Problems with my dog?

Question

She is normally a good dog shes a sheltie and she is 2 yrs old. At first she was very easy to train with the basics potty training, sit , stay etc. But now she is being sort of defiante doest really listen that well barks at anyone she sees passing the house or coming to the door and even me when i am walking out the door she is not alone for really long peroids of time so i dont think its fear of us leaving. She also follows me around everywere which would be fine if she didnt get under my feet all the time i have accidently step on her more then once and i have a baby almost a year old to carry around. She has always been kinda of a scardy cat dog lol but now she is kinda turning into a problem. We have tryed some training tricks but nothing is working. What can i do? Any suggestions

Answer 1

Dogs are never defiant, except when a dog is trying to take your place as boss of the house.  It doesn't sound like that's what is happening. What you interpret as defiance is really a case of her being confused about what you want. The problem is that you and your dog are not communicating well.  You don't understand what the dog is saying, and the dog doesn't understand your reply.

Something has changed that she is concerned about.  Has she had obedience training?  If so, use the obedience principles to refresh her memory of what the rules are and who is in charge.  She may feel that you have abdicated responsibility over something, and she needs to either remind you, or take care of the matter herself.  If you assert your authority in the old familiar way, she will feel more secure and not go bananas all the time.

BTW, if you accidentally step on her when she is underfoot, do not apologize or show sympathy.  That might make her want to do it again for the attention.  If it's your fault when you step on her, it's fine to apologize; but not if it's her fault.  

Answer 2

Sounds to me as if she thinks that she is the dominant one in the family pack.  And is just trying to protect you.  She basically needs to learn that she is in fact not the boss.  Ignore here when you enter the room or when she is following you. I had the book called The dog listener by Jan Fennell and it really helped with training our dog.  She still barks occasionally at cars and visitors.  But she doesn't follow me around like she used to.

Answer 3

If you leave your dog alone for a little while every day, over the time period of two years, she could have developed separation anxiety. If you just had a baby and you have to pay attention to it, the dog may be jealous of you spending time with the baby. Try spending a little extra time with her. That would be good, and if that doesn't help, consider adopting another dog to spend time with her when your not home.

Even if your dog is used to not being the baby, once she overcome not being the baby after one child, she will be used to getting a little extra attention. Now that the little one is iin the picture, she wants the little extra attention back.

Answer 4

its jealous of the baby.  hello

shes not the baby anymore

Answer 5

It sounds behavioral, she could be stressed out from something recently.  Your vet can give you something called a D.A.P. diffuser.  You stick it in the wall like a glade plug-in and it sends out pheromones to help calm your dog.  Search it on google....it might be worth a try