Dog REALLY Testing Me

Question
Dear Jeff,

We have a 6 month old Dobie mix.  Rosie has become quite a handful in that she definitely has a mind of her own and she sticks to it.  When she gets underfoot; which happens quite often, I will send her back in order to give me some space.  I just tell her "back" and hold up my hand like a stop sign.  She will sit nicely and look a me but, the minute I turn and walk away she's right back under foot.  This is generally her nature about everything.  I'm concerned that when she weighs 70-80 pounds, this will not be a good behavior.  She's very loving, but BULLHEADED.  We do not yell at here.  We've been good at remaining *calm and assertive*  What are we doing wrong?

I am truly very appreciative of any advice you have to offer.

Regards,
Janet

Answer
Hi Janet,
Start working on general obedience such as sit, down, stay and "Go to bed" to teach her to go lie down in certain locations. This will give her behavior options that she can do at any given time.

Also, you can simply shape the absence of the behavior by 'clicking' or saying, "yes!" and giving her a treat for anything but being underfoot. Eventually she will learn the best way to get things is to make choices besides being underfoot.

Good luck.