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Sophie is driving me crazy- vent/need advice

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Binky:
I am at my wit's end with Sophie.  She is 9 months old now and is showing no signs of settling down.  I know that big dogs take longer to mature but she is just over the top.  She doesn't seem to be learning any of the rules of our house.  She grabs food off tables and counters, grabs food from me and the baby, constantly bothers the other animals, jumps all over me, is still "play" biting and mouthing, growls and pulls on walks... the list goes on and on.  No training seems to help.  The prong I use for walking her worked for about a week- now she has almost pulled me over twice. 
We have a trainer coming to the house on Monday to give us some advice but do any of you have any advice for me?  Are Leo pups generally like this?  Binky (our Pyr) had a few moments of hyper but generally settled down by 6 months.  Sophie literally looks for trouble- if I put something down, she grabs it, if I take it away, she'll bother one of the dogs, if I remove her from the dogs, she'll get into the trash, etc.
She gets a nice long walk every day although, I am starting to dread walking with her.  We have a big yard that she runs around in and plenty of bones and toys to chew on.  I give her a ton of attention and she is rarely by herself.  I don't know what more I can do! She is so sweet and good when she's good but most of the time she's not! Thanks for letting me complain and any advice/ideas to tire her out would be great!

Tonda:
I'm so sorry you're having such a rough time of it. Maybe some of the advice over on "I Think I'm a Bad Akita Owner" might apply to your situation as well? If nothing else, it will reinforce that you're not alone.

http://www.bigpawsonly.com/index.php?topic=24808.msg299830#new

threedognight:
Sophie looks like a Malinois, perhaps mix. I am the lucky owner of two, and what an education. Previous to these two dogs I had "pets", like a family back yard dog. Not my malley's! Very active, some will always be very active(sought after drive in a WORKING dog). They are all of the great things you said, but don't expect them to quiet down at 6 months to a year!These dogs are great workers, and will reward you handsomely if you can take the consistent time to train. Try agility or Schutzhund. I have done schutzhund under a wonderful trainer, and my little girl is awesome. She is a love, but will ALWAYS be an active dog that I have to spend time on. She is a friend to the family, and a good little protector.

FXgirl:
I feel for ya, I really do.  Hang in there.

You ask: are leo pups generally like this?  Mine have always been a handful but Sophie sounds like a shovelful.

Is it possible your house is so over stimulating and so tempting with distractions for both Sophie and you?  It's incredible that you can handle so much on your own.  Maybe what Sophie needs is a lot of forced time outs by herself where she can just chill and get away from everything where it's quiet.  A crate, x-pen, dog run with a chewie for a few hours?

When she's in the house why not try leashing her to your waist so she can't get into so much trouble stealing food and bugging your other dogs.  It'll be easy to catch her in the act when she is doing something wrong too.  It'll be good training for her to settle by your feet when you do the dishes or follow you around when you do laundry.

Maybe you can try taking her to a doggie day care once a week?

When Gunnar was the same age as your Sophie I entered him in a leo show.  It was a 3 day show and I stayed for one day.  He was such an embarrassment.

People Whisperer:
The best thing to do is to eliminate ALL the temptations :)
No food on the counter and if you are eating put her away...She will know that she only gets stuff when she is good  :)

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