[Fenris-wolf]

I know that I've gotten advice before, but today was a really bad day with Sisko and I was wondering if I could have some support if okay. He was a nightmare outside today, wanting to look at everyone and not do what he was supposed to, like we've never trained before!! I do the exact same thing everyday outside with him and he was doing quite well for a bit.

So I've been pretty down today, and my mom said either get through this or send Sisko back. Each time she says this I feel like yelling: YOU DONT HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS EVERYDAY, AND IF EVERYONE HAD GOTTEN ON BOARD WITH TRAINING HIM, HE WOULD NOT BE LIKE THIS.

I know this is a journey.

 

[fjm]

Could he be bored? Can you change things round a bit, walk in a different direction, run and twist and have fun? Produce a wonderful treat for no reason whatsoever, just for love? Sing silly songs, teach him to dance, play follow the leader, go home and play hunt the treat, do anything you both enjoy. It sounds to me as if you both have a fairly low frustration level, and things then spiral - you get more and more frustrated and anxious, he is less keen to engage with you as your body and voice express your feelings. As you say, you are on a journey and it doesn't have to be a route march against the clock - you have time to stop and smell the flowers, to play, even to retrace your steps if you have taken a bit of a wrong turning.

 

[Porkchop]

That is really frustrating and sad that your mom would threaten to bring him back. Sisko is a part of the family. I’m sure you said it before, but gently remind your mom that you’re doing most of his training and he doesn’t have the consistency of the whole family. So it it will prolong the process. He’s a good dog, there’s no reason for her to make you give up. Hopefully that’s just stir crazy making her say that.

Training never moves in a linear progression. Sometimes there are very. bad. days. Keep your head up! You’ll get through this with persistence. I always remind myself that there is a calm and amazingly mannered dog in the future as long as I keep up the hard work, and it’ll be worth it.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

Could he be bored? Can you change things round a bit, walk in a different direction, run and twist and have fun? Produce a wonderful treat for no reason whatsoever, just for love? Sing silly songs, teach him to dance, play follow the leader, go home and play hunt the treat, do anything you both enjoy. It sounds to me as if you both have a fairly low frustration level, and things then spiral - you get more and more frustrated and anxious, he is less keen to engage with you as your body and voice express your feelings. As you say, you are on a journey and it doesn't have to be a route march against the clock - you have time to stop and smell the flowers, to play, even to retrace your steps if you have taken a bit of a wrong turning.

He probably was. It was weird though earlier because I tried playing with him and he would have rather played the way he wanted too. We could do those😁 he has been doing well with finding the treats, and he does love to run. Yeah, I have to work on that myself. I wasn't like that when we got him. Okay, thank you😁!

 

[Fenris-wolf]

That is really frustrating and sad that your mom would threaten to bring him back. Sisko is a part of the family. I’m sure you said it before, but gently remind your mom that you’re doing most of his training and he doesn’t have the consistency of the whole family. So it it will prolong the process. He’s a good dog, there’s no reason for her to make you give up. Hopefully that’s just stir crazy making her say that.

Training never moves in a linear progression. Sometimes there are very. bad. days. Keep your head up! You’ll get through this with persistence. I always remind myself that there is a calm and amazingly mannered dog in the future as long as I keep up the hard work, and it’ll be worth it.

I’m sure you said it before, but gently remind your mom that you’re doing most of his training and he doesn’t have the consistency of the whole family

This is what gets to me the most. It's beyond frustrating. My mom doesn't want me to give up and she believes that I can do this, but when I get upset and stay like that, that's when she'll ask if she wants her to take Sisko back.

Okay, thank you!!

 

[Mufar42]

Yes these guys can be frustrating at times. Renn can be so good then he may have a time when its like eh..not doing whatever you want and he will bounce up and run around the house like crazy. Other times he can be calm give a sniff at a cat say hello to my husband and go on outside with me. He loves being off leash in the backyard. He loves to fetch the ball and will now hand it back to me. That took a long time. I sometimes just sit in a chair and let him run with the ball eventually if I ignored him he would throw the ball at me. If it was close enough for me to reach I would take it say oh you want to play and throw it. But I wouldn't get up for it. LOL When he throws it out of my reach I just tell him he has to get it himself and bring it to me and I hold my hands out. Now he will though not always and then I just go back to doing whatever it was I was doing. Until he drops it now in my lap or hand. This really tires him out and he is happy to come back inside. I always now call him to me, leash him, tell him play time is over and take the ball and put it up. Then I walk him around the yard a bit in case he has to potty and sometimes to the mailbox before actually going inside. This works best for us as he doesn't associate going inside with end of fun. There retires we even go back out so he never quite knows what I have planned in my mind. He will get better and better for you, And hey some dogs awill never be totally what we wanted when it comes to training but we learn to adapt to get what we want from them too.

 

[Raindrops]

I think fjm is right. You will stress yourself out if you concentrate too much on training and don't enjoy him for who he is. Think about the reasons why you wanted a dog. Focus on bonding, on getting to know each other and developing trust. Have fun together. Don't put so much pressure on yourself to reach a specific goal. It's a journey.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

I just wanted to tell peeps that my youngest brother likes to help out with Sisko.

Thank you for the responses! I'm going to get back to you guys.

 

[cowpony]

Stuff happens.

 

[lily cd re]

When you hold onto the stress if he is being a jerk he will sense that and remain confused, frustrated and frustrating. Try for one small thing that is a success to end on then put him away from you while you both collect your heads. After that you can do some things you know he knows at low distraction levels and with great rewards. Keep it light and fun and then you will have made a good reset.

 

[Click-N-Treat]

I am sorry you had a rough day with your dog. I have those and they are no fun. Like Catherine, I try to end the session on a positive note. What were you trying to train Sisko to do outside? Maybe if I knew what you were trying to train I could come up with ideas to help.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

Yes these guys can be frustrating at times. Renn can be so good then he may have a time when its like eh..not doing whatever you want and he will bounce up and run around the house like crazy. Other times he can be calm give a sniff at a cat say hello to my husband and go on outside with me. He loves being off leash in the backyard. He loves to fetch the ball and will now hand it back to me. That took a long time. I sometimes just sit in a chair and let him run with the ball eventually if I ignored him he would throw the ball at me. If it was close enough for me to reach I would take it say oh you want to play and throw it. But I wouldn't get up for it. LOL When he throws it out of my reach I just tell him he has to get it himself and bring it to me and I hold my hands out. Now he will though not always and then I just go back to doing whatever it was I was doing. Until he drops it now in my lap or hand. This really tires him out and he is happy to come back inside. I always now call him to me, leash him, tell him play time is over and take the ball and put it up. Then I walk him around the yard a bit in case he has to potty and sometimes to the mailbox before actually going inside. This works best for us as he doesn't associate going inside with end of fun. There retires we even go back out so he never quite knows what I have planned in my mind. He will get better and better for you, And hey some dogs awill never be totally what we wanted when it comes to training but we learn to adapt to get what we want from them too.

When I read this earlier, Sisko was in the middle of bullying my cat Perses. He had one paw on him and was holding him down with it. That's so cute that Renn throws the ball! That's awesome😎. Does Renn get the mail? Okay, I need to make sure that the fun doesn't end too. Thank you!!

 

[Fenris-wolf]

I think fjm is right. You will stress yourself out if you concentrate too much on training and don't enjoy him for who he is. Think about the reasons why you wanted a dog. Focus on bonding, on getting to know each other and developing trust. Have fun together. Don't put so much pressure on yourself to reach a specific goal. It's a journey.

Y'all are right!!! Okay, thank you!! I joined Susan Garrett's dog training classes online and it's training, but she turns it all into a game. I think Sisko likes this much better.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

When you hold onto the stress if he is being a jerk he will sense that and remain confused, frustrated and frustrating. Try for one small thing that is a success to end on then put him away from you while you both collect your heads. After that you can do some things you know he knows at low distraction levels and with great rewards. Keep it light and fun and then you will have made a good reset.

Okay, thank you, Catherine!!

 

[Fenris-wolf]

I am sorry you had a rough day with your dog. I have those and they are no fun. Like Catherine, I try to end the session on a positive note. What were you trying to train Sisko to do outside? Maybe if I knew what you were trying to train I could come up with ideas to help.

Thank you, Click! Yeah, those are no fun. I was trying to get him to sit when we stopped walking. He had been doing so well at it, and he even gave his attention to me a few times even when there were other people.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

Thank you again everyone!!!!! I'll be adding your advice in my training journal!!!

 

[Fenris-wolf]

Stuff happens.

Thank you!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I saw that one that you posted in the middle before, and I thought that that would be Sisko😂😂😂😂😂

 

[PeggyTheParti]

I wish I could remember who gave me this good advice. Maybe Poodlebeguiled? Peggy was getting frustrated and snapping at the air or barking before I threw her ball. I thought I was doing everything right: Asking her to drop it. Then asking for a sit. Then asking her to waaaait....

But the advice was to just skip the sit and throw the dang ball! So I tried it.

The temper tantrums stopped almost immediately, and you know what? If Peggy's getting impatient now, SHE offers up the sit. And of course I can now ask her for one, too, with no issue. But her impulse control wasn't there yet, and instead of helping her improve in that area, I was antagonizing her.

Not sure if this is applicable to you and Sisko. But in general I think it's good to meet dogs where they are.

Also worth noting that I did very little formal obedience training with Gracie and she nevertheless learned to be a darn fine dog. We did a lot together, went to lots of places. I was very conversational with her. It was low pressure. Natural. Every game we played together shaped and enforced good behaviours, and I've done my best to continue this approach with Peggy (thought it's a little tougher as I'm not her sole handler).

Training can come in many forms. Focus on the fun for a while!

 

[Fenris-wolf]

I wish I could remember who gave me this good advice. Maybe Poodlebeguiled? Peggy was getting frustrated and snapping at the air or barking before I threw her ball. I thought I was doing everything right: Asking her to drop it. Then asking for a sit. Then asking her to waaaait....

But the advice was to just skip the sit and throw the dang ball! So I tried it.

The temper tantrums stopped almost immediately, and you know what? If Peggy's getting impatient now, SHE offers up the sit. And of course I can now ask her for one, too, with no issue. But her impulse control wasn't there yet, and instead of helping her improve in that area, I was antagonizing her.

Not sure if this is applicable to you and Sisko. But in general I think it's good to meet dogs where they are.

Also worth noting that I did very little formal obedience training with Gracie and she nevertheless learned to be a darn fine dog. We did a lot together, went to lots of places. I was very conversational with her. It was low pressure. Natural. Every game we played together shaped and enforced good behaviours, and I've done my best to continue this approach with Peggy (thought it's a little tougher as I'm not her sole handler).

Training can come in many forms. Focus on the fun for a while!

WOW, THAT'S SO AWESOME!!

Hmmm, I wondering I'm antagonizing Sisko sometimes (probably)

Okay, thank you!! I will do that. It can be hard though because only a few people really train their dogs well in our apartment complex, so most of them either get crazy and then Sisko gets crazy or they both have starring contests.

WHOA! It was the exact same with Dax!! And I hope to raise my next dog like this too. How has it gone raising Peggy like this? It seems like it's going pretty well. Sisko doesn't seem to understand being raised like that, or at least not yet?? I'm sure he would have if everyone helped train him, sometimes it seems like his development is stunted? I don't know.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

I tried the knuckle bones again. Sisko was good while I was holding it, but as soon as my greedy cat, Perses came up, Sisko growled at him, so I would be nervous to leave him alone with a high value treat with the cats around. I'm trying to get my family involved with holding the bones as soon as I get some gardening gloves (FINGERS CROSSED), but if they won't help with this, I can't keep Sisko because it will lead to EVEN MORE conflict. I'd be sad and angry if I had to take him back because my family wouldn't listen.