This morning for the 3rd time Tasha slipped out the front door off leash and gave me a good run for my money along with 2 neighbors and 1 of the neighbor's dogs.  We eventually caught the little squirt. Well, she's not SO little now. She is 9 mos old this week and full of herself!.  One of the neighbors couldn't believe how fast Tasha runs and that is the main problem. I know we need some discipline/training and where I live I have 2 choices.

 

First choice are classes at Petsmart-type stores. Prices seem high and I've been told attention isn't very individualized.  She already knows how to sit, but other than understanding a myriad of words, that's about it.

 

Second choice is a dog trainer who trains all sorts of dogs including police dogs, bombsniffing dogs and family pets.  He is a policeman and the male half of the couple who run the doggie day care place that Tasha goes to one day a week. The way he trains family pets is that he begins by spending 2 hrs ($40) with us and the dog, separate at first and then together.  Follow up sessions are $10.

 

Which would recommend?  Why?

 

frustrated in No.CA

aka

LouAnne

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I need to add that we live on a dead end court with only 9 homes. If we were on a busy street, this would be a very serious problem.

before you get a trainer there is a method you can try Victoria Stillwell has done on her shows and trust me, its works!! have you have tough her the "wait" command?

1st: what u do is "start" up the command. get her to sit and try and get her to stay as u put the food on the ground. if she even moves the tiniest bit stand back up. try to continue to put the treat on the ground. once she is still but looking at the treat, say "wait" with your index finger pointing up so that is your signal. if she dosnt move give her the treat. 

 

repeat this until she fully understands what you mean. this will be hard since corgis are always hungry:) keep the sessions short.

 

when she gets the command, get in front of the door. get her to sit. and open the door just a tiny bit and use your finger as a signal and say wait with full eye contact. if she moves just walk in to her and get her to sit. eventualy she will get the hint that the door dosnt open if she moves. 

eventually after practicing u will be able to get her to sit when the door open. keep full eye contact when doing this as that sends a strong body signal along with pointing your finger up as she will remember what that signal means. dogs watch us more than they listen so that is why u give a signal when teaching.

 

it wont happen over night so dont get frustrated:) it will take a few days and when she learns it all u have to do is say wait

I think she's also the one that teaches "your spot."  You have a spot for the dog in your house that is their spot - you teach them to go and sit on that spot when  you say "spot" and point.  Then you do stay, when they get the spot thing.  Then whenever you open the door, she is required to go to her spot.

The wait command is good and I would work on a really reliable recall. Take really good treats (hot dog pieces or chicken about nickel sized) and go out leashed. Call " Come Tasha" using your happiest voice and immediately pull her to you and give a treat. Do it over and over a few times giving her more time before you bring her to you. Practice this every day at least a couple times. Remember NEVER EVER call her to punish her only for good things. You have to catch her if you plan to scold her. A recall should only be used for good. As far as which class, I would meet with the instructors and see who you feel comfortable with. Petsmart is no more likely to be good or bad than a private individual. I always feel classes are worth the money!

Classes are great and what I believe is important is learning with more dogs then your dog alone as they learn with distractions:) Sage is my best and we learned to sit and "wait" until I release her to go out the door! It does work:)

Go and observe both, not all petsmart trainers are the same, some are good, some are great with more experience than others, it really depends on which training method you prefer and how comfortable you are with the trainer. I had a fantastic trainer that used to teach at petsmart and then later moved on to bigger greater things. You can ask and choose a class with less people, most people drop out and end up with less than a handful near the end. If your schedule is not flexible, don't pick a class with thanksgiving and xmas in the same period.

 

Go and observe a few sessions of your local county K9 unit, I've met k9 units in Brevard county, Florida and Toronto, Ontario, very different dogs, very different training methods from the mainstream. 

 

Regardless of trainers, the magic happens daily at home, practice makes perfect :)

OK...I think that this is my story!!!!hahhahahahhaha....We live in a court with 10 houses and Lily is 9 months now and runs like a crazy dog when she can.... I decided not to follow her and call , call, to make her stop.It's not fun...when she came to me , we go home. No more walks to Mss Lily.

Renata: Where did you get your Lily?  If you are in California, was it from a breeder in Fresno by chance. Tasha just turned 9 mos. old this week. She was born on 3/7/10.  We certainly seem to be living parallel lives, eh?

Second choice definately! Much better to have one on one attention with this type of issue. Also he will be able to see it happen and tell you how to correct the behavior as its happening. And $40 for a 2 hour session is CHEAP. I had to pay $65 for a 45 minute session with a private trainer. Also, many times you will only need 1 or 2 sessions when they are private.

  

Also, don't chase her when she runs out. It's probably become the most fun game in the world for her. Oftentimes if a dog won't come, you can get them to come by calling their name in a really high pitched voice and run the opposite direction once they look at you. It is a fool proof method. Also remember to praise her when/if she does come. I know its hard if you've been chasing her around but to them if they finally decide to come to you and then you reprimand, they think "ok so I came and got in trouble" they don't remember the half hour run around they just gave you!

I would go with the second, because of the individual attention. Where we went we where one of 2 owners. so we got 50% of the attention and it give the trainer more time to notice behaviour to work on with your dog, and the more they can correct and guide you in doing this right/better. Like other have mentioned, the wait command, best thing ever. The difference between wait and stay is that the dog must stay on the other one side of the threshold they can more and walk and sit and play as long as they don't cross the threshold. You start with a leash on, set up a threshold that is clear for the dog to see and learn eg. door way(you can use one in between to rooms at first, or a rug to hard floor. Have them sit, then say wait, move across threshold and wait, at first they want to follow so walk into then until they back up onto the right side of the threshold. Then use a release "command" or a "come" and guide them through with the leash. your dog can move and do what ever they want so don't worry about them staying in a sit or anything. Once they get it in one spot, practice with different spots, all door ways eventually, eventually it will lead to them waiting for your permission whether it is guiding with leash or you saying they can go out side. I find this great when we have our hands full and we don't want them out side. Or when new people are going in and out of your house. The wait command is also great for teaching them boundries if you want to teash them not to be in lest stay the kichen or a certain bedroom.

# 2 seems like a great deal. Where I live each individual session is an hour long and costs around $100

Good advice: do not chase! It sounds like your doggy had a lot of fun that day. My Lilli has learned a fun game of her own. If possible, she will take off from the front yard and run to the neighbors' back yard. If I am the one who let her out, I call her, "Come, Lilliput!" She dithers, sulks, but comes. If DH is the one, she RUNS! He chases. The neighbors chase. Dogs bark, people yell, oh what fun for Lilli! DH doesn't know that she only goes to the next-door-neighbor's back yard to wait. He doesn't believe that you only yell "Come!" one time.

This situation has come about because only I take the dogs to training classes, and only I practice the lessons at home. I believe that DH falls under a "guy" characteristic, that will not allow him to listen to me when I tell him how to train the dog. If a trainer told him instead, he'd believe it in heartbeat. So when you say the trainer would spend time with "us", that, I believe would be better than "you" going to classes.  Keep that in mind. Whichever choice you make, a unified front is necessary.

And I vote for #2. There are many, many good choices where I live, but with only those two choices, #2 seems better. It still seems odd to me, but the price is right, and Petsmart seems iffy (cuz I'm spoiled.)

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