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Originally Posted by Samsonsfam  Gracielove: Sammy follows me around like a shadow....right at my heels when he is loose and free in the house, which is more and more since he is having no accidents. He is gentle and well mannered... excites easily and tends to be somewhat timid compared to his brother, which my daughter is owner of.
But if you 'want' him, he will take off. He'll come for a treat in a skinny minute and if he thinks he's getting a reward. He'll hang out under foot with or my husband and sits with us and sleeps on me when he's tired... all the typical behavior you would expect.
But he will not come to me.... we have to catch him... that's what I cannot figure out.
I'm tending to think I will not use the gentle leader in class..we'll see how he acts around all the other dogs and how destructible he is. I think if we cannot handle a 4-pounder, we have the issues not him!
Someone posted earlier in response to me about keeping his leash short and not allowing him to go ahead of me. But he still pulls at it while we walk. I want to have him walk beside me with a loose leash, not pulling. But I guess that will come with time and consistency and training. HUH? |
My experience with obedience training has been with larger dogs. We would use a choke collar but it was always kept loose except for a light quick correction. That is how we taught the larger dogs to "heel." Since the Yorkie is known to have problems with weakened trachea I would not use a choke collar on a Yorkie or any small dog for that matter. I have found that you can do the same sort of correction when the small dog tries to pull. You just do a quick jerking motion on the harness and say "no!" Stop and go no further. Put the dog in a sit and start again. It takes some practice but once he gets what you are trying to tell him he will do it. I understand the concept of the gentle leader but I don't know how it is going to create a long term trained dog.
Maybe you could practice the "come" with treats until he becomes more consistent. Most tricks or commands you teach with a treat will become routine and the treat will not be necessary after a while.