[redvalaria]

I have three dogs: my Fergus, 10 months old, 5 pounds of completely untrained yorkie. Hamish, my teapot 19 pound yorkie who came to us through rescue and was so happy to be with us he has been obedient about nearly all things since his first few months, and Dante: my 100 pounds of Search and Rescue German Shepherd, who has been training extensively since he was 8 months old in obedience, SAR, and personal protection.

For Dante we used chopped up bits of hot dog (because thats what the instructor liked...she held them in her own mouth in the beginining...yuck!), then went to the rolls of fresh food which we called "puppy crack" because all the dogs went mental for it!

Fergus listens the way most terriers do: when it suits him! I have a dog that waits for my commands. Sits, stays, heck, he even finds lost kids in the woods when I want him to, and mostly he does this more for love than for treats (which drove my trainers mad....he would ignore treats they dropped on the train in order to get to the "victim" quicker). I finally found a trainer who understood that different dogs have different motivations. Dante will track a lost person for me, the trainer, my SO, but, as my trainer with 20 years of police canines puts it "he works so much harder for YOU". And its true. He loves what he is doing and he does it for ME, because I asked.

Find what motivates you baby. If its applause/praise I say go with that and stop trying to mold your dog into the silly spaniel that the trainer is used to. YOU know your dog best, and if the trainer tries to force his methods on a dog that works in a different drive (prey drive, toy drive, food drive, etc) you will end up with an unhappy pet.

Sorry this was long. But I have years in this game and trying to find someone knowledgable that recognizes not all dogs are cookie cutter replicas can be hard.

And terriers are SMART. They are way smarter than dog trainers. So, let her show you how to do it.