having a "challenging" dog, is you are all the more proud and rewarded when all of your hard work pays off with a dog that FINALLY understands what you want and will listen.

I have read that you should roll them on their back and wait a few seconds until they stop struggling and sumbit.

I would SOOOOOO advise against that. Even submissive dogs will fight you when you roll them on their backs. That is an extreamly submissive posture and I know that if someone grabbed me and threw me on down onto the ground and held onto me to stop me from getting up, you had better bet your cookies that I would struggle until I was free too, and I'm a non confrontational person.
Case in point is using Sadie as an example. She was the best dog and also submissive. She was a brat for her nails though, and if I was to clip them by myself I needed to have her lay on the floor. As soon as I had to hold her down onto the floor, she became a maniac. Struggling and nipping...and she wouldn't stop. Teaching her to lay calmy on the floor while I was trimming her nails using toys, praise, and treats worked SO much better than force.

And what if you throw the dog on its back and it won't submit and decides to fight for its life and attacks you? What will you do then? "Alpha Rolls" can turn even a submissive dog into a fear biter and make it aggressive. And besides that, if you use force to train your dog....what happens when your dog outweighs you and you can't muscle it around?

However, I'm sure you and Niki will make a great team!

[CdnRottieMom]

I agree with Ritz, do not pin your dog down. Niki will one day be a 100+ dog and she will one day realize that she can pin you down. Use only non-confrontational ways to get her to do what you want her to. I do use the treat method as I find it's a quicker way to train and weed out the treats once I'm 100% sure that Neyla knows what the command means.

[greekblue]

Thank you all for your advise. I actually stopped that after I did it a couple times. Niki responds better to more calm methods, and she DOES get better each time despite the setbacks. She is truly a wonderful dog!

[Kuchi]

I wouldn't do the alpha roll. Classes will help. It sounds like great progress. Dominant dogs make great show dogs. They think they are all that and they aren't afraid to stand up for themselves. A shy dog may act too shy for a judge, that's probably why she wanted her to be shown.

[Sophie45]

Try and remember three words:

CALM, CONFIDENT, FIRM

I know we hear this over and over again, but dogs TRULY respond to calm, confident and firm commands.

Yelling and hollering shows your dog you are not in control of yourself, and can even lead them to be nervous/scared of you, because they won't know when to expect when to get screamed at.

Confident-Keep your body posture straight and high, chin jutted slightly up. If you're sitting or lying down giving a command, and it's not working, try standing up nice and high. Height is important to dogs-PERIOD. Have you ever seen how a submissive dog responds to an alpha dog? They lower themselves-whether it be their head, a play bow or even into a full down position to show their lower status/show they are not a threat. Keep your voice/tone strong and clear. Alphas and leaders are confident, and dogs respond immensely to this.

Firm-every command should say "I mean business". This is of course not yelling/hollering, but firm, concise, clear and confident. Instead of saying, "Niki, please sit, come on-sit! No, no, no-sit! Now!" you should say, "Niki, SIT!"

Puppies tend to be stubborn and sometimes quite the blockhead. They will test you nonstop. Remember they NEED to do this partially to determine if you are their leader, and will remain a good, competent leader to guide, protect and provide for them throughout their life. I think remembering the combo of her very young age, instinct and breed is important to understand (partially) why she acts this way sometimes! Also remembering she's a young, rumbunctious pup with sore teeth also.

Please try and remember those three words when you are dealing with any situation you want her to listen to you in, and just in general.