Puppy Problems!?

Question

I have a 9 month old pitbull/lab mix. She is a VERY good dog and very smart but she has habits that my family is finding nearly impossible to break! First, she jumps on people when they come in. We have tried putting her in her kennel and letting her calm down and putting her on a leash when people come in but nothing seems to work. She also jumps up on the counters and tables to get food..but she doesnt beg at the dinner table. Another problem is digging in the backyard and pulling out the flowers. We have a big fenced in back yard but we had to put her on a leash because she gets to muddy from being outside now. Our last problem is chewing the furniture. She only chews 1 of our chairs and we have tried using the sour apple spray but she actually likes the taste of it. She has TONS of toys to play with and she gets a lot of attention from all the members of the family. Anything we can do?

Answer 1

The first problem is known as 'enthusiastic greeting' and I suggest whenever anyone comes into the house they completely ignore her, don't even look at or speak to her, until she's completely calmed down. Then make a big fuss of her and tell her what a good dog she is. It may take a while but if she's a smart dog she'll soon learn what to do if she wants a fuss made of her. With the jumping up to get food, a firm NO before picking her up and putting her on the ground (hopefully before she gets to any food). It does help to give young dogs a small treat as a reward when they've done what you've told them. I can't suggest anything to protect your garden from an energetic puppy. Chewing furniture can be because a young dog is teething. I would suggest buying her rawhide chews, shutting her away from the furniture and/or changing the flavour of the spray to lemon maybe?

Answer 2

She is still a pup, our St.Bernard jumped on people that she really liked when she was under a year, she has stopped doing it, we would make her sit and wait, until the person sat down, then she would be allowed to go over to them and smell and greet them. She was a bit overboard at first, but as we kept saying "sit and wait", she began doing that and there was alot less yelling going on. She seems a bit active, jumping the counters and all, I would make sure there isn't food she can get to, there are lots of different people foods that can make a dog sick, I think you are going to have to be consistent and keep telling her to get down, and physically making her sit down. We do not allow our dog in the kitchen, we simply tell her to get out of there and she does. Her hair shedding was really getting on my nerves, I had to stop that behavior. The back yard, how about setting up an area for the dog that she will be in when outside in the yard. You can purchase metal fencing quite cheap, mark out an area where she can run and dig, then put the fence up. Once she knows she can be outside without temptation everywhere, she will stop digging. If she digs out of the enclosure, lining the outside with concrete will stop that. She will soon mature and not drive you crazy, please be patient, no hitting or voices that "scare" the dog. Good luck.

Answer 3

maybe you should try to socialize her or let her play with other dogs.about the counter thing you should yell at her when she does it...not a mean yell but a stern yell and after that put her out side on the leash for a little while.on the chewing the shair:shes probly in her teething stage.its ok all dogs have it.

Answer 4

i had the same problems with my dog!

when she jumps onpeople say down and give her a treat if she does that worked for me!

you can buy a underground fence to eventually she will learn!!

Answer 5

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