[Mister]

Ha ha no! Anyone you ask will say that i train in a harder manner than most. I am their boss and they will listen.
I have Mister who is 50 lbs and he is treated like a dog. I also have a 5 pound Chihuahua that is treated like a dog, no purses or carrying her around everywhere. She actually prefers to run on the ground with my other dogs.
When you get to babying dogs you get problems. They need to know where they stand in your life. It makes their job easier and yours too.
My dogs listen to a T because thats what i expect of them. The Chihuahua and the Spoo alike!

 

[Mister]

Hmm well if he has the instant sit then the down shouldnt be too hard. I dont give mister hand signals he is voice trained so i just tell him down and he plops down instantly. Its easier for them than sitting especially if they are in a long down stay position.
I just started telling him down with a voice and hand signal then once he was getting used to it i dropped the hand signal and now he just knows down. I started initially with treats but Mister will do whatever i ask him to without treats and sometimes he gets treats. I want him to know that he has to do it when i ask regardless if there is a reward in it for him. It can be a safety thing too. He needs to listen at all times with or without treats.
When i start new things or new tricks i start with treats just so he has that instant reward when he did the thing right and it makes him more interested in doing the weird trick initially but once he gets it i only give treats occasionally.
Hope that sort of helps.
I dont know how i train it just sort of happens. I also speak to him a lot, he isnt like a dog. Well i mean he is but i speak to him sometimes like hes a human lol. Poodles are jsut so intelligent.

 

[Mister]

Marian- That might confuse your dog... i would teach him the heel command for when he is on the shorter leash so he knows that you want him to stay right next to you.
Mister knows that when he is on a leash he should be right next to me and he is also VERY good off leash. He will also heel off leash if asked. He has excellent recall which really comes in handy. My senior mutt will still to this day try to run away/ explore the neighborhood if she gets the chance. She's 15 and still does this lol. I decided that my next dog would be good off leash and would never bolt. Gracie my Chi and Mister both listen very well off leash. Its a very good skill to teach them.

 

[Mister]

Oh and yeah ive gotten the looks too from people when they hear me talking to my Pood...oh well lol.