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Originally Posted by dusuwho  Thanks Nicola Ive tried this one in a half hearted way to be honest. If it worked for you I'll be more confident in it from now on. Many thanks...... |
Yeah i think that's the trick - consistency. there are many different ways to train - different approaches etc but i think the key is to be consistent. if i let bruce get away with something once, he tends to try it on for a bit - he's a mischevious little thing! different ways work for different people as long as they are consistent.
what i also found useful is to have a 'time out zone' - somewhere with no stimulation and no reward for being there. (in other words don't use his crate as otherwise he may end up seeing bed time as a punishment lol). it's almost like the naughty step principle! if i have guests round and he gets too excited, i'll put him in there til he calms down. I repeat this process til he realises if he keeps calm he gets to be where the fun's at! wait a few minutes after he stops whining or having a tantrum before you let him back in with you so he realises it's the 'being quiet and calm bit' that get's him what he wants.
training can really start to boggle your mind when you're reading up - i found it quite overwhelming when i first started training bruce as there are so many ideas and approaches, often which conflict with each other. i decided to stick to the positive reward based methods because i was new to dog training. in my opinion, if you make mistakes using this method the only real negatives are going to be that your dog won't do what you want. i was wary of using the more traditional methods as although they can work, your timing is key and only experience can bring that. and if you get this wrong, i believe it is easier to create a more negative behaviour than that which you started with.
I would recommend searching books which are 'positive reward based' and also maybe consider clicker training (although again, timing is critical for that too!)
you'll get there!
Jason, Emily and MAXIMUS 
Missy
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