Need help with basic commands!?

Question

I have a 3month old dachshund, and she is so stubborn! She will not come when you call her, she chews on everything, she eats everything, she whines all the time, and she refuses to walk on a leash. I do not work, so she is with me all the time so I KNOW it is not separation anxiety. The classes at Petsmart are too expensive for me, so I was planning on training her at home--but she refuses! I love her to death, but her constant jumping on my niece and nephew is annoying, her constant whining, her chewing, and her eating are driving me insane!! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!

Answer 1

Take a deep breath and let it all out. You JUST got a young puppy - of course you'll need to train it (from day one!) And if $120 for 8 classes is too much money, how do you deal with all the other fees? What about emergency fees (like if the dog gets stepped on and needs a vet?)

Anyway, i digress. Here we go:

1) "She will not come when you call her"

Duh, that needs to be taught. Take a high value treat and practice in the home. Call your dog's name and say COME, give her the treat every time she comes to you. When she seems to get it start outside on a long leash in your yard.

2) "she chews on everything" and "she eats everything"

She's a puppy. She's teething. OF course she will. Pick up the stuff lying around and give her the run of one or two rooms only. Provide fun chew toys and if you catch her with something, calmly take it away and replace it with a toy.

3) "she whines all the time"

Can't help that, pups whine. If she whines at night when you leave her, think - did she go to the bathroom? If not, take her out. IF she did then ignore it.

4) "she refuses to walk on a leash"

Is her collar on too tight? Where did you get her (could she have been abused on a leash before?) Take a treat and just lead her along. Let her have a nibble every now and again. Don't drag her, just wait her out and praise when she moves.

5) "constant jumping"

When you have company over, keep her on a leash. If she jumps, you walk her right out of the room. Bring her back in when she's calmer. Do this every time and i guarantee she will stop - my dog did!

Here are a few sites i found helpful, and if you need any more tips you can message me through the answers system.

http://www.perfectpaws.com/pupstuff.html

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/dog.htm

http://www.dogpatch.org/obed/

Answer 2

You can see how training is done by watching the Dog Whisperer on the Animal Planet channel. You will find, by watching this, that you are probably spoiling her and not being the pack leader with your dog. You need to tell her what you want her to do. Don't say it in a child voice. Demand that she come. Say it loud and firmly. When she does it correctly, she can have a treat. ONLY give her a treat when she does it 100% right. Check out this site:  http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/

Answer 3

You are going to have to stick with it because she is still a puppy. If she jumps on you or anyone else, turn your back and ignore her. When you give a dog attention for jumping it will do it more. Also hold the leash very close to your body so the dog walks next to you. The chewing would get better if she has plenty of her own toys to chew on. Keep your things tucked away so she can't chew on them. Sometimes it helps to get a spray bottle and squirt when they chew on unwanted things. Dachshunds are vocal dogs, so it isn't unusual for them to whine and bark. Don't give in and things should start to turn around.

Answer 4

She's young, so you'll have to be patient.  Just like babies and young children, puppies do not have very long attention spans so try to limit training sessions to 15 minutes at a time, but you can have more than one session in a day.  Actually that will help you train faster.

Coming when called: When you're training a dog to come it's a good idea to start on a leash.   With distance between her and you(this is easier if you teach sit - stay first, but not impossible) call her.  Unless you plan to ONLY say her name when you call her you'll want to use a command word, 'come' and 'here' are common choices.  If she comes reward her with a treat, pets, and praise.  If she doesn't, pull on the leash and lead her to you.  If she fights you can refuses to move, don't yank to you, just put equal pressure until she gives in.

Chewing on/eating things: She's teething and will need to chew, it's your job to teach her what she can and can't have.  To start with pick up as many 'bad' things as you can off the floor to avoid having them destroyed and make sure she has toys that she can chew on.  If there are things that you can't pick up that she chews on consistently you can spray them with a bitter spray.  If you catch her chewing on or eating something she's not allowed to have remove it or her, depending on what she has, and give her something she can have.

Whining: Unless this is her way of telling that she needs to go out, just ignore it.  It will go away on it's own eventually.

Refusing to walk on a leash: Check her collar fit and make adjusts if needed.  Then attach the leash to the ring on the collar(if you attach it to a tag ring, the ring may break) and position yourself so that her collar is even with your left and your left side.  Hold the leash in your left hand so that is straight up from her so that there isn't slack, but you aren't pulling on her, either.  You can hold the extra lead in either hand( I prefer my right, but it's your choice).  Take a step, if she doesn't come put just as much pressure on the leash as she is until she gives in and comes forward with you.  Give her a treat, praise, and pets.  Slowly increase the distance you go.

Jumping: If she jumps on you, not matter what you are doing, turn your back to her and ignore her for a little while.  Tell your niece, nephew, and anyone else who comes in contact with her to do the same.

You might want to check out your local shelters, some shelters offer training classes for less than pet stores.  Also check out the other pet stores in your area.  I know Petco has a good program.  You could also check out the local dog trainers and see what their rates are.

If nothing else use the internet and look for books at the library.

If I remember correctly http://dogchannel.com/ has some decent articles.

Answer 5

Ok, this is going to take some time, but you can fix this.  First of all, I reccomend watching the dog whisperer or even better, It's Me or the Dog on Animal Planet.  That show stars Victoria Stillwell, one of the top trainers around right now.  You will get some GOOD tips from it.  The basic idea is to show her you are the boss without scaring her, and to teach her that listening to you pays off.  Learning to come is easy.  Have somebody hold on to her, and walk a short distance away.  Have a treat she likes ready where she can see it, then have the other person let go.  At the same time you say ina firm vice, "(Dog's Name), COME!" and when she comes for the treat give it to her immediately with lots of pets and good girls. :P  This way, she learns that coming over to you is a good thing.  For the jumping, Have everybody in your family turn their bodies away when she jumps and say "OFF!" loudly.  When she slips off, immediately praise her.  You literally have 1 second to correct her, and then one second to praise her, or your lessons will not sink in.  It will take lots of work, but you can do this. :)  Like I said, try to watch It's me or the Dog, on the animal planet channel.  That will help a lot.

Answer 6

The first and foremost thing you have to do before you can begin training her is to get her attention.  If you do  not have her attention, she will not learn from you.  Start by getting eye contact with her by saying to her "look at me".  Hold a treat up by your eye area and make her look at you before you give her the treat.  When she gives you her attention, give her the treat.  Once you establish that you have her attention, training should be a little easier.  If she is treat orientated it will make your training easier.  You need to train your nieces and nephews what to do when the dog jumps on them.  Have them turn their back to her an ignore her.  If she  moves around in front of them and jumps again, have them move away from her and turn their back.  No talking, or any interaction with the dog at all.  She will eventually learn that jumping on them is not getting her any attention and will stop.  Training is a time consuming process and you need to work with her on a daily basis.  Their attention spans is also limited to about 5 mins. at that age.  So do 5 mins of training, the do some play time, then in another hour or so do more taining.