[Cherribomb]

I've got a 16 month old Labrador who has an awful attitude about commands. She knows what they mean, she's very smart. But she is frustratingly stubborn most of the time! It is her general defiance about commands: Not matter how firmly you tell her to sit, or especially lay down while I'm eating a meal, she absolutely will NOT do it until she senses that I'm angry. This is a problem I've got no idea how to address, she needs to just listen, not only listen when she decides that she's pushed it to the limit.

This has recently carried on to going potty on command, which is a huge issue by itself. She just won't usually pee when I ask her to and I know she must have to. We have a fixed routine that hasn't changed, she knows exactly when walk times are and when fetch time is. Biggest problem is mornings, and afternoons on weekends. I take her out every morning after I shower and dress, and she used to go for me but has simply stopped. We've always told her 'Good girl, go pee!' when she does, and I've tried starting to give her treats when she does now. But it's not helping anything, she knows I have treats but still rarely goes. I tried waiting in the morning until she asks me to go out, still doesn't go potty and I feel like she's just abusing me to go out and do whatever she likes instead.. It's usually about 10 minutes before I take her back inside and get on with my morning, all of which she just spends sniffing around in places that she never EVER pees in... I'm not sure what to do about it, because this is a very sudden behavior change.

I believe she is just being stubborn, which I don't know how to address. Or could there be another problem?

 

[hanksimon]

1. Is she spayed or is she coming into heat?
2. Has she learned that "go outside" means that she'll get a treat, not linking it to "go potty" ?
3. Does she need a treat to potty .... most dogs pee within a minute of going outside.
4. Has she ever been fed from the table, or table scraps... even once?

At first pass, given a strong food drive, those are my guesses, with no other information.

 

[Amaryllis]

Here's my guess on the "sit" problem:

Most people teach sit like this-

Sit, puppy!

*dog stares blankly*

Sit!

*dog continues to stare*

SIT!

*dog sits*

Over the course of many repetitions, the dog learns that the command for butt on the floor is "sit! Sit! SIT!" So she patiently waits for you to repeat yourself and get louder until you fulfill the command and she sits.

You need to retrain the sit, my dear. Check out kikopup on youtube. She's fantastic at training and you'll learn a lot.

As to the peeing, take her to a vet. Any change in pee, poop or eating habits requires a visit to the vet. Dogs can't tell you how they feel, so subtle signs like this are often the only clue that something's going on.

 

[Cherribomb]

Yay, responses! Alright, more details.
She is not spayed, and is not going into heat. She's been through her first heat and we quickly got familiar with those effects on pottytime and outside time in general. The idea of her thinking going outside means a treat might be on to something, but more like she thinks that she can do whatever she wants when we go outside. (Go outside = sniff the edge of the woods for 5-10 minutes) I should mention that she WILL go potty within the first minute when my boyfriend asks her to, usually. So I don't think there's anything to be concerned about health-wise. But he's 'her person' and I've only moved in about 7 months ago. The only thing that's changed between my interaction with her is that I've started playing with her more, which you'd think would be a good thing. She may still be harboring feelings of being replaced, but I'm not sure why things would be fine before and not anymore.

As for food, we do give her table scraps, but only in her own bowel and only if she's behaved.

I'll try that solution to the sit/lay, that might help a lot. That particular problem with her is something she does to both of us, another detail about that is that if we DO try to issue the command only once, she'll sit and stare for a while before actually doing it. Not sure what the delay is about. What it feels like is that she is trying to pretend she isn't doing it because we told her to, in a childlike defiant way, but I think that's humanizing her a bit much. Or is it? I'll check out that youtube user tomorrow, hopefully it works. (Like any dog, ours will do ANYTHING properly if there is a treat involved..)