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TOY · 10-19-2009, 10:40 PM

A little background...

Our girl has not particularly liked any kind of treat from the start. She once would "tolerate" yogurt drops but that was about it. She will eat freeze-dried chicken at times and loves "real" mini carrots. In fact, carrots are the only treats that she will eat whenever we offer.

Tonight we took Taffy to her first puppy class. There were only 2 others there but I feel as though the honor of the Yorkie breed is at stake!

Taffy was so well-behaved and her sweetest little self (even if a bit overwhelmed by all the strange sights/sounds, etc.) However, as I had worried a bit about...she would not accept the treats from the instructor as he demonstrated click training.

I thought I had prepared well for this problem though because I had taken tiny slices of the mini carrots. She would not take those either! Not from the instructor nor from us.

We really were the rebels of the class tonight, I'm afraid. Everyone else goes outside to potty and they had instruction on accomplishing potty training. Our girl? She came to us as a mere puppy already housebroken just from observing her mother. Very, very rarely does she have an accident and it's usually just a depth perception problem since it's right at the pad. (She's 10 months old; we've had her since she was 14 weeks. I'd guess we haven't had even a week's total of accidents if that.)

I finally decided to do a bit of explaining to the guy tonight because I could tell he was getting the wrong idea of our baby. She didn't fall for his treat temptation and she didn't potty outdoors and *big gasp* we free feed. (Oh yes, we were the only ones who do that, too.) I tried to explain that it really doesn't matter because it's kibble and she doesn't like that either.

The guy was a retired teacher and most of you know that I am, too, so I decided that I had to defend our girl's honor. This was during the potty training segment where he's doing all this about treats, etc. Our little girl never had to have treats to use her pee pad. As I said she trained herself by imitating her mother. However, once in awhile she will look up at us when she's finished peeing and we will give her a round of applause as though she's just won the Oscar. This only happens about once a week or so because our Southern belle really prefers to do her private business in private. (I must say he was quite taken aback by that description and FINALLY commented that we had a smart dog...LOL)

Okay, here's my need for suggestions (sorry the post is long but I'm still hurt that ours was not the star of the class tonight...a spaniel got that distinction...beautiful dog but not a Yorkie...LOL).

I need to think of something soft, small, and irrestible to take as treats that Taffy will enjoy. (We're supposed to have treats next week that will trump the teacher's...) I'm at a total loss and need suggestions! I cannot stand the thought of our little girl being pegged as "remedial" when she's actually gifted! (We have tried Yorkie Yummies, peanut butter chips, Cherrios...)

Case in point...we're not even supposed to use the word "sit" this week as we practice with the clicker and treats. Our girl sits (if she's not being stubborn) and only wants our applause in return. (Actually at times I think she even tolerates our applause.)

One other thing which is too funny not to share. When we got home tonight, she sat at one end of the room for the longest time just looking at my husband and me. It was really funny. We couldn't decide if we had embarrassed her at the class or if she was sitting there showing us her superiority...LOL Regardless of her intent, we got the cold shoulder for about the next half hour.

She did make friends with the spaniel though so it was a good night even though she was bored or disgusted with us...LOL

I really think my husband and I tried too hard tonight. Sheesh, I don't think I've worked as hard in a class since statistics in graduate school and I left the class tonight with about the same level of knowledge...LOL

Has anyone else had their Yorkie in a training class and stressed over it like we are? (By the way, I forgot to mention that we were told not to feed our dogs before class infering that we had... The guy just doesn't get it that she doesn't care for treats! She hadn't eaten in 4 or so hours. I didn't even respond to that though because I was getting pretty defensive of our baby girl by that time.) Grrrrr...

10-19-2009, 10:40 PM	#1
TOY Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Tennessee Posts: 1,094 Blog Entries: 4	Suggestions? A little background... Our girl has not particularly liked any kind of treat from the start. She once would "tolerate" yogurt drops but that was about it. She will eat freeze-dried chicken at times and loves "real" mini carrots. In fact, carrots are the only treats that she will eat whenever we offer. Tonight we took Taffy to her first puppy class. There were only 2 others there but I feel as though the honor of the Yorkie breed is at stake! Taffy was so well-behaved and her sweetest little self (even if a bit overwhelmed by all the strange sights/sounds, etc.) However, as I had worried a bit about...she would not accept the treats from the instructor as he demonstrated click training. I thought I had prepared well for this problem though because I had taken tiny slices of the mini carrots. She would not take those either! Not from the instructor nor from us. We really were the rebels of the class tonight, I'm afraid. Everyone else goes outside to potty and they had instruction on accomplishing potty training. Our girl? She came to us as a mere puppy already housebroken just from observing her mother. Very, very rarely does she have an accident and it's usually just a depth perception problem since it's right at the pad. (She's 10 months old; we've had her since she was 14 weeks. I'd guess we haven't had even a week's total of accidents if that.) I finally decided to do a bit of explaining to the guy tonight because I could tell he was getting the wrong idea of our baby. She didn't fall for his treat temptation and she didn't potty outdoors and big gasp we free feed. (Oh yes, we were the only ones who do that, too.) I tried to explain that it really doesn't matter because it's kibble and she doesn't like that either. The guy was a retired teacher and most of you know that I am, too, so I decided that I had to defend our girl's honor. This was during the potty training segment where he's doing all this about treats, etc. Our little girl never had to have treats to use her pee pad. As I said she trained herself by imitating her mother. However, once in awhile she will look up at us when she's finished peeing and we will give her a round of applause as though she's just won the Oscar. This only happens about once a week or so because our Southern belle really prefers to do her private business in private. (I must say he was quite taken aback by that description and FINALLY commented that we had a smart dog...LOL) Okay, here's my need for suggestions (sorry the post is long but I'm still hurt that ours was not the star of the class tonight...a spaniel got that distinction...beautiful dog but not a Yorkie...LOL). I need to think of something soft, small, and irrestible to take as treats that Taffy will enjoy. (We're supposed to have treats next week that will trump the teacher's...) I'm at a total loss and need suggestions! I cannot stand the thought of our little girl being pegged as "remedial" when she's actually gifted! (We have tried Yorkie Yummies, peanut butter chips, Cherrios...) Case in point...we're not even supposed to use the word "sit" this week as we practice with the clicker and treats. Our girl sits (if she's not being stubborn) and only wants our applause in return. (Actually at times I think she even tolerates our applause.) One other thing which is too funny not to share. When we got home tonight, she sat at one end of the room for the longest time just looking at my husband and me. It was really funny. We couldn't decide if we had embarrassed her at the class or if she was sitting there showing us her superiority...LOL Regardless of her intent, we got the cold shoulder for about the next half hour. She did make friends with the spaniel though so it was a good night even though she was bored or disgusted with us...LOL I really think my husband and I tried too hard tonight. Sheesh, I don't think I've worked as hard in a class since statistics in graduate school and I left the class tonight with about the same level of knowledge...LOL Has anyone else had their Yorkie in a training class and stressed over it like we are? (By the way, I forgot to mention that we were told not to feed our dogs before class infering that we had... The guy just doesn't get it that she doesn't care for treats! She hadn't eaten in 4 or so hours. I didn't even respond to that though because I was getting pretty defensive of our baby girl by that time.) Grrrrr...