[deonk1]

So the light turned on and my little yorkie taught me a valuable lesson tonight!

If you have all day it'll take 5 minutes, if you have 5 minutes it'll take all day!

I used to tell children this when I was teaching them how to train horses, we used to talk about this when I was training my first horse, and dealing with rescues and problem horses... but in my stupidity I forgot that this may apply to dogs...DUH... See I figured out the bathing dilemma.

So I mentioned in my previous post HELP...bathing gets worse every time, or something like that... that I was trying to make him down and treating him while brushing him and was making some progress. Well I needed to bath him tonight so I thought, "well I better book off the whole night", well that was the fastest I've ever fully bathed, blow-dried and brushed him, ever.... So the bath goes well, he loves the water. Then I decided, well I'll let him air dry, but I'll plug in the blow dryer. So rather than corner him in the bathroom, I brought his towel and blow dryer into his play room. So I started the blow dryer left it on the floor, and proceeded to let him go.

Well he towel dried a bit, and kinda laid down by the dryer. So I though, heck I'll grab some treats and see where this goes. The second I haul the treats out he downs, and stares at the treat, I brush out some tangles, treat, and then he stares at the treat container and downs again. I grab the blow dryer, and I'm not lying, proceed to completely blow dry, with periodic treats and cheers. I did not touch him at all except to brush. He EVEN let me brush & dry his face...

The moral of this story... patience is a virtue which every animal trainer must both HAVE and REMEMBER to use. I can't believe when my dog had the option to run away (it was a 13x13 room), he sat there waiting for treats, and he looked like he was having fun....

Ok YTers time to tell me I told you so, and get after me for my ignorance. I've just realized how much I've tried to rush his training, when little things really do make so much more difference. That and forcing him was the stupidest thing I ever tried to do.... I await your comments...