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Originally Posted by jamiel  I just got a 16 month old yorkie. She is very shy and submissive so I thought teaching her some commands and tricks would help with her confidence and maybe bring her out of her shell. My problem is that, when I try to work with her on sitting she just hunkers down. What should I do? |
What a wonderful idea, I think you are absolutely correct in this, knowing how to do things builds confidence in people and dogs. I do training with Joey every day. We use the breakfast meal all for training, and half of his dinner meal. He's hungry at these times so he's eager to perform. Not all the meal is rigorous training, some of it is just fetch, but he enjoys this and is rewarded when he brings the toy back to me. When teaching a new trick, it's really important to learn the proper way to teach it, the dog will pick up your hand signals way faster than she'll pick up your words, so being consistent with your hand signals is very important. Make the time playful and stress free. I use the word "UH UH" instead of "no" when teaching a trick, uh uh has no negative connotation with it, it simply means that behavior won't be rewarded. "Yes" is the word I use at the exact second the target behavior is performed, and the "yes" is always followed by a reward. I found it too hard to use the clicker, and click at the exact second, so the word "yes" became the "click". Teaching one or two new tricks a week, with the rest of the time practicing old tricks is usually not too stressful. Most experts say to limit training to 5 or 10 minutes, and do it several times a day, for best results. We first used special treats, but Joey gained too much weight, so that's why I just use his regular food for training. This website has step by step examples on how to teach specific tricks.
Dog Tricks! Shake, Crawl, Beg, Kiss, Roll Over, Bow, and more!