virgo9674

Thank you, Adrienne.

My dog Red, (I wrote about her a bit before), has a fear of everything outside. So here is the story, issue, what I have done, and then- help! So we got her at 12 weeks. She was already scared of everything. She was learning quick with house training. She has a schedule so it helps tremendously but, her fears escalated. I live in a rural area, but my street is very busy, and we have a train that comes through periodically. Note: My pup does not have an issue with people, not even stangers. Only with every noise. Music from neighbors, doors, cars, train, anything falling, blowing, moving.... First I was taking her outside with a very calm, matter-of-fact, no- worries attitude. I say "its okay!" Like its no big deal. I just kept taking her out regularly. But then it got much worse.So, anyway, it has gotten so bad that now she will not go potty. I have puppy pads down inside. She uses them. Now I do not make her go out. She is 4 months. I am trying to take it slow, starting over. I hate that I do not know why she had all the phobias when we got her. I feel like it would be helpful if we knew the circumstances of her life before.. And the fact that she will not leave the doorway-well, I do not want to make her unless I am supposed to? But two issues here. One is , am I handling this right? I need her to house train. Two is, I think it may be a healthy fear to have a fear of cars. But I have been telling her its ok. I think maybe that's bad? note: the first few days we got her, I carried her outside. I thought her fear was just normal because she left her original home.

Adrienne, thank you so much! These are very good thoughts and advice! Sometimes, I think of things like this, but I never know what is okay. I am so worried about training wrong. Having you to help means so much. I want to train her to be my service dog. So, it is very important to me. So much of what you said makes sense. The other ideas are genius to me. Again thank you. I will try your suggestions. I am also training with your program, so that is extremely helpful too. I can only read a little each day though. This is why this forum is very helpful. Bless you and have a great weekend! I will post results from these suggestions.

Thank you so much Jennifer for sharing with me. I have never heard of the chamomile use for dogs. Is it just regular 'ol chamomile tea we drink? Do you pour it on their food? Does chamomile calm for sleeping too in pups? I wish I could whistle lol. That is so cool.

Jennifer, sorry for so many replies. I am new to the forum. I did get to thinking about something you mentioned... Her treats are usually kind of soft. Maybe I should try water moistening her food. Could she be teething?

I just noticed your "crew." LOL my cat is named Monkey as well. She is a chill,diva. She is 5 years old. :)

Hello Jennifer!, Thank you for your post.I do not wish to give her any human food at all at this time. Even to taste it up. I do not think that is the issue. She loves her food the way it is, she just prefers treats. Like kids. They would rather snack and not eat their meals. But, since treats are a training tool this is where it gets tricky. What are"mini's?" I did wonder about how many treats were ok. But, these trainers I see literally use ten times what I do! lol like a treat every few seconds to heel.:eek: So, by that standard I do not give her a lot at all. I think if its a bigger bite size, we may do 5 a behaviour. If you understand what I mean. If its a tiny treat maybe more on the 10 side. I think the most each day has been around 10-/12 of small morsel size treats. I was saving Peanut butter possibly, for teaching the emergency call training lol. Later. I was hoping to have her good and trained before using any kind of human food or flavor because past experience has been this dramatically increases begging,and it never goes away!

I could not find much about this anywhere. When I first started training my pup I noticed this behaviour. So I researched different training methods. I have a 17 week old mixed breed (jackrussell/pit/redbone coonhound mix) I have her eating at around the same times each day. She eats twice a day. This was mostly by her choice as I offered her a third meal in the middle of the day at first, and she would not eat any. Once I started positive training with rewards, she starting refusing to eat her meals. She goes around "doing tricks" while we are doing everyday activities hoping to get treats. I do not oblige her. I started doing her training in the middle of the day..between meals... thinking this would be a good time, not spoiling her meal time. This has not worked. She refuses to eat again at night, and gets very wild. I can tell this wildness is from hunger. I have had her about 4 weeks now. I have a good potty/eating schedule going with her. We have play time every day several times a day. She is learning sit,recall,laydown etc. I just bought the braintraining4dogs program today. But, like other programs, it is reward based. I try looking into various types of treats. I even tried giving her dog food as a treat. This worked a little. Maybe I should do that? I do have another serious issue with her.{outside phobias inhibiting potty training and outside play.} She was like this when we got her. But I will read more in the training program first to get help with that. Right now, I really could use some help with the treats issue so I can train her the way I want to. Thanks! Oh! and when she refuses to eat her meals, she hunts all over trying to get cat poop, grass if she is outside, crumbs anyone may have dropped, anything/everything but her meals. When I stop giving her treats for a day or so she is back to happily eating her meals. Thanks!