Terrible 2's

pumagirl

Our little angel Puma (haha) is now 20months old and a holey terror. She no longer listens, does not come when called, and has pottied in the house several times over the last couple of weeks. Her routine has not changed and getting plenty of exercise. Has anyone else experienced the same thing at this age? Advice??

philsergeant

Not good.   By 2 she should really have become an angel. You have now missed the opportunity of those first 2 years to teach her how to behave herself. They are no different than human children except that sometimes bad habits are harder to reverse. I mean, pottying in the house at 2 is virtually unheard of. By 4 or 5 months that type of training should be behind her. It's going to be very hard, but all you can do is start the training she should have had, correct and discipline all bad behaviour as soon as it occurs, and every single time it occurs.

Djammy

Philsergeant is absolutely right here, you seem to have missed out on a lot of valuable opportunities to set your dog straight on the behavioral route of being a well behaved and respectful family member.

At 2 yrs. now Djamila is finally starting to settle a bit. She is a lot more devoted and cuddly, less demanding. Potty training is way behind us. And the good thing is, this side of the Bull Terrier usually grows even more over the years, if nourished.
There are still things left to work on, such as some leash pulling when things afar seem to be getting too attractive and some going up on people occasionally when they excite her too much. But all in all she is obedient and we’re doing good.
This is were many people are with their BT at the age of 2 and were you should be.

I’d start over with the potty training. If potty training does not work within a few weeks, I’d probably have the dog checked for something physical, because it’s just not normal for a healthy, potty trained dog of that age to do their business in the house. Usually dogs don’t smudge their own closest territory, which is how your dog should be looking at your house by now.

As for the exercise. That’s a great way to let the steam out of your dog and prepare her for focussing on and taking in your lessons. You should definitely keep doing that. But exercise can never replace obedience training.
While I’d say any dog can use some obedience training, for a Bull Terrier it’s simply a must and not just an option.
You need to catch up with obedience or it will get worse.

I’d consider joining an obedience class - even if you’ve done it before - or at least do obedience training on my own with her.
I’ve also suggested the NILF principle in another discussion. This is very rewarding for both the owner and the dog. “Nothing in life is free” means your dog has to EARN treats, praise and even food. This way she learns to appreciate the great life she has. It keeps her brilliantly intelligent mind focussed and entertained. Let her work for rewards and ignore any unwanted behavior or correct it immediately. This way she’ll learn that only good behavior pays off for her.
At this point, before everything else, she might even have to learn which behavior you consider “good” and which is "bad" because you may have missed to make that clear enough in the past. So you’ll probably also need to be patient and give her time to change adapted unwanted behaviors.

The most important part in this is YOU. Consistency and firmness are your best advisors right now.