I am at my wit's end......HELP

[GraciesMommy]

Ok I am just about at my wit's end with Gracie...she is spoiled..my fault, I know..she will be 6 mos the 25th...she can sit, lay down and speak on command and will go get her toys to throw for her and bring them back..BUT she will not come and she will not stay. Any time I want to pick her up she runs all over the house...if she grabs something she isn't suppose to have, she runs..and she is FAST...every thing is a game..everything...and she is so stubborn.

She will never come when called....she comes close enough to almost pick her up then runs..barking the whole time like "catch me if you can" the ONLY way to get her to come if I want to really get her cuz I am in a hurry is say "lets go get a treat". I use that only as last resort..
I am thinking obedience classes are in order, but do they work? Those who have been thru it, HOW do they do it? What do they teach?
I am off all next week and want to really work on this but I dont have a clue how to start..I have a little demon on my hands all of a sudden..! She KNOWS what no means, up til about 2 weeks ago you could say no and she would stop what she was doing..not any more..she stops for a second and goes right back...

We are going to Arkansas for Thanksgiving and my family are meeting her for the first time..I don't want to go with a spoiled little brat!! I want my sweet Gracie back....is she in the terrible twos are what?? Is it a 6 month old stage or what?? HELP!

[cloverfdx]

Pmed you ;).

[GraciesMommy]

Thanks! Pm'd ya back~

[Scooby4]

Why do you not starty with calling her and having treats in your hand. This will associate an award when called. Later, get rid of the treats and go straight for affection. Tell her Good dog and praise her for her good behavior. Ignore her for the bad behavior.
Make sure there are no hearing problems or that your not calling her too many names. The dogs react to constanents of the words your saying. So if your calling her several names it confuses her and she runs away. Notice how she comes to using the words Treat? She may associate that with her name.
She is 6 months old which translates to "The terrible two's" in humans. At 6 months the rebellion kicks in. This is an EXCELLENT time for her to go through training. Start them early. Also Obedience training is mostly for the owner. We need to learn how to deal with our dogs on their level and NOT ours! So the training teaches us how to communicate with the dog to get the results we want. Good luck!!! You made it through potty training so everything else should be a breeze!!!

[GraciesMommy]

Appreciate your help~

I only use Gracie No or Gracie Stop or Gracie Come..always her name and one word commands...

Example today:
When I fold clothes she always grabs a sock or something and runs and I have always chased her down in the past...the last 2 days she has grabbed and run and I say "Gracie stop" and she continued to run....so I walked out of the room..she followed bringing the sock and then when I continued to ignore her she dropped the sock and wanted to know what I was doing..so that is going to work..

When going outside..I have trouble getting her to come in sometimes...so I didn't chase her down, I went in without her and she came running to the door wanting in, but then I waited a few seconds, opened the door and she bolts..so I go back in, not saying a word..after a few times, she decided this is no fun..and came in...now the last time she came running when I opened the door, she was afraid I was going in without her..lol
I am getting a handle on things...mama is back in control...

[Christiansmommy]

I would have to say that i do highly recommend obedience school...it is best to get them out of ther bad habits at a younger age...and i can say that it does work. We had a 9 week session, once a week, and i must say that you could certainly see the difference in the dogs from the first week to the 9th...and even if your dog doesn't completely turn over a new leaf after class has ended, you still have all of the tools that you learned to apply later...we had a GREAT trainer, he has been doing it for like 30 years...and we loved him, so that helped too. Good luck, i know it can get frustrating...i have a 100 pound 1 1/2 year old dog, who likes to play the "catch me if you can" game sometimes, and it can be challenging...:rolleyes: Obedience school, in my opinion, was worth every penny....even though Dale isn't the quickest learner, repetition and practice do pay off in the long run!

Robyn

[Lilith Cherry]

How is it going with Gracie today? Hope your new approach is still working! She really is the cutest little bundle and I can see why it is tempting to spoil her:D Puppies and toddlers can be remarkably similar LOL

[GraciesMommy]

Well believe it or not she is doing great...ignoring seems to be the key with her..still going to do obedience training after Christmas.

Thanks for the compliment on Gracie, Lilith Cherry~

[jenfer]

I agree w/Robyn. Puppy School is good a way to learn commands and also socialize with other puppies.

Gigi doesn't have a reliable "come" as well. Well... she is not reliable in a loooooooooot of her commands. :o Patience and loooooooooots of practice. I am still working on those. I have my good days and bad days. :)

Oh, 1 way to train "come". Show Gracie a treat in your hand and throw it, she will go get it. The second she got the treat say "come", then she will come for another treat... when she came to you, throw the treat again... repeat. Or another way to train "come" is have 2 people sit opposite to each other... have Gracie on one side and the opposite person will show Gracie treat and tell her "come", so she will run to that side. And the other person will say "come", so she will run back.

Have you consider clicker training? it's good stuff.