[alaskayorkie]

Originally Posted by QuickSilver

alaskayorkie, I'm interested that you've managed to get not one but two dogs with therapy-quality temperament.

I'm starting to come to the conclusion that Thor is just a spooky dog. I definitely have high hopes for him improving, and he has come a long way -- but it took us a year to get to the point where I can have him Sit/Stay while I say, use an ATM. I still have to keep an eye out for strange people/dogs/other things that might bother him, because he will still break a stay if he spooks, and he spooks pretty easy.

I would have said that Shih Tzu's generally are known for being very calm, easy going dogs. Still, speaking with total honesty - do you think you are lucky, or very skilled/dedicated? I would love for Thor to get a Good Citizen award, but I've started giving up on that stuff because honestly, he seems like a really slow learner. Then again, it could be me.


(misc brag to end on a positive note: Thor will now play dead in front of other people! We spent a long time all our tricks in theory, because he didn't like performing in front of people. He really hammed it up today though. )

Sounds like you've done a GREAT job with Thor.

Thanks! My "secret" with Eddie was patience. I didn't start training him until he was 11 months, which made it a lot tougher. He was afraid and suspicious of everything. But I made up for his shortcomings by taking a lot of obedience classes. I lost count at 10 in his first 3 years. In the beginning, I had real doubts as to how trainable he was. He'd freeze up and refuse to do things that I knew he knew how to do. But I didn't get impatient. If he learned one or two things in an 8-week class, that was enough. I didn't push him when I could see he was tired of practicing. At one point, we quit classes altogether and just concentrated on playing and having fun. Eventually, over a long period of time, he found his confidence and learned to enjoy the obedience work we were doing.

With Jillie, IF she makes it as a therapy dog, I'd attribute that more to early socialization than to obedience training. I found a breeder who put a priority on socializing her in the 11 weeks before I got her. Then I made a point of introducing her to all kinds of people and animals and situations from the day I got her. She's a social butterfly and not nearly as fearful of everything as Eddie was.

All that said, I still don't trust either one of them off-leash if there's a chance they can get into trouble.