Hello! We have a 13-week old rescue puppy (small breed, ~7 pounds right now), who we adopted about a week ago. He's doing a lot of things really well so far like crate training and potty training (realizing as I type this out that we have a lot to be thankful for!). He's doing well with asking to go outside and is almost always willing to go in his crate for a nap, only occasionally with a few short minutes of whining, but not much.
All of his problems seem to be with things that require the "leave it" command. Harassing our older (~6 yo) dog even when she gives him warnings, chewing on furniture, giving a gnarly growl/bite when we try to take a toy away (this is understandable, but we want him to be less territorial, especially with another dog in the house) and the most annoying and dangerous of all, chewing and eating sticks, mulch, and anything remotely interesting outside.
We're teaching him "leave it," which he caught onto pretty quickly in training sessions, but he has a hard time translating the command to outdoors and to leaving the older dog and furniture alone. I know mastering this command is the best way to get these things to stop — but I feel crazy because I'm starting to feel like he thinks the treat is a reward for the behavior. I swear, sometimes he picks up a stick and looks at me, waiting for me to say leave it. I don't want him to pick it up at all! My question — will working on "leave it" more diligently pay off in the long run? This is one of the first commands we taught him since it became an issue so immediately. But I know it's more advanced, so I'm wondering if it's just going to take a while to fully click. Or maybe I'm not putting in the right amount of time to help him properly understand? We do usually 2 10-minute training sessions a day.
That brings up another question with training sessions. How many commands is typical to be practicing in a session? I see some dogs younger than him mastering all these commands… he is doing fairly well with about 5 right now—but I worry that I am squeezing too many into one session. If I really want him to learn leave it, should I do nothing but leave it for a session?
We adopted our other dog when she was 2 (she came perfectly trained except for one bad habit… sticks… so that's part of the problem here, too) so the targeted training sessions are new to us, and I worry that I'm either doing too much or not enough for him. Part of it is also probably me seeing these other pups on youtube and comparing them to his learning speed/my training skills…
Not exactly sure what we're trying to get from posting this… tips about commands, sticks, being respectful of other dogs, high value treat ideas, etc or just reassurance that it gets better!! We love him so much, and he's here to stay, but it is obviously tiring. And I just need to know that if we teach leave it correctly, we can get through it with minimal sticks swallowed. And just need to know that we won't screw this up. Our other rescue dog has so much trauma and anxiety from previous owners so I think we've put a lot of pressure on doing our best to make sure this pup has a better start to his life and isn't set up to be afraid and anxious
I should also mention he's not motivated much by his kibble. He has to have a high value treat to pay attention for training or to stop a behavior. He really never finishes his kibble during the day, so I have concerns about his nutrition and giving him too many treats for training. The vet was not worried about his weight, so I'm probably overreacting, I'm just not used to giving out so many treats and I want him to eat his meals
I realize I'm just making this longer by adding something else, but his behavior has been especially off today (in terms of picking up things he shouldn't and picking on his sister), and I'm wondering if that's because it's Monday, so there's an adjustment after the weekend? My husband (who works from home) and I were both home with him over the weekend, and now I'm back at work which wasn't much of a problem last week, but I'm wondering if that could be throwing him off
I should also add that he's supervised at ALL times when outside of his crate. So we're doing out best to make sure the sticks and objects are not actually swallowed but it's hard to get them out of his mouth when leave it doesnt work. He also hasnt fully damaged anything inside yet, but it's like we're trying to get him away from chewing on the couch every 1 minute. He also is doing enforced naps, and that has been great so far.
TLDR: 13-week old/10 days in our home puppy struggling to "leave it." Need reassurance that working on this command will pay off
submitted by /u/External_Meringue557
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