I'm failing PEOPLE SCHOOL for puppy owners

[Lanell in Colorado]

I left Zoe (born Feb 1) in Puppy School while I was on a cruise.  I had my first one hour session with her and the trainer yesterday and I'm allowed to pick her up on Saturday IF I learned all my lessons.

It's complicated.  Tension of the lease, right side, left side, tone of voice, speed of speech, specific words, walk fast, walk slow, eye contact.  When I did something, Zoe would do something.  Unfortunately, often I did something that caused her to do the wrong thing.  I definitely need more training.

The boarding / training kennel where I left her is well known in this area and has trained show dogs as well as family pets.  They specialize in getting puppy parents off to the right start.  Now Zoe knows all the right words, moments, and sounds .. but unfortunately I was on vacation and I don't speak the same language.  We were practicing our leash walking exercises: fast/slow, turn right/left, stop, start, stay, heel, walk.  I was walking along nicely and suddenly Zoe sat down: apparently I did something to the tension on the leash that told her to sit. Then we practiced 'stay' which she did perfectly, until I circled back and rewarded her with a 'calm, gentle stoke" which caused her to roll over to get her tummy rubbed.  BIG mistake on my part (said the trainer).  Apparently I was 'excited' and this caused Zoe to lose her concentration and act-out by rolling over.  She was supposed to stay still and receive her "calm gentle stroke".  This is difficult for me and my DOG is showing me up :-)  I'm just hoping she will be smart enough to figure out what I am trying to say and not pay attention to the wrong signals I am obviously conveying to her.

Before we left, I thought she was fairly well trained.  She walked on a leash, potties outside, came *usually) when called.  But there were signs that she was getting a mind of her own, thus 'puppy school'.  She is obviously a changed dog now and truly seems more obedient....or, 'receptive' to being obedient.  I suspect I have the ability to mess everything up very quickly if I don't learn my lessons well.

What are your experiences with training a puppy?  The 'clicking' for positive reinforcement did NOT work for us -- it only distracted Zoe.  The puppy school uses a serpentine lease and varying pressure to convey messages.  They do not hurt the dog, primarily approach is with reward treats and pets and accolades of 'good dog'.  It seems to work.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

We didn't do well with clicker training either although many people seem to love it. We used it until Tara became a teenager and then she just stopped doing ANYTHING until she was sure we had a treat in our hand. I'm pretty sure we messed up the training sequence some how plus, as you said, they are too darned smart for their own good sometimes. I still use treats when teaching her something new  but with old commands that she already understands she gets loves for obeying and a correction for not obeying. It took some time and experimenting with different training methods before we ended up with the combo treat/correction/loves method but it seems to work best for all of us.

It does all seem overwhelming at first but give it some time. You will do great and you have a very intelligent student which really helps a lot too!

[Tammy (Tanner & Molly) Houck]

I took my youngest doodle, Molly, to training and quickly learned that she is much smarter than I am.  I had previously done most of the training at home, as we moved to very rural area and there are only 2 schools, one about half and hour and one an hour drive, and I have had experience in training dogs.  Molly, however, was not properly socialized when she was young (we got her at 14 weeks) and I figured she would benefit from the socialization that school could offer.  Molly had no issues with the other dogs, but she was afraid of people.  The trainer immediately told me that my tone of voice was wrong, I walked her wrong (using a halti instead of a choker), and she could make her walk better.  She reached out to take Molly's leash, and my cute, fuzzy, loveable little doodle reacted like a tasmanian devil.  So much for the trainer trying to touch my girl!  We finished the 8-week class, and Molly's social skills are better, although I tell everyone to just ignore her (or in the words of Ceasar Milan "no touch, no talk, no eye contact) until she is comfortable.  The trainer took one last jab at me at graduation, even though Molly did everything perfectly, apparently "my voice is wrong and I will ruin my puppy".  She went so far as to tell my son she wasn't sure how he turned out so well.  Needless to say, if I ever decide to take another puppy for training we will travel to the school an hour away.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I guess that trainer hasn't learned that it isn't a good idea to insult your customers???? It sounds like you and Molly made a lot of progress in a short time.  Tara is reactive with people but more in the "I want to jump all over you" way! We try to get people to use the Cesar approach with her too but people just want to get their hands on these doodles!! Can't blame them really! :)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am impressed and think you and Zoe are now on your way to a wonderful situation.  You will have to keep up YOUR training not to mess her up.  I know my dogs all walk better for others than me - I just don't emit the best body language, I guess.  I am too 'stooopid' to do clicker training and click the clicker at the correct time.