@laylamendiola I would like to step in and say a qualified trainer can and does work to train the humans in the household as much and often times MORE than the dog. Because a good trainer understands that their time with that dog is limited and the true success happens when the owner/entire family is equipped to work with the dog after their time with the trainer is over.
I would find a trainer with the resources posted and do private lessons in home. Try to schedule the consultation at a time when the whole family can partake and schedule the follow up lessons with as many/all of the household members present. Sometimes schedules don't align, but if as many of you are present as possible that can help tremendously. You want to avoid playing telephone with each other because it will cause information to be forgotten or explained poorly.
Also, the trainer can watch you guys each perform the behaviors and offer critiques to your timing, cueing, mechanics, tone and other necessary aspects of cueing and reinforcing a behavior.
@eront I second this. We got a trainer who came into our home and worked with us as a group (whole family + dog). We’re also all on a group text chat with the trainer. This helped make it super clear what everyone should be doing, and everyone got a chance to practice with the trainer.
@laylamendiola There are no cause for rehoming the way I see it. It is just training inconsistency. I don't think the environment is bad for the dog's trust. Bad for training, sure. But she sounds like she is loved nonetheless.
@laylamendiola You don’t need a dog trainer but you need a human trainer. Good dog trainers train the humans on how to interact appropriately and consistently. You also need patience and time. No reason to regime the dog. It’s not like sweater that doesn’t fit.
@laylamendiola Your dog is 5 months, it's not going to be great at listening or not be all the puppy menace it can be even if you got your family in line.
And honestly, unless your training a uber working dog that needs super precision, different commands for the same thing doesn't matter that much.
Dogs pick up and learn what's expected (again, your dog is still a pup). They have evolved with humans for tens of thousands of years, learning how to read us.
There is an interesting article about completely ditching cues here.
@gabrielleb This is super interesting! I recently posted about how my puppy won't settle outside her crate but I've since realized that she's so chill outside. She'll lay in the grass (if it's dry and the weather is nice). She'll roll over and let me rub her belly and just relax in a way she doesn't do inside. I've been trying to figure out why and I think it's because we've created a more stressful environment inside that's all about cues and treats. Outside I just let her sniff and do what she wants. I'm going to try to chill out inside and see how it goes!
@gabrielleb Thanks! You are right! I’m not looking for perfection, I just want her to be confident and feel safe. I think the only command I would like to be a priority is commands that benefit her safety like Come (just in case for any reason she gets loose from our fenced yard, and runs into street) and [Leave It] to keep her from eating things that could be harmful.
@laylamendiola I think those are two really smart commands to focus on, and drop the other stuff for now. With that said, recall takes a looooooooong time to get perfect. It takes a lot of impulse control, and your dog is very much still a puppy.
One thing that helped was teaching my dog 'Touch!' as kind of an intermediary step - it's easier to train inside the house consistently, and for whatever reason my dog's brain just got it, better than 'come' commands. It's also really fun to train, so your kids might get more into it. You can do hide and seek with it, get them to run between your legs or jump up high to boop your palm with their nose. I've used it for recall in a pinch. The important thing was teaching my dog that I am the source of treats and fun and attention, not other dogs or people or mysterious piles of stuff on the ground.
Touch is a really fun command to practice and generalize too. Once your pup masters touching your palm, have them touch a book, your phone, a door, etc. My dog just turned 1 and it's so fun to see him learn and mature.
OP you're gonna be alright! Dogs are a lot smarter than we give them credit for
@laylamendiola Honestly you probably just need to lower the bar a little and cut everyone some slack. If she's just a family dog (which is great and fine!) she doesn't need super precise training. I'd just try to keep things fun and bond with her. Keep signing up for classes, but only the ones where someone from your fam goes with! As she matures, she'll calm down and things will get easier too.
nah, they’ve imprinted on me a long time ago, plus they are not as cute n cuddly as they used to be, so rehoming them will be quite difficult
