[smoke20fan]

just a little PO tonight and wanted to vent here.homer is still a puppy(born may 6th)so of course he has a hard time listening to us.the only thing that seems to work after telling him something 50 times is to shout a little.he knows what get down and out means-he just chooses not to listen at times so hubby will shout a little.doesn't scare homer-he justs backs down or out and gives you the "if i could roll my eyes at you and sigh-fine!-i would" look and bark.anyways hubby's gram lives with us so we can take care of her and she had a fit about it tonight.said hubby shouldn't yell at him cuz he's so little and it will scare him-then she goes on about that tv dog training show and how we are supposed to only talk to him in a soft voice-never raise our voices and how hubby is mean and is gonna make him scared of everything.homer is so spoiled!he gets treats everyday and tons of affection and lots of playtime in and out the house since we work from home.we are not gonna sit there and repeat "get down"in a sweet gentle voice over and over for 1/2 hour when he's jumping on the leather couch when he knows he can't be on the couch and he knows what "get down" means.of course we wouldn't shout if it scared him but i swear if he could laugh at us when we shouted he would.....lol.and gram won't follow the way we are training him-she comes behind us and does something different and says"well this is how they do it on tv".finally came to a head tonight and hubby told her this is our dog and we will train him OUR WAY and if you can't follow it we will have to keep homer away from you until he is trained so you don't confuse him and undo what we have done.we had a cat before and hubby let her do whatever with the cat and it was big fiasco since the cat never listened to anyone.so is hubby wrong for shouting at the dog when it doesn't scare him one bit?it's not a constant thing at all-just when telling homer something 50 times doesn't work.sorry for such a long post but so frustrated with the whole thing-makes for too much tension in the house.thanks for the space to rant

 

[Murphys Dad]

Your hubby is not wrong, I wouldn't shout unless its the last resort, but use a firm and a little louder than usual voice for "punishment".... He is also not wrong for telling her you guys want to train the puppy the way you think is best... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[KC]

I agree you need to say that homer is going to be raised your way. I don't do the disciplining with Molly - Dennis does -I don't like it but I know with beagles it's sometimes the only way - he dosen't yell but he speaks with a loud firm voice and she knows. I'm way to much of a softy molly gets away with everything where I'm concerned (I know that's not good I can't help it) :rolleye11:

 

[Genie]

Well, I can see where both of you are coming from. You do need to use a firm "commanding" voice that is different from a softer, sweeter "playtime" voice. The loud voices don't seem to be scaring Homer, but puppies are so impressionable, and you don't know what affect the shouting is having on him. We once adopted a puppy from a shelter in Michigan who had been abused. I don't know what all they did to her, except that their kids stuck chewing gum all in her hair. But Sassy was so timid, and was especially scared if anyone raised their voice at her. I'm not saying at all that you're mistreating Homer, please understand. I know how much you love him!! It's just that you never know what's going on in their little beagley brains.
My Shiloh barks a lot.When she wakes me up at 4 a.m. barking at who knows what, I used to yell down the stairs at her to be quiet. Then my son told me that her barking didn't disturb him as much as my yelling. And I read somewhere that when dogs are barking and you yell, to them it sounds like you are joining in the barking with them. So now if she's barking during the day I go to the window and look out and say firmly "There's nothing there. Stop it." Of course I don't want to do that at 4 a.m., so I just try to ignore it and hope she's not barking at something really important! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif
When your grandmother sees The Dog Whisperer on TV, she's probably as amazed as I am at how the guy never raises his voice, just makes a little sound that sounds like "psst!" and the dog instantly obeys. It's like he's a magician!! It seems like anybody should be able to do that too. But I think they probably edit out a lot of stuff on his shows--I don't think he gets instant obedience every time.
Please don't take any of this the wrong way! I know you love Homer and you're doing what seems best for your little guy. But I know how it feels to listen to someone shouting at their dog, and I think your grandmother is only trying to help. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[jassy]

I remember those puppy days. Not so long ago for us. Its like having someone else tell you how to raise your kids. We all have different styles of "parenting". I don't know what will work for you but I can tell you what worked for us. We got Maggie when she was 8 weeks old and she turned my quiet house upside down. She was intended as a pet for my daughter and I had insisted that my daughter take most of the responsibility, however when I realized how much she was yelling, I stepped in and took over most of the training. Maggie didn't respond to yelling and didn't even appear to notice. I think it must be like with babies and kids that there are developmental stages where their brains aren't able to understand certain cues. My daughter and I went to puppy classes and learned that treats and lots of praise were the easiest ways to get a response from Maggie. Through treats, praise and I think just more maturity, Maggie has learned to respond to command words. There are times when I have to use a very firm voice and I do occasionally yell. When I do yell I find that it is because I am frustrated. Maggie responds better to my firm voice than to yelling. She isn't afraid of me and I don't want her to be but I do think she has some "respect" for me. If you can go to a training class. I learned so much and mostly it was a great support resource. I could see that everyone was having the same problems and that my little beagle wasn't the only naughty dog. The first nine months were constant hard work with training but the investment of time has paid off. Maggie just graduated from advanced obedience. Is she a perfect, well behaved dog? No, absolutely not but she responds to the commands she has learned about 90% of the time. She is still an independent thinker and sometimes I can see her weighing her options before responding but that is what I love about beagles. Good luck with your puppy and with your husband's grandma. I am sure she is just trying to help but no one wants to be told how to raise their baby.

 

[Zookeeper]

Funny story:

A few weeks after bringing Duke home, Dave and I were discussing the fact that beagles are rabbit hunters. So I go into my best Elmer Fudd voice and say, "Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits." We laughed and then joked that Elmer would have been a great name. Dave asks if it's too late to change his name to Elmer and I said, "We can't change it, he already knows his name is Dammit Duke!"

Anyhow, we all get frustrated and yell sometimes and there are times you have to for the pup to know you're not playing around. I know with the labs, a loud voice is more punishment than anything and works like a charm. With Duke, not so much, a squirt bottle seems to be a better weapon. So each animal has it's own way of training, but it's up to you-his parents-to find and use the best method for all of you. Grams has no right interferring and your hubby was perfectly within his rights to tell her so.

Good luck!

 

[Murphys Dad]

When I raise my voice, my two know they are in trouble. But sometimes that is what it takes.

 

[russjor]

Quote:Originally posted by Zookeeper:
Funny story:

A few weeks after bringing Duke home, Dave and I were discussing the fact that beagles are rabbit hunters. So I go into my best Elmer Fudd voice and say, "Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits." We laughed and then joked that Elmer would have been a great name. Dave asks if it's too late to change his name to Elmer and I said, "We can't change it, he already knows his name is Dammit Duke!"

Anyhow, we all get frustrated and yell sometimes and there are times you have to for the pup to know you're not playing around. I know with the labs, a loud voice is more punishment than anything and works like a charm. With Duke, not so much, a squirt bottle seems to be a better weapon. So each animal has it's own way of training, but it's up to you-his parents-to find and use the best method for all of you. Grams has no right interferring and your hubby was perfectly within his rights to tell her so.

Good luck!

With Shiloh the squirt bottle worked great on different things that I did not want him to do ! :thumbup: Beagle puppies as they grow up will "try" you just to see if you can be the strong leader of his pack and I have found a good firm "NO--BADDOG" carries a lot of weight with a puppy. Puppies only want to please you as leader so a "BADDOG" makes a BIG impression on him and helps him at the time to relate to what is "ok" & what is a "not ok" to do. But at the same time that squirt bottle reinforces your "NO"and eventually you will just have to make a move towards a bottle or even just look at one and he will get the message. So IMO,don't yell but do speak with a firm voice to let him know "that is not axceptable".

 

[LeeAnn]

I agree with the logic that shouting has the dog thinking you are barking - barking means play or alert to Tramp, and that means he's wound up. Things still sometimes led to yelling here though, as Tramp seems to have wanted Alpha position over hubby & 6 yr old and they wanted no part of it! :biglaugh: Hubby started intentionally changing his voice to be higher for praising and leaving deeper but short & firm for scolding (whereas children have try to go deeper for scolding), they both started cuddling with him more when Tramp was behaving, and gave him the treats more often (hubby gone all day). Things have been much better between all of them!

 

[RhodaTse]

Sounds like grandparent spoiling their grandkids, this time grandfurkids.
Grandparents are all like this, my mom spoils my children everytime.
I discipline, both my kids and furkids. When I do so my husband will stay out. Charlie listens to me, when I say "NO" he knows. When I raised my voice, he dash back to his crate. :hi:

 

[smoke20fan]

thanks for all the replies.i hope none of you think we are screaming at homer all the time.that is not the case.the only time it seems like we have to shout at him is when he is in the kitchen jumping on my feet and legs when i am trying to cook and i don't want him in there-i would die if i tripped over him dropped something hot on him and hurt him!i know it's the nose thing and all the smells that makes him go crazy in there.i tried the water bottle but he don't care if he gets wet-he just wants some of whatever that smell is....lol.my loud voice doesn't work so hubby screams from living room at him to get out.when homer does go out at least he gets playtime from hubby until dinner is ready so i'm hoping he will realize soon that he gets no food no matter how much he begs(he only gets people food about once a week when we have steak and only in his bowl-never from our hands) and if he leaves hubby plays with him

 

[K & G]

I can also see where you're both coming from. One of the important things I learned in puppy class was not to repeat your commands. You tell the dog once, then you make him do it if he doesn't listen. That way the dog learns that he needs to obey the first time, not that he's free to ignore you until you yell.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Hollering without hitting isn't hurting. I suspect a strong firm commanding voice would work better but I understand the frustration. I've can remember the two times I've hollered at the Bagel. The first time was a few weeks after I had rescued the Bagel and I returned from a funeral and removed a tie and draped it over the back of a chair. The next thing I know the Bagel is running down the hall, the tie in his mouth, flying behind him. I hollered BAGEL and I still sadly recall what happened. He released the tie and it floated to the floor, he ran to and cowered in the corner. I felt so sorry fo9r him, I knew his life before me hadn't been a bed of roses and I resolved to never raise my voice again. The only other time I hollered was about 4 years later and the Bagel had just devoured the cover off an antique book. I again Hollered his name BAGEL and unlike the first time, he just sat, looked at me like I had his complete attention. Since Homer has no rescue baggage, I'm sure your husband gets the latter reaction from Homer. As long as Homer isn't scared, hollering while it isn't the best thing, it isn't hurting Homer.

 

[aaroninphilly]

When Baxter's daddy raises his voice he knows he is in trouble. When I do it he could careless haha.But what really gets him in line is a squirt bottle. He HATES it. We don't even have to spray him most of them time. We just show it to him and he stops in his tracks and listens. He is 7 months now and that is what we use for discipline and it works for us. I agree you should raise and discipline your pup your own way.