My husband and I purchased a Bichon and she has been nothing but trouble. She is so hyper its not even funny she is constantly jumping up in the kid's faces biting them and she just doesn't listen. We have been kennel training her since we got her. But nothing is working.
They say that there not suppose to pee where they sleep well she does, I'm constantly washing her blankets. We started off doing like they say put her in the kitchen in her kennel and only take her out to feed and to go do her job outside. And that's what we would do but she didn't like being in the kennel that long so she started yapping all the time. We got feed up of that so we started putting her in the bathroom by herself and shutting the door so then it was black and she didn't bark.
Well we new that wasn't right for her, we new that was pretty mean so we said well will try something different so for the last week I've been leaving her out in the house and I've been taking her out to pee every hour on the hour except for during the night but, when I get up I immediately go put her out. I go out with her and watch her do her business and when she is done I say good girl good girl and pet her and keep saying good girl good girl then we go back in the house. But once she is in the house she is so dam crazy (hyper) that she is getting big time on my nerves.
She has had a few accidents, and the person I bought her from said that if you want to give them shit you don't have to hit them all you have to do is take a newspaper and whack them on the behind. So lately this last week I've been hitting her with the newspaper when she tries to bite the kids and me or if She does her business on my floor.
Her hyperness is really getting on my nerves please I need help into raising her right, we want a good house dog on the kids can grow up with and love one that maybe someday fall in love with too cause right now I don't love her much I'm so frustrated with her.
I've told you are history of her the best I can so that you'll be able to understand what happen so far and help us correct ourselves into better helping the puppy get trained. She is 4 months old is it too late now to start from scratch to train her well. You see it's our first time we have ever had a dog so we are not too sure on how to train one well and we don't live near a city were you can take obedience class every week so it's pretty hard to teach her properly. We have been listening to the advise of several people but we need some good advise. We have even purchased a book on bichon but it wasn't very resourceful please help.
Before you buy a puppy, is it weaned?
We have come to the realism that a lot of people do not know that a puppy needs to be fully weaned before it leaves its mother and littermates. I am getting a lot of mail from new puppy owners that are having a hard time with there new puppy and that it is crying, howling and is hard to housetrain.
And almost all the time I get the same story!The first thing you have to understand is that the first 6-8 weeks of the puppy's life is the most important part of its life! It will learn as much in that 6-8 weeks from it mother and littermates, than you will teach it in the next year.
The problem starts with the breeder.
Over the course of my many years of people ask me questions, and there lack of information. I have come to find that there are so many breeders that do not care were there puppies go and when they go. Alot of people get into breeding because they think "I can make money at this" and the sooner I get rid of the puppies the better.
I have had many people tell me that their puppy is 5 and 6 weeks old when it comes home.
And have told me horror stores about health problems and even had a hard time housetraining and even training the puppy and the puppy became
" The Dog from Hell " A puppy should never be taken from its mother or littermates till it is fully weaned or is 8 weeks old!
A mother is the key to all training and will teach the puppy to control its natural aggressive tendencies.
Now what is "natural aggressive tendencies"?Biting and mouthing are normal behaviors for puppies. Dogs don't have hands so they investigate objects and their environment with their mouths. To a curious puppy, everything about this big world is brand new and exciting. He learns as he goes along. You can almost hear his thought processes as he discovers something he's never seen before: "Hmmm...What's this? Chopping on it, Something to eat? No? Tossing it around, Can I play with it? "Maybe". Can I make it squeak?"
Playing is also a normal learning behavior for puppies, especially play-fighting. Play fighting with littermates and other animals develops reflexes, coordination and physical skill. It also helps them develop social skills and teaches them how to interact positively within their canine society, their "pack." And it's great fun for them. Sometimes their fighting and "attacks" on us appear frighteningly fierce but to them, it's just a game. Much like a group of kids playing make-believe games and pretending to be grown-ups, puppies have their own games and pretend to be "grown-ups," too! A dog's ability to control the force of his biting is called "bite inhibition." It's a critically important skill that every puppy needs to learn the earlier the better. At first, they don't know their own strength or how sharp their little teeth really are. Puppies learn to control the force of their biting from the reactions of their mothers and littermates during play and especially play-fighting.
We can teach puppies about bite inhibition, too, but some of the methods most often recommended aren't effective. Mother dogs' methods, however, are very effective, often more so more than ours.
I believe this is because they're speaking to their pups in the language they understand best
"Dog language" A baby puppy 6-8 weeks old is much too busy learning how to be a dog to take time to understand our human words and ways. That takes time and maturity. Puppies respond to dog language in a very powerful, instinctive ways.
To understand these methods, let's take a look at a typical mother dog disciplining her brood.
We'll use our females and our years of expertness with puppies as an example. When a playful puppy bites "MOM" hard enough to hurt, she squeals in shocked indignation. The puppy, surprised at her reaction, usually hesitates a moment, unsure of himself, then tries to bite again. Mom yelps even louder this time and whirls on the puppy, growling, showing her teeth and scowling at him fiercely. Then she turns her back on him and storms away, completely ignoring him and any further attempts to get her to play. A smart puppy picks up her clear message quickly:
" If you can't play nice, I won't play with you at all! " If the puppy persists or doesn't take the hint, mom doesn't fool around. With a menacing growl and using her teeth, she grabs him by the scruff of his neck and gives him a shake. If he sasses back, she gives him another little shake, tougher this time. She doesn't let go of the pup till he's acknowledged her authority (In dog language) by relaxing his body, laying his ears back and keeping still for a moment. Mom disciplines especially obnoxious puppies by knocking them over with her paw and pinning them to the ground, growling angrily and pinching them with her teeth. The puppies shriek but they're not really hurt. She doesn't let them up again until they relax and lie still. After the correction, the puppy shakes his fur back into place and goes off in search of a playmate with a better sense of humor.
This is one example of, natural aggressive tendencies that if you take a puppy from it mother and littermates too soon it will not learn this.
One more example is crying and howling.
We have found that if a puppy is taken from its mother and littermates too soon it will have tendencies to cry and howl for weeks, if not the rest of its life! We have found that a mother will start to wean here puppies at about 5-6 weeks buy starting to leaving them alone for a time "1-2 hours" and will in time about the 6-8 weeks will not want anything to do with the puppies and will even growl at them. Again showing her teeth and scowling at them fiercely. A smart puppy picks up her clear message quickly
"No Milk from Mom!"
We have found that if a puppy does not learn these things from it mother and littermates it will have problems adjusting to its new home. So again I say a puppy should never be taken from its mother or littermates till it is fully weaned or 8 weeks old!
FOOTNOTE: Please Read The Following Page Puppy Mill
What is, and have you seen a puppy mill?
