Terrible twos - Page 1

I thought when my kids grew up I was done with attitudes and such. Our Athena is being a total brat. We started obedience training and that went very well. We have a business that we make sure that she greets and is around all the customers so she will be socialized better. That is great but she started jumping on people so we have to get her back to her kennel when she starts this. If you tell her to come (with a juicy steak in your hand)  she runs the other way. No treat, no praise, no nothing can make her come to us. We are sure that she knows that she has to go to her kennel and that she can't hang out with our customers, so she ignores us to the point I have to get her leash and take her to her kennel. I know all the books say you have to make come a pleasant thing but that does not work all the time. We have 100 acres and she has free run,but with this new problem we make her stay right around us or on a leash. We want to fix this and I will discuss it with our trainer but that won't be for another month. My husband says we love her and pet her and give her way to much attention.  She is MAD at us and now just stays in her kennel or walks away from us when we let her out. We are working on ignoring her concerning the affection but I don't think it is working. She is still being a snot and it has been 4 days. She is 5 months old now. We are still doing her training and she will do heeling, sitting, and staying ok but only in a controlled enviroment.
Don't know what we are doing wrong

Never, never call a dog to you for punishment. Of course she will not come. If her behavior off leash is poor then she needs to stay on leash. Simple. She is only 5 months, still a baby, you cannot expect her to act like a seasoned adult. She is not off leashed trained, so you cannot expect her to be perfect off leash! Also, you needn't withhold affection, that isn't the problem, the problem is you are not an authority figure. There is nothing wrong with keeping the dog with you, on lead, until the behaviors you desire become habitual.

I agree with the above but you can also cut her food back a little so she is say on half rations on every feed, the other half she comes to you when called and takes the food  from your hand, bit by bit,
If she does not come when called then she is not hungry, and you may have been feeding her too much
Steve

At 5 months old, she is definitely going to test those boundaries a bit!   Keep her on leash to take her to her kennel.  Because everytime you say come and she's not coming she's only learning not to come. 

Kathy

a brat???? mad???? a snot?????  these are not traits attributable to dogs.  it sounds to me that you don't have a clue how to treat a dog or how to train one.  the first thing you MUST do is to be consistent.  she cannot understand what is and isn't acceptable if you aren't clear with her.  she is confused.  i wish you luck and suggest you hang ;out at your local schh club to see proper treatment of a dog, how to praise and how to correct.
pjp

well,well,
you have a female puppy in the i am not going to listeren stage.
i will tell you what i did with my girl and she did what yours did , cause she is dominate female , which i am guessing you have.
keep  her on  leash all the times, you need to be in control,
if she is off leash, and you tell her to do something you make her do it.
you need to dominate her.
this will go on for awhile, could be up to a year.
but she will get to a point where she will give in and let you win,
never, never let her  get away with anything, you have to be firm. 

she will repest you later on.

this is very common in the females.

my female now is so good and respectful, great girl and is now 3 years.

i hope this helps.

My female did the same thing at about that age.  When I called her she looked at me as if to be weighting her options if what I wanted was more fun than  what she was doing.  I called her once and if she did not come I went and got her, so
she learns she must come the first time you call.  Now she is 8 1/2 months old and she comes first time, every time called.  I am sure we will have some more obdience issues since she is still young, but that not coming when called did not last very long for me.  Out of my 4 dogs, she has ruled this house since the day she came home so I am sure she is the dominant one over all the dogs,  just not over me!  Good Luck!  It will pass!

Thank you for the help everyone that gave constructive  suggestions. I will continue to work with her on the leash. It is really hard to put her on a leash. We had a male shepherd many years ago and he had to live in our small backyard and we waited till we had a large parcel of land  to purchase another dog after Zeus died so Athena could run anywhere she wants.The most important thing is that  we want her to be well behaved and happy.
To pjp, I am very well aware of the fact I don't know how to train Athena or I would not be asking for help. But thanks for your helpful comments!

Athenas Mom - I sent you a Private Message.

 First, I agree with everyone, at 5 months old she is limited as to what she can learn BUT she has already learned she can get away if she so chooses, so this is now her favorite game!  If you think it's bad with a 5 month old, you ain't seen nothing until a 12 month old runs rings around you and makes you feel like you are an old  fool with two left feet (as you can probably see, I have been there, done that!).

  So you have to back up to the beginning. 

keep a long line on her, attached to the dead ring.  When you want her to come to you, always first be sure you have that line in your hand before you ask her to come to you.  Give her the command and help her along with very gentle little tugs to encourage her to do what you want.  When she takes that first step (even though you had to give her a light tug), make your voice go very happy, let her see that her one step was a big deal to you and made you very happy.

Do keep her hungry and  as Steve suggested, feed her from your hand and practice recalls at the same time. 

I would not let her have the run of the 100 acres for now, especially not with a long line attached and certainly  not until you have a solid recall on her.   It's really important that until the recall is error proof, no one calls her unless they have a line in their hand because the first time she can get away with not coming to you will be her testing you, not the other way around, and then you will have to start all over again.

Finally I understand you are frustrated, but never work with a dog when you are feeling frustrated or angry, and maybe this is what  Zeigenfarm is trying to point out.  Negative  emotions have no place in dog training.