Can you break a 6 year old dog from bad habits?

YES any dog can be trained and retrained

first do not let the ppl that have responded to your question get you down. Anyone that tells you that you should be ashamed of yourself is 100% WRONG.

All dogs are pack aminals and from about 4 to 4 1/2 weeks old thay start their pack ranking by bitting on their litter mates, who ever can bite the hardest and take the most pain wins and is #1 in the litter and so forth with the mom being the over all leader.

when you seperate a pup from its litter mates what does it do? it bites on your fingers your lip face ect... trying to find out where it stands in its new family. 98% of ALL problems

you will have with a dog can be traced back to you not being the leader of the pack. if you work on that and get ccontrol of the dog(even tho its a small dog) it still has drive/prey and will try to be your boss.(leader) that is anywhere from not listening to you, to comming up and nudgeing your hand to be petted. You as the leader decide when your dog gets attention, when mine does that she gets none and she goes away, later after she is minding i will call her to me and give her attention because she been good. just like toys i allow my dogs to play with MY toys when we are done playing i put up my toys.

I dont know if you are seeing what i am saying , but one other thing a woman is more mothering to a aminal than a man is ie... the dog is crying thay want to love on it and give it attention, this has to stop you both have to act the same wat towards the dogs actions to get results, once you have the dog knowing its order in the family most problems will slove their self with little training.

I'm wondering if training needs to be done by a professional?

Most professional trainers do not teach leader of the pack

it takes alot of time and isent something that happens over night, and is also something that has to be reinforced all the time so the dog knows where he belongs. got a garage?

a crate? if the dog wimpers all the time and is crate broke,, place the dog in the garage , in the crate give it no attention except food and water till it's quite. (you are giving it something to think about if i am bad this happens) But by all means do not be mean to the aminal ie beat it slap it ect.... i mess with larg bread of dogs german shep's

and never have had a dog that has hurt anyone yet are trained to stay within bounderies i set in the yard and can even put them on a leash and give them a new area we can go play in without them being scared they know i am their leader and what i say goes, (without being mean) and i will keep them safe.

if you would like some free leader of the pack info you can find free ebooks on the web. #1 thing is you and your GF must treat the dog fair and consistant ( i will say it again this is harder for a woman to do because of their mothering abilitys and is not ment to put woman down in any way) if it wasent ok last time its not ok this time. ie... it wimpers for attention it gets none. you cant confuse the dog the only thing the dog wants to do is make you happy no matter what happy is. (if that makes sence)

hope it helps alittle

I think you are a heartless cretin, actually.

Dogs are not "filthy." They're probably cleaner than you are.

You're expecting a dog, who has had a routine for its entire life, to suddenly "understand" when the situation has changed. That doesn't say much for your intelligence level.

YES, dogs CAN be retrained. It takes patience and a reward system, and you sure don't seem to have much of the former, now, do you? You also seem unwilling to participate in the process or even acknowledge the animal as anything other than an "interference." You think the dog doesn't know how you feel? Think again. He's probably whining to warn your fiancee AGAINST you.

I think you and your fiancee are ill-suited to one another if you can't put up with a TINY LITTLE DOG. What are you, a mouse? A jerk? JEALOUS of the affection that the little dog receives? You pretty much admitted that, despite your protestations, because you said you don't want to take "a second seat." To a TINY little dog.

How CHILDISH of you.

Or are you just a control freak, wanting to separate your fiancee from the one thing she loves and has an attachment to, besides you, so that YOU are the ONLY ONE?

If you can't afford "formal training" for a dog, well, you can't afford to get MARRIED. A kind hearted person would pay for doggie day care for the pooch, so it wouldn't be lonely in the day time, would have lots of activity, and would be tired and ready to sleep at night. And a kind hearted person would let the little dog sleep at the end of the bed, too, or at least in a dog bed in the same room.

What you really should do is break up with your fiancee. That is THE BEST THING to do for all concerned, I think.

Even if you get "your own way" on this matter, you'll pay for it for the REST OF YOUR MARRIAGE. She's a dog lover, and you aren't. They don't call dogs "Man's (or Woman's) Best Friend" for nothing, you know--a dog is often a better friend than an overbearing, brutish spouse.

A one bedroom apartment with a small patio is PERFECT for a dog that size--the one in the way, it would seem, is YOU.

Of the two of you, frankly, THE DOG is the better bargain. You are behaving rather selfishly, you want everything your way, you are unwilling to compromise, you plainly aren't making any effort to befriend the dog, you regard the little pet as filthy, and this issue will be a fissure in your relationship even if you DO get your own way and manage to separate your fiancee from her beloved pet.

I hope her next dog is a doberman--something not so easy for you to bully....because that is what you are doing--you're bullying a dog that has been attached to one person for its entire life. And looking for validation, and an excuse to get rid of the dog, for so doing.

Cut your losses and do that girl a favor--break up with her. I rather doubt she'd "bawl" for too long over you, if you continue to be so mean about her dog.

I'm absolutely CERTAIN that she could do better in the marriage department. You're behaving in an incredibly selfish, unkind and callous manner.

You can absolutely teach an old dog new tricks. You just need to be clear and consistent about training her. When your fiancee picks her up when she whines, that teaches the dog that you whine when you want to be picked up and that's the right way to get the attention that you want. Try leaving her on the floor or in her bed. Don't give her any attention at all until she is absolutely quiet and sitting still. Then when she sits still and quiet, give her a treat and praise her like crazy. Keep doing this repeatedly until you can tell that she understands why she's getting a treat. Just make sure to reinforce the behavior IMMEDIATELY so she can put two and two together. It'll be tough to get her to do it at first, you just have to be patient. Just wait for her to stop whining and then praise her immediately. Eventually she'll catch on to the fact that she has to be quiet especially when she wants attention.

Please, first of all do not blame the dog, and please don't abuse it in any way. It's not the dogs fault your girlfriend spoiled it to the point where it makes not only her life miserable but yours also.

What I would question is: 'Is this relationship worth it, if she puts the dog before me?' Maybe it's time to step back and take a second look at this situation.

It sounds like there are already tremendous problems between you because of the dog, and I can fully understand that.

However I can also understand her position in that this dog is her 'baby' and she doesn't want to give it away. It's so easy to "coddle" a little dog, but it sounds to me like your girlfriend goes to extremes on this by holding it for hrs on end. However, I would not be able to give my dog away; but I would try to find an answer to the situation; even if it meant moving out.

Why did you not see this mess coming before she moved in with you? I' sure she did all this before, and you had to have seen the 'handwriting on the wall' then. But, you chose to innore it and now everyone is paying the price.

I guess it all boils down to both of you deciding what is best for you both...her moving out and you breaking up or her staying there with you and you learning to put up with always being 'second' in the relationship, and with the spoiled little lap dog.

Good luck in whatever decisions you make; and I only hope next time you look for 'sign's before you get into a relationship. It's things like this that make animal 'haters' out of people, because they can't realize there should be a halfway medium in any situation; and they decide "I will never have a dog!"; and someday down the road, the wife or children suffer because of it.

Yes, this can be remedied, and it's actually not that hard, but only if your girlfriend "goes with the program". Right now, she thinks she is being a loving and caring dog owner, but she isn't realizing that she has taught her dog to be co-dependent and have low self-esteem, and that when she sits with the dog all the time when she is home, she is forcing her dog to go cold turkey when you guys leave to go to work.

Victoria Stillwell has some good things to say about a situation like yours in her TV program It's Me or the Dog. She also has a book out. I would also recommend a good trainer/class. Not an old fashioned or harsh one; that would only be to set your girlfriend (and thus you, too) up for failure since she won't be able to get herself to comply. She needs someone who can explain how you can be loving and caring while promoting/allowing the dog to be more confident and self-reliant.

Personally, I love Suzanne Clothies' book "...Bones Would Rain from the Sky" and her booklet on leadership called "Finding a Balance". There are also good books on leaving the dog home alone. DogWise is great for quality dog books.

There is nothing wrong with having this kind of dog in an apartment (a common "myth"), but it has to be done right, including going for walks, and I'm not talking about just enough to go potty, and other stimulating activities, like class, play groups etc.

The bad news is probably not unless your fiance' really wants to even then it will be difficult at best, because it's your fiance' that has been trained.

The good news is a healthy dog that size only lives for about 15 or 18 years. So you only have to put up with it for an other 9 to 12 years.

Good Luck.

Edit: Yo Dom, I'm not a crazy dog lady! I'm crazy, but I ain't no lady. I'm not part dog either,(though when I was single some people might have disagreed) and I don't think you need Doc Phil.

Yes, she absolutely can be trained. Six is not that old. I can't judge whether she'd be a good therapy dog, but she can be trained. Does she walk well on a leash? Does she know simple commands? My dog loves 'training'. I reward each trick with a bit of cheese, and she'd do it all day if I let her. Taking an obedience class is a good idea, because honestly, the owner is the one who needs training. Start there, and see how far you can take Saffron.

Don't be so selfish. That dog has had her for 6years she's only had you for two. The dog wouldn't ask her to get rid of you.

The dogs been babied, that's all she knows and she whines when things aren't going how she knows. It's her routine, of course she's gonna be upset when you disrupt it. Cant she go to her old home or a friends/relatives whilst you are at work and you collect her when you finish? Just stick it out she's only been there a week she'll get used to it. As for sedatives that's just wrong. Play with her until she gets tired or walk her late. Drugging her ain't the answer, it's unnatural and not necessary. Why don't you take sleeping tablets so she don't wake you instead of doping her up.

-you can re-train the dog its just going to take time and patience from BOTH of you. If one of you gives in, you will never re-train it,

-when you make the dog get off the sofa tell it "down" or "off" or "no" whatever word you pick, be sure to use only that word, dogs can get confused and dont understand sentences.

-When the dog whines and whines tell it "CHhhhht" its a loud sound made with the mouth that Cesar Milan makes on "the dog whisperer" on TV. even if the dog keeps whimpering, you have made your point that its not allowed up... it may continue whining for a while, but eventually it will stop..

-The dog is like a child, its testing you to see if you give in, and if after a while you dont, it will give up

This is not a dog problem.

This is a relationship problem. The two of you need to talk calmly and rationally about the problem and how to solve it. She should be able to keep her dog; you have the right to not have the dog in your bed and to consume all of your fiance's time.

You'll also need to work together on training the dog on the new program. The dog will need to adjust quite a bit. Your fiance needs to commit to it and you need to be patient because it's going to take time.

You will face bigger problems in your married life - you need to learn how to work as a team and make compromises.

EDIT - I personally hate Dr. Phil. This isn't psychobabble but normal life problems. Good luck with marriage and the kids.