YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community


Welcome to the YorkieTalk.com Forums Community - the community for Yorkshire Terriers.

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. You will be able to chat with over 35,000 YorkieTalk members, read over 2,000,000 posted discussions, and view more than 15,000 Yorkie photos in the YorkieTalk Photo Gallery after you register. We would love to have you as a member!

Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please click here to contact us.

Go Back   YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community > YorkieTalk > General Training Questions
Register Blogs FAQ Calendar JavaChat Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 10-29-2009, 07:01 AM   #1
YT Addict
 
Lolli_lah's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Gainesville, GA, USA
Posts: 406
Blog Entries: 2
Love Command training (and stairs) for adult yorkie

Hello, Lolli and I are just getting acquainted with each other. I've had her for about 2 days now and she seems to be settling in just fine!

I do have a couple questions about training with her to learn commands, I have read and people have told me that adult dogs are a bit more fickle to train than say puppies.

Shes 7 years old and I don't believe she ever had known any commands before, I do know her previous owner did not teach her any. She responds to "Lolli come" about 65% of the time, but thats it. She doesn't know sit or stay, either. She seems to respond a good bit to 'No', though.

I'd just like to know if anyone might know some tips that are more adult-dog specific. I know about using treats and an annoying noise for distracting from excessive barking but that's about all I know. What do you do when you're training with her and she doesn't respond?

Also, is there any way to ease her mind of using stairs? She seems to get really confused and unsure. I've tried putting her up all the stairs with her paws but she still doesn't seem to want to try on her own. We haven't even begun going down the stairs yet, I've just been carrying her until she settles in here a bit more.
Lolli_lah is offline   Reply With Quote
Welcome Guest!
Not Registered?

Join today and remove this ad!

Old 10-29-2009, 07:59 AM   #2
Yorkie Yakker
 
MommyLovesRiley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Dallas, Tx, United States
Posts: 70
Default

I'm not really sure how to train adult dogs, but my Riley is almost a year old and we just kinda started training her. Yeah, I know... took me forever. We let our little girl get away with murder. So we've been having a bit harder of a time training her versus our 9 week old Sheltie. Hopefully, these will help a bit. (Keep in mind that I read these out of a Dog Obedience book and everyone has different methods of dog training.)

Sit- Hold a treat over their nose and slowly push the treat back so they will kinda just 'fall' into the sit position. Do this while saying 'sit' and reward them when they do just kinda fall on their butt. If they can jump up to reach the treat, you're holding it too high over their head. It should be just above the nose. I put mine so close to where they can lick it. Seems to grab their attention more. Okay, so my Sheltie does this, but Riley doesn't. No matter how close I get to Riley's nose, she still jumps up or just backs up to get it. So, I just kinda put my hand on her butt and gently pushed her down while saying 'sit'. I only had to do that a couple of times. She got the idea real quickly.


Lay down- Get your dog into the 'sit' position, then take a treat and put it on the ground, in front of their legs and slowly move the treat towards you. Do this while saying 'Lay down' or 'Lay' or 'Down'... which ever you use. The same idea applies... the will just kinda plop down into the 'lay' position. Again, my Sheltie does this but my yorkie doesn't. I find I have to kind of force her into a 'lay' position. She really wasn't happy about it at first, but now there is hardly any struggle. We haven't really got this one down yet, but we're working on it.



I know people say 'only teach the dog one trick at a time', but I found when I was teaching them to 'sit', they would just sit automatically for their treat. So I had to do something else. The main one I'm teaching is sit. I do it with treats most of the time, but I do it without treats and just praise a few times as well. (Just so they won't expect it. They always expect to do something when I bring out the treats. )


Those are the two commands almost everyone starts with. Just remember... treats can make a dog do almost anything.


As for the stair thing. I think I would just try working on the 'come' command with some treats and then taking it one stair at a time. Saying 'come' and then forking over a treat for every step they do.

And the not responding thing. You just really have to keep her attentions with things she likes.


Good luck! I hope every thing goes well with little frustration.
__________________
Mommy to Riley, Jasper, Tiger, and
Embry
MommyLovesRiley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2009, 10:35 AM   #3
YT Addict
 
Lolli_lah's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Gainesville, GA, USA
Posts: 406
Blog Entries: 2
Default

Thanks MommyLovesRiley, I have read those techniques in books, too. I just am not sure what do you do when they just blatantly do not respond. She tends not to, but it's only been 2 days. But I just have been giving up after an amount of time and try again later. So I'm hoping she'll get it eventually. I'm kind of assuming she's taking a little longer to really 'respond' at all to training because she's still settling in here.

As far as stairs, we tried today with the harness and leash and she seems to get it better that way because gently tugging on the leash gets her to understand better that you want her to come up. She didn't get all the way yet but we're getting there!
__________________
Lollipop
my Pretty Little Princess
Lolli_lah is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2009, 10:41 AM   #4
Yorkie Yakker
 
MommyLovesRiley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Dallas, Tx, United States
Posts: 70
Default

Well maybe she is getting used to her surroundings.
Riley, kind of, has the same problem though. I can't get her to keep focusing on me. So, I try to get her to focus on the treat. I take the treat and put it to her nose and then put it to mine. So, technically she's focused on the treat but she's looking where she's supposed to be.


Just keep working with her I'm sure she'll get the hang of everything.
As a fellow Lolly (different spelling, but it's been a family nickname for me since I was little), I wish you both the best of luck.
__________________
Mommy to Riley, Jasper, Tiger, and
Embry
MommyLovesRiley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2009, 02:38 PM   #5
YT Addict
 
Lolli_lah's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Gainesville, GA, USA
Posts: 406
Blog Entries: 2
Default

Huggsss Lolly, I really appreciate your input and everything. I hope to see more of you around here

Maybe I should get into crocheting again for the winter months Just a random thought, haha. Oops off topic.

Well I worked with her a bit on 'sit' today, she doesn't seem to get it quite yet and I have been pushing her butt down and she does sit then. And also I praise her when I notice her sitting on her own but only when I see her just then doing it as she might not understand if shes sitting for a bit and I then praise her. We'll see how this goes!
__________________
Lollipop
my Pretty Little Princess
Lolli_lah is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2009, 02:45 PM   #6
Yorkie Yakker
 
MommyLovesRiley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Dallas, Tx, United States
Posts: 70
Default

Haha. No problem!

Ya know... I just had that thought the other day. ...About starting to crochet again. Haha. Maybe we can make something that will keep the furrbutts warm. I think I might just do a big blanket. Seems less complicated and she can come cuddle up with me... seeing as how she doesn't like clothes a whole lot. Haha.



Yeah, like I said it took Riley a bit before she would sit on her own. I still have to push her butt down every now and again... but it's coming along. Once again, good luck!
__________________
Mommy to Riley, Jasper, Tiger, and
Embry
MommyLovesRiley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2009, 07:29 PM   #7
YT Addict
 
Lolli_lah's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Gainesville, GA, USA
Posts: 406
Blog Entries: 2
Default

I tried working with her a bit more with 'sit', but she has yet to seem to understand that 'sit' means butt-on-ground. I say it once and wait a few seconds and when she doesn't respond in any way, I will say it again while pushing her butt down til she sits. Then say 'Yay good sit!'

Is there any way I can improve this or am I doing it ok?
__________________
Lollipop
my Pretty Little Princess
Lolli_lah is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2009, 07:40 PM   #8
YT 1000 Club Member
 
suda's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: new zealand
Posts: 1,039
Default

I'm going to dog obedience class tomorrow, first lesson my boy already knows sit and down, "come" is abit of a mission, he'll be one next month and the stairs are no worries as I have stairs at home and work, but you could try tempting treats on the stairs
__________________

I'm so in love with my little boy George
suda is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2009, 07:54 PM   #9
Donating YT Addict
 
ParrotLady's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Ross, TX
Posts: 259
Default

Penny and I go to our second class tomorrow and I am supposed to have the "sit", "down" and loose leash walking down. Ha! I, or rather Penny, has the "sit" command down as long as I am in a chair and not on the floor with her.

She absolutely will not lay down for me. And loose leash walking is a complete joke! LOL

The trainer said that for those little dogs that don't have to lay down to get the treat after the sit position, to go to the bathroom with about 20 treats and shut door.

Once the dog gets bored and lays down, say "down" and throw them a treat that makes them get up to get the treat. Keep doing this and she says eventually they will connect the "down" command to them laying down.

Well, not today, but maybe some day. By about the 14th time, she realized that I had more treats and just wanted to dig the treats out of my hand instead of laying back down. She is too smart for this mama.
__________________
Tracie and Penny
http://www.parrot-and-conure-world.com
ParrotLady is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2009, 10:19 PM   #10
Yorkie Talker
 
OnegusMom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Stevens Point, Wi, USA
Posts: 16
Default Command training

I don't know if this will help or not, but I started Onegus at 11 wks, using frozen peas as a training aid because we couldn't find any small enough treats. Only took 2 peas for him to understand that if he sat he got one. (BTW, he will be 2 in Dec and still automatically sits everytime we go near the freezer, lol). Down was just a natural progression from sit because we had to do something since he was already sitting. Now we are working on "please" which is a modified down with his butt up. He won't do it for a regular treat, but works everytime with peas. He also is beginning to get up on his hind feet for the peas. He got "come" fairly easily. Stay is inconsistant. He is always watching everything going on around him so keeping his attention is my focus right now. We are using a clicker to get it. He comes running for the clicker and will look at me when he hears it, no matter what else is going on around him or where he is in the house. Even outside with squirls, birds and leaves blowing by him. It might be worth trying. They aren't expensive and work better then a noisy can shaken at them. We live in the county on 3 acres so there are too many distractions and dangers to attempt walking him dragging his leash, but I use the clicker when he gets too far from me or pulls and it brings him back where he should be. As for the stairs.....we have never had a problem with him going up from the first time he was told "up" at the bottom of the steps. However, he will not even attempt going down. Kind of a mixed blessing. He has to be carried from one level of the house to the other going down, but if someone accidently lets him out the door onto the porch, we don't have to worry about him running off either. He has on occassion "accidently" jumped up onto the couch or our laps but I don't think he KNOWS he can do it. He does jump down off the couch or laps though. I think I will wait until he figures it out on his own, or is more consistant with his attention outside before we work on going down steps.
I will say, once he gets the idea of something, he doesn't loose it and the transition from peas to praise is fast and easy. He is a real people pleaser and gets almost as happy about the good boys as the peas.
The funniest thing he does is get our attention, then turn around and back his butt toward us if he wants to be picked up. The only thing we can figure is that since he is so small, it is less "scary" for him not to have to see the "giants" reach for him.
OnegusMom is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2009, 06:29 AM   #11
YT Addict
 
Lolli_lah's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Gainesville, GA, USA
Posts: 406
Blog Entries: 2
Default

Haha OnegusMom, that sounds so cute. Well, some people say their doggies get some commands with treats down right away. So far I've probably tried 'sit' with having to push her butt down because she still doesn't seem to get it, about 10 times maybe in one day. I'm not in a hurry or anything, but it does seem odd that other peoples dogs get it way faster than my little girl seems to be getting it.

Is it maybe just her age that she might be taking longer?
__________________
Lollipop
my Pretty Little Princess
Lolli_lah is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2009, 07:37 PM   #12
Yorkie Talker
 
OnegusMom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Stevens Point, Wi, USA
Posts: 16
Default Commands training

Onegus is the most fun animal we have ever had, but I guess I don't need to say that to other Yorkie Lovers, do I?
When I work with Onegus I get right down on the floor, sitting in front of him. ( Like I said, we must look like giants to them, lol) Regular doggie treats just don't work for training him. He sees them as just another source of food, I guess. The peas are "special" and in order to get one or two he has to pay attention to me, look at me and do as I ask, or no peas. I don't push him. If he doesn't do something in 5 or 6 tries, I close up the baggie of peas, get up and start to walk away. Lots of times, I will look down and he is doing exactly what I asked him to do because he knows the peas are leaving. Stubborn little devil. When he does that I just give tons of happy praise, get back down on the floor and give him a pea and try a few more times. I know it sounds silly, but it works, and believe me, peas are lots cheaper, better for the furballs and if all else fails, you have peas for supper. I even went so far as to make home made doggie cookies and he loves them, goes goofy when he sees the cookie jar, but will not follow commands for them. I just take a few peas out of the freezer at a time and put them in a snack baggie in the fridge to use for training. If we need more, he will take them frozen, no difference to him. A pea is a pea. I don't know if it's her age, or just the fact that no one ever expected anything from her except love and cutsies. You just have to find an aid that triggers the "pleaser" response in her. Dried banana chips, carrot slivers, little bites of raw broccoli etc. might work. STAY AWAY from raisins, onions chocolate.....they will make her terribly sick if not kill her. Try making a game out of it, like you are playing with her, not expecting anything from her. Sit is usually the first command we teach, but maybe even hiding a treat under a wash cloth or something and cheering when she finds it will gear her up. A start is a start, even if it's out of order, lol. 2 isn't really very old. Onegus will be 2 in Dec and we learn new things every day.
Good luck and let me know how she does.
OnegusMom
OnegusMom is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2009, 08:15 PM   #13
Yorkie Yakker
 
MommyLovesRiley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Dallas, Tx, United States
Posts: 70
Default

It could just be because Lolli is a bit older that it's taking her awhile. Just keep practicing with her. She'll get it soon enough.

Just make sure she likes the treats you are giving her. You could try getting her more excited about the treat first. I just give them to Jasper and Riley randomly so they get more excited about them during practice. If she isn't too terribly excited about them try different treats. There's bound to be one that she loves. Riley is still really weird about treats. She doesn't like them too much. So, I give her baked chicken a lot. She really seems to like Pupperoni and Bully Sticks (although Bully Sticks take forever to chew).

Anywho, just keep up what your doing. Sounds like your doing fine. Just remember to put the treat over her nose and push the treat back (going over her head).


(On another note... I really recommend getting some Bully Stick. All four of my animals go nuts for them. Even the cats. In fact, my fiance tried them once (he can be a bit of a weird one. ) and he said they taste like really chewy beef jerky.)
__________________
Mommy to Riley, Jasper, Tiger, and
Embry
MommyLovesRiley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2009, 10:18 AM   #14
Donating Senior Yorkie Talker
 
mommyofsophie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Posts: 248
Default

A WONDERFUL resource I've found is the website of YouTube videos by a dog trainer who goes by KikoPup. She has oodles and oodles of videos that show how to train a dog using positive, loving treatment. I started clicker training with Sophie because of the KikoPup videos, and it's going great so far! PetSmart sells clickers for around $2, so you could pick one up and try clicker training with your new furbaby. Here's a link to KikoPup's site

YouTube - kikopup's Channel
mommyofsophie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2009, 10:30 AM   #15
YT Addict
 
Lolli_lah's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Gainesville, GA, USA
Posts: 406
Blog Entries: 2
Default

So far the stair training has been going great. I got her to come up and down today without actually having a treat but using positive praise and pets.

She did a good sit on her own waiting for the treat but I think it was more natural than responding to me but I praised her with 'good sit, good lolli' I hope this is good!
__________________
Lollipop
my Pretty Little Princess
Lolli_lah is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks



Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off




Google
 

SHOP NOW: Amazon :: eBay :: Buy.com :: Newegg :: PetStore :: Petco :: PetSmart


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 05:08 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2003 - 2018 YorkieTalk.com
Privacy Policy - Terms of Use

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 919 920 921 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 938 939 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 958 959 960 961 962 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 1000 1001 1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020 1021 1022 1023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054 1055 1056 1057 1058 1059 1060 1061 1062 1063 1064 1065 1066 1067 1068 1069 1070 1071 1072 1073 1074 1075 1076 1077 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1084 1085 1086 1087 1088 1089 1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097 1098 1099 1100 1101 1102 1103 1104 1105 1106 1107 1108 1109 1110 1111 1112 1113 1114 1115 1116 1117 1118 1119 1120 1121 1122 1123 1124 1125 1126 1127 1128 1129 1130 1131 1132 1133 1134 1135 1136 1137 1138 1139 1140 1141 1142 1143 1144 1145 1146 1147 1148 1149 1150 1151 1152 1153 1154 1155 1156 1157 1158 1159 1160 1161 1162 1163 1164 1165 1166 1167