NILF Training

[stajbs]

It was tough the first time I saw Jewel or Silva hang their heads and appear sad or confused when told no with a corrective tone. We're not talking yelling or bellowing either, it was almost as if the word and the tone broke their little hearts. We learned that a simple lightly spoken "uh ah" or "leave it" etc. worked best. Geez the first time I told Silva no I swore if she were human she would have cried, Jewel looked similar. I remember going back to them immediately and distracting them in some positive way like you would re-direct a 1 or 2 year old toddler.

RFD, we had a 5 year old boy we rescued, he was with us for seven years until he passed, his name was Thorn. He had lived primarily with sled dog folks most of his life. Not that I think he was mistreated but his ability to trust was almost nil. He was more used to being in harness than having a leash hooked to his collar and going for a walk. Well, he was a darned stump puller on a leash. lol Probably why he excelled in weight pull and also made a great wheel dog on our rec team. The first few times I tried to walk him, he put his head down, dug in and pulled soooo hard. It truly was like a tug of war and he was the winner. Any leash correction I gave and he became paralyzed. He just froze. Well that wasn't working. He was not especially food motivated either so it was a challenge to walk him. Walking him was never easy but it did improve as the years went by.

Life lesson for us: not all dogs of the same breed behave the same, and you definitely better factor in their previous environment(s) and history if you wished to have a successful positive relationship. It got so that any challenge that came along we would sit back and say "okay, what did we do wrong, what can we change to improve or eliminate this problem." That is truly the challenge I love about sharing my life with dogs.

[MollyWoppy]

Up until my dog was 2, she thought her name was 'NO'!
But now she is out of her teenage rebellion years she is almost perfect.
Just like kids.
I dont know if it is a herding breed thing, but they do read your body language a lot more than you realise. Mine will react to what my body is saying as opposed to what is coming out of my mouth. You can't fool them.

[chowder]

My Thor is like that. We have to be very careful on correcting him. Even when we are asking him to do something if its in a stern voice he gets upset and confused. You have to stay very positive with him all the time.

That's how Rocky is. Today he wiggled while I was brushing him and I just said 'ah ah ' and he froze. He absolutely can't stand to be scolded or have your voice raised at all and we've had him since he was 8 weeks old. It's just in his nature. Everything has to be 100% positive all the time with him.

Chelsy, on the other hand, is a true Lhasa......you can scold her until your eyes bleed and she totally ignores you Good thing she is one of the worlds only sweet Lhasa's.

[magicre]

i'd love to use positive training with bubba...although i cannot raise my voice at all....he's very sensitive and his feelings get hurt so easily...

but food...which is what drives this boy....i just can't do it in his training.

when he went through the grate fear, we used food to help him get past them..now he stops and there is a look in his eye...and it ain't fear...it's where's the food.

i now stop.
and then say, come on, bubba, let's go..and he goes...like i don't know what he's up to...smart dog....very smart dog...

when he misbehaves, we have gestures....or i will put him on a leash if he is too excited...

like teaching him about the no pug zone between the rug and the door....if he doesn't sit and is doing back flips, i just put his leash on and put my hand on his behind and he sits. he's not happy, but he sits. it's better than yelling at him.

hissing like a snake, though....i just discovered that sound....stops him in his tracks LOL