Originally Posted by kjc  I do agree with everyone's suggestions... I'm sure you'll be able to find methods that will work for Bdog and DF...
My mindset is that I love my dogs, I just don't love everything they do.
(Works well with people and children too)
I came to that realization with my 'new' Peek a Boo on my lap one evening. We had a really bad day, he did everything wrong, and I wasn't able to lavish praise on him the whole day. He may have been yelled at a few times. I was so frustrated with him, I was questioning whether or not I should keep him or return him.
Then, as I sat there with him on my lap, I apologized and told him I had promised to love him, and I would. So every night from that day on, we had our nighttime routine, where I would tell him I loved him and that he was a very good boy... even if I had to lie to myself about it, and I kissed him on the side of his face. He never kissed back, and I thought that was odd, and I began to think he just wasn't a 'kissing dog'. But that was okay with me. Some things you just can't change.
It was sad though, because when I said the words 'Good Boy', his reaction told me that he had never heard these words before, or had forgotten what they meant.
Telling him he was a 'Good Boy' also allowed him to feel good about himself, and really helped him with his confidence. Soon, the bad days started disappearing, and the good days were vastly outnumbering the bad. I truly believe this is the one, most important thing I did with him, the one thing that made the biggest difference in turning his behavior around.
Eight months later, during our routine (I kept it up), I kissed his cheek, and he turned his head toward mine, and licked my cheek. I cried tears of joy and sadness, sadness because something that happened to him caused him to withhold his love for all that time. And we still do the routine to this day, and he gets his kiss and I get mine!
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