# Puppy doesn't listen and is stubborn!



## Tracy Terink (Jan 4, 2016)

My pup is now just under 3 months old. She has been with me for just under a month now. 
From the beginning she has been rather naughty eating anything she can find (rocks,dirt,wood,metal,bricks and the list goes on). 
So from the word go i started watching her all the time and making sure she doesnt swallow all these weird things or hurt her teeth somehow, which means chasing her around opening her mouth and removing the object. 
This has caused her to stop listening to me when i call her she doesnt really respond she just carries on doing her own thing. I dont know if this is cause she is scared i shout at her as thats what i feel i do most day as she really eats everything and im a bit paranoid of her swallowing something.
This is worrying me as she is becoming bigger by the day and we have 3 cats which she loves to chase (she still thinks they are the most interesting thing in the household) and worried if she doesnt listen to me now she wont listen when she is bigger and this will cause issues with the cats as she does have the potential to hurt them.
Just in general i can call and call her name and she will not come. I spend a lot of alone time with her so she knows i am the leader but she is also exposed to my family of 3 during the week and my boyfriend and his dog and house on weekends. 
Please please any advice will be much appreciated.


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

Lots of your expectations are becoming frustrations so it seems....chasing her around and commanding her to come is obviously not working and most likely making the problem worse but in the pup's mind it's an association nonetheless....but not the one you are trying to accomplish as she learns your commands of "come" is the cue for a game of keep away or chase. 

I'd start by becoming the most interesting entity in the house rather than the cats....and don't command the pup to come unless you know she will...and then reward handsomely...if you doubt she will come then don't waste your breath issuing the command. I'd use a long line and whatever object piques her curiosity the most...food scrap/tug toy/etc...enter into some engagement with the pup and using a slight bit of "guidance" on the long line if she is hesitant, work the recall and always, regardless of what she was just doing, when she recalls, she gets nothing except goodness. Create the association that coming to you only has positive consequences.

She's a pup, so the shouting is probably more counterproductive than you might imagine....there's plenty of time ahead for using some "tone" in your voice when she will know the difference unlike now.

The comment " she knows i am the leader "...hmmmmm...I might challenge that. I'd put more effort into creating a quality bond with the pup which in turn will result in the leadership quality you speak of.

GSD pups along with many other breeds are willful characters but they are also very intelligent. Use positive resources like her drives to your benefit and create " fun" engagement which actually ends up conditioning the pup to behave as commanded. 

SuperG


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## Mary Beth (Apr 17, 2010)

I suggest you take SuperG's advice to heart. I wish I had known it  I can understand where you are coming from. I had to learn that a pup explores with their mouth - twigs and so on won't hurt her. Also it does end up coming out at one end or the other. So, I relaxed about that, just making sure that the dangerous items were out of reach. I would suggest starting all over and switch over to clicker training. Practice as SuperG said when their no distractions. Your pup will start to associate the click with a treat. There are threads on clicker training and videos if you search on google. For the cats, I had one cat. I did keep my pup on a leash attached to me in the house or he dragged it, so when he wanted to take after the cat, I could stop him and redirect with his squeaky toy. I did a lot of "the cat is mine" but "this is your's" and praising him when he took the toy.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

any time my pup, now 4 months, is out of her crate she is wearing a collar and a long string. I don't have to chase her, just pick up the end of the string. A small tug gets her to come to me if she tries to take off. Most of the time she comes to me on her own since I've seldom chased her. 
One of the first things she learned was the out command, in our case Phoeey. If I take something out of her mouth I have a small treat to replace it with. 

Super G has good advice. Bottom line is to remember that they are still babies. Yes, train them and teach them but don't expect the same results you would get from a grown dog. Yes, I had to remind myself of this with my first pup, too.


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