Adjusting time for dogs? Best method of discipline?

STOP SMACKING YOUR FREAKING DOG. You want to know why she's repeating the same bad behavior?? it's because you've done nothing but REINFORCE it. So because you've given the bad behavior attention she will continue to repeat it over and over and over. You aren't excited about getting home to deal with the dog, the dog isn't excited about you getting home because your home coming is scary, dangerous and something to be feared and stress out over.

STOP giving attention to the bad behavior. Negative attention like NO, stop, smacking, hitting is all attention and all forms of reinforcement.

If you hit a dog enough, yes, you will temporarily "stop" the behavior but you will never FIX the behavior. With enough punishment a dog will "shut down" in order to avoid being punished but he will never learn to stop the behavior. Only reinforcing the good behavior and ignoring the bad will get her bad behavior to stop.

A reinforced behavior will be repeated, an ignored behavior will stop.

I'm not quite sure what she is escaping from? Is she left out on the patio all day while you're at work and escaping while you're gone?

Why are you leaving her outside all day? Put her inside the apartment and either crate train her or block her off in a bathroom. Is she getting outside for sufficient enough exercise every day? Just because she's small doesn't mean she doesn't have a lot of energy to expell and frustrated dogs bark, chew, escape, and generally are a pain in the butt. With daily sufficient exercise and proper positive training her bad behavior will eventually cease. Only reinforce her good behavior ignore her bad. No more smacking and yelling, hitting only makes your dog scared and eventually aggressive towards you.

You are lost so pick up "The Complete Idiots Guide to Positive Training" it will direct you on how to correct a behavior by ignoring it. How to get your dog to "willingly" want to learn and listen to you, you've made training a scary and horrible thing so no she won't listen to you, in fact she'll just shut down and only do enough to avoid being hit. change how you train and she'll change her behavior.

Look at training this way, if you were in school and the teacher asked a question, you raise your hand to answer and oops you got it wrong, and the teacher came over and smacked you hard on the wrist, how willing would you be to answer another question? You wouldn't, infact you'd end up fearing answering incase you got it wrong, and you'd end up hating the subject and the teacher. Well welcome to your dogs world. she won't learn because you've smacked her when she's tried....we all make mistakes so does your dog so lighten up! Now imagine this time the teacher said anyone that answers gets a piece of candy and anyone who gets the answer right will get a handful of candy, how willing will you be now to learn? You'd probably study more and really enjoy the class. Well you have to make it that way for your dog, if you make learning positive she will be more inclined to learn.

Learn to train better and your dogs behavior will also change.

Letting a dog adjust to a new home can take a few days or a month depending on the dog. This dog presumably has been raised with your fiance, so the time should be shorter.

Now from my experience:

We foster for a rescue and the younger the dog the quicker the adjustment. The older the longer.

All our fosters have a crate. Even the five year old that had never been crated before was crated at night or when we were not home for the first week. She settled into it quickly, though not without some wimpers and whining. We also did not leave her home alone for longer than a run to the store... yes, i take off work for a few days as does my husband when we get new foster in.

Another thing I am going to strongly recommend it to read the book "Culture Clash" by J. Donaldson. It is a great book explaining dog behaviourism/ how they think and how you can deal.

Next, make sure you are taking the dog on regular walks. This helps build the bond you need and establish 'home', and it keeps their mind engaged so they tire and are less likely to get into things.

Another thing we do, is week two is all about training. Our fosters go to puppy classes or basic obedience with us. If we have a dog-aggresive foster, we go to a few private sessions with a behaviourist/trainer. We do not advocate any type of corporal punishment for anything. The only time i have hit a dog was when two fosters went after eachother, and I popped one on the head as my husband grabbed the other one by the hips and pulled her out. It was the best method at the moment without getting myself bit.

All of these things are parts to a puzzle. It is a program.

I believe in crates, even when they are older... they need their own den. Our older dogs are not usually locked up, but they still go in there to sleep at night or to get away from the household.

I know that you do not have a foster, but if we can take dogs that have been mistreated or whatnot and help them adjust, you can make it through this.

Do not let her out without supervision, and if possible stand where the gap is to block her. Also, make sure that your yard is interesting for her. Obviously, outside the fence is more fun than in the yard that she gets her nose popped.

And definitely quit hitting her. You are right to think that you may make her afraid of people or at the very least... hand shy.

Hope this helps.

To be sure filling in under the gate is a good move. Dachshunds,(even mixed) love to dig and try to escape. It's just their nature.

If you don't like coming home to what you find I would seriously consider a crate for your dog. In this case an open wire crate would be just fine with a blanket inside. A small throw over the top only gives more sense of security.

As a breeder, many of my clients were hesitant to try this method. But they failed to realize that a dog is a den animal. Dogs make the den their home.

But finally they realized that coming home and being upset with the animal was futile because the animal had no sense of what it was being punished for. Dogs live in the here and now.

I would also suggest this means a change in feeding and water. You may want to put your dog on a regiment feeding so you don't have accidents in the crate.

Good luck to you and your four legged friend. I'm sure everyone will be happier.

I have a mini dachshund and she is very determined. Wacking your dog on the nose does nothing but reinforce to her that your hand is bad and everytime it is raised she will feel it is going to hurt her. Soon she may decide to bite that hand in order to defend against the hurt. Stop wacking her. Like children, a house has to be secure so that whoever or whatever lives there can do so safely. You have a dog and now you need to secure its surroundings. Just do it. Try taking some cooked meat and in really little bits give her treats for training purposes. Have her learn to sit, come and stay. Your dog needs direction and interaction. She wants to make you happy. You need to give her ways she can succeed.

Due to loss of coaching and socialisation, you may have controlled to elevate your puppy to be a dominant puppy. You have now acquired plenty of coaching to do to opposite this. Your puppy thinks it's the boss of the apartment. He is entirely responsible of you. He "yells", you yell again like a well, obedient % member. What a amusing recreation that's! How does he recognize why you're spraying him with water? That is only a recreation to a couple puppies too. My gosh - your deficient puppy, having to check out to be the boss. However, this information is well:- its no longer too past due to coach him. Go and search recommendation from a behaviourist who presents organization categories and one on one. There could also be different disorders that you don't recognize are disorders but. (e.g. pulling at the leash while you stroll him. You do stroll him everyday, do not you?). No-one right here can diagnose your puppy with out seeing it, and the way yu manage it. A behaviourist will inform you simply how massive a crisis it has end up, and help you recognize the great plan of movement. Please do that now, earlier than you puppy hurts any person. It's no longer his fault, it's yours. He demands to grasp the limitations, and nobody has proven him. He's no longer human, he's a puppy, and puppies have a further language to us, and believe another way. Stop reacting to him as you might react to a human. You have to study the best way to manage your puppy, and a teacher will aid you with that. Best of success - it's fixable.

It's not the dog's fault for getting out of the fence. It's not a disciplinary problem. It's a "your fence isn't dog-proof" problem. Fences aren't meant to keep in dogs, they're meant to keep people and (in some cases) prying eyes out. You have to build, or have built for you a dog-proof fence if you want to be able to let your dog outside unsupervised. Hope I helped, good luck.

You can't CORRECT her unless you catch her in the act of committing the unwanted behavior. Correcting her after wards has no effect because she has no idea why you are correcting her.

Keep her in a crate when you can't supervise her, and then she cannot do anything you can't correct her for.

dont hit her, try rewarding her when she does right, she will strat trying to do right to get a reward

crate train her!