What would you change

[Jean]

What would ya change on how ya trained you pet if ya had it ta do over again. Me I would make sure she didn't dig still havin trouble with that one. Can't get her ta quite and not sure how ta stop it now have tried everything nothin works. Oh well got ta love her the little angel or should I say big Angel cause she is huge.

[sheltiepups]

hmm I'm still 'training' but what would I change? hmmm If I could some how go back and train Joker so that he was always looking at me that would be great.. lol

[animallover0200]

Cora and Copper were pretty much trained when I got them. The only thing that I DID change when I got them was, teaching them to go to the bathroom on the leash. This took a while but, they caught on after a couple of weeks.
Just in case you were wondering why, well: They used to be show dogs (wasn't looking for show dogs) and were rasied not to go to the bathroom on the leash so they wouldn't go while they were being shown. I never even thought about that before.

[Rip's Girl]

With Ripley's training, I would change almost everything. I never emphasised the "watch me" command, I used way too much force when he was younger(so, now, he is even harder than he was as a pup) and I let him get away with aggression. I would also go back and change the way I house trained him, and use the *crate, out, *no pee*, back in crate for 20 minutes, out again* method, so he would go immediately on command. Now, I dread taking him out to "go" because I am literally out there for 20 minutes, 3x a day, telling him to go to the bathroom. He really has to go, but he holds it in until the last possible second. It's infuriating and of all his problems, aggression included, I wish that I could change that about him.

[RedHotDobe]

Well Duke was trained (if that's what you want to call it) before I got him. But if I could go back before I got him, he would need some major socialization. He's so iffy around people and dogs. He generally loves kids, but adults and dogs are another story. Before I got him, his owner told me that there was only ever one dog he didn't like. Either he was telling a little less than the truth or Duke decided to make some changes in his new environment. After we got through the socialization issues, maybe I could teach him sitz...

I had originally tried to switch to German commands because his English commands were so lacking, but sitz sounds too much like sit, so he never really differentiated between the two. But if I hadn't let anyone but myself feed him treats in the first place, his sit would be flawless. It's only screwed up because someone would get a treat, say sit in a goofy voice, Duke wouldn't listen, they'd say it about 5 more times until he finally sat, and then reward him for such a good sit. So now he thinks sitting is an optional activity.

[Barrett]

I wish I hadn't used a ball as a reward for Bailey when I was training her. Now she is crazy for balls and it is almost impossible to divert her attention to anything else. I had to take them all away except for special occasions.

Also I would have taught Bailey the "drop" or "Give" command early as a puppy.
When Bailey got a hold of something I didn't want her to have I would give her a treat to get her to drop the item, sort of a trade. I wish I had never started doing that because she started stealing things just to get a treat. She still does this every once in a while and I have to ask her to drop the item a few times or try to get her to trade it with a toy. She will prance around in front of me with a slipper and stay just out of my reach. She won't drop it and tries to make me chase her for it and it drives me insane! Her tail is wagging like mad the whole time!

[Carrie]

she started stealing things just to get a treat

That's one smart dog!!! LOL. I can just see you....that little brat! LOL.

I would have liked to have had more kids around. There are very few around where I live. Lyric is very well socialized to adults, but not so well to kids. He's quite leery of them. However, after 15-20 minutes around them, he's pretty comfortable... even goes sledding with the kids across the street when they come here to sled, licks their cold, snowy faces and wags. He's gotten to know those ones. But the first time he sees kids, especially ones he's never seen before, he kind of backs away, not exactly fear, but just "stay away from me, you weirdo." I don't like that. It worries me. So, I wished I would have done something to import kids more. I know if he had grown up with kids like Bonnie or my GSD, he would have been great cuz he really does have a sweet disposition.

I could go on....if you want. LOL. I've been a little lazy on some stuff in general...turning up the speed now though. He's very, very distractable when he sees another dog and on the leash....he pulls. He sniffs people rears....stuff like that. I haven't taught him some of those manners. I don't always practice what I preach. So, gotta get busy!

[Barrett]

I wish Bailey was better with kids too. When she was a tiny pup she loved kids. She would drag me towards any kid she saw in petsmart. When she turned 6 months old she suddenly started barking at any toddler that got withing in 10 feet of her. I got worried and started taking her to the park so she could see little kids every day. I slowly (over the course of 2 months) got her to the point where she would play with them and let them walk her on the leash. She got so much better but as soon as I stopped taking her to the park everyday she began barking at toddlers again. Only toddlers too, 5 years and up are o.k for her but let her see a two year old and she barks her head off.

[Ritz459]

Hmmmm.......I wish I had taught Blackie and Rose to come a bit better. I've never really imphasized that even though I know it is important now. They'll only respond to the 'come' comand when they feel like it, if I have a really yummy treat in my hand, or they already know I'm giving out treats.
I also wish we had socialized both of our dogs better. I was only 6 when we had Blackie and Rose so I didn't now the importance of it and Dad was always at work at the Hospital and Mom had the twins to mess with. *sigh*....I think Blackie would be such a better dog if he had only been socialized more when he was younger.....he's fine with strange people and all but he is very aggresive around strange dogs that he hasn't been around for a while....Rose is very timid. She normally gets along well with other dogs but she is TERRIFIED of men. I have NO idea why either.....I can only thing I can make of that is that they have deep voices, thus, she thinks she is getting scolded when they talk.