Question on proper correction

[ginaldo]

Aldo is now 3 months old appicon. We have had him for 4 weeks now!!! He is everything we ever dreamed and is great. I am trying to educate him in a positive way, and have a couple of questions I was looking for your imput on... when we are on the couch Aldo always wants to come with us (of course for hugs). Using the NILF idea, we make him sit or do whatever and then bring him on the couch (he cant jump up yet). However, if we dont immediately put him on the couch and tell him get down a few times, he gets very frustrated and starts barking. Its like he is talking back like a teenager. Last night it was so bad my husband and I just got off the couch because we didnt want to reward him for his "talking back". I tried to distract him with a toy, but no, he wanted to cuddle on the couch. Any ideas how we can teach him when he can come on the couch or not? The idea is when we go to people's houses, they may not want the dog on the couch...are we confusing him by allowing him sometimes and other times not? Are we too strict? Thanks again for your responses, I am addicted to this site!!
Gina

[gmacleod]

I don't think that there's any problem with allowing a dog on the furniture if that's what you prefer. But if you want it to be controllable (and avoid potential hierarcical problems) then you need to teach your dog that it may come up on the couch when you invite him only, and that he must get off if you say so.

Now that's just a little difficult when the dog in question is a puppy and can't get up and down from the couch without assistance. Not impossible though.

What I'd suggest is that you do make him spend more time on the floor (or a dog bed on the floor) and make coming up on the couch a little more of an occassional treat (for a while, anyway). This is really so that the pup can realise that he doesn't actually have couch "rights", but that you own the couch and will share it with him when you choose. Sounds rather draconian, but dogs do think in terms of ownership/control of resources, so it's important that the couch is "yours".

Use a particular command when he is to be allowed to come up (even if you then have to help him get there) and another definitive one for getting off again when it's time for him to return to his own bed. If you never allow him up there when he demands it, never without a specific invitation - and always follow that after some period with an instruction to get off now, then he should come to realise that the couch is "yours" and you share it when you choose to. Obviously, if he ever gets up (as he'll soon be able to) uninvited, then you should make him get off immediately and don't invite him up again until well after he has stopped asking ;)

None of that means that the pup doesn't get to spend plenty time with you on the couch cuddling - it just means that you control absolutely when he can and when he can't.

With the barking and demanding - keep doing what you're doing. Ignore him, and if necessary get up and leave him on his own. If you give in to pushy behaviour, the dog learns that pushy behaviour gets him what he wants. Instead reward polite behaviour such as sitting quietly at your feet (the ideal time to invite him up). If he only ever gets invited up (and can't get up without invitation) when he's sitting nicely at your feet - then he'll sit nicely at your feet more often, which is an ideal behaviour for visiting ;)

Other than that, just give it a bit of time. Pups don't learn nice polite behaviour in an instant (any more than human kids do) but they catch on pretty quickly to how to get things that they want. So if you continuously think in those terms and ensure that it's only the behaviours that you like that get rewarded, then you'll see more of those behaviours and less of the obnoxious ones.