I have puppy who is 6 months old. I had her for month 1/2 as someone dumped her at shelter. she looks like a small orange germanshepard, maybe shiba inu mix . She has a black tonuge. (chow mix?) she not very big, maybe 30 pounds. cute as button, but headstrong maybe, or maybe im doing things wrong. shes improved alot since i got her. she used to bite me when i first got her , but i put a stop to that real quick by giving lots of chew toys instead.

i have managed to train her some get her to sit , lay down , some stay, and come/socialization w/ people/cats/dogs without leash. I took her to petsmart and she did sit on leash. but most of my training has been off lease. However, its all been reward driven. when i get her to sit i give tidbit/praise. most times she comes when called, sometimes she sneaks away, but not far and she comes back in about 5 mintues (how do you stop that?--whens she comes back, i dont show anger). most times she comes, but sometimes she takes off, and when say come, she doesnt listen at all and goes anyway. I taught her to release things out of her mouth. and i can roll her over on her back. . When I want her to lie down and stay that way, she will lie down then get back up. Also she has a habit, which im trying to break, by jumping when I have sometihng nice in my hand. i say down, sometimes she listen , sometimes she dont. i not a trainer by any means, im learning by a book and talking to other people. Will obediace school training help to reinforce these commands im trying to teach her? my husband doesnt believe in obediance school, but im paying for it. he says im doing fiine. I do notice that when i stand up straight and give commands, she listens better. Sorry so long, but thanks for any advice you can give me. I just notice other dog handlers and they say sit to their dog, and they stay sitted. or they tell thier dog to lie down and they go lie down. my lies down long enought to get a treat. Sometimes i notice my husband will not hit her, but kind of grab her head , is that ok to do?

Hi,
For a month and a half you're doing a brilliant job! You should be proud of what you've achieved. It sounds like you are doing all the right things, and making real progress. She's a lucky dog!

I think what you need to do it start varying the rewards a bit, so sometimes you treat her, sometimes you just give her some praise, sometimes you do both and sometimes praise and a treat, and a game. Save the best rewards for the best responses. You don't want to be carrying treats everywhere with you just so she will obey you, the trick is to keep her guessing.

To get her to come back when called everytime, it might be worth using a long line or an extending lead for a while so you still have control over her. Try to organise a situation where she sees something she wants to investigate, just before she decides to go, call her back to you, (you may need to reel her in to start with) give her a treat, make it really special if she comes back of her own accord, and then, providing it is safe to do so, let her go and play. If you get a dog that learns coming back to you is not necessarily the end of the fun, then they are far more likely to respond. Think of a command that means 'come here right now' (or a whistle if you prefer) and make sure you only ever use that when you can be sure she will respond, that way she wont learn it's more rewarding to ignore it. You should aim to call her to you before she does anything that's going to be really fun, such as playing with other dogs, that way you can always be sure she is safe (not all dogs are friendly!) and she will learn that fun things come with, and only with your permission! You also need to be fun, so play games with her, use an excited tone of voice and have a great time with her!

The jumping up is pretty easy to sort out, providing you are consistent. when she jumps, fold your arms and turn your back on her, if she goes back on the floor, reward her instantly so that she knows what she did right, and if she doesn't, you can walk out of the room and close the door behind you (being careful not to trap her in it) for a short while. And try again. If she really wont get down of her own accord, get someone to help by clipping a lead on her, so that they can gently prevent her jumping up, and you can reward that. Be very sure to reward her really well in situations that she would normally jump up but doesn't, or she will learn it's better to jump up and then get down as she gets attention that way.

To get her to lie down for longer periods, you need to build up the time between her lying down, and you giving the treat, so that she doesn't know when it's coming and waits patiently for it. Start off with about a second, and then build up gradually.

Remember to keep training sessions short (a few minutes at a time) and fun, and you will have a great relationship with your dog.

Regarding obedience classes, well that's really up to you. It can be great for socialisation and making friends (for you as well as your dog!) and sometimes it's very rewarding to have someone else saying that you are doing the right things, it can give you that extra bit of confidence. If you do decide to join, make sure it's a good class, and go and watch a class beforehand without your dog. If it's good, they'll be using methods that you are happy with (people vary a lot in the ones they prefer, I'm like you and prefer reward based training) look around to check that the dogs and their owners are having a good time, and be aware of signs of stress in the dogs (yawning, lip licking, trying to hide behind owners) and if you see it, check to see that the instructor recognises it too, and tries to alleviate the problem. A badly run class can cause problems for dogs, and can make them associate other people and dogs with negative experiences which could undo all the fanatastic work you've been doing with socialisation already.
Best of luck, let me know what you decide!

Jo

Jo to be honist, if she is part or all spitz she is performing a miracle. to date I have owned 6 spitz and only one has a realiable recall, it is easer to send them on than bring them back. Keep going as you are and well done. Aword of warning if she is a spitz she will not respond to any thing heavy handed.