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Got a trainer! I met with a trainer today at his house and he uses techniques very similar to Cesar, the dog whisperer. I decided to give him a try since Maddie doesn't seem to listen to a word I say about 50% of the time. He is pretty expensive but he has a contract that is pretty awesome. He will keep coming until the dog is trained to a certain extent. He comes to the house and doesn't charge per hour. You pay a flat fee and he comes and stays until it is done. Our first session is Friday. I'm excited but also nervous. Maddie is 13 weeks and I have been letting her sleep in bed with me and that is a no no right now with this guy so I'm going to get her trained first and then I can move her back to the bed. I really hope I can stick with this! Wish me luck! |
Good luck! :) Please let us know how it goes. I am planning to take Thor to obedience school soon. How did you decide on this trainer? Did you interview several? Does he have qualifications, etc. |
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Like I said before, I am very excited but also very nervous. I am one of those moms that doesn't like to be away from my baby girl for a minute and feel guilty when I need to just run to Walmart or something. It is going to be tough, but I know it will pay off in the long run. I will let you guys know how it goes Friday! |
I will look forward to hearing about your progress. I have a 5 month old that may wind up getting a trainer. He is so loving but a con-man that knows how to soften me up when he has done something he knows better than doing. He was easy to pee-pad train so I know he is a smart little guy --- just need to rein him in a bit. :) Best of luck to you, Maddie, and your trainer! |
Good Luck to you and your baby with the trainer. I am also thinking of getting a trainer but I have 3 neurotic babies. :p Does anyone know of a good one in the Sacramento, CA area? I had looked up a company called Fetch before and a lady, I only spoke to her once, She was expensive but I didn't get much details from her as I was not that interested then. But I think she charges by the hour. I like the fact that you don't have to worry about time. |
I chickened out and canceled. As Maddie was laying in bed with me the other night I just couldn't imagine having her in a crate at night instead of with me. I hope I will come to the realization that Maddie is a dog, not a child, but right now, I just can't do it. I called the trainer and he was super nice about it. The last thing he told me was "remember that pup has four legs, so don't treat her like she has two". I just don't know how I feel about keeping her in a crate. Can someone please convince me that being in a crate is good? |
Please don't be upset, you don't have to kick your dog out of the bed unless they are actually guarding the bed or not allowing others into it. The reason that the "old school" training is so "old school" is because science and new studies have debunked it :) Now, house training is another story. We had Loki crated at night so that we knew when he had to go out, rather than him juts peeing on the floor. As soon as he slept through the night he slept with us again. Sam slept with us from the day we got her :) Loki had some resource guarding issues when he was around a year old, so we taught him "move" "leave it" "drop it" and other commands and we don't have those issues any more. He used to bark at my husband when he would come in the room (I was the resource) so when he did that I would immediately set him on the floor and ignore him. We practiced over and over until the behavior stopped (it took a few weeks) But isn't it better to train them, than just banish them? There are a few books you should read: Pat Miller's Positive Perspectives, Love Your Dog, Train Your Dog Little Dogs: Training Your Pint-sized Companion by Deborah Wood Victoria Stillwell's It's Me or the Dog Also, as far as flat-rate vs. hourly sessions. The thing about the hourly sessions is that they teach you what to do (HOW to teach "down" for example) and then you work with the dog over the course of the week, 15-20 minutes at a time, a few times a day, until they get it. A week is typically enough to teach your dog a trick like this. The trainer is not going to be able to stay until the dog gets it. Then you can also ask questions about behavior type problems, like chewing or barking, and they can show you what to do. The trainer is not the one training the dog. It's not like on TV :) A good trainer will teach YOU how to teach your dog :) It's OK to treat them like children, as long as you don't treat them like spoiled children. I ask my two if they want to go in the car with me to the store. I let them decide which direction we will go on our walk. I take 100 pictures of them a day. They also know their commands and have a routine and know how to ask for what they want and they know what NO means :D All done with *positive* training methods. Loki has the vocabulary of a 3 year old. He understands sentences. He does more tricks than a circus side show. Sam isn't as bright but she's twice as sweet and she knows the basics! (As opposed to Loki, who knows "it's going to storm" means or "we are getting a visitor") Training should be FUN and not stress you out. If you have any questions, please ask!!! I have a shelf full of books! :D |
Thank you so much Erin. Your post actually brought me to tears! Everyone keeps telling me "you have to crate her, you have to crate her" but I just can't do it. It is nice to hear from someone that has had success without training. Maddie is already a great puppy. I have puppy stairs at the foot of my bed and half the time she sleeps on the floor anyways. She comes up and licks my face when she needs to go potty in the middle of the night so she doesn't have any accidents. If she was peeing in my bed or destroying things at night, I would understand people telling me to crate her, but she is not. The only problem I am having with her is listening to me when it comes to things like "come here". Trying to get her to come inside from going potty is a nightmare and it results in my picking her up and just caring her inside. That is the only behavior that I would like to change right now. I am definitely going to pick up those books and after I read them, I may ask you for some more to read :) This is my first dog so I am a total newbie and just want to make sure I am doing everything right. Thanks again for your response! |
I can't claim nearly as much success as Erin, but I do agree with everything she said. :) If there are no bed-specific issues, it should be fine letting her sleep in the bed. She sounds like a smart doggie. licking your face to wake you up. Have you specifically tried teaching her the Come command, as a trick? It's actually very fun. I also recommend Karen Pryor's "Don't Shoot The Dog". It's an excellent, SHORT book on how to get what you want with positive methods. |
You will love those books. Especially the Little Dog book :) Don't get me wrong, Loki and I did training classes. The first one or two were necessary. The rest were for fun but what he learned, he learned mostly at home. We went to class, the trainer answered our questions and helped us so we didn't feel totally alone and then set out to teach us 1-3 new things (like come, sit, stay, leave it, walking nicely on a leash) then we went home and did "homework" (Loki still knows what word!!) She taught us how to have a good relationship with our dogs and how to communicate with them. I've taught Loki many things beyond the classes using what I learned. The books I recommended use the same philosophy as Loki's trainer. The "Little Dogs" book even explains in the first chapter what you should be doing at 3-6 months, 6-12 months, etc. It's a great book, and it's only 100 pages. Pat Miller is my FAVORITE trainer. Her book is a lot more detailed and not as cutesy, but it's extremely informative! And I just personally think Victoria Stillwell does a good job explaining why most dogs do better under a positive (reward-based) training system. You have to use every moment as a "teachable moment" Have her sit before you pour her food, before you pet her and before you put her leash on. When she is outside, you need to reward her every single time with a treat for both pottying (immediately - you'll need to go outside with her until she's reliable) and when you call her to come. ALWAYS treat with come. You want her to come no matter what. Mine don't, because I didn't learn that soon enough. I just go outside and yell "BREAKFAST" and they come running! LOL But the word "come" never worked for them because you use it all the time. A lady in class taught her dog "DANGER" and gave him Cheetos as a treat for that command only. He had that down in like 2 tries - he didn't want to miss his Cheeto!!! Anyway, can you see how training should be fun? I could yell "homework" right now and my two would be at my feet ready to work for a treat. (Sam doesn't know the word, she copies Loki! LOL) It's a game. You should still do a training class just to address things like chewing, housetraining, etc. but you can do a lot on your own as long as you have the initiative, which you obviously do! |
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Well, I'm very into training as well, and I do like to read about it. I've had Thor for six months now. To be honest, I thought we'd be further along at this point. I'm very interested to see what a trainer says about how he behaves. Please keep posting books, links and tips, I love to hear what worked for people with Good Dogs. :) I hope to be one of you someday. |
Crate training is the easiest fastest way to train, but some of us can't handle it. I was able to crate Joey when we first got him in a little carrier that I kept next to my bed, and he didn't mind this, and would wake up to and cry, and I would put him on his pee pad, and then back in his crate. He would whine a little but I had a stuffed animal with a music box, and one session of that with my hand in the zippered crate would settle him down. By 4 months he was trained overnight, and we let him sleep in the bed with a pee pad at the foot of the bed on a chest. This worked really well and he never peed in bed. During the day, he was in a large playpen with pee pads, unless I could watch him, and he was pretty good at using pads. I do think crate training works much faster, but you have to be tough enough to hear them cry, I couldn't take it. Regarding sleeping in bed, I do think there is some merit to a dog not sharing your bed. Dogs that are trained to sleep in their crates really do enjoy it, and Joey often goes in his crate, for naps, but there is no door, because I guess I can't handle it. With larger dogs, I can see the benefit of them sleeping on the floor, but with Yorkies, I love holding my little guy all night. I have read that if they sleep on the pillow above your head, you should discourage this; it means that they are being the alpha, and many people here have reported having problems with aggression when their dog was sleeping above their head. So this is something you might want to look out for, but a good trainer should be able to work with you and what you are comfortable with. If your not comfortable doing something, your dog will sense your anxiety, and this usually leads to poor learning. |
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Jackson sleeps in my bed every night, basically. I did the crate training thing for the first month I had him (got him at 9 weeks), but like you, I just was the one not strong enough, lol. It was definitely a great thing to have though... a nice safe place for him to be where I knew he wasn't getting into trouble, or more importantly, pottying anywhere. I really do think it helped him out a lot to become the dog he is today but I'm a sucker and let him start sleeping in my bed... the first night he wasn't in the crate, he slept through the entire night which was Heaven so I continued! lol. He's definitely not Alpha over me at all. He's more of a submissive dog in general, just naturally. But I've always grown up with dogs sleeping in our families' beds and there's never been issues. I think if they are already a really dominant aggressive dog, or if they're protecting the bed in any way, then they definitely shouldn't be allowed. But if there's no issues, I don't see the issue in allowing it. However, I dog-sit for Boxers, and the dog loves his crate. It's his "den" and safe place and I see nothing wrong with crates. He gets right into it, no problem, and will even lay in it with the door open. |
Just went to Barnes and Noble and got Don't Shoot the Dog and Victoria Stillwell's It's Me or the Dog. The didn't have the Pat Miller books so I ordered two of those on Amazon. I am determined to have a happy, smart, healthy puppy! Thanks for the advice and if you know of any other greats books, let me know! |
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