Hello, I have a few problems that i'm trying to tackle with my new pup...

She's 4 months old as of May 3rd and we've had her since she was 8 weeks old and of course at that time she was sweet as can be, soooo darn cute and would just sleep on your lap and give kisses until a couple weeks passed she turned into a demon! So here's the list:

Biting- She will constantly go for your hands when trying to pet her or if you're just near her and she wants to play she will immediately grab the hand and with those puppy teeth it hurts a lot. Now I've read up on some various things to do to get her to stop, but they aren't working. The first was imitating a 'yelp' like another dog and then ignoring her for a bit to hopefully show her it's not nice to play that way. Well...she thinks that's a game too. So the next thing I tried was one of the solutions for chewing which was using Tabasco sauce or the Bitter Apple stuff, which I applied to my hands and shockingly enough I was just even more of a treat to chew on Really at a loss with this one, because my partner is getting frustrated with the numerous other things she does that cause trouble and then to not even be able to pet her or even get any puppy love at all is creating a rift between us.

Next up...

Digging/Shredding the Yard- My partner prides himself on the yard and works on it every weekend. Now that's turned in to almost a constant struggle to stay on top of. Sprinkler heads are being chewed off, she's digging into the spot where the sprinkler floods the plants causing her to destroy the yard and then on top of that have a mud covered dog from head to paw. Then if the plants aren't dying from lack of water it's her just simple ripping an entire plant from the yard and shredding it.

Now, i'm sure you're thinking she doesn't get any exercise and what not, well I thought that was the case too, so we've went running, hiking, walking and fetch(even though that's a short lived game with a Husky). She will still do that same things regardless. We've went at least 2-3 miles on walks/runs, and make 1-2 miles on our hikes. She does well, still not the greatest on a leash, but that's an area I feel she is actually improving, but given that's she's supposedly exhausted at the end of each activity and lays down after, she is up 15-30 minutes after and right back at it destroying something.

I have her partially crate trained; she doesn't like it, but will stay in there without much resistance for about 2-3 hours, but I hate locking her up since our older dog is 12 years old and just hangs out and typically the pup will too until she wonders off for a split second and has done something.

Sorry, probably sounds more like a rant than a plea for some help, but hopefully someone has a possible solution or another technique to try? Once she is spayed at the end of the month I will let her recover and then plan to have a trainer assist in some of these things, but I would really like to work on this myself if possible.

Thanks,
J

Easy on the walks/runs/hikes, she's not fully grown yet and can cause her problems in her future.

Have you tried giving her bones, Kongs, etc to keep her mouth busy?

Yeah, we don't go non-stop on the activities, frequent stops for water and a treat that I carry with me. Usually let her decide when she wants to stop.

She has Kong bells/bones, couple of the elk antlers, some other huge bone that she loves and lots of toys. Seems there's enough to keep her busy for months, but still prefers ripping out plants and digging holes.

You live in Palm Spring and partner lives in LA, that could be quite a commute - especially during rush hour (which was never ending even when I lived in LA 40+ years a go!)  << and that's a tease, if it's not obvious >>

*My* basic response in these types of situations is "Tie her down!" ... well, of course not literally, but awful close.  I've been a strong supporter of the concepts that:

1. Raise your dog as you want it to be when it's an adult.
   
2. Forethought is 1000 times better than cleaning up after the fact.
   

So, how do *I* teach a dog that it's not okay to dig in the yard?  First, you put a lead on the dog (variously between 6 feet and 100 feet) and go into the yard with the dog.  You give her (had to check the sex before I put my foot in my mouth) as much room as you're comfortable with and as soon as she looks like she's going to do something (anything!) that she shouldn't, you "Ah-Ah!" and take in some of the lead, removing her from the "thing" she wants to do.
Stopping biting, etc (I had to laugh about the Tabasco, some dogs *do* like it ...) put a short lead on your dog - and leave it there! - when she does something she's not supposed to, correct her "Ah-ah!" again and shorten up on the lead (typically, I step on it so I can pull up and shorten the lead without getting hands involved).

I'm a strong proponent of Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF).  
When it's time to eat, pup must set and stay as I get food ready ... not setting still = not eating.  I've had a pup that took a couple of days to get that idea.
Time to go out, pup must set quietly by the door while you get the leash and not pull you out the door once it's on.  I can leave either door of my trailer open with the dogs inside, they go to the door to tell me they want out and I put a leash on them and either let them out or go out with them.  It's all learned behaviour.

Since there are two (or more?) of you involved in this pups training, consistency is going to be a part of helping it learn what you expect.  Both you and your partner must use the same tactics consistently!

There are two things going on here (in my viewpoint)
When someone gets a new puppy, it's all love and affection and pick it up and put it on the couch / bed; in general spoiling the blazes out of it.  (See note 1 above!) When the puppy hasn't had correction from day one and then it starts doing things that need correcting - it doesn't really understand your new corrections.
The other thing is that the pup has too much freedom to do what it wants.  Essentially I'm saying that your pup should be restrained in some fashion (on a leash, in a crate, under your immediate supervision) all the time! Well, until she learns what's acceptable and what isn't.

The concept behind NILIF is that the pup must do what you are training it to o or it gets nothing.  Bite hands = no play (and probably a time out); jump on the couch = no play (ditto) and with a "house lead" on her you can remove her from offending situations easily; dig hole = short leash = no fun.
Now obviously you have to give her the physical and mental exercise she needs, but it has to be on your terms.

Thanks for the advice!

I have been keeping her close and pretty much always under my supervision now. Typically I just keep her on the leash with me...it has prevented many things from being torn up or dug up.

She has been good with NILIF in some aspects. One being her food, she'll sit patiently and wait for it to be served. Waiting at the door is a tough one, she wants to go out immediately for walks as if the house were on fire. Quite the bundle of energy...so the pulling has been an issue until she tires herself out after a few minutes. 'Heel' will works occasionally, but typically if she listens to that she'll sit.

Potty training has been going well, there's still a few accidents from time to time if left unattended after say a nap or eating, she'll wonder immediately and pee on a rug. But aside from that, I can typically tell her to go potty outside and she'll go and do her business outside and come back to me.

Now it's really just that chewing on hands which we are marking with the "Ah-ah", doesn't always work, but she'll typically not get anymore attention from us and be put back on the tether and left alone for awhile to show that rough play isn't rewarded.

Hopefully being persistent with this will start to sink in for her. Once I get back from my trip I will have a trainer to assist me hopefully, depends how pricey that is. I'd rather she could learn from me because i'm with her about 95% of the time.

Anyways, thanks for the tips, I've definitely started keeping her tied down most of the time and it's working wonders saving things from her, haha.