A huge thank you to this sub! Adopted my dog 8 months ago and now have a great dog/owner relationship

[lilisa]

I adopted my dog from a rescue back in Fall 2021. She was a 6-month old street dog at the time and came to me a nervous, malnourished wreck. I was surrounded by people who told me to use all sorts of aversive behavior to train her: spray bottles, coin cans, leash pops, even hitting the dog.

This was my first dog and it would have been so easy to listen to their advice. I trust them in other facets of my life after all, these are close friends and relatives. I would have a fearful “carpet dog” today if I had listened to them. But their advice just felt wrong.

In this sub I found logic: why make your dog afraid of you when you can use positivity and love instead? Why discourage & be mean when you can encourage & be kind? This reasoning made SO much more sense to me.

On the advice of this sub I picked up positive reinforcement books like The Power of Positive Dog Training and The Other End of the Leash. In those books I found the same logic, expanded with so many stories of beautiful dog & owner relationships. I modeled my relationship with my dog after what I found in those books and this subreddit.

8 months later I have a dog who is super bonded to me and extremely content. She has a spunky and sweet personality that I haven’t diluted. And she trusts me completely. It’s an amazing feeling.

Thank you, /r/dogtraining folks. You’re all amazing. I’m so lucky to have found this community. My doggo doesn’t know it, but she’s very grateful too!

Dog tax:

https://imgur.com/a/wHwAQdH

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@lilisa I just wanna say that your pup looks a like like my 10 month old (ears are different though!) I’m nosey and looked thru your post history and realized you’re in Eugene (I’m in Portland) and also thought your dog was a whippet cross (that’s what we thought but really, no idea. She’s just a mutt!) I’m happy you have her in your life! I love my dog so so much (also my first dog). Cheers!

 

[rejoicealwaysfc]

@lilisa She's gorgeous and you're a great person

 

[lilisa]

@rejoicealwaysfc Aw thank you! My dog makes me a better person

 

[evangelistelvishreyes]

@lilisa Love to hear this as an owner who just adopted a 1 year old dog. We're not even at a month yet and I still worry we'll never truly bond, but I stay positive with her and try to reinforce how FUN it is to be around me, even when she's getting on my last nerve.

I'm hoping to have a story like yours in a few months

 

[lilisa]

@evangelistelvishreyes I hear you where you’re at. Honestly one month in I did not like my dog very much! We were still getting used to each other quite a bit. And there was so much chewing… I could hardly handle it.

Like you I also focused on making sure she was having a good time. I used “no” very sparingly, opting to find other solutions to encourage what I wanted instead. That training continues to this day but is significantly easier 8 months in. I had to guide her so much at the beginning, but now she conducts herself so well without really any intervention.

Stick it out and you’ll have a wonderful companion soon enough. I promise you won’t have to TRY at making it fun for both of you after a certain point! I adore every minute I spend with my dog now, it’s really awesome. Best of luck to you!