misbehaving lurcher

[pixiepatch 0]

Can anyone help me ? I have an 18 month old bull greyhound bitch . I have had her since a pup and she was always been brilliant but recently she has become very disobediant . Im not sure whether its my training or her breed , she will sit and stay ,walk on the lead fine come back to me and retrieve (the last two a bit relectantly sometimes !) but the more i try and train her the worse she gets. I only do short training sessions and then let her have a blast ! But she seems to poody quite often even when i give her praise and make fuss of her. She spent most of her puphood being taken out with a springer of the same age , wether this has affected her i dont know , but she is a lovely bitch and i really want to trust her not to go too far ahead and be more obediant.

[Casso 1,261]

Can anyone help me ? I have an 18 month old bull greyhound bitch . I have had her since a pup and she was always been brilliant but recently she has become very disobediant . Im not sure whether its my training or her breed , she will sit and stay ,walk on the lead fine come back to me and retrieve (the last two a bit relectantly sometimes !) but the more i try and train her the worse she gets. I only do short training sessions and then let her have a blast ! But she seems to poody quite often even when i give her praise and make fuss of her. She spent most of her puphood being taken out with a springer of the same age , wether this has affected her i dont know , but she is a lovely bitch and i really want to trust her not to go too far ahead and be more obediant.

dont worry bout training for now, concentrate on tug play, if the training isn't working with her,change it or it will only make things worse, most bull crosses have a high drive, drive is what you should be stimulating her through, make yourself more interesting to the bitch when out,

train through play, it must be exciting for her, you wouldn't bring a mate round and make them sit through 2 hours of opera ,because they would soon take themselves else where as well, get her hooked on tug play,which will stimulate her drive, and she will start looking at you as an exciting prospect to be near and to interact with,,

[skycat 6,173]

The problem with 'training sessions' is that the they can be boring as hell for the dog, or as exciting as anything: it all depends on the trainer. Most kids can remember a special teacher they had at school, someone who made everything really interesting. This is what you have to do with your dog. You must make everything fun, a game, exciting.

Look at it this way>: if someone tells you to sit, stay and fetch a boring old dummy which you have done umpteen times before: well, you'd pretty soon get hacked off with the whole thing: you know what's coming, its not new and interesting, so why bother?

 

I do very little 'training' as in just training. I do most of my training when we are out for a walk.

 

But first you need to get the dog pleased and happy to be around you, and like Casso says, playing games like tug of war, is a great way to get the dog to look at you as the source of its fun, somewhere it can let off lots of energy, and at the same time be close to you. Once your dog sees you as something great to be around, the rest follows pretty easily in most cases.

 

By the way: what is 'poody'? Not heard that word before: do you mean sulky?

 

If she has only learned to play with other dogs (the springer) then she probably won't see you in the same fun way as she sees another dog. Whilst she'll never see you quite like another dog, thankfully, it does sound as though she has been 'damped down' around humans.

 

A lot of people tell pups off for doing what is only natural and instinctive: chewing shoes, jumping up at people, digging in lawns: all stuff which is normal for dogs, but then they get told off by people. So they learn to see people as creatures which don't understand dogs: and its not nice to be around someone who never plays in the way the dog understands. We have to get into the minds of the dogs to understand how to connect with them on their level.

 

You need to create that feel good factor between you and your dog. How are you praising your dog when it does something right? Do you change your tone of voice? Do you pat the dog or rub the side of its neck? Do you bend over it, or do you get down on the ground and have a good wrestle?

When you do a retrieve: do you just throw the dummy and expect the dog to fetch it? Or do you play tug, then throw the dummy, then have another bit of the tug game before asking the dog to give it up?

 

I'm asking these questions so you can stand back and ask yourself how your dog sees you.

[123456 146]

Very good skykat.

[pixiepatch 0]

Thank you both for your help ,after reading both answers i realised that everything you were saying made sense . I wasnt making anything fun , i was speaking to her in the same tone of voice and everything was training and no fun . it was no wonder she didnt want to know me ! I am so glad i posted this on here as it was beginning to get me down a bit , but now i look foreward to some fun times with my dog . so thank you both once again ! by the way poody is the same as sulking !