Do dogs go through a "terrible twos"phase?

Originally Posted by simoneaugie

He is such a cutie! It must be like my Chihuahua puppy. Small dogs are often too smart for their own good. They are sometimes so cute and easy to pick up that they aren't trained well. A mistake we owners can easily make is to pet (reward) a dog when it jumps up, putting it's paws on us. You wouldn't allow a Great Dane to do that, Poms are dogs too.

I put mine in the bathroom, he peed all over. So I papered the entire floor. Removing sections of paper has taken several months, but now he mostly uses the paper, in the one spot. My puppy had run of the living room...Not good! He loves to poop on the carpet.

So, we put up a baby gate. Only a small part of the carpet is available to him and he quit pooping on it. Now, when he is in the living room, he is constantly supervised. No accidents.

He got snarky and snapped and growled too. A friend of mine who trains dogs, showed me to put him on his back when he does that. A dog on his back is submissive. You, who put him in that position are now in charge. Putting a 2-3 pound pup in his place, submissive to you can be emotionally hard, especially when he's just playing.

Roughousing and allowing him to bite teaches him that it is acceptable to do so. You must show him what is okay and what isn't by "speaking dog." An older dog will growl and gently knock him down. Sometimes the lesson needs to be repeated over and over.

If he is running away from you when you try to put him on the paper, limit how far he can run. My Chihuahua is both fast and smart, cornering him is often necessary. Treats or petting can be used to let him know that your approach is positive and not always corrective.

Give us an update sometime. Best of luck.

Originally Posted by shazamataz

The dog food sounds very good, good choice
I'm glad he adjusted to being being the baby gate so quickly, my little ones took along time to adjust as I have a similar set up at my house.

There has been discussion on here before about disciplining dogs with fly swatter and smacking them. Now... When I say this, I DO NOT want negative comments directed at me this is my training tactic and you don't have to like it.
In general training I never smack my dogs, I only reward good behavior.
But with bad habits such as barking at imaginary things, jumping on people or stealing food they get 2 harsh "NO"'s and I indicate what the correct behavior should be and if they don't get the hint they get a soft smack on the rump.

I'd also like to add that my partner doesn't discipline our dogs I am the only one that does it and they could care less if he left the room but if I even go to the toilet I have them sitting outside the door crying for me.