My maltipoo is out of controll!

Hi my names Daniel,

First of all this is my first post on this forum xD

My parents have 1 Maltipoo called Bobbie (Malteese cross minipoodle) who is now 2 years old, 1 Springer Spaniel(Gundog line) called Lexie who is 5 years old and 1 West Highland Terrier called Cara who is 14.

They all live in a 2 bedroom appartment and we have the kitchen with a baby gate to put them after walks etc. They are walked three times a day and same times every daywhich is 6am, 3pm and then 9 pm.

Now that I have explained the small details I want to know why I am posting, I want to know why Bobbie is soooo badly behaved and sneaky that he cannot be trusted not being in the same room as us.

Basically we cannot leave him in the kitchen with the others as he barks constantly to come out, which then my dad and mum give in and let him out. They let him sleep on their bed while the others sleep in the kitchen which is REDICULOUS in my opinion. For the last couple months me and my mum made my dad sware he would never give them 'tit' bits when he goes to the kitchen but I sware he still privately does it. Bobbie sits literaly next to my parents on the sofa when they eat dinner which angers me and I have to tell him to get down.

Take for example this morning, as I write this I can hear the rattle of dinner plates and forks scratching the plates that we ate from last night which means he is licking off and eating our last nights dinner remains from the table!!

Another example is that last night, my dad went to the bedroom to watch tv with Bobbie on his lap, he fell asleep and Bobbie took the opportunity to eat their valentines chocolates which were high up on their bedside table!

I know that a dogs behaviour is down to training or LACK of training, He is for sure not my dog as my parents treat him as their baby and baby him so much that he thinks he is the leader of the household and gets no punishment and prefereable treatment compared to the other 2 dogs. He still has accidents also, every now and then we find some pee against a chair leg or somewhere which is ruining our carpets.

Also worth mentioning is that he sort of has his way of showing the other two dogs whos boss by giving them play bights (I think thats normal?) which sometimes make Lexie yelp that she has to put him in his place which leads to him yelping.

During walks we cannot let him off the lead as he focuses on the closest dog and runs off to them, he definitelly doesnt know recall when you call him.

I know this is alot of information but Bobbie basically is like my parents baby but they know hes bad but wont do anything about it, that is why I am taking action as hes 2 now and it might be too late allready as he might be set in his ways? We have had many dogs and never had problems as the other 2 are perfectly behaved in the house. I get the feeling that this poodle cross 'chooses' what he listens too and ignores people?

If anybody has had experience with Poodle crosses I would appriciate some advice on my situation and how this can be resolved, as much as he is a little shit that goes unpunished and gets treated like a newborn baby I do really like him but we cant stand his behaviour.

Thanks for reading, Daniel

P.S he was neutered when he was around 13 months old I beleive.

Hello Daniel, welcome to this forum. My name is Hannah and I am studying to be a canine behaviourist, so i hope i can help.

I will start by quoting things you have said and then commenting, as it makes it easier to follow

"Basically we cannot leave him in the kitchen with the others as he barks constantly to come out, which then my dad and mum give in and let him out."

You probably already know what I'm going to say about this, but yes.. you guessed it, this has made it worse as he now knows that it gets him what he wants. Dog's learn through trial and error and if something doesn't work they will try another way, and if it works, they will continue that same way.. and its hard to get them to change. This is why positive reinforcement has become such a big thing.

Training stage number 1. Get your parents involved

Do the complete opposite to what he wants, and when he barks, everyone leaves the room, and goes out of sight. This will take many many times of repeating, but soon your dog will realise that barking, is no longer working... its doing the opposite and everyone seems to be leaving the room. Every time, he barks make sure you repeat this, and only when he is calm, and you come back n the room, and sit down... can you go over to let him out.. in your time only. Hope that makes sense.

Training tip: Dedicate a period of time in which the dogs are aloud in the front room, but add rules... you let them in the front room on terms that they did not bark before hand, and that they go back out when told. This takes a bit of getting used to, and be very aware they will try to test you. ( and I don't mean in a dominance way, i mean that they will try to get away with a behaviour as its been reinforcing to them for such a long time, of course they will still want to do this behaviour, same as a child will try to sneak and grab a cookie, even when been told not too."

A dog has weak points in training where he will do something right, over and over again for months on end, but one day, out of the blue will revert back to the old bad behaviour. If you give in an this point, you will lose all that progress. But if you reinforce this behaviour and continue training, he will settle back in to the right behaviour very quickly.

"They let him sleep on their bed while the others sleep in the kitchen which is REDICULOUS in my opinion."

Unfortunately, as this is your parents rule, you may not be able to change this, but instead try to encourage a bit of training so he is allowed to sleep in their bed but if they want him to get down, and sleep on the floor, he does not whine.

Training: You can start by doing this on the sofa:

Have bobbie in a sit-stay next to you on the sofa, have a nice treat in your hand and encourage him up on the sofa with you. When he comes up, say "good boy" and give him the treat. Do this, repeating the same command until he follows your command every time. You want to create an association that not only is it fun to come up on the sofa, there is also a treat for getting back down. Try the down command, showing him a treat and if needed, get up and run away from the sofa calling him, saying "down". When he gets off the sofa , say "good boy" and give him the treat. If you want to, you could maybe even play with him a little bit, once he is off the sofa, to reinforce how fun it is to get of the sofa when asked. Starting to make sense now? Once he has the hang of this, start training the exact same way on the bed. If bobbie wants to sleep in your parents bed, have a dog bed on the floor beside them which he can go in when asked.

If your dog freely jumps up on the sofa, you need tell him to get back down, tell him to sit, and then re-invite him back up.

As i get this far, i have found that your dog has quite a few problems that need resolving and a few of them are too long for me to write the solution too on here, if i was to say I would be happy to take you through step by step the training thats needed, would you be happy for this. It would help me to help real life situations as well. I will say one thing though, this dog has no chance of changing his behaviour unless the whole family place training rules down and all stick to them.

"I get the feeling that this poodle cross 'chooses' what he listens too and ignores people?"

I see this quote so often lol. This dog doesn't choose when he wants to listen, but unfortunately the things that are being asked of him, are just not good enough for him to listen. If something is not desirable to him and that something is not fun.. why would he listen. Positive reinforcements are all about taking what your dog loves and using it to your advantage. Start by making the desirable behaviours fun for him to obey

I hope i have helped.
My email address is Walkwithmecanine@yahoo.co.uk