Monday, October 26, 2009

Trainer update

A post by Lilli's Mummy

The training was was AMAZING! Within 5 minutes of the trainer (I'll call her G) arriving Lilli was already calmer. It's basically one word for everything and that is BAH! no using their name as a negative command (which I knew but we have both slipped into the habit of doing it) and even when they're relaxing you drop in a quiet bah! just to let them know you are the leader of the pack. Already it is working! I won't go into the techniques too much but we did the collar/lead training - getting her to sit beside me, stay, walk (free!) (which we've done before at school) and then we did the training on her waiting for me to walked through the door and gate first. The mental stimulation was so much for Lill that hers eyes were getting heavy he he

G also taught us how to stop her jumping on us when we want to cuddle on the lounge. Now Lilli has to be invited to come over to my part of the lounge.

G also wants me to take her off dry-food (I took her off canned food a few months ago on the advice of another dog trainer - all the advice out there is so confusing!) she said it can contribute to making dogs anxious. G also said not to use bowls but just scatter the food out into the backyard. This will solve the problem of Lilli fighting Jasmine over food. So far so good! So it's fresh fruit and vegetables and meat for Lill now (she already has chicken necks and sardines). I'm willing to give this a go if the outcome is a calmer dog! Today I've introduced her to carrots, celery, apple (she's had all of those in small amounts before). Now it's raining but I guess she just has to eat it all up before it gets too wet!

In the car yesterday she only sooked a little twice and both times I sent BAH! and she stopped. We've just done some homework and she was a very good girl. I man and a dog walked past across the road and she turned her head and watched them (maybe she could only see the man, although she would've have barked at him) I said BAH! and she didn't move (we were in the sit/stay position) A-MAZING!

G was here for 2.5 hours and I am so in awe of my new and improve little Lilli. For those of you who know me you will know Lilli is my life, I love my little sausage to bits!

3 comments:

Liss said...

Oh that sounds like great advice, I'm hoping it comes with long term results! I suppose Lilli being shorter than Jasmine will work to her advantage when forraging?

I think I need an offline update as the living arrangements at your place :D

Lilli said...

Well if you're implying that short people get what they want.....then YES! But in all seriousness they just go their own way when forraging and both have great nose to ground expertise.

No change to living arrangements although J practically lives here ;)

Sammi x

Taffy said...

Hi Lilli! Nice to meet you! My name is Twix and I am a red tweenie. I have my own blog too and would love for you to come and visit if you want. My mom said you look like her doxie before me, Max. Have a great day!
Snuggles,
Twix