Pomeranian Puppy has no fear- acts like a cat!

[Horace's Mum]

If you always watch him, then as soon as you see the look in his eye that says "I'm about to jump up" then you jump up and run out the room making excited squealy noises. When he follows you can reward him in whatever way you fancy. But you have successfully redirected him from thinking about jumping up. Thing is is you tell him to stop he is hesitating and listening to you, but then you haven't given him a better alternative, so he carries on. Just take it that step further and give him something different and more exciting to think about and he might start to get the message!

Also, do you use the command "down" for him to lie down AND to jump down? If so, you need to change one of them - it will be confusing him, try "down" or "off" to get him to jump down, and "flat" or "lie" for lie down.

If he gets hold of something he shouldn't, unless it is really dangerous then just accept that it is his. The more you prise things out of his mouth, the quicker he will gobble stolen prizes, which one day might cause a real problem if it is something he REALLY shouldn't have. If you do need to get something out, grab another, super smelly, super tasty treat, and offer it to him as a swap. If you can, throw it away from the stolen goods so you can pick them up when his back is turned. Practise playing swap with toys and chews and things, always swapping something of low value for something of higher value, and when he gets the hang of it then you can introduce the "leave it" command.

[Wicket]

I'm definitely interested in agility because it seems like it's something he's extremely interested in. For a five-month old puppy he sure is agile. Most puppies I've seen at that age are rather clumsy. He balances on the back of chairs and couches and prances around like a horse sometimes moving each foot individually. He's definitely agile. I've gotten a book already and am reading up on it. He's only five months and sometimes I'm afraid I'm overwhelming him with learning so many things so fast. For instance, we went from "sit" to "down" and he got pretty confused for a while. I'd say "sit" and he'd lay down. I'd say "down" and he'd lay down. I would like to finish with the basic important stuff like "drop it" before moving on to new tricks. Is it possible to teach too much too fast? Right now the down command is working well...that is, he's getting down from the back of the couch, but that's not stopping him from getting up there in the first place. I'm at a loss as to how to get him to understand I don't want him up there at all. Any ideas at how I show my disapproval without punishing or startling him while he's up so high?

From what I've read, it's good to do lessons about 5-10 minutes and stop while you're ahead. You can do this 3x day without anyone getting stressed or tired. If your puppy is displaying signs of tiredness (half-closed eyes, yawning, etc.), then it would be good to stop the lesson. Definitely work on those cues, be conscious about your body language and make sure you have in your mind exactly what you want. It's fine to train more than one cue each lesson---work on "down" and then begin to teach him "drop it" and end with "sit" or another cue he knows well.

On Victoria's show, she trained Fiona, a Bichon Frisee, to jump off the furniture on cue. (This was an older dog and didn't have the growing body of a puppy.) She invited Fiona on the furniture and only rewarded when Fiona came down. Fiona learned that "off" command had greater rewards than being on the furniture.

Oh, one more question. Our house is pretty much puppy-proofed and my 20-year-old son's room is off limits, with the door closed usually. However, today he managed to get a cough drop that he probably found on my son's floor and the wrapper off before we caught him. This happened within about 30 seconds. He's never left alone. He would NOT leave it and we literally pried it from his jaws to get it out. I was very upset. He was not very happy about it and started to growl, a behavior I haven't seen him express yet. I can't blame him, I wouldn't want someone prying something out of my mouth either, but I could not take the chance he'd eat it or choke on it or get ill from the medicine. I could not get him to "leave it" or "drop it" and I felt it was dangerous. Any suggestions besides the obvious-- not having cough drops on the floor? (Believe me my son got an earful).

Does your pup know what these commands mean? If not, you can't really blame him for something he doesn't know. I'd encourage you to work on "drop it" or "leave it" since these cues could possibly save his life one day. My chi-poo always got into things when she hadn't been exercised or didn't have a lesson that day; doing these two things daily (plus agility once a week and know the drop/leave it cues) has greatly improved her seek-and-destroy behavior.

[emmabeth]

I do think all dogs ought be taught 'off' as well as 'up' so that they can be asked to get off furniture - however in the case of a dog jumping up without being asked and then being told 'off' in return for a reward you can very rapidly have a dog who jumps up JUST so they can then be told 'off'... and get their reward!

So in these cases distraction first, so you see the pup about to do whatever and you immediately distract by, as has been suggested - acting silly, running out the room - anything as long as it doesnt mention the thing the dog is about to do, and does 'change the subject', then you can reward the dog for doing something else that you ask of it.

Teaching a solid leave and drop (ie, 'dont touch that i have something better' and 'drop that, i have something better') are also absolutely crucial commands to keep a dog safe - tonight (half an hour ago!) i put one of my dogs drop and leave commands into practice - he had smashed a glass jar of jam and was attempting to eat the contents.

Because I have taught this command well and he knows darn well Ill break out the roast chicken or something else hed sell his soul for, he DID drop the bit of glass he had in his mouth and he DID leave the jammy glassy mess on the floor. I made him a delicious sandwhich in return for this (with cotton wool inside it in case he did swallow any, but careful jigsawing of the jar back together, coupled with no cuts to his mouth or tongue, suggests he did not).

So keep the prizing things out of a pups mouth to the absolute minimum, ie if it isnt absolutely life threatening (such as broken glass would be! but your mobile phone or tv remote or a cough sweet isnt!) then walk away! get something tasty, offer your dog this as a swap.
The problem with physically removing something is that the very next time pup finds something tasty on the floor and you spot him/her - it is going to be swallowed whole before you get a sniff of a chance of grabbing the puppy to attempt removing it. You must be careful to not even chase a pup who has something in their mouths as they will learn SO fast to run and swallow as they go.