First, it was a gum wrapper, not a gun wrapper ?.
I’m going to say upfront that I’m pretty positive I just lucked into the cream of the crop with Seiran. Her breeder was spot on about our needs, and if she was a child, she would probably be in all advanced studies. Not trying to toot her horn, just giving you the a truthful disclaimer. Like I said, I’m used to older rescue dogs with behavioral issues, I haven’t had a puppy for over 20 years, with the exception of Crios, but he came to me at 9 months, and has been a challenge energy wise.
With Seiran, I generally just need to vocalize. A no, ack, short whistle, she responds to sound cues easily. When we first got her, I would sit out with her and at any sign of something I didn’t like, I’d make a noise and go and physically remove her from whatever area she was in doing whatever naughty thing she was doing. By physical, I mean I just picked her up. She was still small enough to do that. So noise, walk to her and tell her no, and physically move her. Some days it seemed like all I did was move her from one spot to another, and she does test boundaries occasionally, but a firm no is all that is needed now. Or leave it. Depends on what she’s doing.
For the physical boundary training, if she started to try to walk past the grass line, I make a noise, tell her far enough, and then get up and move her back to the grass. A few times of that, and now she just needs to hear “far enough” if she’s trying to follow my girls out when they go to ride bikes, or skate, or check the mail, and she comes trotting back into the grass. We are in a cul-de-sac, and the end house, so foot traffic and car traffic isn’t as busy as it is for some people.
I’ve worked with her on commands, and she soaks it up. She places herself in a sit when something interesting is going on outside our yard, and inside, if she hears an “ack, no, leave it,” she instantly goes to a sitting position. Wasn’t my intention, but while training, I’d usually put her in a sit first, and then go to the next command, so it’s just habit for her now.
Inside, if she gets something she shouldn’t have (which is frequent, we have little girls who like to leave their toys littered about like I’m a personal maid), I tell her “bring it to me,” and she’ll bring the item over and drop it in my lap.
I not a master trainer by far, and my methods may not work for others, or even another puppy if I choose to get one later down the road, it’s honestly more Seiran’s eagerness to please, and she is super trainable. I know a lot of pups aren’t.
Crios still has issues to this day, and I frequently have to correct him still. He loses focus easily, has crazy amounts of energy, and if it looks like work instead of play, he’d rather not, and he lets you know by literally rolling his eyes and walking away. Which at times becomes a struggle between us, because I refuse to let him get away with it. If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a bit (a lot) of a control freak, and expect what I ask for to happen, no ifs, ands, or buts. But I approach and train each dog I get it different ways that are suited to that particular dog, so I’m a flexible control freak. I’ll change up the way I train, but I still expect what I want to happen, to happen, and follow through to make sure it does.
I worked one on one with a trainer for Lyka, she was all aggression. Fear aggression for the most part. Leash reactive, dog reactive, wanted to chew apart any human male she would see. I realize when I’ve met the end of my limits and have no shame in asking for help to get the “perfect” behaviors I want. Lyka will never be perfect, and that’s perfectly okay, because she’s managed with issues that just won’t train out. Plus she’s 9, so she’s at an age where I just want her to relax and enjoy life. She’s used to the house rules, and does more napping than anything right now.
Sorry for the novel, I’m a very wordy person!