Recall help for very strong willed puppy!

[littlemisslauren]

For once I do not need help with my pup!!

My mum has a young Ridgeback puppy, I think she is about 4 months old now and she has become a complete nightmare.

She is a very bold puppy, she had no regard for us humans and will happily entertain herself all day without having to ever interact with my mum or anyone else!

She sits perfectly when she wants whatever you have... but thats about it!

She got out of the garden last week and spent the best part of an hour running riot on the road outside, luckily the cars coming either way saw her and blocked off the road to help catch her Betsy would have probably done the same in an excited stupid puppy fashion, but even when she forgets all recall she likes to be with people.

I taught my mum the recall games we use with B and bought her a huge bag of treats to be armed with at all times and there is very little improvement.

She is crate trained and has 2 very short walks a day along with free run of an acre of land, Mum doesnt want to exercise her much more because of her size and age.

I suggested to my mum that removing the other dog for short periods may help her get through to the pup. At the moment the puppy entertains herself by 'playing' with poor old charlie who really cannot be bothered with her. They have kennels and Charlie is perfectly happy to go in his and get some peace, do you think this could be the way forward? If charlie would just get on with B he could come and stay with me for a while.

The puppy isnt really that naughty, she chews and creates havok as all puppies do, she just doesnt listen to anyone or have any eagerness to please at all.

My poor mum is beside herself, it sounds very silly to be so upset over a rebellious puppy but Molly (the pup) was bought to fill a void left by my mums beloved old girl and my mum is in over her head.

I am looking into some training classes for her and will probably end up taking her to them as my mum has arthritus in her elbows and Molly has no lead manners yet!

Any tips to make the pup pay any attention to my mum? I am heading over there soon, I had planned to take B so she could play with the little devil but I think some recall games are needed instead!

Sorry for the long rambling post! Just had my mum on the phone on the verge of tears because she is just not coping with the pup so I though I would ask.

Just to add - The dogs are left alone 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, other than that its my mum home with them both. The puppy does seem better when my younger brother is home from college. I also think my mothers emotion may be due to 'the change' but I would be shot for suggesting it....

 

[CorvusCorax]

My Mum has been like this at times and I've had to send her very polite emails and texts (not face to face or else I would explode, she knows so much better) remining her he is JUST A DOG.
He (and Molly!) isn't in some plan for world domination or constantly trying to get one over on her and plotting against her, he's being a normal silly boy and she was facilitating his behaviour by allowing him and giving him the option to play up - she needed to form a harder mindset - no nonsense!
This is the reason I, and your brother, get more respect, it's a certain air you have to adopt, if she appears helpless and upset and weepy of course the dog will take advantage of that and of course the dog won't really want to return to her if she is having fun.

She needs to make herself fair, fun and firm.

My mum also found it very hard as N was such a good girl, very soft and quiet, and these two were quite challenging as youngsters.

Also read my post to Fairhill's friend about focus training, hand feeding etc, if your mum is in the house for long periods she could be spending HOURS teaching Molly how great it is to be with her by rewarding her every time she pays attention, they could do great games like hide and seek or asking her to identify objects with words and get a reward for that, training sits and heels and the like.
If she is home all day, and all Molly does is play with the older dog, then why on earth would Molly think your Mum is the person to go to, if that makes sense? Rather than 'entertaining herself' - your mum becomes the entertainer.

I totally agree keeping two dogs together all the time makes training harder as they will bond with each other rather than to their person.

NEVER train while the dog is full up, if she is food motivated, harness that and feed her out of the hand when the dog does something good.

Also, she needs to be consistent. It's a system of sorts and one slip can put you back days - no caving in and no feeling sorry for her!

 

[littlemisslauren]

You really did just hit the nail on the head with my mother! In the words of my OH, my mother is 'more of a girl' than I am.

I do feel sorry for my mum, she isnt really an animal person, she likes big dogs and thats it. My dad forced the pup on her when she really wasn't ready and expects her to work wonders on the naughty little mite.

She is a massivly greedy dog, so hand feeding should work wonders with her, I'll give it a go this afternoon.

Mum called me to say she put the old dog in my old bedroom (his bedroom now!) so she could concentrate on Molly and he just went straight to the bed and has been flat out since she left him. His patience is really tested with the puppy!

My dad is a tough cookie (nicest way I can describe him...) so Molly doesn't take the mick with him like she does with mum. My brother acts like a small child around puppies so Molly clearly finds him more interesting than my poor old mum.

I will update after my visit! Possibly with some photos because she is quite cute!

 

[CAYLA]

Absoloutely agree with CC on everything, I think very importantly with puppies rather then them entertaining themselves the games and bonding go alone way to helping with recall and your dogs overall interest in you, I absoloutely encourage, rough and tumble games with owner and puppy as sugested hide and seek, a propper good hoon, silly shouting, when I went out to hand OH the washing to hang out, I was shotuing "where is the little babies" at the top of my most girlie voice and they where scrambling over one another to get to me I then give a srroke and run off and keep shouting babies, babies and thye run after me, they are also greedy gits but for now me being fun is enough to get them running to me
I would def have some "set aside training times" with harness and goodies as suggested and also some recall indoors "molly puppy" in a squeakey voice and reward with some chicken/cheese then let her go straight off again and when she is paying least attention then shout again.

I have the details of that training class too, I will PM ya where it is and the name of the girl.

 

[CAYLA]

They where also a little hestitant to approach OH last bight or comeminto the house once in the yeard, so he got down on his hunkers in the kitchen and whipped out the cheese squares, now they are like "oh there is the cheese man, get him!