# Training tips needed



## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

If you are quite certain she is not stopping because she is in pain....then I think you might be being played ;-)

Not entirely sure she is being stubborn, but rather I suspect that your girl has discovered that sitting and 'not moving' can sometimes makes you magically bring out the cookies! 

Try your best not to bring out the cookies...were it me, I would try crowding her a bit (invading her personal space without talking or making eye contact) so she is a bit annoyed and moves....the second she moves cheer lead a bit (not "over the top - party" cheer leading, but "good girl this way" kind of cheer leading)and walk off briskly...

She is expecting cookies...and instead you crowd...she moves... you praise and run a bit....


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## Eleanor's Mom (Nov 6, 2009)

I think you are right about being bamboozled some of the times she does the sitting and not moving. Eleanor is certainly clever enough to have figured out how to get her treat! But some of the other time it is definitely her wanting to do something other than what I planned. Yesterday we had taken a long walk in the woods and she was able to be off leash so she had plenty of running. I had put her leash on her while still in the woods because the parking place is off of a pretty busy road. She did that fine, but when we got back to the car, Eleanor just sat down and refused to get into the car. I did as you suggested and invaded her space. She would get up and then immediately turn to head back into the woods. I eventually got her into the car, but it took a while Eleanor had an appointment with the vet for something else last week and Lisa could not detect anything causing her pain.


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## Enzos_Mom (Apr 8, 2010)

Hahahaha She has taken the "be a tree" method and turned it around on you! What a clever girl!


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Oh my god, she must have gone to Ranger's school of thought. Ranger used to do the same thing!! There's still a crescent here where he always wants to turn down it and I want to go straight. He sloooows way down, slinks to the ground, and waits...while I keep going. Once he realizes we're not turning, he catches up. It was worse when he was young though. Any turn he wanted to make, he'd stop dead at the corner or sit like statue. That actually involved him sitting in the middle of a road once and refusing to budge!! Stubborn!!

What cue do you use to get her going when you start your walk? If you're not saying anything, I'd start using a chipper, "let's go!" so she starts to associate that with walking. Spend a few training sessions walking her and making her sit everytime you stop moving. Before you start moving, say "let's go" and WHEN she moves and follows you, THEN reward. Either praise or a cookie. Make sure you're not trying to "lure" her with a cookie to get her to move. Don't even show her that you have a cookie until she's responded to the "let's go" and starts to move. Remember to do this in short training sessions to start. YOU want to be in charge of her sitting until she knows what "let's go" means. If you take her on a walk, and she does a stubborn sit, and you use "let's go" before she knows what that means or knows to respond to it, then the effectiveness of the command has been marred. "let's go" will then turn into something she doesn't listen to. Does that make sense?

If you do get trapped on a walk by a stubborn sit, DON'T use the "let's go" cue. Do what LibertyMe said and invade her personal space. I used to stand right next to Ranger in his stubborn sit, and then nudge him with my knee closest to him. I'd keep applying gentle pressure until he got annoyed enough he'd move his front paws, then we'd start walking again. Or, I'd drop the leash (but hang on to the handle) and turn around and walk the other way, behind him. Most of the time, he'd get up to look and see what i was doing (since they can't turn their heads _too_ far behind their backs) and then he'd come scooting along to see where I was gong and we'd have a "party". 

When we'd get back from the walk, we'd do more training sessions of the "let's go" cue. As soon as I trusted that he'd respond to it no matter what, I started using it on his stubborn sits on walks. But i waited until I trusted him 100% to respond to it. The last thing I wanted to do was tell him the cue and have him ignore me. So now, even though he no longer does his stubborn sits, when he tries to slow down and stop at corners he wants to turn on, I drop the leash except for the handle and say "let's go" and he comes scurrying up.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

We often just wait until the dog moves on his own, even just a paw. Then toss/roll the treat a few feet down the path. The treats NEVER appear until there is movement. And placement is further ahead to encourage movement in that direction.


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## GoldenOwner12 (Jun 18, 2008)

Shelley use to be the same what i did is i just continued walking eg dragging her only took a couple of times and she leant that she couldn't get her own way.


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