That's excellent, well done! Always reward desirable behaviour, he will learn but it will take time.

I personally liked the Ian Dunbar books e.g. After You Get Your Puppy - lots of good advice and based on positive reinforcement, rather than punishment.

I agree with all the other posters about positive reinforcement. He is a baby and prone to bouts of insecurity and fear being so young and removed from his mother and siblings, remember that, so he can't deal with water pistols being fired at him because he won't understand and will become frightened.

hiya thanks! have been saying no and using lots of rewards! and lots of play! lots of whiningtoday though at 2am, dont think one of our neighbours was very happy, were just worried incase they complain and we have to give him up

trying our best though! his alseep now, been playing most fo the day!

I used water for this, I started using this technique on Angel at 14 weeks on the advice of my trainer as he was a right lil gobsh**e! He's still a barker when we have visitors but all you have to do now is put a bottle of water in site and he shuts up.

My new pup was so horrifically noisy we started using this technique about a week after she arrived because the constant non stop noise was getting beyond a joke and the neighbours were starting to complain, unfortunatly it didn't phaze her for one bit shes stop for about 1 split second and be off again.

Give him/her a week to settle in properly and if thing don't start to improve I'd try the water, I wouldn't use a rattle bottle though.

thanks angel, lol lil gobs** hehe!!

im glad that it worked for you on one of you dogs!!

ive got two books here they say thow pennies to distract them??

Hi Misty,

Just give him time to settle in, if you do go around throwing things, you could end up making him a bag of nerves There is a great book by Pamela Dennison, er positive training an idiots guide, or something like that it is great a full of positive training methods. Also the Ian Dunbar book LuckyStar suggested is good.

Time, patience and loads of love , and you will get through this. It is just normal puppy stuff. Good Luck

Hi MB I certainly wouldn't throw pennies, if your puppy eats one it could stick in his throat or tummy then you would have a big and expensive problem or even a dead puppy ..

Sorry to disagree with anyone but like the majority here I wouldn't use water either, I don't think aversion techniques are at all suitable for use with puppies. Between 8 and ll weeks of age the puppy is going through the 'fear imprint stage' in what is termed 'The Critical Periods of Development' (research by Scott and Fuller) and any negative experience with water (or anything else) could have a detrimental effect on your puppy for the rest of its life, and if you are the one spraying the water the puppy may also become fearful of you.

I'm afraid you can't expect puppies to be totally silent,they use sounds to communicate but you can limit the sounds with the correct methods . You have had some good advice here about ignoring the unwanted behaviour and rewarding the good .

I am not sure which books you are reading to get your information but I would recommend Dr. Ian Dunbar's 'Good little Dog ' book and for in depth information on dogs and training 'The Culture Clash 'by Jean Donaldson. .

hiya thanks! at the mo w eare just ignoring, and using rewards and treats and things, i havent thrown any pennies! but i do won der why these books say these things?!

i read exactly that, they can become fearful if you throw water, so we havent done it again !

i took him round the flat today to show him around, he was going crazy and attcked his beany teddy, it was so funny! he then stood up on his back legs and put his paws in the air like i had a gun! i wasnt even doing anything!! haha! everytime i grab my phone or camera he bloody moves!!! little sod! his started to carry a little dumbell in his mouth id love to get a pic its the cutest thing ever!

going to phone some dog groomers to night!

misty, lots of different people have different ideas on how to treat and train your dog. Also, it depends on who wrote the book.

Books by authors such as ian Dunbar, Pamela Dennison, Karen Pryor, Jean Donaldson, are all advocating positive training.I would stay clear of any book that talks dominance especially about a puppy. This is my opinion, everybody has different views. Have you a good library near you, see what books they have in also this link is helpful these files are written by Ian Dunbar http://www.siriuspup.com/behavior_problems.html.

hiya thanks~! i will look now!!!

Also, Turid Rugaas, she writes excellent books here is alink to her website, she has answered many of the common dog problems ...

http://www.canis.no/rugaas/questions.php

Happy reading