Is it too late to train my dog now?

August 9, 2010 by admin
Filed under Dog Training Articles

I have a female Pomeranian. She is 1 year and three months old. She will sit if you have a treat for her but that’s about it. A friend of the family who claims she is an expert on how to train dogs discouraged me the other day saying that my dog is too old and stubborn to be trained now. Is she right? My dog can be stubborn at times, but she is clever, and if you use a stern tone she’ll listen. But is it too late to train my dog basic commands now?
Gene: go to hell.

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Tags: Dogs, friend of the family, google, hell, pomeranian, script type, text javascript, three months

Dog Behavior Experts – How should I convince my mom and dad that they are not treating the dog right?

April 16, 2010 by admin
Filed under Dog Training Articles

6 Comments

It doesn’t matter how much I tell them, they just do not understand that they are spoiling their dog rotten and it’s gotten completely out of control! They just do NOT understand that a dog does not think like a human.

We have a pomeranian named Rusty – probably the worst type of dog that one can have when it comes to being spoiled, and by that I mean toy dogs not necessarily pomeranians specifically. Unbelievably, this dog has many behavior problems, and my mom and stepdad literally IGNORE them. This is where I am completely confused and shocked at their behavior. They dismiss everything he does as "just being a dog"… Even so, I thought I knew a lot about dog behavior, at least the common sense that went into it (Like, for example, if you feed the dog at the table he is going to beg at the table for food because he knows if he begs he will get it, and the more you give it to him when he begs the more he begs and probably, the harder it is to make him stop) but after doing some research I found out that even I didn’t have much idea about what it really means to be the alpha male or female to your dog.

Past the ranting, these are the behaviors that this dog shows that I am upset about:

- Extremely excessive barking, especially at strangers. The dog does not stop when told to stop many times, and may only stop or reduce frequency when actually disciplined.
- Begging at the dinner table; the dog will whine and cry and even bark to get attention.
- Jumping up on people, be it standing on his hind legs to jump up on someone while they are standing or jumping up into their lap.
- Excessive licking, literally, the dog licks you until you make him stop.
- Very possessive of home and family; gets really upset when people he doesn’t know very well come in. While he hasn’t shown aggression he gets very upset and even after he calms down, if they happen to move again, or get up or something, it sets off a whole new wave of frantic barking.
- Excitability about food that is really out of control. Pomeranians are apparently prone to "reversed sneezing", but this dog will start up a reverse sneezing fit at almost every meal simply from the excitement of the prospect of food.

Now, things my mom and stepdad do – or don’t do – that probably contribute to this behavior:

- They give him attention whenever he begs for it.
- They give him the last bit of whatever they’re eating at most meals. Even what they’re drinking! They hold the cup and let him stick his nose in and drink it out of the bottom. (Personally I find this to be ridiculous…)
- They do not feed him at specified times or take away the dish after the dog has eaten – the dog can eat as he pleases.
- They do not watch their emotions around the dog. When the dog goes into a reverse sneezing fit they will pick him up and coddle him while he calms down. I’ve told them many times that this is only going to make the dog want to do it more often because he knows he will get attention from them.
- They let the dog romp over their laps and lick their faces and bodies excessively, claiming "he’s just a dog, he needs to do these kinds of things."
- Basically, they give the dog anything he wants.

I have always been telling them what they need to be doing to get the dog to behave, and they always get the idea that I’m just being cruel. Just today I was told that I was cruel and heartless by my stepdad for not allowing the dog to lick my ice cream stick when I was done with it.

Additionally, my stepdad told me that he hopes I never own any other pet besides the fish I have now, because I would mistreat them and they would be miserable. He’s dead wrong! Any pet I have will be happier simply because I take the time to research how to take care of them, understand them, and keep them happy. At the moment I am very partial to Shiba , which are a willful breed. I know that at this time and in the near future I will not have the resources or time to take care of one, so I am waiting until I am sure I can afford it, because I want the dog to have what it needs so it can be happy. Though when I do get one, I will make sure it is far better behaved than theirs ever will be. I suppose it might take that long for them to see that what I’m talking about is true. Unless I can find some way to get through to them now so they can start changing their dog’s behavior right now, but I get the feeling that they are so deluded with their own rationalization about the dog’s behavior that they are never going to listen.

What should I do to get them to realize that the dog has problems that they won’t even admit to, and the reason that dog has those problems is them? I know that they don’t want to admit it because they as owners are responsible for this out of control dog and they don’t like feeling like they are doing something wrong – nobody does, but they have to be pretty insecure with themselves to completely tune out the criticism inst

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