i couldnt find the old forum that i was talking on....so i'll start here.
connie (the dog trainer) came over yesterday. from 3pm-4:40pm we were outside training the dogs to heel, sit, down. it was cool. ellie and gruffi-WHO ALWAYS PULL, were actually heeling. it was really neat. and people were walking by and none of them lunged. that was neat. they didnt even bark.
yay! i asked her if she could evaluate simba(my brothers dog) and she said sure. so we go to my brother house...we all knew simba was aggressive---anyway, so simba tried to bite connie a couple of times. she totally recommended that by brother should get rid of him because he has children in the house. simba looked sooo mean. which means that he cant be around people or our dogs ever again.
it sucks.
anyway--with our training. the girls are on martingaile collars and gruffi is on a choke collar. i told connie that i tried walking sprite on the collar and she just dragged and acted as though i was abusing her...you know what connie said "poor baby" but sarcastic. she took sprites leash, dragged her for 5 minutes--after that--- BOOM-- sprites walking perfect like she used to. she was doing the turns perfect, sitting automatically, it was awesome. and if you all remember my story about ellie not doing a down (the trainer had to work for 10 minutes and ellie finally did it)...anyway, so we're outside, she tells ellie to heel, then she tells ellie to sit, and then a down--SHE DID IT!! ellie is soo stubborn too. ellie coughed once--that was when we first walked out of the house, but then after that--ellie was corrected maybe 20 times(by cynthia) (very lightly) and then that was it--ellie has a problem heeling by sewers. after the trainer dragged sprite and corrected her a few times for heeling, i had to do the same thing, so i was walking sprite, i literally corrected her 3 times. it was really neat. and when you correct your dog, you do the correction when you say "no" and then you tell the command again. gruffi got corrected more than 100 times yesterday. he's really hard to focus. but by the end of training---he was perfect. my mom was watching from inside the house and she was amazed.
she literally dragged her. and walked back and forth for 5 minutes dragging her. i felt bad...but after a while sprite was heeling no problem.
OH! and the trainer said that sprite and ellie are the smartest maltese she's ever met. so im happy. i think maltese are just stubborn dogs though.
so when it was my turn, and if sprite lagged, i would do a correction (little yank on the leash) and said "no" at the same time. then after i would say "heel".
connie told us that when we start going to public places and people see how we do corrections---that they'd come up to us and tell us that we're cruel and mean. im thinking that if i do corrections now, then i wont have to do it later. you know?
Originally posted by doctorcathy@Jul 28 2004, 12:29 PM OH! and the trainer said that sprite and ellie are the smartest maltese she's ever met. so im happy. i think maltese are just stubborn dogs though.
LOL...nothing could be as stubborn as my Bassett Hound! That dog makes me SOOOO angry. And she is SO big...when she decides not to move...or to move for that matter...there is no stopping her!
I wish we had done better training her in the beginning. Our lab just learned so quick. I don't even remember teaching her to sit or come...she just did it....happily!
That is why I wanted to make sure we took Brinkley to puppy classes etc.
I did not want an inside dog that acted like my Bassett. I love her..don't get me wrong...but she can really light my fire sometimes too.
tlunn, is your basset an outside dog? and i totally know what you mean about him being stubborn. lol. gruffi sometimes acts like that!we tell him to sit and he pretends that we arent talking to him somtimes.
Originally posted by doctorcathy@Jul 30 2004, 09:17 AM tlunn, is your basset an outside dog? and i totally know what you mean about him being stubborn. lol. gruffi sometimes acts like that!we tell him to sit and he pretends that we arent talking to him somtimes.
Yes, she and the lab are both outside dogs...I wish she would learn something from the lab. Abbie (the bassett) just seems so STUPID! Sweet, but stupid! LOL
Part of the problem is that we were dog stupid when we got her and did not teach her proper commands early... <_<
The trainer man at petsmart said I will learn enough with Brinkley that I will be able to still teach her. He said they are never too old...or stubborn... :lol: He has never met MY bassett!
On the other hand, Brinkley can pick up a trick in like 5 minutes. One day of training, just the two of us and a cup of honey nut cheerios, and he sits, begs, dances on his back legs, and then last night, he learned to lay. He just picks it up SO quick. As did the lab. I think it probably has alot to do with temperaments and wanting to please. The lab and Brinkley are alot alike in temperaments...Annie (the lab) is just more hyper and large....LOL. I told hubby we were going to try the martingale thing for Abbey and see if that helped to get her attention better.
awww, that sucks about your basset and lab. well--it sucks for me, i love dogs and i remember that when we got gruffi, we told our mom that he's never gonna be an outside dog. even when we got him, he was born in Agua Dulce, CA *in winter* so it was under 30 degrees farenheit. anyway, so gruffi comes into the car, in the house---and he was hot! he was only 5 weeks old. when we would take him outside--he would want to stay there. now, if its too cold, he comes inside. lol.
he's a little baby.
*****update*****
ok, so we went to see my grandma yesterday. she lives in a nursing home and we havent taken gruffi there...ever. so im all nervous, but we put gruffis choke chain on and the girls have their harness (just cuz we can control them and it doesnt really matter if they lunge or pull). anyway, so i take gruffi inside---EVERYONE was scared. he looks like a sweet baby.
i was yanking on his choke chain sooo hard a few times. he would go crazy if anyone were to pet the girls and not him. but this one nurse came up to him and pet him, that was really cool of her. and he loved it, he didnt jump (thank god) and he did really well.
then we went to lunch. we went to this outdoor mall thingy and there were lots of people. i ordered the dogs a little sandwich from Quiznos (sorta like subway) and they loved it.....well, they loved the meat inside the sandwich.
Gruffi did well though. and i took some pics. i'll post them in a sec.
my point---the choke collar does WONDERS. he was focused, he let a kid pet him and he licked the kids arm (he usually goes for the face) and he(gruffi) was ADORABLE!
That is such a cute picture. I'm glad the trainings workin out!
I totally, completley know what you mean about a stubborn Basset Hound. Ours is so stubborn, and sometimes even mean! <_< She'll steal the Golden Retreiver's ball, food, toy, whatever and he won't do anything about it. She almost 5 and still does that! She only do her tricks or commands if she sees you have a "cookie" for her. Lol! She is so smart though. I love her to death!
on tuesday is our next training session. i dont remember if she wanted to walk around the neighborhood or to take the dogs to granary square (its a little shopping center with a starbucks and a bagel place-people can take their dogs and eat outside). im actually feeling confidant now.
im glad all of you like the pics. if we go out to granary square this tuesday then i'll take some more pics. i wish now that i took more pics when we went to lunch with our grandma. the only time all three of the dogs barked was when this lady was shaking her key chains and it sounded like tags on a dog collar clinking together. so they thought there was a dog near by.
i met a blind lady at school and she had a guide dog. i asked, she said no, and the dog was soo cute and good. when we were in class, i could hear him licking his paws.
Doctor Cathy, Where did you get the Martingale collars with the chain attached? Is that the type you use on the Maltese? I have seen several Uncle Matty Videos and have read two of his books. I like his technique but I have been nervous with the choke type collars. I read somewhere that the noise of the chain makes as much impact on the dog as the slight tug. Did you know Uncle Matty owned a maltese in the past? Her name was Princess.
bellas mom...i totally didnt know that he owned a maltese!!! thats soo cool. i remember asking him too about how to correct the girls. he was like "i train them just like i train big dogs, with choke chains". the lady i'm working with (Shes from uncle matty) gave me the nylon choke collars at first, and then--i guess because she could tell i was super nervous at using it..gave me the martingale collar. you can buy it at petsmart. i definitely know that petsmart.com has it. and when the chain closes on their neck--it gets like pretty snug. i still feel hesitant using it though! lol. but it definitely works.
and i get what you're saying about the sound of the chain....cuz now when gruffi hears it, he stops what hes doing. BUT yesterday, we were out on a walk and he just kept on pulling to go toward a jack russell.
***today we have training, and we're going to granary square. its a little shopping center with a Ralphs, Longs, Bagel Store, Vet Clinic, Sports Store, tanning salon, and a Pet store. so theres going to be a lot of people and few dogs. thats what the trainer wanted.
On September 26(i think thats the day) my city is having a Bow-wow and Meows pet fair. so i'm going to ask Connie (the trainer) to have a session during that. i'm going to post tomorrow how the training goes.
doctorcathy,
I'm so taken with this thread about training the girls not to pull. Rocco has the same problem when we walk. He will not heel under any circumstance, except when we hit a street corner. Its amazing that for such a small dog (he's almost 9 pounds) that he has such a strong pull that when he does pull, he pulls me with him. When I try to pull him close, he just plops his butt right there on the sidewalk and refuses to move. I drag him, and, like Nicole, am afraid PETA is going to be after my butt one of these days, so I just give up. Please keep us updated...
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