I guess this is my first post here, so, hi, I'm Sarah, I live in Seattle, I have a puppy who was born May 7 so he's about 15 weeks old now. His name is Louie and he's a long-haired chihuhaua. He's big for a chihuahua, almost 4 pounds already. I'm glad he'll be a good solid size but still small enough to take everywhere with me. He's very sweet and cuddly and eager to learn, and very smart.
I came to this forum after searching google for forums on dog training, so I hope it's okay for me to ask some training questions here.
We've taken a 4 week puppy kindergarten class, Louie has "sit" on verbal command very well. He can do "down" with a lure but he thinks he's supposed to put his paws on the lure We're working on coming when called, "drop it", "leave it", and I even got him to rollover a couple times just for fun. He also has "go potty" on command, but sometimes that means #1, sometimes it means #2, sometimes both... I've tried separating the two toilet actions to put both on command, but he doesn't seem to get it for some reason.
He's not going to be a competitor in any way, just a companion, but I want him to be well-behaved.
My main goal is to have a dog I can communicate with -- verbally or hand signals -- to say "sit," "drop it," "leave it," "come," "wait," "go to your spot," "stay," "settle," "lie down," "off the couch," etc. I also think it would be fun to have a dog who can "shake," "wave hello," "dance," "rollover," and maybe even find something I ask for and bring it to me, wouldn't it be awesome if he went to my cell phone when it rings and brought it to me? Ha ha.
But I don't want to confuse him or me by working too many things at once. That seems like a big long list to me! How long will things like that take? Can I work on multiple things at once, or should I "check them off the list" one at a time?
I got a clicker the other day, but haven't really gotten into training with it too much. I'm not sure he understands what it's for... I'm not sure I understand it entirely. I'm still reading "Click for Joy" and am thinking about getting another book on clicker training but am not sure which one.
So if you have any advice on any of the issues we're having, or any advice on where to go next, or on a book I should check out, I'm all ears. Thanks everyone!
I came to this forum after searching google for forums on dog training, so I hope it's okay for me to ask some training questions here.
We've taken a 4 week puppy kindergarten class, Louie has "sit" on verbal command very well. He can do "down" with a lure but he thinks he's supposed to put his paws on the lure We're working on coming when called, "drop it", "leave it", and I even got him to rollover a couple times just for fun. He also has "go potty" on command, but sometimes that means #1, sometimes it means #2, sometimes both... I've tried separating the two toilet actions to put both on command, but he doesn't seem to get it for some reason.
He's not going to be a competitor in any way, just a companion, but I want him to be well-behaved.
My main goal is to have a dog I can communicate with -- verbally or hand signals -- to say "sit," "drop it," "leave it," "come," "wait," "go to your spot," "stay," "settle," "lie down," "off the couch," etc. I also think it would be fun to have a dog who can "shake," "wave hello," "dance," "rollover," and maybe even find something I ask for and bring it to me, wouldn't it be awesome if he went to my cell phone when it rings and brought it to me? Ha ha.
But I don't want to confuse him or me by working too many things at once. That seems like a big long list to me! How long will things like that take? Can I work on multiple things at once, or should I "check them off the list" one at a time?
I got a clicker the other day, but haven't really gotten into training with it too much. I'm not sure he understands what it's for... I'm not sure I understand it entirely. I'm still reading "Click for Joy" and am thinking about getting another book on clicker training but am not sure which one.
So if you have any advice on any of the issues we're having, or any advice on where to go next, or on a book I should check out, I'm all ears. Thanks everyone!