Lulu has a lot of issues that I'm not sure how to handle

Some commands like "stay" can be repeated for reinforcement. Others like "down" and "sit" aren't repeated. I cannot remember why. Put her at "lie down" only saying it once and reward her so so knows what's expected.

The cat problem is frustrating. I don't think there is much you can do till you can walk again.

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Honestly, it sounds like the command wasn't totally proofed to begin with. I'd go back to the basics for it, luring her into a down (or however you had taught her). Do you use hand signals? I wouldn't keep repeating the command word because it'll stop meaning anything if it's repeated without her doing anything.

Have training sessions gotten more intense, more boring, longer, etc.? I've seen dogs "rebel" if they stop enjoying training sessions...normally by refusing to do the "basic" commands. For those dogs, I do really quick sessions throughout the day.

For the NILIF training, next time I would recommend saying "oops, sorry" if she won't perform and put the food up. Try again in ten minutes. I use "oops" to let dogs know that they didn't quite do what I asked. I say it in a neutral tone, never yelling or anything.

Or maybe she was just having a bad day? That can happen, too.

Sorry about your morning, there are days I want to strangle my dogs, too :p. It happens!
 
Funny, they are both being total angels now... :p This isn't just bad day stuff, it's been going on for about a week. I tried luring her down, we always use hand signals, and though I'm not sure how Aaron did the training initially (before we met) she's always been really solid on sit and down. Stay has always been a bit tougher with her, but having Ghost really helped a lot. I really think it was Aaron trying to teach the speak command. She does not get it, and he sits there telling her to speak for 10-15 minutes before he gives her her food. His grandfather passed away yesterday, so he met up with his parents and left town. She is being really clingy and sweet (my brother is visiting and loves her despite being afraid to pet her), but she did pee all over the place last night when my brother, best friend, and I walked back in the door without Aaron. I was trying to show my brother how to pet her without her peeing and she lost it.

Stephanie, I like the "oops" idea a lot, and will start incorporating that. When she wasn't getting it this morning, I ran through a little series of tricks with Ghost and then let Ghost eat in front of Lulu. I don't know if that was necessarily the right approach, but she saw that Ghost got rewarded for doing what I asked. I tried a few more times and gave up out of frustration and being tired. Yep, Lulu -1, me - 0.

Manuel, the reason for not repeating things like sit and down, while you can repeat stay is that you want the dog to obey immediately and not get the idea that it can do what you ask on it's terms instead of yours. With things like stay, you can keep saying it to reinforce that you need them to keep doing what you've told, but you're supposed to work on saying it less and less. This is what our trainer at Petsmart told us anyway. I'm really hoping that when my neighbor moves the cats will go too, since he's the one feeding them. I also plan on redoing some training with her on a long lead when I can walk without crutches again. Hopefully that will only be a few more days, I got cleared to start easing into weight bearing on Thursday. Happy birthday me, I can walk! :)
 
navyflygirl said:
Funny, they are both being total angels now... :p This isn't just bad day stuff, it's been going on for about a week. I tried luring her down, we always use hand signals, and though I'm not sure how Aaron did the training initially (before we met) she's always been really solid on sit and down. Stay has always been a bit tougher with her, but having Ghost really helped a lot. I really think it was Aaron trying to teach the speak command. She does not get it, and he sits there telling her to speak for 10-15 minutes before he gives her her food.
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Ok, yeah, it sounds like that's the problem. I would be bored and frustrated, too! You don't teach it by saying "Speak" over and over...it's not like she understands English ;). I teach it by luring the dog into a bark (if, say, it's a dog that barks when you're holding a toy) OR I use the command and reward when the dog happens to bark (maybe at the mail man, for example). It takes a lot of patience and repeating the command is going to make her more confused. At this point I'd consider switching the word to something like "bark" or "talk" and don't use it until you can get her barking. Most commands are initially taught without any voice commands...you add them in later :).

Maybe give her a break on it for a day or two (either work on a new, fun trick or just proof the old ones) :).

navyflygirl said:
His grandfather passed away yesterday, so he met up with his parents and left town. She is being really clingy and sweet (my brother is visiting and loves her despite being afraid to pet her), but she did pee all over the place last night when my brother, best friend, and I walked back in the door without Aaron. I was trying to show my brother how to pet her without her peeing and she lost it.
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For dogs that pee when excited/nervous, I don't pet them at all when I get home. I totally ignore them and once they're settled a bit, I sit down with them before petting.

navyflygirl said:
Stephanie, I like the "oops" idea a lot, and will start incorporating that. When she wasn't getting it this morning, I ran through a little series of tricks with Ghost and then let Ghost eat in front of Lulu. I don't know if that was necessarily the right approach, but she saw that Ghost got rewarded for doing what I asked. I tried a few more times and gave up out of frustration and being tired. Yep, Lulu -1, me - 0.
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Hmm, some dogs might understand what was going on but I think my own Cockers would have been thinking "Omg, why can't I get food?!" and nothing else, haha.
 
Swolek said:
Hmm, some dogs might understand what was going on but I think my own Cockers would have been thinking "Omg, why can't I get food?!" and nothing else, haha.
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I think you may be right on that one. It's so weird though, just all of a sudden she refuses to lie down and just starts doing her little whine that she does when Aaron is sitting there going "Speak!" for like 10 minutes (all the while I'm banging my head on the wall). She's definitely not a dumb dog, she is very intelligent, just in a different way than Ghost. I'm going to work a little just with "down" and some doggy crack (the training treats our trainer recommends) and see how she does.

I have to say, little Miss Social really came out of her little shell last night. I had a bunch of people over at the house for my birthday, and while I had her put away as the guests were all arriving (goes INSANE when the bell rings), once everyone was here I let her out and she had a blast. We had one little tinkle at the very beginning, but I pretty much knew that would happen. I may have been, well, not sober and my brother and I put this Christmasy dog dress on her, and she just loved it. She was prancing around the party in her little dress basically looking at everyone like "yeah, you know I'm a sexy b****!". I have pictures, I just need to upload and post them. Seriously, at one point she was sitting in an easy chair basically holding court over the party. It's one of the funniest things I've seen lately, and it was obvious that she was having a lot of fun :)
 
I'm glad both of you had a great time.

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Happy belated birthday! Sounds like a fabulous party! I just know she'll settle in and find her groove.

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If you're having trouble luring a down, here are some things you can try. Always make sure you're in a quiet, distraction-free room when introducing a new skill, and make sure that Ghost is in another room or outside.

1. Sit on the floor with your knees bent up (so that there's a space bewteen your knees and the floor). Using puppy crack (that's what we call our training treats here too!), lure her under your legs. If your knees are low enough, she should end up in a down. If she's freaked out by that, start with your legs quite bent, so there's a large space, and very gradually bend your knees less, so the gap gets smaller and she has to crouch down lower.

2. If she's clicker trained, you can capture the down. Sit in a small room with no distractions (like the bathroom). Bring a book for you, a clicker and a container full of yummy treats. Sit on the toilet, on the edge of the tub or whatever, and read. Make sure you don't get so caught up in the book that you forget about Lulu. She might sit, she might whine, whatever. Ingore her. No talking and definitely no cues. Just silence. Eventually she will lie down - but it could take a while. The instant she's fully down, click (or use a verbal marker), then feed her for at least 15 seconds. One treat at a time, but rapid fire, one after the other. The last treat should be thrown, so she has to get up and get it. Then you go back to waiting for a down. It should only take three or four downs before she realizes what you want, and then she should start laying right bight down right away. Once you think she knows what you're asking, you can add the cue to the command (I'd do at least three or four separate training sessions before adding the cue). This can be slow initially, but it's a great way to teach the dog exactly what you want, especially if she used to know "down" but will no longer lay down. This kind of re-sets things.

Hope this helps!
 
Kelly, that's awesome advice! I will definitely try that, and yeah, Ghost will be in her crate for this. We've never done clicker training, but I'm sure a verbal marker would work well for her. She generally does well with verbal cues, though these days it's becoming difficult to get her to do something. Forget it if there's no food involved and she knows it.

I'm a little worried about her today. Maybe she's just as destroyed as I am from a weekend of partying and house guests, but it was really hard to get her up this morning. I went in to let Ghost out of her crate around 0800, and Lulu was curled up asleep in one of the cat beds. I said all the magic words that usually elicit an immediate response even from a dead sleep (outside, breakfast, even the coveted treat), and didn't get any respons for a while. I even bent down and pet her and talked gently for a couple minutes, and she finally got up and walked to the door with us. Still couldn't get her to go outside, but she was out at 0200 (fairly normal for her, Aaron is a night owl) so I wasn't worried about her having an accident. Of course, by the time the food came out, she was her normal food coveting self. She's been fine the rest of the day, but that was really weird this morning. I'm going to keep a careful eye on her, and if she's still acting funny tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday morning, I'll give the vet a call. Thankfully I'm still off work with my ankle so I have plenty of time to take care of her.

Thanks guys!
 
I'm glad Lulu is back to normal whatever it was.

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I think she's just really mopey because Aaron is still gone. He should be back tomorrow afternoon, but when I was talking to him on the phone last night she sat up and started crying. I put him on speaker and let him talk to her, and she seemed to enjoy that. Poor girl, I feel bad for her. She's cuddled up against me on the couch right now, with Ghost taking up the rest of the couch (my 40 lb cannonball...). Ghost even got really talkative when Aaron was on the phone last night, and started doing the typical Husky woo wooing. They really miss their daddy...
 
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