Suggestions for a too-smart and too-wilfull puppy?

[ontoic]

I have a mixed breed dog that is 1/2 maremma sheepdog, 1/4 yellow lab, and 1/4 golden retriever. She's 8 months old and has a wonderful loving temper. It's my understanding that the maremma shepdog is a very wilfull and independent breed. I didn't anticipate problems with her when I got her because I thought the lab half of her would maybe even things out.

She's exceedingly bright and needs stimulation because she chews, digs, and hassles my other pets when she gets bored.

I write because she is well-trained but she seems to not "want to behave" when I give her a command. My girlfriend has suggested that maybe the dog needs more regular training, but I have an opinion that is different.

I'll tell the dog to lie down, or to sit, and the dog will look at me sideways and I swear it looks like she is "thinking" or "deciding" whether she wants to comply. I don't know if I am correct, but I would swear that the dog is really defying me.

I don't want to take an aggressive training stance with her to "break her will" but I don't know how else to get compliance. I tell her several times and she seems to know what I want, but is reluctant or unwilling to perform until I "insist."

Any training suggestions or methods would be sincerely appreciated. I feel like I am a pretty responsible owner and I want to get her well-trained so I can take her anywhere and she will safely abide by my commands.

[Nettle]

Half compliant breeds, as you say, but the other half is a breed - like all the guarding mastiffs - evolved to work on its own initiative with little training or human interaction. Hence there is no desire to obey.

That's the background and there's no changing it, so as you have guessed, you have to change your training.

Arrange everything so that the dog wants to do what you want it to do. Make the action you want the dog to take its easiest, pleasantest option.

I can't give lots of examples - hell, that would be a BIG book! but if you like to say what "commands" your dog is ignoring apart from lie down and sit, we can develop what you want.

If it is purely lie down and sit "because you say so" rather than for a particular reason that the dog finds reasonable then you set yourself up for disobedience. I have seen this is formal training where the trainer unimaginatively wanted dogs to go through "sit-stand-down-stand-sit" etc. and while the border collies and GSDs loved it, the Akita said "WHY?". And of course there was no 'why' at all. The exercises were pointless.

Obedience is a habit, and so is disobedience. If you want your dog to develop a habit of obedience, you need trickery and foresight. Commands by themselves only work for certain breeds and yours ain't one of them.

[emmabeth]

As Nettle says... this is never going to be a Border Collie style, snap to it, 'yes master, what next master, your wish is my command master' type dog.

And you are VERY right.. getting aggressive or in ANY way pushy with her is going to end very badly, for you and her, her brain with the Maremma influence is geared towards thinking 'theres a threat. Kill it.'

So any kind of 'i can force you' type training is going to backfire horribly.

Before you ask any command of her, think to yourself 'is this necessary' and also 'what does SHE benefit from this, is that evident to her?'.

I have a saluki x and hound brains can be similar, in the independant, make own decisions, see no point in repetitive pointless commands way of thinking. You have to use your brain to get round them, make them think it was THEIR idea ... not yours.

To exercise her mind, I can highly recommend Nina Ottosson wooden dog toys, these are interactive puzzle solving toys designed to be used dog and owner together http://www.nina-ottosson.com/english/home.htm

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cpObL4atxU8&feature=related

There are a few different toys and each will suit most dogs but have a look through the videos on youtube to see which one will suit your dog most.

Also, clicker training - often more clearly 'shows' dogs where the benefit in listening and obeying you actually is. It STILL wont make your dog a snap to it border collie... you may sitll have to adjust your expectations of what sort of level of compliance you can achieve, but it should help, very very few dogs fail to 'get' clicker training at all.

Theres a sticky thread on clicker training at the top of this forum and googling will bring up lots of useful results as well.

[catrinsparkles]

I would second the clicker training suggestion!

I would also say that "yes" she probably is looking sideways and thinking shall i or shall i not....dogs are indepent thinking animals and not machines so they do decide whether they want to do the thing we ask and whether it will be worth their while. Like someone else has said, we have to persuade them that it really more worthwile and fun to do the things we would liek them to do.

I think you can never get enough training really, as long as it is fun and in bite sized chunks throughout the day.

You should also remember that she is 8 months old and going throught the notorious adolsecense stage so you will have to stay fair and consistent with her in order for her to come out the other side a well trained dog.

[Sheena]

I would agree with clicker training and try to do a regular training class. Our boy is just the same - if you train everything as a fun game you will get a better response. Being bossy doesn't work with these dogs.