When we got her she was very scared of everything. She would scream at the slightest touch and was always afraid we would leave her. Three years later and she has gotten better. But she doesn't play with any toys and has not really been trained. So I decided to take the privilege of teaching her into my own hands.
Also, as the book says, this will help us bond as well.
The book I have chosen is "Tricks for Treats." by Jean M. Fogle. For my first post I chose to start with an easier trick that she has a bit of experience on, just to start her off. This trick would be... shake. Dun dun dun.
When I started off trying to teach her this, she was very weird about it. She would get confused and slowly start to lay down and just plain give up. But soon enough she started to get the hang of it and understood what I was trying to tell her. Her favorite part was obviously the treats.
"Choose the right treats. Don't be tempted to use your dogs dinner kibble; find a treat that will really motivate him, and use it only for trick training."(Fogle 6)
Fogle, Jean M. Tricks for Treats. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
This quote from the book has helped me learn an easy way to motivate, Shasta. Instead of using her regular dog food (Well actually, she eats cat food. She's kind of weird.), it is more tempting and motivational for the dog if you use dog treats or some chicken or cheese.
The picture that I took for this post was my beautiful Shasta completing 'shake'. She ended up licking my hand as well while I was taking the photo. But like I've been saying, she's kind of weird.
Do you think that she will start to overcome her intense fear of everything the longer I spend training her?
Hello Kasaiya. First I would like to say that I do think that Shasta will start to overcome her intense fear of everything the longer you spend on training her. I think this because you seem to be a caring person with a lot of patience and I have faith in you both. Also, if you have accomplished teaching Shasta how to shake despite the fact that she was very hesitant at first, she must have a lot of potential. I have never had a dog of my own but I've had a family dog before. His name was Kanalei and he was also not trained very well at first, but after a lot of treats, time, and patience we were able to finally teach him something. He was able to know to use the bathroom outside when we opened the door and to come straight back when he was done. Overall, I congratulate you and Shasta and I wish the both of you luck on your further journey.
ReplyDelete