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And then I just snapped, it was the "too much" moment. I grabbed him by the scruff, put him down on his back, and said in a firm voice, but without yelling "STOP ! NOW ! ITS OVER !". A few seconds, he didn't whine, my gf went back, I stepped up, Loki too, I went into the house back, and he followed me, and went to lie down after that. I was feeling so bad about myself, and was thinking "oh my... its over... i've killed our relationship..." Then I went to cook, he came to the kitchen, offered a sit, I gave him a little piece of cheese... I tried to pet him, he let me... I don't want to justify my action, I don't like it much because it was done out of loss of patience, but weirdly, it may have helped. He was calmer. I was afraid he would be now frightened by me, but not at all, I would still come near me, took treats, and let me pet him. It reminded me a bit of a toddler who pushes, pushes, pushes, got grounded, and settle back I don't want this kind of episode to happen again because I really felt not good about it (and still do today whereas everything's good) but that made me really think about something like "pushing the limits", and the teenage phase, when I saw the consequences and him being better after being grounded please don't be too harsch with me, I love him, I would never abuse him, I'm just human I am not here to judge or be harsh firstly because I know how well loved Loki is and secondly because I think as humans, we can have a breaking point, especially when a loved one or another dog we care for is at risk. The good news is that (in general) dogs are rather resilient and bounce back. That is, if it happens just once, they'll come to think we just had 'that one episode" an odd, exceptional behavior that was out of character for us. Sort of how we may surprise them when we accidently step on their tail or trip on them, and then they understand it's all good, no harm was meant. If we keep at it though, that's when we do the most damage. We come to prove to the dog over and over that we are unstable, untrustworthy and unpredictable when dogs need to feel deeply secure with us. Physical corrections, snatching things from their mouth and even yelling can have negative repercussions. As a result dogs may become suppressed, anxious and even defensive (fear/stress/uneasiness is the main cause of aggression). Signs of a dog acting suppressed/anxious/defensive include walking tentatively (like on eggshells) towards the owner (in what mood is my owner today? I better walk slow=appeasement signal), keeping the ears back, tail low (dog making himself as small as possible to appease), defensive behavior when in possession of something, hyperactive behaviors (the fool around response in stress, one of the 4F responses to fear), the cliché' of typical dog who appears well behaved when instead is in a state of suppression/ learned helplessness, lack of initiative (the dog is no longer an active learner as is afraid of trying new behaviors), displacement behaviors (yawning, scrolling of the fur) and several more. Our dogs can sense when we are calm, and our calmness reassures them. If we tend to be on the reactive, excitable or frustrated side, it's important for us to at least try our best to act calm in the presence of our dogs. Moving quickly, talking in frustrating tones, breathing fast, petting them quickly ruffling up the fur, fleeing from the scene, risks making them hyper, reactive or unsteady. Catching our dogs when calm indoors or outdoors and praising calm behaviors with a calm, soft tone of voice,(possibly dropping a non-too exiting treat at his feet) and preferably without making eye contact, can help capture the calm behaviors so that they repeat. Excited/hyper behaviors shouldn't get our attention-any form of that means none of the positive or negative type. Even in play with other dogs, our dogs benefit from taking breaks if their play gets too hyper. . Before we give any form of attention it's therefore important that we evaluate in what state of mind our dog is. It's amazing how many calm behaviors our dogs display during the day and they often go unnoticed, but as soon as the dog misbehaves, he gets all eyes on him. It's therefore not surprising why then we get a higher percentage of the latter. On top of capturing and rewarding calmness, controlling the circumstances (antecedent control, management) so that the dog wants to do what we want him to do is what ultimately sets them for success. In other words, we can pave the path to good behaviors by avoiding rehearsals and trying to preempt behaviors and giving something more acceptable to do praising and rewarding that so to compete with and supersede the innate reinforcement gained from acting out in ways we do not like. On top of this, getting to the root of the problem is paramount (not enough sleep, too many stress hormones, not enough outlets for instinctive behaviors, too much social pressure, etc). Therefore as difficult as it may be, it's important to take several deep breaths at critical times and become proactive rather than reactive and do some goal setting to prevent these situations from occurring in the first place and then implementing an intervention plan that is both easy for us and our dogs to adhere to (baby steps with possibly a way to track down whether the behavior is improving over the course of several days). Setbacks can always happen through the process, but these should gradually become more more far in between and and if occurring more than expected, a careful evaluation of what may trigger it and a little tweak back on the drawing board can help soon set things back on the right path. Finally, as tempting as it is to think that dogs misbehave just for the pleasure of upsetting us, it's important to remind ourselves that it's nothing to be taken personal and that they simply do so because they are in a phase of their lives and most likely it is fun, relieves pent up energy or stress, or simply grabs our attention.

If he's not chewing them up, our Dachshunds absolutely Love to burrow. Dachshunds were bred to hunt badgers. Their little bodies are torpedo shaped and their paws are almost like seal flippers so they can propel themselves into badgers' tunnels. I don't know if this is specific to Abbi, but she has one super duper fine tuned sniffer. Two things we've done is a) blankets - she burrows deep into them, the more blankets the better. To the point I worry about her suffocating but she pulls them back over her or digs in deeper if I flip them back to give her fresh air. b) snuffle mat or any other treat hiding game. There are lots of beds on the market that have cave or tunnel-like qualities that might work for him. The donut bed is Abbi's absolute favorite. This is the one we got: https://www.chewy.com/furhaven-calming-cuddler-long-fur/dp/281286 Here's one another one we have: https://www.chewy.com/furhaven-microvelvet-snuggery-gel-top/dp/205680 A different version: https://www.chewy.com/ethical-pet-sleep-zone-cuddle-cave/dp/216013 I wanted to give this a try, but she's so arthritic now she can't get in or out: https://www.chewy.com/frisco-cave-covered-cat-dog-bed/dp/140613 All our dogs chill with us on the couch, even at dinner time. They learned, over time, that they weren't getting any food and eventually they start ignoring us eating as we're ignoring them while we're eating. What you Could do, and Adrienne will correct me if I'm wrong, is put the bed on the couch and put him in that bed with a treat, preferably a long lasting something so he makes a positive association with that bed. Once he takes to the bed you could move it to the ground and slowly move it to where you'd like him to be when you're having your couch time. That's how I moved Gertrude off our bed. Her hair is like needles and there's So much of it - I couldn't take it any more and she had to go to the floor. Not to mention it doesn't matter if it's an 8-lb or 80-lb dog. They Will hog the bed. Abbi is 10 lbs and gets 3/4 of the bed, much to my chagrin! Gertie leaves her alone, but the husband feels better with her near him; Esther is in her crate because she won't settle down otherwise. When you rescue him from the crate, how long has it been and are you interacting with him in any way while he's there (even a "shhhh" or poking your head around the corner counts). Do y'all put him in the crate straight after playing? He'll get into the Kong eventually. All three of ours lost interest quickly until they figured out how to work them. You might try putting easier treats in there to start and if he's not into peanut butter you can totally do plain yogurt, natural apple sauce (no sugar and no xylitol), his kibble moistened (maybe even moistened with beef or chicken broth to make it extra special), pumpkin puree, pureed veggies if he likes any (ours like carrots and sweet potatoes), maybe even a smear or two of baby food (just check the ingredients - they're getting Way too fancy these day and the husband bought some with leeks which are not good for dogs). Just expect a few more potty trips if you go the veggie or pumpkin routes as they're high in fiber - excellent for if he gets stopped up, though.