bad behaviour

Hi all, sasha is 26 weeks old tomorrow and for the last week has been a nightmare. She wont obey even simple commands her feeding is becoming eratic in that she leaves at least one meal a day. She really pulls when walking her when she sees something that she wants and this could just be a leaf or branch from a tree. She nearly dislocated my arm yesterday because she pulled suddenly. Everytime she pulls I stop give her come command and wait for her to return to my side I have even tried walking on a short lead nothing seems to work. She has even started to really whine in the morning to be let out of her crate (she doesn't bark). She has also started to bite our hands feet and once or twice snapped at our face as we have bent down to pick something up from the floor. I dont think she is biting to hurt as she doesn't put pressure in her bite. The last thing is that she can now jump the child gate that seperates the kitchen from the rest of the house when I say jump I mean clear by 3 or 4 inches which means I now cant contain or separate her when she needs time out. Nothing in the house has changed apart from that I have been on holiday for the past week as i work in a school and we have broken up for half term surely it cant be that  

Aww jan it sounds like you have yourself a teenager there sounds like sash is pushing the boundaries to see how far she can get, go back to basics and be firm but fair I'm sure she'll return to herself soon re food Darcy was a bit like this at her age her feeding really slowed down and she stopped hoovering her food up hope this helps.

How many feeds a day does she have? If it's still 3 then cut down to two. If it's already two, then she may be one of those dogs that only needs one meal a day. Maybe try her with a small breakfast and then the main meal in the evening?

At her age she will be starting to push her luck! For a while you may have to go right back to basics - act as though she knows nothing & you're starting from scratch (don't worry, it won't take as long as last time!). If she gets really out of hand then put her in the kitchen (or other safe room) and shut the door for a couple of minutes.

Im not so worried about the food as she is in good condition and weighs around 13kgs but she is so strong and fit. Im guessing that comes from regular exercise and runs in the park. I hope its not because im here and she hasn't got her dad to herself. She sleeps really well and didnt wake until 7.30 this morning as soon as shes been let out and then put back in her crate she starts whining whether its at 7am or 3am she hasnt done this since she was a small puppy. I will take your advice re food and try 2 meals a day and see how she goes. At this precise moment she is ripping a rubber ring toy to shreds and looking at me whilst shes doing it

Does she have to go straight back in her crate? Maybe she's feeling a bit cooped up?

No she doesn't but was trying to teach her to only cry etc when she needs to go to the toilet. I didn't want to give her mixed messages everytime she whines we get up put her out and then put her back in the crate. Do you think that this is the wrong thing to do now she has more control of her bladder etc ??????

janfrost489 wrote:No she doesn't but was trying to teach her to only cry etc when she needs to go to the toilet.  I didn't want to give her mixed messages everytime she whines we get up put her out and then put her back in the crate. Do you think that this is the wrong thing to do now she has more control of her bladder etc ??????

Are you doing this all through the night? If so, she's probably gotten used to the fact that every time she whines you let her out. So she whines, you let her out, you put her back & she whines again!

If you can trust her not to chew then I'd try leaving the crate door open.

The whining has only started over the last 5 or 6 days before that she was brilliant thats why its so out of character. Shes not a chewer or at least I dont think so as she has never been left alone to see. The trouble is the kitchen hasnt got a door on because of the layout of the kitchen hence the stair gate which she can now clear. Im going to move the gate a bit higher today to see if that helps if it does then I will try leaving the door open. The reason why she isnt allowed up stairs is that we let her up once in the morning for a a cuddle and didnt the next morning as it was a work day so we were up early. The gate was left open by my son sasha went straight up into my room and poohed on the floor then came back down she was up there for a few seconds so not sure if she did it on purpose or if shes even clever enough to do it in purpose

Just a quick update been over the park with sasha this morning and was playing fetch with the only ball she has left that she hasnt destroyed. I was doing a bit of training whilst we were playing ie getting her to drop the ball when she brought it back which normally she doesn't like doing. I had a treat in my hand and she dropped the ball by my feet so I gave her the treat anyway after a few times I closed my hand into a fist and got her to say please. The little minx got knew where the treat was she kept the ball in her mouth and pawed open my hand to make sure the treat was there and then dropped the ball when it wasnt she took her ball with her how clever is that. She would only drop her ball if shesaw the treat she wasnt giving it up for nothing:applause: 

sounds like darcy clever little girl