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Originally Posted by Spiffy  Hi everyone! First time post for me.
I have a wonderful female Yorkie! She is a rescue that rescued me right back!
Libby has been with me for about four years and she is a very sweet and loving little one who I adore. But for the life of me, I cant figure her out.
When she is indoors she is the sweetest! She is attentive to me. But when we go outside to play, I don't seem to exist. She isn't mean or anything. She will run around and smell everything. Typical puppy chores. But, if I try to play with her, I'm not even there. When we go in doors, its all about me.
You don't think Libby is ashamed to be with me in public do you? |
It sounds to me as if she doesn't recognize you as her pack leader. Indoors where she is kind of a captive audience, you become all important as you are kind of the whole show, but outside, where scents, sounds, energy and activities of all kinds abound, you fade into unimportance. Don't feel bad - that's just how dogs are around their equals. That never happens to an alpha dog or alpha leader in a strong pack though. Rather than ignoring you, Tatiana should be continually checking with you, looking to you and looking for you outdoors, even if you are across the field. Work to become her leader.
You could Google the
Nothing In Life Is Free method of dealing with dogs with leadership acknowledgement issues. This trains the dog to have to look to you for everything in life. Along with a good positive-reinforcement training program where she can learn to listen to and obey you, you can become more of a leadership figure in her eyes.
Extending the
NILIF treatment and her obedience training to outside after she's gotten the basics down cold indoors can further reinforce your leader role but keep the sessions short and frequent. Work a lot with her on "Watch Me" training, not using a treat near your eyes to get her to look but your fingers at first, truly training her to focus on your eyes and not the treat near them. Once she learns that and to keep looking at and focusing on your eyes, then you produce a treat and praise as a reward. That way when she is ignoring you, you can tell her to "Watch Me" and she will focus on you like a laser beam, waiting to see what you want.
Also, Tamar Geller's
The Loved Dog is a good training book to read and gives you good theory behind how dog's learn, the proper way to train without harsh techniques and how to become a dog's leader the loving, gentle, fun way and in the process, the dog learns to respect and love you in equal parts.