need help beginning training (my puppy just runs around haha) - YorkieTalk.com Forums

tblake · 05-12-2010, 05:04 PM

I'm trying to start teaching Bells some tricks (sit, stay, etc) but she doesn't get the concept...as soon as I get down and start trying, she just runs away then back toward me, and starts bouncing around like it's play time. No focusing.. Any advice here? She's 6 months old.

kjc · 05-12-2010, 05:10 PM

Name that behavior, then give her a treat! 1st trick...done!

kjc · 05-12-2010, 05:18 PM

Sorry.... as she's coming towards you, tell her 'come', and show her the treat. When she gets all the way to you, say 'Good Girl' and give her the treat. When she's consistantly coming to you, show her the treat then say 'sit'. Let her figure out what to do to get the treat...but as soon as she sits, be there with the 'Good Girl' (or whatever phrase you use) and praise and the treat. She sounds very cute! Good Luck... Hopefully others will respond...

MaddieBoo · 05-12-2010, 05:19 PM

Does she have any favorite treats? Anything she just goes nuts over? With Lucas he is VERY food motivated so if we have anything edible (even if it's not for him) he is very very attentive.

I would try to find a treat that she loves and use that to lure her near you, then go from there. Some ideas would be little pieces of veggies or a little fruit if she doesn't seem interested in dog treats. Softer dog treats are usually more desirable for them as well, I have noticed.

Also, if she is bouncing and running away when you get down on the floor with her, she may think it's playtime. You can try to start getting her to come to you while standing. That may help.

kjc · 05-12-2010, 05:21 PM

Does she know her name yet? If yes, you can put her name in front of the command... but never in front of a correction.

YorkieTherapy · 05-12-2010, 05:23 PM

Yes, find a treat she likes and let her smell and see it. I would also try using a leash.

motomomma317 · 05-12-2010, 05:55 PM

I use two different options depending on my dogs mood. If hes in the play mode I grab his fav. squeak toy. Squeak it once to get his attention and tell him what I want him to do. I use this during the day.

Another option I use is treats. Sometimes its just kibble other times its greenbeans or apple chips. He really likes all of them. But if im going to be working over and over to teach him a new trick I use kibble. I tend to use this option before his dinner feeding. I work from what I would feed him for dinner. That way he's not over eating.

The key to training is finding the one thing that drives your dog.

On a side note with our new puppy my older dog felt left out of the treat process so shes learning even more tricks like lay down and roll over and dancing. So even old dogs can learn new things.

maggies-mommy · 05-14-2010, 06:02 PM

Maggies that same age. I would put her on a leesh, and push her butt towards the ground, and say sit. Give her a treat and repeat this over and over again. Also maybe doing it inside would be better?

lpham · 05-15-2010, 12:12 AM

I did a lot of coaxing with my puppy to get her to sit, stay and down and she is only 3 mths old. They can learn very quickly. Even when she is in a playful mood you can get them to learn commands very easily. Just find what they like as a reward (in my case she loves pieces of her own kibble, treats, and squeaky toys). Mark the position that they are in as a command if that is what you want and reward her. Just continual repeating should get her to do what you want.

jazzybee445 · 05-15-2010, 12:40 AM

as soon as i saw my dog do any of the tricks i wanted to teach him i would say very excited the name of the action and say good boy over and over and give him a treat. lol so for example if i wanted to teach him sit whenever i see him sitting i would say good boy!! good sit, good sit! and i would give him a treat. i have used this procedure to teach all the dogs ive owned. Now my dog knows how to sit, stand, lay, eat is food when i say, put his head down, right now im teaching him this trick limp. besides all of that its always best to use treats that your dog absoultley loves like real chicken (even though i give my dog dried chicken or chicken jerky). when ever they do what you want get super excited and happy about it so they know you like what they are doing.

GnIndy · 05-15-2010, 06:35 AM

Indy is trained at mealtime, playtime, anytime.

Start with a not overly excited and slightly hungry pup (morning was my favourite time to train initially). Let her know you have food in your hand, and when she sits, promptly give her a kibble within seconds. Keep repeating this and when she understands she should sit for each bit of food, start saying "sit" right before she sits. She'll soon understand that this word correlates with that action. Do this every day and she'll catch on even faster. Start teaching her other commands when she gets sit down pat.

The same thing applies when you're playing. Indy loves playing fetch, but we ask her to sit (lay down/shake/twirl, etc.) each time before we throw the ball. No trick, no ball gets thrown. Since we're all having fun, it's not "work" to perform a trick, and for it's an easy way of reinforcing what she already knows to do.

Good luck! And enjoy training her.

05-12-2010, 05:04 PM	#1
tblake Yorkie Talker Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: NYC Posts: 15	need help beginning training (my puppy just runs around haha) I'm trying to start teaching Bells some tricks (sit, stay, etc) but she doesn't get the concept...as soon as I get down and start trying, she just runs away then back toward me, and starts bouncing around like it's play time. No focusing.. Any advice here? She's 6 months old.

05-12-2010, 05:10 PM	#2
kjc I♥PeekTinkySaph&Finny Donating Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Posts: 18,866	Name that behavior, then give her a treat! 1st trick...done! __________________ Kat Chloe Lizzy PeekABooTinkerbell SapphireInfinity

05-12-2010, 05:18 PM	#3
kjc I♥PeekTinkySaph&Finny Donating Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Posts: 18,866	Sorry.... as she's coming towards you, tell her 'come', and show her the treat. When she gets all the way to you, say 'Good Girl' and give her the treat. When she's consistantly coming to you, show her the treat then say 'sit'. Let her figure out what to do to get the treat...but as soon as she sits, be there with the 'Good Girl' (or whatever phrase you use) and praise and the treat. She sounds very cute! Good Luck... Hopefully others will respond... __________________ Kat Chloe Lizzy PeekABooTinkerbell SapphireInfinity

05-12-2010, 05:19 PM	#4
MaddieBoo YT Addict Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Posts: 270	Does she have any favorite treats? Anything she just goes nuts over? With Lucas he is VERY food motivated so if we have anything edible (even if it's not for him) he is very very attentive. I would try to find a treat that she loves and use that to lure her near you, then go from there. Some ideas would be little pieces of veggies or a little fruit if she doesn't seem interested in dog treats. Softer dog treats are usually more desirable for them as well, I have noticed. Also, if she is bouncing and running away when you get down on the floor with her, she may think it's playtime. You can try to start getting her to come to you while standing. That may help. __________________ Maddie&Lucas "Happiness is a warm puppy"

05-12-2010, 05:21 PM	#5
kjc I♥PeekTinkySaph&Finny Donating Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Posts: 18,866	Does she know her name yet? If yes, you can put her name in front of the command... but never in front of a correction. __________________ Kat Chloe Lizzy PeekABooTinkerbell SapphireInfinity

05-12-2010, 05:23 PM	#6
YorkieTherapy Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Bay Area, California Posts: 499	Yes, find a treat she likes and let her smell and see it. I would also try using a leash. __________________ "What I do is wag my tail and lick your face until you feel better!" Guinness and Penny:

05-12-2010, 05:55 PM	#7
motomomma317 YT Addict Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: ohio Posts: 319	I use two different options depending on my dogs mood. If hes in the play mode I grab his fav. squeak toy. Squeak it once to get his attention and tell him what I want him to do. I use this during the day. Another option I use is treats. Sometimes its just kibble other times its greenbeans or apple chips. He really likes all of them. But if im going to be working over and over to teach him a new trick I use kibble. I tend to use this option before his dinner feeding. I work from what I would feed him for dinner. That way he's not over eating. The key to training is finding the one thing that drives your dog. On a side note with our new puppy my older dog felt left out of the treat process so shes learning even more tricks like lay down and roll over and dancing. So even old dogs can learn new things.

05-14-2010, 06:02 PM	#8
maggies-mommy Yorkie Yakker Join Date: May 2010 Location: yorkie world ! Posts: 67	Maggies that same age. I would put her on a leesh, and push her butt towards the ground, and say sit. Give her a treat and repeat this over and over again. Also maybe doing it inside would be better?

05-15-2010, 12:12 AM	#9
lpham No Longer a Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: USA Posts: 143	I did a lot of coaxing with my puppy to get her to sit, stay and down and she is only 3 mths old. They can learn very quickly. Even when she is in a playful mood you can get them to learn commands very easily. Just find what they like as a reward (in my case she loves pieces of her own kibble, treats, and squeaky toys). Mark the position that they are in as a command if that is what you want and reward her. Just continual repeating should get her to do what you want.

05-15-2010, 12:40 AM	#10
jazzybee445 Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: California Posts: 229	as soon as i saw my dog do any of the tricks i wanted to teach him i would say very excited the name of the action and say good boy over and over and give him a treat. lol so for example if i wanted to teach him sit whenever i see him sitting i would say good boy!! good sit, good sit! and i would give him a treat. i have used this procedure to teach all the dogs ive owned. Now my dog knows how to sit, stand, lay, eat is food when i say, put his head down, right now im teaching him this trick limp. besides all of that its always best to use treats that your dog absoultley loves like real chicken (even though i give my dog dried chicken or chicken jerky). when ever they do what you want get super excited and happy about it so they know you like what they are doing.

05-15-2010, 06:35 AM	#11
GnIndy Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 58	Indy is trained at mealtime, playtime, anytime. Start with a not overly excited and slightly hungry pup (morning was my favourite time to train initially). Let her know you have food in your hand, and when she sits, promptly give her a kibble within seconds. Keep repeating this and when she understands she should sit for each bit of food, start saying "sit" right before she sits. She'll soon understand that this word correlates with that action. Do this every day and she'll catch on even faster. Start teaching her other commands when she gets sit down pat. The same thing applies when you're playing. Indy loves playing fetch, but we ask her to sit (lay down/shake/twirl, etc.) each time before we throw the ball. No trick, no ball gets thrown. Since we're all having fun, it's not "work" to perform a trick, and for it's an easy way of reinforcing what she already knows to do. Good luck! And enjoy training her. __________________ "Me and Indy goes together like peas and carrots."