Are you the pack leader?

[susan lynn]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

I personally haven't seen that many overtrained dogs. A lot of what I see are dogs with a couple of months of obedience when they were puppies and people too busy to work with their dogs much at all consistently. The dogs are bored silly and maybe get a walk 3 times a week and then my friends wonder why their dog is neurotic with a touch of OCD, peeing everywhere, doesn't come when called and chewing, barking too much. Those dogs don't seem very happy either. And the owners really aren't. I wish those people would spend some more time working with and nurturing their dog's needs to work and have mental challenges.

I wish now I had spent more time training mine, I just got overwhelmed with 4, but they have a wonderful loving home and are well taken care of, that to me, is better than a lot more than some dogs have.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by susan lynn

I have 4 Yorkies now, ages 2-4, 2 females (spayed) 2 males (neutered) they used to do pretty good about potty and rules until I added the last female, she destroyed all the rules and causes a lot of confusion. she is very hyper. so now we really have no control or rules. The girls always use the potty pads, the boys do sometimes or will go out side, sometimes. My youngest male thinks he can lift his leg and pee on anything. I have tried everything to stop him, but no luck. They all are in control no matter what me or my husband do or say. They in the most part are good dogs. They are just very spoiled and they rule the house. I think it is a Yorkie thing, I try but love them to much to discipline them like I should, especially when they look at you with that cute little face and give you a million licks every day. Nothing like Yorkie Love!

L!OL. I love the Yorkie sass-back attitude! Such fuzzy little dictators - nothing cuter.

[susan lynn]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

L!OL. I love the Yorkie sass-back attitude! Such fuzzy little dictators - nothing cuter.

This is why my little girl is named Miss Sassy Baby (BRAT)!

[kjc]

I don't think Yorkies are ever too old to train.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by kjc

I don't think Yorkies are ever too old to train.

No kidding. Tibbe is 5 1/2 and loves his obedience and training work even more than he did when he was young. He's getting smarter and smarter.

[Perrella]

We only have Zhoie, but I have to say I'm definitely alpha. There was no actual training on our behalf, I believe Zhoie just chose me. I did teach the basic commands as a pup, sit, down, stay, drop-it, shake, wait. I still reinforce them all as a game. The one that took the longest was...wait. We will be playing crazy with a ball on the floor, I stop, tell bar down, she will then lay down and I put my two fingers by my eye and lay the mini tennis ball between her front legs and say "wait". Zhoie never breaks eye contact, nor do I. When I say "ok" she grabs the ball up and twirls, she is so proud of herself, LOL. The other thing DH & I both notice is, she will back up to let me go in first out a door, she never steps out until I say ok. Now with DH, she will sometimes let him go first. If DH gets to the door first and tells Zhoie "ok" to go ahead, she will still look to me and wait. I even tried telling her it's ok, go ahead, but nope, she will wait everytime for me to go first. I figure it's important to her, so don't ruin a good thing.

[gracielove]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

I personally haven't seen that many overtrained dogs. A lot of what I see are dogs with a couple of months of obedience when they were puppies and people too busy to work with their dogs much at all consistently. The dogs are bored silly and maybe get a walk 3 times a week and then my friends wonder why their dog is neurotic with a touch of OCD, peeing everywhere, doesn't come when called and chewing, barking too much. Those dogs don't seem very happy either. And the owners really aren't. I wish those people would spend some more time working with and nurturing their dog's needs to work and have mental challenges.

Oh, I agree. Most dogs have little or no training and are bored half to death. People take them to a puppy class or two and then give up on the training.
Part of my family was very into obedience trials and some agility. While my family were not the neurotic trainers there were some people I met that were just way overboard about having the best trained dog. There were some things that they would train their dogs to do that had no obvious purpose and to me it bordered on abuse just as the idea of dominating a dog seems quite abusive to me at times.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by gracielove

Oh, I agree. Most dogs have little or no training and are bored half to death. People take them to a puppy class or two and then give up on the training.
Part of my family was very into obedience trials and some agility. While my family were not the neurotic trainers there were some people I met that were just way overboard about having the best trained dog. There were some things that they would train their dogs to do that had no obvious purpose and to me it bordered on abuse just as the idea of dominating a dog seems quite abusive to me at times.

Oh, that's a shame that dogs were trained that way. I hate to see that as much as the undertrained ones that are having problems. You'd think they would want a happy, relaxed dog if they were going to put all of that effort into training! I've seen some military dogs that seemed overtrained but boy, did they seem happy and at one with their handler. I wouldn't want or need a dog trained like some of them need to be but I do love the way a well-trained dog lives about the house. They are nothing but pleasure to have around.

[Buster Brown]

Originally Posted by kjc

I don't think Yorkies are ever too old to train.

I agree they are so smart and with that terrier spunk they really need the challenge of learning. It is so much fun when you see the training idea click with them and how proud they are of themselves. When you make it fun for them they look forward to training.

[Charlies Mamma]

Originally Posted by Buster Brown

I agree they are so smart and with that terrier spunk they really need the challenge of learning. It is so much fun when you see the training idea click with them and how proud they are of themselves. When you make it fun for them they look forward to training.

This is interesting, there are some things that would be fun for charlie to learn but I figured he was to old I guess I thought that needed to be done when he was a pup. He s 6 now.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by Charlies Mamma

This is interesting, there are some things that would be fun for charlie to learn but I figured he was to old I guess I thought that needed to be done when he was a pup. He s 6 now.

Oh, no, a dog is rarely too old to learn unless he is really old and senile. Tibbe is 5 1/2 and he learns new things, tricks all the time. We work on training and obedience just about every day. He adores it! He will beg me to train. He loves jumping over small things on command and things like that, too.

[Charlies Mamma]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

Oh, no, a dog is rarely too old to learn unless he is really old and senile. Tibbe is 5 1/2 and he learns new things, tricks all the time. We work on training and obedience just about every day. He adores it! He will beg me to train. He loves jumping over small things on command and things like that, too.

Im guessing I would have to take him to a class as I have no "training in training" LOL maybe I need a class for myself course Im pretty old and close to senile

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by Charlies Mamma

Im guessing I would have to take him to a class as I have no "training in training" LOL maybe I need a class for myself course Im pretty old and close to senile

LOL. Yes, I had to learn how to train some myself but just reading a good book or two about it will get you started. The dogs just love the training. They really get into achieving and working toward a goal, getting all that positive reinforcement. Tibbe likes it almost as much as food!

[Charlies Mamma]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

LOL. Yes, I had to learn how to train some myself but just reading a good book or two about it will get you started. The dogs just love the training. They really get into achieving and working toward a goal, getting all that positive reinforcement. Tibbe likes it almost as much as food!

is a class of other dogs beneficial or is it better to just have me try to train him alone? you know is it like kids wanting to do what the other kids are doing kind of thing.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by Charlies Mamma

is a class of other dogs beneficial or is it better to just have me try to train him alone? you know is it like kids wanting to do what the other kids are doing kind of thing.

I personally find the dogs do better without the distraction of other dogs and their people, the excitement of the setting. You and your dog can probably achieve more with a good sound obedience program you've just read about. Often the trainers at the pet stores, etc., are young people that aren't that good or even give the best advice, really, though I'm sure some of the programs are great. But whatever works for you and your dog is what you should do. I just enjoy it so much because the dogs have such fun actually getting to use their brains and work with their owner getting something done. They eat it up!