A Puppy Who Will Not Listen! Can this Dog be Trained?

This adorable puppy that is a long legged Chihuahua was given to me recently. I felt thrilled to have such a small companion sharing my new home. It was easy to keep his first name since it fitted him so perfectly well, “Woody”.

Woody adjusted fairly easy to my house with pool in the back yard, but when I allowed him to roam the house at night he would start barking at three and five o’clock in the morning for no apparent reason. Disappointed, I couldn’t believe this and received a splitting migraine from his incessant barking. Though I wanted him to stop barking he barked even louder.

His first owners had kept him locked in a dog cage at night. I didn’t have the guts to keep him in a cage, besides I didn't own a dog cage or kennel. To ease my headache, I decided to put him in a well ventilated pantry room for a couple of nights until he felt safe and secure with me and his new home.

Woody would feverishly complain by aggressively scratching the pantry door then he would fall into a peaceful slumber.

Unexpectedly after three nights, I did not remember to put him in the pantry room, and he fell dead asleep in my bedroom underneath the base of my bed. I woke up in the early morning and could not believe how quiet Woody had been. I didn’t even notice his presence in my bedroom sleeping. To my astonishment, he slept soundly and did not have a spirited barking episode. Therefore, I decided to let him sleep in a nice corner with his toys and doggy bed at the bottom of my bed. I was thrilled and pleased to have a happy little companion sharing my house free roaming without the annoyance of constant barking.

Woody usually wakes up at about seven o’clock in the morning now. This is when I let him wander my backyard straightforwardly to do his doggy business by opening the French doors of my bedroom. Hewill go and comes back in a jiffy all excited with his curled tail wagging swiftly. His exuberant satisfaction can’t be contained, until I pet him and give him an agreeable warm hug.

Recently two friends wished to stay with me temporarily until they could find an appropriate place to live. Woody quickly reacted, became extremely jealous of me and started following me everywhere with incessant barking all again.

Woody abruptly started having accidents in inconspicuous locations of my house, my shower, the laundry room, and indoor quad. I began scolding him for this and sternly told him not to use the house for his dirty business then I will gently put him outside in the backyard, as soon as I noticed his stinky mess.

He innocently looks at me with a frightened look when I start to complain and tries to hide by running all around since he is aware he did something terribly wrong. I have trouble getting it across to him that it is not acceptable to defecate in my shower or anywhere else in the house. Moreover, he detests when it is time for his doggy bath.

He will challenge me stubbornly like tooth and nail when I am bathing him and making a mess of soap with water splattering everywhere. Yet, he jumps for joy after his mulish bath and starts to run all around with passion and happiness.

In addition, I attempted to train Woody to sit; nevertheless he will not listen, even when I try to reward him with a delicious puppy treat. I gently placed him in a sitting position then gave him the puppy treat. He grabbed the treat from my hand then quickly ran away to devour it ravishingly.

I naively imagined it would be relatively easy to train a developing puppy; yet Woody head strong refuses to listen to me and wants to do his own thing all the time.

Woody gives me a lot of love in following me everywhere, jumping on me repeatedly with his blissful wagging tale. I treat him well and take him for pleasant walks around a nearby pond in my neighborhood. He adorably prances like a little deer and loves chasing the petite ducks by the water. It’s all too sweet, and he makes me smile with all his high energy. I wish I could train him to be obedient! Do you have any suggestions to help me raise Woody to be a more manageable puppy?

A snap summary of I Found A Lizard Living In My Faucet is on Xomba: http://www.xomba.com/i_found_lizard_living_my_faucet

More children's stories of Sheila Craan are on her children's book blog: http://sheilacraan.wordpress.com/

Have a very nice day!