It takes time and skill to train a dog, and both trainer and animal must be “in the zone” for it to be productive.
If I can offer any advice, it’s be patient, take the training a little bit at a time, always end on a positive note (a success) and use lots of very good treats. Little chunks of roasted chicken and cheddar cheese are perfect for this, just shred it small and give them often, every time she succeeds!
Yeah, I have actually been actively trying to be more positively encouraging to her. She does seem to appreciate it. But often she'll try to get away with obnoxious bratty things if I get too doting. But like you said it's lots of work and time.
Yeah keep the sessions short and fun so she doesn’t get too distracted.
Sometimes it can help to exercise the dog thoroughly before attempting to train, so they have a chance to blow off some stream
That is definitely key. It's also tough for us because she is both lazy AND afraid of everything. We've not had her an entire year even, yet. Almost, but not quite; and her previous life was apparently weird. We figure she was stuck in some quiet back yard where she never saw people except for her immediate people I guess, and if they walked her, they did so in an area with no cars or other people around ever at all, as she's freakishly terrified of those.
I tried taking her for a walk last night, and she loved the idea, until she heard revelers down the block singing. SCARY!
(post is archived)