Troublesome Puppy

I have a 4 month old red heeler (so they say) from the reserve. She was a cute little fuzz ball, as they all are, but has now grown into a TERROR!

I am very experienced with dogs. I have been around and dealth with every shape size and breed of them over the years. Worked with the SPCA, and more grooming shops and boarding kennels than I care to think about. Turned agressive dogs friendly, shy dogs socialized. Ive nver had a problem dog I could figure out. Until now.

This pup gets into EVERYTHING! She killes all my potted plants, no matter how many times she gets scolded for it. She is starting to chase the chickens, shes chasing the cats. Her new favourite place to go is in the middle of the road for some reason? She torments my mothers cavalier, drags her around by her ears, and will not stop doing it!

The last thing I have found her doing, which is getting to me the very last straw.. I have been wondering why, from my 12 or so hens, Ive only been getting around 3 eggs a day from them, sometimes none! Well, Dally has discovered where the nest is in the barn. I leave the barn door open all day as the hens free range the yard. She has taken it upon herself to go in there all day and steal the eggs as they are layed.

It does not matter what I do to scold this pup, she just always finds something new to do. And doesnt even stop doing the old things she gets in trouble for. Some might say shes bored, but 90% of the time, she is out in the tractor with me, cutting hay or baling. She follows us around the feild, round and round, catching mice, being a normal farm dog. But when shes here at the house, I just cannot handle her!

I'm really at wits end! As I said before, I've never encounterd a dog that I couldnt train. Shes got flies for brains I think.

And I must add, she actually IS smart... or acts it sometimes. She learned how to sit, come stay, high five, shake a paw, all very very quickly. The high five thing took her about 5 minutes. She is an intelligent dog, I just cant figure out why she cant get it through her head that what she does on a daily basis, is dooming her

Shelby I think you said it there in the last part, she is too smart.
I would reccomend a kennel for her, somewhere she can be put when you are not "working" her. She is getting plenty of exercise by the sounds of it but you are not using her brain.
What we have been doing with our pup is exercise, and then brain excercises as well. Working on coming and lying down and stuff that makes him think.
And when we are not around to be with him he goes into his kennel. That way they cannot get into trouble when you are not there to correct immediately. That is the key.
Dont give up on your pup, just have a safe spot for her to be when you are not out with her.

Hidden River wrote:Shelby I think you said it there in the last part, she is too smart.
I would reccomend a kennel for her, somewhere she can be put when you are not "working" her. She is getting plenty of exercise by the sounds of it but you are not using her brain.
What we have been doing with our pup is exercise, and then brain excercises as well. Working on coming and lying down and stuff that makes him think.
And when we are not around to be with him he goes into his kennel. That way they cannot get into trouble when you are not there to correct immediately. That is the key.
Dont give up on your pup, just have a safe spot for her to be when you are not out with her.

Very good advice Hidden.

Well she is crate trained. When we are not home, she always goes into her kennel/crate when were not around. But she does all these naughty things while Im in the barn doing chores, then she goes to the yard and destroys thing. If Im in the house, or in the yard, then she goes down to the barn and steals eggs and finds things to chew on. She is teething, I understand chewing on a stick or the toys she has that are HERS. But there is no need to go break into the garage, and drag out my power tools off shelves and eat them.

I beleive that you shouldnt have to go out of your way and change your whole life for a dog. The dog should fit in with you and what you do. I cant keep my birds locked up just because of the dog (theyre always locked up when were not home, as is the pup) I would hate to have to build an outside kennel, she just digs in the yard everywhere, Im sure shed dig out. If I could afford it id take her to the puppy classes at Petsmart.. they work wonders. But $100+ a pop, gets expensive

What we do with the young working dogs, to teach them to stay with us and not wander off, is to tie a rope from them to us. Just around their collar and then to a belt loop. Then when we are doing chores and such we just walk. Don`t say a thing to them. They learn to follow and pay attention without being told. A youngster will spend weeks tied to us and then as they get older they are already making sure they know where we are and what we are doing and they never wander off and do `their own thing`. We never let our working dogs do that.
We have them in kennels, but they are not crates, but covered pens that are 5`x 10` with dog houses in them. We keep them in those when there is down time and they are with us when we are out working. These dogs with busy minds are tough and have to know boundries. If ours are not with us doing things they are in their pens.

Thats a good idea. She needs to be leash trained anyways. Hopefully I dont fall on her too many times LOL

I am going to have to build her a kennel. I hate them but a dog being a brat is alot worse!

I have been doing that with our pup lately and he has learned very quickly to walk to the side not in front, because momma has a heavy foot. LOL.
I am sure your pup would like her outside kennel. Our kennel is about the same size as Coopslaves, holds a nice sized dog house and the pup just fine. He has room to play with his one toy, has his food cup and water bucket in there and does great. We have a larger fenced yard we were letting him in to play with our JRT but he gets distructive in there so that has now ended. If we are not out with him he is in his kennel.

Three words: She's a Heeler.

Smart as a whip, easily bored. Give her jobs and wait 2 or 3 years until she grows up!

Sue

Another three words. Shes a brat!

She murdered the last of my red pepper plants today. I sort of made her eat the last one, including the dirt she spread all over the porch... apperently she didnt learn!

Argh. Going to have to put up a kennel. Wire etc is so pricey! But cheaper than ruined everything! Sue, like you said, she will soon be my $10'000 dog!

Good luck Double SS. I hope you see some improvement soon.
This is a very timely post for me too. No big problems with my pup, but he is starting to get into things. He tears up door mats, digs holes non-stop and has started chewing on our cat!
Kitty does not even seem to mind too much, but I am so worried he is going to chomp down on her neck hard one of these times, and that will be it for her!
I do have a large outdoor kennel, but have not been making use of it...me thinks its time to start.

This is a working dog and she is learning to work for herself.
You need to keep this dog locked up until you have the time to watch her.
That is not running loose while your doing your chores etc.
She should be loose only when your with her-truly with her.
She will figure out who is god just by you there and able to control what she is doing.

I am sure you understand what I am trying to say.

She has lots of time as an adult to be a loose farm dog,but she needs control right now to understand that she works for no one but you.

Why wouldn’t she kill your plants and eat your eggs ,sounds like a free for all.
There is a reason why working dogs are locked up till they figure out to only work for their people.

Old motto is :
I bring the stock to you, so you can kill it, so I can eat.

This is how their brain works .You only need to control that brain that you are giving them work ,so that they can eat.

Deep breath,good pen and age does wonders.

I have a new Border pup,she is just 10 weeks old.I got her at 8 weeks.
The only time she is out of her pen at this age is to ride in a vehicle with me and work the ducks with me…..and yes at this age she is doing pretty good herding ducks !
Has not touched a feather and has never chased them crazy…..only circle and push.
Ducks are so nice to start pups on.
She has no interest in chickens at this stage,but that is her next step up..they are a harder herd haha

Put some work into her that she was bred to do.
Working the stock will not make her a killer dog as long as she knows that she is working for you and that she can NOT WORK FOR HERSELF.
This is my kind of dog other than I am not a Heeler person.
If you need help just give me a shout.

abpride I agree. My husband always says that the work for a dog is the reward for doing what it is asked. They are bred to work and do anything forit so when they follow commands they are rewarded by getting to work (what they live for). No listening, no work. Ours work nothing unless asked to, those are the rules at our place. They can think as independantly as they want to when working, but when it is over, it is over. We decide what need working, not them.
Good luck with her DSSR, she sounds like a tough one, but they are usually worth the hard work!

He likes to hunt mice so give him a job hunting mice. Tell him to go hunt outside and in the house and say good boy. A dog with a job is a happy dog.

Roots- She does hunt mice. And leaves them on the front porch for me to step on LOL

Well I started her 'umbilical' training today. MUCH to her dismay. I tied her to me and went about my normal chores, plus a little extra just because. She spent nearly the whole time planting all 4 feet and squealing like she was dieing. I expected that. By the end of it she had started to realise it was easier to follow than be choked and drug.

While I wasnt doing chores, she slept in her crate. She happily slept, and I took her back out with me this evening to do more chores. I got 9 eggs today instead of the usual 3 or 4. I didnt realise she had been doing this for so long! I might actually be able to sell some eggs again!

Ill try this out for a few days, hoping that she learns she should just follow. She seems to hink I am going to eat her or something. Shell sit beside me if I pull her to me, but otherwise just plants all 4 feet and pulls, which of course I ignore. Well see how she does after a few days.

What about rewarding her with a little treat when she steps forward, they clue in very quickly to that and soon would be more than happy to walk up to you and then continue walking with you.