TRAINING TIPS PLEASE

I'm guessing it's aroma plus access. Does he attack socks and/or shoes, too? As for access, maybe add a covered hamper or put a laundry basket up higher than he can reach. Fortunately, he's a small dog - imagine doing this with a Great Dane.

Those will (hopefully) solve the financial issue, but you still need to train. Does he know "Leave it"? That might be the next thing to train him to do.

Generally speaking, what have you done in terms of training?

Just a thought: have you tried changing your knickers more often?

True, jespah.

He does attack socks and shoes and now throw rugs & even a side of a pillow by his bed.

I've stopped him chewing the throw rug and pillow.

I've just realised "I gave him an old shoe".. So that's out the door in the bin now.

He knows "ah ah".. In a loud tone and as soon as he goes for my ankles, like I said he knows "ah ah", walk with a finger pointing down and he does that.

He doesn't know leave it. That could be a good way to go .

Prevention is a good idea too, I didn't think off, thanks .

That's the thing that makes me stuck.

I have had puppy's and kittens and trained all of them.. I've never had a "boy" dog, not sure if that makes any difference?

He knows "wait" and waits until I put his food down.
"Sit"
"Stay" when I want to get out a door and him not sneak through.
"ah ah"
"gentle" when he wants to play with me.
"Brush" - when I want to give him a brush.
"Walk" obvious.
"Up" when I want him to remain on the curb or grass and not the road.

He understands commands.


There is a rebel in him though.. If he has something and this could go with Jespah's idea of " leave it", and what he has is "alright" I tell him that, "that's alright, bring it inside" and he comes in. But, if it's "not alright" and I say "ah ah" he runs and we have to chase him very strategically mind you to corner him to get it off of him. Same inside the house, such as knickers.

HAHA. We couldn't possibly do it 1553115 times a year now could we.

I don't know that there is any cure for that. I suggest that you get a laundry bag that you can hang in a closet out of his reach, and use that. The boy dog used to take my socks (never a matched pair, of course) and "bury" them in the bed clothes. If you were to vigilant in digging them out, he'd hide them under the bed, or anywhere else that was difficult for you to get at. We never broke him of it, he just, apparently, grew out of it.

LOLS.. Sorry just over the part about them never being a matching pair, smart dog.

Here is hoping that he does. What type of toys did you both give to your pups?

I'm asking because of the situation where he is chewing throw rugs, cushions. I'm wondering if I should throw out his soft toys He could be associating the two / three as the same thing. Though I do know you can segregate what he can and can't have even if they are simular but that to me would be hard.

But then for a pup friggen what hard toys won't break his teeth..

I can tell you from experience with Dolly, our shih tzu, that they are very obstinate dogs. Dolly absolutely hates to be scolded and will often talk back with a sassy imitation of the scolding. Then she tries make up flirting, putting her head between her paws and acting goofy until she has you laughing at her. If we ignore her she really gets her feelings hurt and will go sulk in her bed until we call her to tell her she is still loved.


As for the chewing of things, try making some toys out of old socks and see if that satisfies him. Put a squeaky toy in the toe of a sock and tie it closed with string. Maybe use this to reward him with a game of tug o war when he obeys the leave it command.

Don't chase him when he is doing something wrong. You are teaching him how to get you to play a game with him. The more he does it, the more you reward him with a game of chase. Use the leave it or drop it command and reward him with a bit of play time when he does it correctly.

Dolly and Madison have dozens of soft toys. We keep them in a little bin for them. Periodically they will rummage through the bin to get that one toy they haven't played with for awhile. Their favorites rotate amongst about six toys. They get piled into the bin every night and the dogs drag them out every day. It has become a routine for them.

Dolly, the shih tzu, always has a toy in her mouth, if she doesn't, you can ask her where her toy is and she'll go get one. Both Dolly and Madison do a sort of nursing action on the toys, licking, chewing and sucking on the fabric.

I wouldn't get rid of the soft toys, just put some away so they can rotate as his new best favorite. It may eliminate his boredom too.

Oh Butrfly, that's was good to hear. No seriously, that is Rawaii all over. He does the same thing sometimes ie) most times he "walks" when I tell him off and put my finger down to the ground but sometimes, he jumps up angry to bite it Then he does all the cute things.

If I give him a sock, won't that cause problems with him commencing with D's socks?

He loves squeaky toys and we play a lot with him and with consistency tug of war, and drop it, so we can throw it for him to catch.

That makes sense, on the chasing thing. I've never met such a character dog before it's usually been very easy to train my pets, now perhaps I know why, his breed.

Thanks everyone really appreciate all these replies. Thanks Butrfly.

Teach him that the sock with the squeaky toy in it is his and he's to leave all others alone. If you catch him chewing something he's not to chew, tell him he's a bad dog and take it away. Then, bring him to the squeaky toy, squeeze it a few times to excite him into playing with it and give him lots of praise and love and tell him he's a good dog.

Dolly seems to respond better to praise and positive reinforcement and just stubbornly digs her heels in deep if you scold her. She is an attention hound, always wanting affection and will do whatever it takes to get it. So, we use it to our advantage to get her to learn what is okay and not okay. It took about a year of constant reinforcement before she figured things out.

I just threw out the shoes and told D off for leaving his knickers on the ground, yep another hole. Prevention.

I did have a basket with all his toys in it, then I changed that and left them on the ground.. Time to go back

I'll try the squeaky toy in a sock.. I guess it's a time thing as well as being diligent and consistent.

I've put the puppy pad back down, he did a wee there yesterday so I told him, he was a good boy... NOW to change the number two so he goes back to doing it there.

I guess I thought he was "growing UP", nup, still a pup.

Rawaii is the same? Loves praise and does not like being told off I'm not sure if it's attention with him or just plain get stuffed

See how we go the next few weeks.

He seems to have stopped chewing the throw rugs or pillow by his bed, so he gets it.

Thanks again...............

Should post a picture of the brat. Will do that later

HAHA.. Saw that today on face-book perfect Maybe Set will feel better too though I doubt he has pink socks ..... hehe.

Positive reinforcement definitely works better long-term than negative.

The difficult part is ignoring their cutie-patootie routines. Bella is a PapiTzu - papillon/shih tzu cross. She's got a whole different approach to life than the Bailey does and Cleo did. She pouts when she doesn't get her way ... but positive reinforcement works brilliantly on her.

and making it possible for them to have success makes a difference

so - the socks and undies cannot be accessible - in a tall, plastic-lined hamper is best at this stage.

Thanks Beth.

We've just talked in that regard. Laundry basket is high and next door to the bedroom...

Just tried the "drop" bit on his toy, so I can throw it... Eventually, he got it, will keep going at all of this.

Here is good incentive for you and D to be 100% consistent with training (and not leaving things around).

A friend of mine had the crotch eaten out of a $600 pair of slacks by her happy little dog.

$600 slacks.

Gone.

Trash.

She had to call in a professional trainer - who basically trained her to be disciplined and consistent - the dog just followed along.