My pug is about to be two and I feel your pain. The good news I have started to see his rebelliousness balance out a bit more in last few weeks so fingers crossed he keeps mellowing out. I accept he’s always going to be stubborn because that’s how pugs are but jeez does he drive me crazy some days. We can have a week of him being a relative perfect angel and then I’ll be honored with a few days with the pug who thinks he rules the house (shhh don’t tell him he actually does).

What I find helps is 1) firmness - try not to write it off as cute behavior. I struggle because sometimes it is but not slipping on rules or training cues. If he’s been bad I’ll reduce my attention I pay to him just a bit so that when when he does behave the praise and attention he gets he seems to value a bit more and reinforce those good behaviors. That seems to help course correct. and 2) positive reinforcement/treats - when in doubt go crazy with the positive reinforcement. treats are always a good distraction so doing some crate entrance commands or sit/down/here commands and him getting those rewards sometimes gets him back on track when he remembers what’s in for him when he’s a good boy.