# Terra and her first Puppy Class



## missiek (Jan 2, 2010)

So I signed Terra up for Beginner Puppy Class at Petsmart starting tonight. The instructor was working with each dog teaching them "sit" and "watch me" with hand singnals. All the other puppies did well except Terra. She was hiding under my chair the entire time and when the instructor tried to work with her, she literally turned her nose up at about 4 different treats the insstructor tried. My spoiled princess... :HistericalSmiley: My homework: find a treat she likes. lol


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## SugarBob62 (Nov 9, 2009)

Have you ever tried Wellness puppy treats? Thats what we use with Nelson he will do almost ANYTHING for them. Including even dropping things in the yard he shouldn't have. And he too sometimes won't take the treats his instructor offers and stuff. I'm like here, use these!!

They smell REALLY good too, I am half tempted to taste one myself one of these days haha.

Wellness Just For Puppy Treats

They are really good because it has 50 soft treats per bag, and I break each one and store them in a little container, about 4 or 5 times, so they last a really long time!!


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

The wellness jerky treats are the only treats Tyler will even think about responding to. Have tried about a dozen others and no go. And even with these he can take them or leave them. I've been piling on praise in training and luckily he seems pretty happy with that but there are some actions that a treat would help.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

Boil and then bake chicken livers or beef kidney. Bake after boiling until firm. Cool and chop into tiny pieces smaller than an M & M. You can refrigerate or even freeze it until you need more.


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## CloudClan (Jan 31, 2007)

Sounds like her nerves got the better of her. Cadeau turns up his nose at treats when he is nervous. If you can get her to relax a bit it may not matter what kind of treats you offer. Yes, high incentive treats are always best in such a situation, but I would bring her to the PetSmart more often if you can and make it a fun positive experience. But I would also make your visits short and sweet, ending when she displays confidence and calm. 

Cadeau went to puppy K and hid between our legs. We are still working on the issues that started way back then, trying to get him competitive in obedience without getting so keyed up and nervous around other dogs. It also complicated things for us when he was in the show ring. So this is really something that you want to work on now, but make sure that experiences in that class stay VERY positive.


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## Nikki's Mom (Feb 13, 2008)

When Nikki was in class, we used organic Cheerios-type cereal. She loves them. Another lady in the class used rice cakes.


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## missiek (Jan 2, 2010)

Thank for the advice ladies! Terra is my show girl but she has a lot of timidity issues. So I have been taking her out as often as possible and enrolled her in this class because the instructor is really good and has had success with timid personalities before. 

Terra also suffers from submissive pee-ing so the instructor is going to help me work on that. Now as far as the 'sit' command. I have heard never teach a show dog to sit. Is that true? The instructor is wanting us to eventually use hand signals more than verbal directions as dogs are body language oriented. Do you think it would be alright to teach her to sit that way as she would not be getting the hand signal in the ring?

Brit, I am actually researching to try to switch all my malts to home made meals so that suggestion is spot on!


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## CloudClan (Jan 31, 2007)

missiek said:


> Thank for the advice ladies! Terra is my show girl but she has a lot of timidity issues. So I have been taking her out as often as possible and enrolled her in this class because the instructor is really good and has had success with timid personalities before.
> 
> Terra also suffers from submissive pee-ing so the instructor is going to help me work on that. Now as far as the 'sit' command. I have heard never teach a show dog to sit. Is that true? The instructor is wanting us to eventually use hand signals more than verbal directions as dogs are body language oriented. Do you think it would be alright to teach her to sit that way as she would not be getting the hand signal in the ring?
> 
> Brit, I am actually researching to try to switch all my malts to home made meals so that suggestion is spot on!


How old is Terra now? Cadeau had a few issues as a puppy. Most of the time I never would have called him shy, but clearly the very large setting of a bunch of much bigger dogs at PuppyK intimidated him. Then a huge dog launched at him (over a babygate at that class). I figure those signs led to him being reactive. for sure, it was a challenge for his show career and continues to be a challenge for his obedience career. I had him out to classes a lot, and it wasn't enough. Of course, I know now that I made some mistakes with him and should have done more back when he was a puppy. 

As for sit, I taught it with my show dogs. BUT for most dogs it becomes a default behavior, the first one they offer when they are trying to figure out what you want. So that is not what you want. What I do with my show dogs is try to teach stand 70%-80% of the time instead of sit. You can do that in class, too. When the instructor asks you to work on sit, ask her if she can work with some stands instead given your particular needs. When you move on in class to stays, you can work on stand stays instead of sit stays.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

You can teach sit...but stand needs to be the default behavior.


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Cosy said:


> Boil and then bake chicken livers or beef kidney. Bake after boiling until firm. Cool and chop into tiny pieces smaller than an M & M. You can refrigerate or even freeze it until you need more.


Thanks Brit. I'm not sure even that will work for Ty. The funny thing is that I went into a very holistic pet supply store telling them Tyler's a picky eater. They gave me a sample bag with little tiny balls of something. He said "It's like hot fudge for dogs. Sprinkle a little on top of his food and he'll eat it all up. It's liver." I came home excited, did the sprinkle, Tyler walked over, sniffed and walked away.:angry: How can anyone turn down hot fudge I ask you? :huh: Sorry I went off topic...


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## almitra (Apr 24, 2009)

There's a really bodacious "treat" (actually a dog food) that comes in a tube...aka "puppy crack"...can't remember what it's called, but it motivates even the pickiest students. Usually something soft and smelly (not necessarily stinky, just odorous). My Pepper will eat anything for a treat, but Luigi needs something more enticing...LOL!! That's where soft, fragrant treats come in.


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## missiek (Jan 2, 2010)

CloudClan said:


> How old is Terra now? Cadeau had a few issues as a puppy. Most of the time I never would have called him shy, but clearly the very large setting of a bunch of much bigger dogs at PuppyK intimidated him. Then a huge dog launched at him (over a babygate at that class). I figure those signs led to him being reactive. for sure, it was a challenge for his show career and continues to be a challenge for his obedience career. I had him out to classes a lot, and it wasn't enough. Of course, I know now that I made some mistakes with him and should have done more back when he was a puppy.
> 
> As for sit, I taught it with my show dogs. BUT for most dogs it becomes a default behavior, the first one they offer when they are trying to figure out what you want. So that is not what you want. What I do with my show dogs is try to teach stand 70%-80% of the time instead of sit. You can do that in class, too. When the instructor asks you to work on sit, ask her if she can work with some stands instead given your particular needs. When you move on in class to stays, you can work on stand stays instead of sit stays.


 
Terra is 7 1/2 months old now. She has always had the really submissive personality...ie rolling over as soon as you reach to pet her (and even peeing a bit). I have been trying to not excite her and let her come to me. She used to never walk on the lead but we finally made a break through and she walks a lot better now. I try to get her to walk more than I carry her. 

As far as big dogs, the class has 4 other puppies in there: a beagle mix, a boxer mix, a blood hound, and a black lab. I am a bit concerned with her being so timid. This first class was free-play and she did not want any part of it. She hid behind me the whole time. The instructor told me to put her on the floor and ignore her. The big dogs sniffed and tried to engage her twice but she didn't want any part of it. They ignored her after that. The rest of the classes will have a bit of free play in the beginning and then formal instruction and practice.

Obviously I don't want to make her "worse" or give her additional issues. I trust her as the professional but of course am not going to just sit back and allow my dog to come to any mental harm. The instructor says she will relax by the end of the 8 weeks...maybe not play but relax a bit. What do you all think?

Thanks again ladies. JMM i have tried to work my schedule to come to the Training Club but with kids activities it seems impossible at the moment.


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## CloudClan (Jan 31, 2007)

Honestly? I wouldn't trust the "professional" too much. A lot of obedience folks are not familiar with small dogs. And a lot of trainers do not have to do a lot of study to be certified for this kind of work. 

I am not saying it was bad advice what she said to put her down and ignore her, bc there is a good reason for it. You don't want to coddle her and make her think she has a reason to be afraid. Picking her up and comforting her when she is nervous will make her think she has reason to be nervous. 

7.5 months is around the time when I first noticed truly reactive behavior with Cadeau and you want to do all you can at this point to make her feel secure in the presence of the other dogs. It is a balance though, you don't want to push her too far too fast. So if she didn't react too much to the other dogs coming over, that is good. If on the other hand she was running behind you in terror? not so good. That would mean it was too much for her and not a positive experience. I am working with a trainer now who is much more familiar with the kind of issues that Cadeau has and she is having us put them kind of right up to the edge of their comfort zone. Giving them treats, but helping us to read signals so we don't put them beyond their comfort zone and end up with a bad experience which just solidifies bad habits. Does that make sense?


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## missiek (Jan 2, 2010)

Perfect sense, thank you. So since I already paid for the class, should I continue with it and have her sit in my lap when there is free time so she is more secure (and higher than the other dogs)?


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## CloudClan (Jan 31, 2007)

missiek said:


> Perfect sense, thank you. So since I already paid for the class, should I continue with it and have her sit in my lap when there is free time so she is more secure (and higher than the other dogs)?


You know what I did with Cadeau in some classes? Instead of holding him. I put him on a chair next to me. He did his sits, downs and stands from there. That made him eye level with some of the labs. Seemed to help a lot without coddling.


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