Colby Morita's 6 Common Puppy Training Mistakes

(07-08-2012, 05:19 PM)TreeClimber Wrote: Haopee, when I went to my first dog training classes with my 6 month old Lab I thought "Thank goodness! Now she will learn how to be a good dog." I think it was the third session when it dawned on me that I was the one being trained, not the dog. The things she was learning she would learn over time with practice. I was the one who had the bad habits to break. You don't realize how your behavior affect how your dog will turn out. You don't realize the little things you are doing that are confusing your dog and contributing the problems that you blame on the dog.

Consistency within a household is very difficult. If it is only you, you only need to have yourself on board. But, when there are other household members who are involved it is challenging. Sometimes everyone doesn't agree as to the proper way to do things. Or, one person doesn't think letting something go will make that much difference. I see it with my Jack Russell and how she treats me as opposed to my mom. I get far more respect from the dog than my mom does.

My mom is always mad that the dogs follow her wherever she goes. I have told her not to feed them unless it is feeding time or she puts it in their bowls or if they earned it by doing tricks. She sees Chooey and thinks that because Chooey is so cute with those big round eye, the dog just wants to fed.

Now she starts locking the door to her room. Chooey will bark and call out desperately on her doorstep begging food because she was conditioned that there would be food on the other side.