my dog wont learn!?

Question

we have a 1 & a half year old female staffy, she rips our clothes off the line destroys everything we own eats my 2 year old sons toys is so disobedient & doesnt listen to anything we say. its begining to cost us a lot of money, we leave the house for half an hour come home and the place is a disaster regardless of wheather shes inside or outside,we dont know what to do my hubby wants to get rid off her shes driving me mental but my son absolutly loves her & thats the only reason i havent got rid of her we have her 5 yr old mother as well who is extremely well behaved we thought the younger one would learn something off her mother but shes just getting worse, ive considered dog training but my husbands stubborn and wont allow it(i have no idea why) i want to give her another chance but hes determined to get rid off her if her behaviour continues , shes out of control.does anyone have any ideas im desperate!

we have put alot of time & effort in to try & train her i take her to the park and for walks we play outside with her my son is always playing with her its not like she doesnt get attention she gets treats,shes inside with us at night and has her own basket we just thought her mum would have a positive influence we didnt expect her mum to train her (so to speak) we dont leave her alone often she sees other dogs she has her mums company all the time shes not lonely or bored so i honestly dont see what the problem is the more attention she gets the more she wants i have a 2 yr old son im run off my feet looking after him i cant always be running after her too

Answer 1

Have you read the, "Doig Whisperer," by Cesar Millan? Staffies can be very stubborn and trying to force them just brings out their fighting instincts. You can try kenneling, and / or crate training the dog. This often helps behavioral problems.

The Dog Whisperer is also on National Geographic Channel Fridays and Saturdays, if you can get access to it. You can even try contacting this guy. He takes hard cases to film for his show.

Ask your husband why he refuses obedience school. The instructors there often have great tips for people and their dogs and are usually willing to help! I'm going to take my dog to agility classes this summer, simply because I think she will enjoy it :^)
I've only had her 3 weeks and she has her problems. But we are slowly working them out. Sometimes she doesn't know the difference between the furniture and her toys. But any time I tell her "no!" to one option - I always give her another.

Answer 2

Crate her when she's alone. Research methods of proper crate training before you do anything. Improper crate training can make things worse. At a year and half old, this dog is her prime, kinda like a teenager. Consider having her spayed if she isn't already, it will help to settle her, but the key is you. She should have been taught at an early age to be obedient which should have come from you or your husband, not the pups mom. You have allowed this dog to behave in a manner that you have not corrected. It will take work, but with determination, patience and understanding, her behavior can be turned around to make her a well behaved dog. Behavior modification can be accomplished with consistent commands and without being physical, slapping, smacking, etc. The first command you should start with is NO. A stern voice and repeated commands when she's doing something wrong and making her sit will eventually work. As important as it is to correct bad behavior, it's equally important to reward good behavior. Staffie's have an extremely high energy level and you must be creative to provide her with the exercise and interests to expel some of that energy. If all this fails and your decision to find her another home is inevidible, at least spend the time to find her a good home where the person is knowledgeable of the breed and is prepared to take on the responsibility of turning her into a good dog, otherwise she will sooner or later end up in shelter kennel waiting to be euthanized.

Answer 3

If it is not a combined effort to help her, then honestly, there isnt a lot you can do. He is against training for whatever reason and that would be her best bet. So unless you can convince him otherwise, it might be in her best bet to find a home that can calm her down and train her.

I would invest in a crate immediately so no further damage is done. Dont leave her in there all day and all night, nothing will be solved that way. She will only get worse if cooped up all day. Take her for a couple walks. Play fetch for 30-45 minutes. Make her tired! Make sure she cannot easily get to anything that does not belong to her. When you catch her with something that does not belong to her, take it away and give her something she IS allowed to chew on. Try Kong toys, Cuz toys, Boomer/Jolly Balls, Nylabones, anything made for heavy chewers.

I would not use Cesar Millan as a good training tool. He has some good ideas but none of which should be used by the inexperienced dog trainer. You can watch the show, but please, for your sake, dont bring any of his techniques home to your dog. It can only lead to you, or the dog, getting hurt.

Answer 4

Take her to a dog whisperer,take her to training classes,try 5 lessons to see if it makes any difference.She needs more discipline,Jessie our previous dog ate 4 carpets 3 were brand new! She settled down eventually.When she has been destructive put her outside and ignore her for 1/2 an hour.When you are training her try shutting her in a room for 5 minutes ,listen outside the door ,when she starts playing up open the door and say NO very firmly and command her to sit then praise her.Try treats during training ,because she is a puppy her mum would have given her training ,so YOU need to take over.Teach her to walk on the lead in the house creating an obstacle course that she has to approach and deal with.Your husband is worried that perhaps she would be better in a household where she is the only dog." dogs create their own pecking order but you are the pack leader.Show her firmly but kindly who is the boss.

Answer 5

Shouldn't the title of this question be: "My husband won't learn?"
His behavior is inexcusable. He wants to get rid of her because she's badly behaved AND he won't allow training? SHAME on him. Any dog can be trained in a positive way, so that it becomes clear to the dog what he gets rewarded for and what he doesn't. It is certainly a lot easier for a dog to learn these things when he's younger, so that he doesn't build up a history of destruction/running amok as yours has. It will take a lot of patience to re-train this dog : crating is a first step, so that the destruction stops. A Staffy needs a wire crate, pref. heavy-duty so there's absolutely no way for her to get out. Make the crate a great place for her to be - feed her in there, throw treats in there, and reward her with great treats whenever she's being quiet in there. Ignore her when she fusses. Make sure she gets a lot of exercise (I'm sure your son will help with this.)
Poor dog. Once again a dog must pay the price for a human's ignorance. Your husband's "plans" - if they can even be called that - hav obviously caused a great deal of frustration and may cause this dog to be put down.
I hope you and your son have the inclination to work this out. Here are some links to help. I don't like Cesar Milan's methods either - he is a bully and his methods are a great way to get yourself bitten.

Answer 6

I feel for you. We have just begun to get on the other side of the puppy nightmare phase. We have a husky puppy that we've had since she was 10 weeks old and she was an absolute terror until about 1 month ago. She's now a little over a year old. The absolute best thing you can do is start crate training her. Every time you leave the house put her in the crate with couple of toys (a Kong filled with peanut butter works great!). If she's never been crate trained,you have to start out slowly. Make sure that the crate is big enough for her to stand in and lie down in comfortably. Put something cozy like a blanket, dog bed or pillow in there for her to lounge on. Only leave her for short amounts of time at first and always praise her when you let her out. Never leave her in longer than 3-4 hours at a time unless it's night and she's sleeping in there. The crate should be a place of comfort and it will create a special den for her. We leave the crate open during the day so Monkey (She used to squeal like a Monkey when she was a little puppy when we first put her in the crate - hence the name Monkey!) can come in and out of it whenever she feels like it when we're home, that way when she's locked in there she doesn't feel like she's being punished.

As far as any other suggestions, watch The Dog Whisperer (Cesar Milan) on the National Geographic Channel. He is amazing! If you don't have cable I think you can rent his shows from Blockbuster or Netflix. Daily walks on a leash are absolutely neccessary to help with the destructive behavior. At least 20-30 mintues in the morning and if you can another walk in the evening. If you can only do one walk a day, than be sure it's in the morning. You will be amazed at the results. I learned that from watching the Dog Whisperer. We have 3 dogs and my smallest dog, Champ is a 7 year old terrier mix with the small dog big attitude syndrome. When he has his daily walks he calms right down and I don't have to deal the with aggression issues nearly as much.

As far as wanting to eat your toddlers' toys, sorry I have no suggestions for that. I was a nanny for about 8 years and used to bring one of my dogs to work with me and it never failed, my puppy would be chewing on the baby's toys and the baby would be chewing on the puppy's toys. I guess have a lot of anti-bacterial wipes handy at all times!

Hope this helps. Please don't give up on your dog, 1 1/2 is one of the worst ages for puppies. I'm not looking forward to Monkey's terrible 2s in puppy hood, but at least I know it will eventually pass, as will yours.

Daily walks and crate training. 2 most important things. Guess I could've kept this short. Oh well, hope this helps...

Answer 7

Break any tricks down into bite sized pieces, Keep it simple and use a high value toy or treat (high value= what she doesn't usually get) like homemade garlic liver, small pieces of cheese etc Try to teach something else and go back to 'play dead' at a later date. When you are teaching any trick, keep quiet, most people talk too much and remember that your dog doesn't speak English so it is extra pressure on the dog to try to understand your language and learn a new trick, you only put the words to it when your dog has learnt the trick and stop being disappointed with her, she may think your disappointment is anger in her and get anxious, so doesn't want to do this trick in case it upsets you. Remember dogs like to please us. I teach people and animals and when either doesn't understand I look at what I am doing wrong in teaching, not them in learning. She is physically able to do it, unless she has an injury. Play Dead- sit, down, flat, then using a high value treat held tight in between your fingers, let her smell it as it passes her nose, move your hand slowly towards her ear and around the back of her neck as her nose follows the treat. You should not be speaking at all. Don't let her have the treat if she sits up and keep your other hand off her. Keep it simple and in short sessions and do it twice or three times a day until she learns it. Teaching any tricks to any dog teaches them to use their energy to think and not react, I wish more people would develop their dogs brains in this way.

Answer 8

You CANNOT solve this problem without dog training. And this is not something her dog-mom can teach her.

You can get books on dog training at your local bookstore and petshop. I would honestly insist on at least a puppy-training class if I were you. More than teaching her basic manners, it will teach you how to teach her.

The number one reason dogs end up at shelters is because they 'won't' learn. Don't fail your dog, get her some training. It may cost some money but it will be well worth it.

Hope this helps.

Answer 9

i agree 100% with the above comment,
"go to obedience school" i own a staffy she's 5years old now she went to obedience school when she was only 15 weeks old and i think it was the best thing we could have done both for our staffy and our family,we got her when she was only 7 weeks old she was fully house trained by time she was 10 weeks old, (that ment if she wanted to pee at 3am someone had to get up with her) she never chewed things up "well apart from once" (she ate kitchen skirtin board" lol, but she was never realy left alone she either came with us if we were all going to be out or someone was home with her

Answer 10

...
Recently their was an episode on "Dog Whisperer," by Cesar Millan
where Cesar helped with training the owners of one of the fighting
breeds. Get a copy of this show and learn. Practice distracting
and controlling your dog.

As Jasmine said, take your dog for long walks. Make sure you are
walking the dog - not the dog walking you. So you need to learn
how to properly walk your dog. Proper walking not only reduces
your dogs energy, it is an opportunity for you to establish yourself
as your dog's leader, its boss. Reducing your dog's energy level
makes it more open to discipline and training. Cesar Millan
has this technique on all his shows.

You must set up a training situation with your dog. When your
dog starts to go for your kid's toy, distract your dog. The "Dog
Whisperer" show I mentioned showed how to distract and control
a fighting dog. Learn these procedures first. Practice them
with your dog in low key training situations.
...