training a wimp

[jeff m2]

the subject is a recently adopted 4 year old Malti poo.
Excellent recall, moderatly good sit, house trained, ultra friendly, she''ll lick you til her tongue bleeds.

But.....it is very difficult to train/handle her because she is so submissive she just turns to jelly, so teaching anything hands on is not possible.
I got a "target" and clicker, (Load target using treats and click for getting it right plus a treat) but the clicker scared the crap out her and she vanished under the dining room table and came out about an hour later with her tail down..
Regular use of training type collar is not recommended for these things evidently it is very easy to damage the windpipe (I double checked this with the Vet)

So this little thing is really a wimp of the first order,
I think once I can find a way of communicating with her she'll learn very quickly, a very gentle "no" is all it needs to teach her what not to do, like going on the flower beds, pool cover, jumping on us without being told. . 2 "no"s and she is solid.

Yes, this is my Wife's dog....it really is, but the thing relates to me .
obligatory picture below.

[Jasandjules]

High pitch "good girl" then hand treat.

[jeff m2]

Jasandjules said:

High pitch "good girl" then hand treat.

That's how I'm currently improving her sit, it works well, she "gets" it.
The problem is that she weighs in at just under 10lbs and is shoe level, so my poor back is suffering.

Hence the reason for trying to introduce a target stick, So I can get her from a front sit round to heel and teach her to walk alongside me like a real dog.
You cannot imagine how pissed off my wife was when I said that.

[Pjhuk33]

When we had our whippet pup, Dave he would not go out just stood at the door shaking like a leaf.
I found that he loved tennis balls so spent hours in the kitchen teaching him to fetch and drop. Then sit , wait etc.
I was very over the top with praise and treats and slowly we got him outside. Lots of social interaction with different people and dogs
Now he's great, confident and mostly obedient dog.
I have to keep working on him as he seems to forget every now and again.

[jeff m2]

Yep, nothing beats a tennis ball, except maybe a raw sirloin.

We got some mini tennis balls about the size of a ping pong ball, I use then as a playtime reward after training.
Training is going slowly, not helped by the weather, too much rain and snow..

[Wrathalanche]

It might be worth sticking with clicker training, but it doesn't have to be a clicker that you use. It can be anything that makes a sudden noise. I had a clicker training app on my phone once that let you change the "click" to all sorts of stuff. A duck's quack was a fun one. The process is the exact same regardless of what cue you use. You can even "clicker" train a deaf dog with a visual cue in place of the clicker to some extent. You just need to pair the cue up with rewards and good things happening.

You might find even just a clicker sound out a speaker is less scary that the actual clicker (which can be very sharp). Alternatively you could try your using your clicker within a pocket, or wrap it in a cloth to deaden the sound. Other ways around it can be starting using the clicker outdoors like in the garden or randomly during walks so that the dog hears it mixed in with all the other sounds and starts to get used to it before graduating to using it indoors in a quite environment.

I really rate clicker training. Its an awesome, gentle way to train because you don't need to go over the top with praise and rewards, which I feel can sometimes make the dog very reliant on YOU for confidence, which is fine until someone else needs to handle the dog. Clicker training can kind of remove you from the equation and make the dog focus on his own actions to earn the click, rather than constantly needing to read you. That's the point where confidence really starts to build, which sounds like it could be really beneficial for this pup!

[jeff m2]

Wrathalanche said:

It might be worth sticking with clicker training, but it doesn't have to be a clicker that you use. It can be anything that makes a sudden noise. I had a clicker training app on my phone once that let you change the "click" to all sorts of stuff. A duck's quack was a fun one. The process is the exact same regardless of what cue you use. You can even "clicker" train a deaf dog with a visual cue in place of the clicker to some extent. You just need to pair the cue up with rewards and good things happening.

You might find even just a clicker sound out a speaker is less scary that the actual clicker (which can be very sharp). Alternatively you could try your using your clicker within a pocket, or wrap it in a cloth to deaden the sound. Other ways around it can be starting using the clicker outdoors like in the garden or randomly during walks so that the dog hears it mixed in with all the other sounds and starts to get used to it before graduating to using it indoors in a quite environment.

I really rate clicker training. Its an awesome, gentle way to train because you don't need to go over the top with praise and rewards, which I feel can sometimes make the dog very reliant on YOU for confidence, which is fine until someone else needs to handle the dog. Clicker training can kind of remove you from the equation and make the dog focus on his own actions to earn the click, rather than constantly needing to read you. That's the point where confidence really starts to build, which sounds like it could be really beneficial for this pup!

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense