When we got our chow chow the nearest dog training facility was 2 hours away so it wasn't an option, we had to train her ourselves. She was just a puppy around 3 months old but we found that she was receptive to training when she had already been walked or exercised. If a dog still has a lot of excess energy the chances of it paying attention to you is next to nil. A calm state of mind and being consistent is the best way to train your dog. It's not going to be an overnight lesson. I remember my 12 year old was just exhausted and frustrated when we were going through the process, I just told him to be patient and in a couple of weeks we had toilet trained chacha our chow as well as had her walking beside us on a leash, sit, stay, and come when she was called.
