A red heeler in an apartment is not an easy feat. We live in an apartment that is part of a house so we have the backyard and luckily don't need to fly down a whole bunch of stairs every time he needs to go eliminate. Still, our living quarters is small--under 700 square feet and that poses some issues with an energetic, working herding dog. And no, Benji is not the calm, sweet exception---he's the rule.
Good thing for Benji and our sanity, we live near 5 parks and I have decided he will need 3 hours of exercise a day to cope with living in a small space plus a "job" like agility when he is 6 months old. Until then, 2 walks a day should suffice plus "fetch". Benji is a serious barker and his bark is unusually high pitched and extremely loud. At only 10 weeks, he sounds like any full grown retriever in the neighbourhood! I have a devilish alpha dog and keeping him in an apartment won't be easy but I will try it.
I'm pretty sure Benji could and would easily ruin everything in the apartment including the walls, sofa, chairs, TV and tables. While he's a puppy, my solution is to spray Bitter Apple on alll the furniture where he usually chews and the sides of walls he's bitten. When he's older and trained, he'll be allowed to be in the house for say, 40 minutes, while we grocery shop with a muzzle on so he is unable to destroy everything but still enjoy freedom.
I don't crate Benji much. He is in the crate while I sweep and mop, while he sleeps at night (which helps with house training him) and when he does something bad or he won't stop jumping while we're eating. Unless, he's sleeping, he's in his crate for up to a half hour. He usualy sleeps for 6-8 hours straight and wakes up between 4:30-5:00am. The crate is wonderful but he's not a "Crate" dog. I hope exercising him will help calm him down a lot.
Unfortunately, i cannot show any love to Benji. Everything I do has to be a command to be answered to immediately---from fetch, to eating, to eliminating, to getting a treat. NO KISSES, COOING OR PETTING. Benji takes this as a sign of weakness and manipulates you immediately.
I have no solution to his barking problem or his biting problem Telling him "no", holding his snout and leaving him alone does not help. When I return, he WILL bite, and if I leave to another room, he WILL continue barking. I need new solutions to the B&B problem.
1. How can I get my puppy to stop barking excessively?
2. How can I get my puppy to stop barking excessively when nobody is home?
3. How can I get my puppy to stop biting me aggressively?
4. How can I get my puppy to stop nipping me playfully when I show/tell him "no"?
Seriously, a little puppy shouldn't be so difficult to train. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm going to do two things.
Number one: puppyproof the house (and buy Bitter Apple). This helps eliminate a lot of stress.
Number two: leave him alone in the house and get him to be used to it.
I won't show him any affection tomorrow. It's all "alpha dog". I am not going to show any emotion, raise my voice, reprimand him or anything. I will just prevent him from doing the behaviours that I want to discourage. For jumping on furniture and us, I will leash him to a chair away from us. This way he cannot bite either. I won't even tell him "No jumping" or "Off" which I usually do and then shove him off after he ignores me.. I will simply tie him up, all business-like no anger, no frustration, no eye contact. He will work for his toys--if he wants a toy, he will have to sit/stay. If he wants food, he will have to do a proper down. If he wants to go outside, he will have to sit at the door and wait until I go through the doorway first--each and every time. I guess it's my fault for slacking.
Has anyone else had a difficult puppy to train?
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