[Rio's Mom]

Hello! New here. My family has recently welcomed home a Shih-Poo baby that's 12 weeks old. He is an awesome dog! So sweet and cuddly, but those true puppy colors are coming out

My kids, aged 14, 12, and 6, of course LOVE to play with him, and he's a typical bratty sibling.

I would like a well behaved dog that knows some tricks and has nice manners, such as leave it, take it...all that good stuff. To get to the question, how possible is it for me to train him to do things with kids playing with him that won't demand any sort of behavior from him? Will he learn to listen to only me? Or will my husband be able to give him commands? What about the kids?

I've started some clicker training with him, and he seems insanely intelligent and does great one on one, but add a kid in the room and he's psycho pup!

I don't want to ruin my kids fun....

Will he eventually calm down and do what I ask of him no matter what's going on?

 

[Elana55]

While the dog will learn to obey you, the kids need to exhibit self control and learn how to ask the dog for behavior too. This means EVERYONE needs to be on the SAME PAGE. Basic commands shoud be the same for everyone. This is often difficult for one person to do.. "come here" needs to be ONLY "come here" and ONLY once.. not "come on", "come" or "here" or "lets go" or "come here come here come here" or only the dog's name! Pick one word.. it can be any word.. and everyone uses that word cue for the dog to respond as directed.

This does not mean the kids cannot have fun with the dog. They can. But just like there are times when they cannot play and have to do house chores or homework, the same applies to the dog. There is play time and work time. This does not mean work cannot be fun, it means that work is structured and has to accomplish a goal.

A great idea would be for the older kids to take the dog on as part of a 4H or Girl Scout/Boyscout project (obedience training). It would also be a good idea if the dog went to basic obedience and the kids did too so they can take a part in training the dog. Everyone could learn together. Be better for their own (kids) self discipline and way better than 'puter games and TV!

 

[ColoradoSooner]

I would agree with enrolling your dog in obedience training and taking your kids with you. It will be lots of fun for you, your kids and your dog. I don't have any kids but whenever kids want to pet my dog, I have them ask him to sit. They LOVE being able to "communicate" with him.

 

[rosborn]

'clicker train the kids' .... ok thats an LOL ... but they need to know exactly how to train her as well .... maybe take the aside a half hour or hour each evening with the pup (individually) and show them how it is done ... let them watch videos how to do clicker training as well ... (some videos on youtube) ... I would start with your oldest child first then they can help the younger ones as well ....

GOOD LUCK

another thing i do .... my daughter is 15 and at school all day ... my husband works all day ... I post a not on the fridge what the pup learned ... how well she is learning it ... and the command we use for it .... keeps us on the same page

 

[Marsh Muppet]

With your kids, you should have enough authority to lay down the law regarding the handling of the dog.

I'll wait until you finish laughing.

Seriously though, it is an important lesson for children to learn that animals are not like they see in Disney cartoons. Worst case: the dog will learn to obey you and ignore everyone else, unless there's something in it for him. A certain family member of mine (who shall not be named out of respect for the fact that she married me and bore my wonderful son) just will not get with the program. So the dog obeys me, and cons the aforementioned unnamed family member into believing that he's obeying her. It's actually sort of fascinating to watch. It takes longer, but the dog will figure out that you mean what you say and everyone else will be satisfied with something less consistent.