[Marian]

Down was probably the easiest command to teach Teddy. In fact, he will go into that position without even being told whenever he thinks I have a treat for him.

I don't think I baby him. When we're walking on a crowded sidewalk, and he starts to get ahead of me, I give his lead a little jerk and he slows down and keeps looking at me while walking right next to me with full slack on the lead. I love that, but if he forgets and goes ahead again, he gets pulled back.

Is it possible to teach a dog that it's okay to run ahead and explore if he's on the flexi lead, but if I have him on the short lead, he has to stay right next to me, or is that too confusing for them?

 

[Marian]

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.

I do that too! I was in a store the other day, looking for a shoulder bag and I had him with me (holding him). I couldn't decide which of two particular bags I wanted, so I asked Teddy, "what do you think?" He looked at me and moved his ears a little. So I said, "yeah, I think that one's better too. OK, let's get out of here." Sometimes people near me will look to see who I'm talking to, but once they see Ted, they just smile and go back to what they were doing.

 

[Marian]

OK, I get it. I do sometimes say the word 'heel', but if it's very noisy, I get a better response from a quick tug on the lead, so I've been working more with getting what I want from him non-verbally (except to praise him when does it right). Thanks--the real secret to dog training is patience!

PS I'd rather talk to my poodle than a lot of people!

 

[Marian]

Every single day a stranger comments to me about how quiet and well-behaved Teddy is. A few have even said that they always think of poodles as being high strung and yappy. I have no idea where they got that idea from!