[Jillian]

June 3, 2014 at 6:54 pm

I’m so sorry to hear that your girl is giving you such trouble (it moved me to register! I’ve just been lurking since the transition from WeimAddict).

My girl is 9 months now, and I was right there with you three months ago. My profile pic is Sky at 6 months, and you can see there’s lots of snow. 6 month old weimy + brutal Chicago winter = no fun, but we persevered, and Sky has changed a LOT in the last three months. She hasn’t grown much physically, but mentally she has changed quite a bit. She’s become much cuddlier and more focused on my boyfriend and me, and has become more respectful of our other dog. We still see some puppy zoomies, but not as much. 3 months ago she was a champion counter surfer, and now I’m really stunned if I see her jump up (the Petco cashier couldn’t believe she wouldn’t jump up on the counter for a treat! I was so proud).

Now, it’s not all good. She’s getting mouthy again (this is 100% to be expected–8+ months are prime chewing time), and she jumps on me. She used to be totally cool with nail trims and she’s decided they’re terrifying. But we got through the first round of mouthiness, and we’ll get through it again. Same for the jumping and nails and everything else.

The point is, so much can change in a few months. Everything BasG said about them maturing into smart, loving companions is true. We got our weimy because we loved the adult weims that we worked with, not because we expected to have an easy puppy (honestly, I feel that we’ve gotten off pretty easy). So if you’ve given her a few months already, can you stick with it a few more? The problem behaviors today can change if you work at it.

With all of that in mind, a few practical suggestions:

-Schedule a behavior consultation with a trainer. Obedience/puppy classes =/= individualized attention. We did a consultation over a month ago and it has been so helpful in our day to day coexistence with Sky. We spent 2 hours with a trainer, and she assessed Sky, Sky’s interactions with her, with us, and with Meadow (doggy #2, a small brittany mix). She gave us training tasks, but also easy, practical rules to follow around the house, and implementation has been pretty easy.

-Does your girl wear a leash in the house? Leash = extra control for you, even if it’s just dragging around behind her.

-Reinforce calm behavior. Our trainer told us to work on long downs for Sky to improve focus and reinforce calm behavior. Helping her hold a down for 15 minutes can be mind-numbing, but it’s paying off and she’s definitely more focused.

-Remember (and please don’t be offended by this!):  your son is young, and young children can be fickle. I’m sure it’s painful knowing that he doesn’t like her now, and I’m sure that she’s given him reason to feel that way, but all it will take is a few consistent and positive experiences between them to turn that around.

It really stuck out to me that you said she was giving nothing back, because I was struggling with the same feeling with Sky for a few weeks. However, I had the benefit of knowing several adult weims, and I kept them in mind in the hard moments, knowing that Sky will get there some day. And the biggest thing that’s changed in the last 3 months is that she’s really started to give back.

Everybody’s experience and dog is different, though, and you’re coming into the hardest months. If it’s already this hard, I really really think it would be good to get individual help from a trainer. The people on this forum are all lovely and have wonderful advice, but having a professional come to your house and witness the behavior firsthand might be really beneficial.