Diesel, My 17 week old DDB/Pit mix puppy argues all the time now

In many ways Diesel's training is going very well. He is becoming a better dog every day and we love him to death. But, he has always had this "arguing" tendency and it is just getting worse. You tell him to do something and if he doesn't feel like doing it he barks at you, grumbles, groans, whines, etc. He will typically do what you told him but he won't shut up about it. And telling him to "quiet" or "hush" or using "ahh ahh" or "no" makes him argue louder. He does the same thing when he wants something that we won't give him (seconds for meal time, a treat, to go out and play, to stay out and play, the stranger walking by to stop and pet him, etc.) In other words he talks, demands and argues all the time. He does it in puppy cl$#@!. He does it at home. He does it everywhere. Ignoring hasn't worked (and believe me we have tried this to the extreme and he will continue for hours (literally) if there is something he decided he should have, get, do). Correcting hasn't worked. One of our trainers says to just squirt some lemon juice in his mouth when he does this. The thing is I want him to be able to let us know if there is something he genuinely needs (go potty for example) but not for every single thought, desire, etc. that comes into his head and not incessantly.



Has anybody ever faced this? Does anyone have tips on how to teach "quiet" or "hush"? Should we just go with the trainer's lemon juice recommendation?



He is actually not a barker when it comes to noises and he got over separation anxiety barking weeks ago. Now it is purely to argue or demand something he wants. Oh and I should mention we are doing NILF already and it has been the best training method ever.

Diesel, My 17 week old DDB/Pit mix puppy argues all the time now