Quote:
Originally Posted by GSD Snowball
He goes on a long walk with me every morning and I play ball in our long, empty finished basement (rental house) every evening for 30-45 minutes until hes good and worn out. I have been working with her on how much wearing him out during the day when he starts to act out will help and make life easier and the response is usually that she doesn't want him worn out she wants him to listen to her when he goes after her.
We do usually do training sessions for 15-20 minutes 2-3 times a day. He is very crate trained but I do not want him see the crate as a punishment. He does not get free roam of our home. If she is in the living room, we baby gate the hall to the bedrooms so he has access to the living room and adjoining kitchen; if she is in the office, we close doors in the hallway except the office's and baby gate the other end of the hall.
I have read that entire "Teaching Bite Inhibition Thread" and alot of the corrections we have used came from that thread. He generally mouths softly, but his puppy teeth are so sharp, they draw blood or at least serious pain with barely any pressure. We have gone above and beyond for socialization with walks in our neighborhood every day, at least 1 trip to Pet Smart each week and just stand at intersections in the store to maximize people approaching him, weekly puppy preschool class where they receive socialization with owner puppy owners and off leash socialization with other puppies, weekly puppy playgroup classes, basically anywhere we see chances to get people to come to our home or can take him around new people we leap at the opportunities.
We have tried the ignoring him routine and the get up, the walking away routine, and the put him in a time out routine and as soon as we return he goes right back to it.
I guess I'm just trying to avoid having him crated for half the day (3-4 hours) if we don't have to.
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Okay, remind your girlfriend that this dog is a baby, it won't listen to her until it's much older. Right now even at 18 weeks it knows how to sleep, eat, play, and do obedience when it wants something. That is too high of expectations for a puppy
If you play fun crate games and give him special treats (raw bones, bully sticks) in the crate while you are at home it won't be seen as a punishment. 3-4 hours is not long in a crate for all day if you split it up,most people work 8 hour jobs and let their dog out for a pee break for an hour in between, maybe she can do a 1-2 hour nap, wake the dog up, play for an hour, put him down for another 1-2 hour nap.
You guys sound like you're doing a good job with socialization and other things, the dog acts nice when your'e home and you tire him out playing ball every night
