A sigh of relief

For anyone that has young puppies I just wanted to post this to give you hope!b*n*n* Sonny is now just a little over 7 months and he has FINALLY started to calm down. He still has crazy hour, but it is a little less crazy. I know that he will still make mistakes in the future, but he hasn't had a potty accident in the house for a couple of weeks. He still likes to be defiant, but he is following commands better. And finally he seems to have found a balance with our cat, Nico!!! He still loves to play with him, but he hasn't chased him in over two weeks!!! YAY!!!! Anyways Sonny being my first puppy, I definitely underestimated the amount of work it is, so I wanted to post to everyone with young puppies that I am finally seeing it DOES get easier, so if you are going through one of those crazy stages with your pup, just hang in there! :-D

With all of this being said. Sonny will probably decide to go through a naughty stage icon_devilnext week.:rotfl:

I agree with everything you just said ashleighelizabeth! Brooky was my first puppy too and I underestimated everything and expected way too much too soon. But when it all clicked in and now how she is...I was like "Oh! I've got it!". Puppyhood is so hard if you are not used to it so like she said, hang in there because it really does get easier and SO much better!!!!

Bella had a couple of monster weeks there! She is still defiant - sometimes I say "Come here Bella" in a happy voice and she sits there and looks at me. So I say "Come here" in a slightly less happy voice and she does the same. It's like she is thinking "Why should I?" lol She has a special mat that she eats on and often if she has a bone she will take it somewhere. We say "On your mat!" and she goes over to the edge of the mat with her face over the mat but her body off - Cheeky puppy!

Yes they do start to calm a bit as they get over 6 months and settle! Just be aware they then go into adolescence soon, and can get very distracted especially with training work already done... It is such a great feeling when you see training and work paying off though isn't it!

However just to be clear on language -- puppies and even adults aren't actually being 'defiant' -- especially at a young age, they just don't fully understand the command or understand there is any need to respond. Especially if you repeat it, and change the tone of voice :lol: -- trainers note that a command should only be given once. If you give it several times, the dog learns the command is NEVER 'sit' but 'sit. Puppy, sit. SIT. Come here and SIT. Sit. SIT!' Rememeber all they hear is a set of sounds.

A puppy also will go thru many phases during the first year of being easy to train and quick to respond, and then seeming to ignore people and become indifferent. That's because, like kids, they are young and growing. No one expects children to always do what is wanted on a single word! For dogs even slight variations in tone, wording, or different people giving a command can make them not even understand that a command has been given.

In general puppy training under 6 months is NOT to give a reliable response as it is an unfair expectation -- it is done to set a base on which to build, and because it is fun an useful for owner and puppy. It will take many many more months and a lifetime of regular -- daily or weekly -- structured practice to get reliable responses and maintain a good level of training in any dog. (same as people with, say, maths. We forget a LOT once weleave school and no longer need to use quadratic equations!).

Ian Dunbar is really good on all these points.

I do think language and terms we use are important as they set up expectations and assumptions that can actually be damaging to training and the relationship between dog and owner. I don't like words like 'defiant' as a puppy is hardly being that, nor are adult dogs -- the issue is almost always one of the dog not actually being fully trained and owners expecting more than the dog can deliver -- which can set up a disappointing relationship on both sides as the dog is labelled a 'problem' or 'stupid'! My trainer friends all say they see this all the time in their classes when actually the people have a wonderful, smart responsive dog/pup that simply gets conflicting messages or isn't actually trained fully.

Thanks for the update, ashleighelizabeth! Chloe Louise seems to be following in Sonny's footsteps in many ways, so I am very happy to hear this and look forward to her maturing.

ashleighelizabeth said:

For anyone that has young puppies I just wanted to post this to give you hope!b*n*n* Sonny is now just a little over 7 months and he has FINALLY started to calm down. He still has crazy hour, but it is a little less crazy. I know that he will still make mistakes in the future, but he hasn't had a potty accident in the house for a couple of weeks. He still likes to be defiant, but he is following commands better. And finally he seems to have found a balance with our cat, Nico!!! He still loves to play with him, but he hasn't chased him in over two weeks!!! YAY!!!! Anyways Sonny being my first puppy, I definitely underestimated the amount of work it is, so I wanted to post to everyone with young puppies that I am finally seeing it DOES get easier, so if you are going through one of those crazy stages with your pup, just hang in there! :-D

With all of this being said. Sonny will probably decide to go through a naughty stage icon_devilnext week.:rotfl:

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