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Originally Posted by scopeland  We adopted a 7-month-old male Yorkie about a month ago and, as I have done with all of my dogs, I have enrolled him in beginners obedience classes to start in a couple of weeks. Does anyone have any helpful hints for me? I have a feeling that my patience is going to be tested! My last dog I trained was a boxer - he almost did me in!  |
Make sure to use a harness, until you get a respectable heel. Or at the very least an easy walk. Some teachers I've encountered want you to use collar and lead. I know I have to use that in obedience competitions, but I'll compromise when we get into the obedience ring. I use harness when training with a collar on him.
There was another thread here about teaching heel. Someone had the great idea, of using a wooden spoon with some P>B> on it, so that you weren't constantly bending down to teach heel/sit. I would get the low fat, low salt PB though.
I like small pieces of green beans, and I mix up the treats in the bag. I separate out the really really high value treats, like cheese, and meat, from greeen beans and cheerios. Then when he has done a really fine job on an exercise, bingo a teeny tiney piece of cheese. I weigh my cheese and meat, then cut/break up into pea size pieces. I put them in a separate baggie inside my training treat bag. I like the kind that clip onto my waistband. Remember to weigh the treat food, so that you know how much you are feeding daily, I subtract out that weight from his dinner, unless we have had a super active day.
Good luck with the training, and have fun