Dog Obedience Training Pays Off If You Commit To It!
We adopted our dog Kyra on 12/31/08 from Last Hope Animal Rescue. She was 8 weeks old and abandonded along with 3 siblings. Our friends adopted one of her sisters. Because Kyra was abandoned in the woods along a busy street, she was deathly afraid of traffic noise. Especially public buses. They make that loud noise when they come to a stop and she freaks out so bad she sheds furiously and her dander rises to the surface.
I felt it was necessary to try obedience training. Now, they teach you to teach them. It was for 8 weeks and I'm so glad we did it. But, in order for them to remember everything down the road, you must teach them what they learned for about 15 minutes a day.
I learned to have Kyra, stay, go down, heel and stand (hard one). She can also do these commands with just hand signals. She is an Akita mix and loves us as we do her.
So, I stopped working with her on all these things months ago. I am amazed that when I have a biscuit, otherwise known as a cookie, I will come from the kitchen into the livingroom with one and I stop. Kyra will get up, sit on my left perfectly, get up and walk around me, sit again on my left side, then go down. I then give her the cookie. She does all this without verbal and hand commands. I do not do this everyday with her.
I can also tell her to stay in the livingroom then I will walk into the kitchen for 5 minutes and she doesn't move until I say, "Kyra Come".
Little by little I expose her to the traffic noise and she is getting better. I was told she will be afraid of that for the rest of her life but I was determined to have her to be able to walk on a leash without freaking out and pulling me since she now weighs 50 pounds. So, I figured it's the same with people who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. In order for them to get better, they have to be exposed to what scares them little by little. This method is working for our dog.
My point of this story? A few things:
1. Find a good trainer to teach you the basics like we did. Sit in on a class before signing up. Ask them about their disciplining methods. We would use Bitter Apple. Nothing stronger than that or walk away. If Kyra misbehaves, all we have to do is show her the bottle and she stops. I haven't used it on her in such a long time.
2. Go with your instincts. If you have a dog/puppy that is afraid, work with them little by little and most likely they will come around. Do not let someone tell you it's impossible. Try it for a while. You have nothing to lose.
I amazed at how she has retained everything. I really think it's evolution like for us humans. Dogs are just getting smarter and smarter. :)
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