Maggie Marshall Dog Training

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Does Your Puppy Use Your Living Room Like a Jungle Gym?

My question though is regarding jumping on furniture. If myself or my husband is sitting on the couch we are obviously able to block it and make her sit and ask to come up, or just not let her come up at all if it’s not an appropriate time using the “down for manners” training. However, the difficulty we’re having is if we aren’t right there she will dive all over the furniture, run across it, dive on the kids on the couch, etc. and it is very frustrating. I’m not sure what to do to prevent that because obviously I cannot stand guard over the couch all day long. Also, once she’s up, she runs like it’s a game and will only sometimes get off when I tell her, other times I have to pick her up or grab her collar and pull her off. I’ve read in the booklet to not acknowledge bad behaviors, but that’s hard to do when she’s literally running or diving on top of the kids and scratching them and they’re crying for mommy to make her stop. Obviously I know part of it is she has some energy to get out, though sometimes she will do it even when she’s super tired (zoomies). 

 

Any suggestions? 

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Practice the directions below as many times as you can in the next few days and involve the whole family.

Pup, Pup, Puppy:

1.     For no particular reason and at no particular time; begin walking to the kitchen.

2.     Clap your hands and sing, “Pup, Pup, Puppy” over and over until your puppy enters the kitchen to see what all the noise is about.

3.     Praise your puppy, ask him to sit and give him a food reward.

4.     After several repetitions, your puppy should run enthusiastically behind you whenever you sing this and head to the kitchen for a treat.

5.     Once your pup’s reaction is solid, you may begin to use this whenever you need your puppy to stop biting someone, move away from something or just grab his attention.

The Puppy routine will redirect the puppy to you in the kitchen, but you will need to do the following to have lasting results and a well-behaved dog.

  • Create a bedtime routine for your dog - get him to bed by 9pm!

  • Spend time teaching puppy to lay on the floor, not the couch by using a default down.

  • Make sure pup is getting lots of mental and physical exercise and attention from you during the day.

  • Confine the puppy when you do not want to or cannot supervise.

  • Teach the kids how to establish boundaries around themselves.

  • Teach puppy how to stay calm near the kids, no matter what they are doing.

 

For more help:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgYV6jA0UZ7TRra5zPu54-Q/videos

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