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Originally Posted by 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. |
Thanks so much for your response. I am fascinated by your experiences with your dogs and I so agree with you that each has their own learning style, etc. Cookie cutter teaching doesn't work well with all children so I can understand why it doesn't work with other animals.
Actually this trainer did do things right, I think. For the most part after trying to get Taffy to take treats in several passes, he didn't offer a treat but would say to her, "You're sitting nicely. I'd give you a treat if you'd take it." I couldn't fault him for that...it's just I got the feeling that since ours wasn't one of his successful interactions, he'd just as soon we disappear...LOL
Can't do that...it's not the money. Shoot, I've spent way much more on treats...LOL...but Taffy needs the social interaction with others, especially other puppies. We are retired with no children/grandchildren so much as older parents interact differently with human children (vocabulary, etc.), I think Taffy is getting that vibe and reacting from us.
Every day I am astounded by some new facet of her intellect or personality. I realized just yesterday that she knows my husband as Frank or Daddy. I can tell her to go to him (using either name) or ask where he is by either name and she will respond appropriately. Also yesterday I got tired of playing fetch so I casually commented, "Go see if your Daddy wants to play." I'd never said such a thing before but she literally picked up the toy and took it over in front of his chair, laid it down, and then looked up at him imploringly. Generally, I refer to him as Frank which is another reason this shocked me and made me realize she knew him by 2 different words.
This ability to process new information is what is so fascinating to me...and although I am highly prejudiced (and know it), I really think she is probably a candidate for a canine MENSA. LOL...I know I probably do have too much time on my hands to think of such things but she really is amazing.
It does make me wonder though if any research has been undertaken to use information such as this to correlate to children with autism. Hmmm...