A fellow Sheltie foster lady came by today to meet Frodo and observe him in action. She has more dog training experience than I do by a long shot.
She thinks he is coming along nicely. She was expecting a more out of control dog, and frankly he was a few weeks ago when I called out for help ! He has been doing better and better every day. Less whacky drooling and nervousness.
She gave me some great little tips though. One of them was to carry a can of cheeze whiz and give the dogs treats when they do what you ask them to. Frodo was catching on pretty well after a few slurps of cheeze. I dunno. I'm not much of a fan of treat based training. But if it gets them going in the direction you want them when nothing else is working, then I suppose it's okay.
One neat thing she did with Sunny [who was an excellent pupil by the way] was to hold a little bit of dog treat in her hand near her face and say "Watch." to Sunny.
As soon as Sunny looked into her eyes instead of the treat, she got the treat.
The idea is to train them to look at you when you say that word, instead of some distracting thing in their environment, which for Sunny would be other dogs walking by in the street. I may give that one a try. It's one of Sunny's weak spots.
Another thing she suggested was to take Frodo for walks alone, without Sunny. This is something I haven't really done at all. I'll give that a try too.
Anyhoo, we spent two hours working here in the house, and then out in the fields with the dogs. Frodo did great. I think in time, he will be ready for a new home. Just not quite yet.
The dogs are all sprawled out on the floor, worn out by all that running and cheese whiz.
Poor babies.
She thinks he is coming along nicely. She was expecting a more out of control dog, and frankly he was a few weeks ago when I called out for help ! He has been doing better and better every day. Less whacky drooling and nervousness.
She gave me some great little tips though. One of them was to carry a can of cheeze whiz and give the dogs treats when they do what you ask them to. Frodo was catching on pretty well after a few slurps of cheeze. I dunno. I'm not much of a fan of treat based training. But if it gets them going in the direction you want them when nothing else is working, then I suppose it's okay.
One neat thing she did with Sunny [who was an excellent pupil by the way] was to hold a little bit of dog treat in her hand near her face and say "Watch." to Sunny.
As soon as Sunny looked into her eyes instead of the treat, she got the treat.
The idea is to train them to look at you when you say that word, instead of some distracting thing in their environment, which for Sunny would be other dogs walking by in the street. I may give that one a try. It's one of Sunny's weak spots.
Another thing she suggested was to take Frodo for walks alone, without Sunny. This is something I haven't really done at all. I'll give that a try too.
Anyhoo, we spent two hours working here in the house, and then out in the fields with the dogs. Frodo did great. I think in time, he will be ready for a new home. Just not quite yet.
The dogs are all sprawled out on the floor, worn out by all that running and cheese whiz.
Poor babies.