# Help with training toy poodle, barking, eating, toilet manners and jumping on people



## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

can you give a little more info about your dog's background? how old was she when you got her, did get her from a breeder or rescue her, what kind of training (if any) did she already have when she entered your household, etc.


----------



## cally0611 (Feb 28, 2014)

Hi patk,

Thanks for the speedy reply, she was a nearly a yearly old when we got her from a friend.The friend bought it from the shop and gave us a a gift. She was definitely not a puppy when we got her. She was basically sold at the pet shop. I do not think they provided her with any training, she was basically in a cage inside the shop. We still bring her to for her grooming at the shop.


----------



## Rachel76 (Feb 3, 2014)

Hi, it sounds like you have your hands full. I would start by treating this dog like a puppy. Start training from the as though the dog knows nothing. Here is a link to a youtube channel called KikopupWatch "New Puppy Owner Videos- dog training" on YouTube - New Puppy Owner Videos- dog training: New Puppy Owner Videos- dog training - YouTube

there is also a wonderful list of training books in a thread on this forum. ( maybe somebody could link it for the technically challenged  )

Training classes can also be very helpful. 

I'm sure some of the others will offer some more ideas for you. Good luck.


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

It sounds to me as if you have a dog who missed out on important socialisation and bite inhibition work as a pup, is now somewhat anxious, and has learned how to get her own way with everyone in her household! You don't say whether your "toilet" is an outside patch of grass, or an indoor pee pad? How much exercise does she get? How have you tried to train her in the past? And where do you live - how easy is it to find really good help from qualified trainers and pet behaviourists?

The good news is that she is obviously very food motivated (especially by chicken!), so you already know what she will find rewarding. I think that I would start by teaching her a Place cue, as that would help with the barking at the door, begging at table and jumping up - here is a good place to start: 



. (If she begs, either give in at once or not at all - otherwise you are teaching her that if she barks for long enough she will get what she wants - so of course she will keep on barking...). 

Remember that you are trying to change behaviours that she has found to be very rewarding for over two years. You will need to be very patient, very consistent (if barking gets her what she wants just once you've undone several days of refusing to give in), and persevere. Work on making the new behaviour more rewarding than the old - be very generous with treats and praise when she goes to her bed rather than jumping up, when she pees or poos in the right place, when she comes to you rather than barking at the door. Cut down the size of her meals and feed her lots of treats for good behaviour instead - cook some chicken meat especially for her if necessary! 

Don't let people reach out to her when you are carrying her - she can't avoid them, so you are responsible for explaining she does not want to be touched (many dogs particularly dislike hands over their heads). I've known dogs that are perfectly amenable when they have their paws on the ground and feel in control of how they approach people who become snarling demons when held and forced to make contact!

If you can enlist the help of a good reward-based trainer all the better - but be very careful not to get involved with anyone who advocates dominating your dog, or physical punishment or scolding - she did not learn to be gentle with her mouth as a puppy, and has shown that she will bite if pushed.


----------



## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

i agree with rachel76 that beginning with puppy training may be helpful. it provides a framework for the kind of relationship you want to build with your dog that helps make your dog acceptable in human society. patricia mcconnell's "the puppy primer" has been mentioned favorably several times at pf and that may be a good starting point.

you may have to prioritize behaviors to train. imo, potty training, bite inhibition and no jumping are at the top of the list. but you may have a different list. 

i'm a believer in crate training. the foundation is that while the crate is indeed a place of confinement, it is also a place of refuge for the dog. so you do your best to make it a good place to be. you use the crate to help with potty training (no free rein of the house) and for "time outs" for other behavioral issues that send the message that the "punishment" for unacceptable behavior is not confinement itself, but banishment (not for long, though) from human society. generally speaking, dogs are social animals and eventually get the message.

a good trainer can help both you and your dog.

i sense that you love your dog very much and i'm sure you can achieve your goals with her. best of luck.


----------



## cally0611 (Feb 28, 2014)

Hi patk and rachel
Thanks for the support, I will try out the training videos and the treats..Just 1 more question, I am probably asking this because..I am in the IT field..how long does it take to train actually )..1 month, 6 months...

or I just have to try and keep trying ( of course, I will have to)..until I see the result...


----------



## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

i wish i had a definitive answer, but the truth is that much will depend on you and on the dog. my dog came to me at five months of age. i found personally that the easiest to train was no jumping. i didn't call it no jumping, i told my dog "paws on the floor" and turned my back on him when he jumped. it took only a few times of doing that before he got it - but i did it every time no matter how cute i thought he was being - and after a few times he just knew jumping was going to mean no response from me other than turning my back to him. in your case, you have to make sure that everyone in your household responds in the same way to jumping.

bite inhibition was also fairly easy. yelp and withdraw - every single time - and that was it. (there is another post in the forum where i describe how the female dog i brought into the household several years later taught him to not even pretend to use his teeth on me.)

i think a lot of times people find toilet training the hardest because it really requires supervision. that's one advantage of crate training. when you can't supervise all the time, the crate imposes its own kind of discipline. that being said, there are a couple of members at pf who have found their dogs (not necessarily poodles) very difficult to train and have resorted to putting them in belly bands - as in, forever. there is also the issue of giving the dog a way to communicate that she has to go - many train the dog to ring a bell. but first, imo, you have to convince the dog that the appropriate place to go is outside (unless you're using piddle pads), and that requires containment (read: crate), close supervision (leashing the dog to you when not crated) and taking the dog outside at appropriate intervals and treating and praising like crazy when she does what she is supposed to do where she is supposed to do it.

you can work on training all three of these at the same time. there is nothing contradictory about that. it is a matter not only of training the dog, but of everyone in your household agreeing to treat the dog in the same way when when she displays these behaviors. if you are not all on the same page, then in fact the training is being undermined.

the other side of this is that you also want to give your dog positive feedback as part of the relationship. so many people train "sit" for treats and teach the dog other tricks (shake, wave, roll over) that involve working with the dog and creating many opportunities for positive feedback. obedience classes can be very helpful in giving you and your dog a foundation on which to build on this aspect of your relationship.


----------

