stuborn husky tips.. please!!!

[tikeyas_mom]

Tikeya alwasy thinks she is in trouble, what can I do to compfort her? When I call he she comes to me then flops on her back like she is in trouble, any suggestions????

[aly]

Do you yell at her and scold her a lot? Could you tell us why you think she's doing this?

I would switch your training methods to positive reinforcement rather than negative corrections. It will really help with your bond and Tikeya will stop being scared of you. What types of things does Tikeya get in trouble for? I can give you some hints on how to modify her behavior positively rather than negatively (if that is how you are doing it.... which is the only reason I can imagine she is cowering to you).

[tikeyas_mom]

Do you yell at her and scold her a lot? *No I dont I dont get mad at her that often.*

Could you tell us why you think she's doing this?* she thinks she is in trouble??? I dunno*

I would switch your training methods to positive reinforcement rather than negative corrections. *I already do that :(.*

It will really help with your bond and Tikeya will stop being scared of you.

What types of things does Tikeya get in trouble for? *Killing small animals (like wild birds) She hasnt done that since the begining of the summer though. She also gets into trouble when she doesnt come when she is called, and when she doesnt come when she is called we go to her and say "bad girl Tikeya".. DONT get me wronge everytime She does come she gets so much love and belly rubs and ear scratches. We always reward her ~not with food~ when she listens.*

I can give you some hints on how to modify her behavior positively rather than negatively (if that is how you are doing it.... which is the only reason I can imagine she is cowering to you). *sure, I am open to suggestions, I really hate when she ALWAYS flops on her back when called, when ppl meet her, when I go to play with her, When I want to take her for a walk, She doesnt just do it when she is bad she does it all the time :(:(*

I really need advise. .

[tikeyas_mom]

she even flops ever on her back when playing with Oscar :rolleyes:

HELP

[primabella]

Well, maybe she is asking for a belly rub. :p Are you sure she thinks she is in trouble? If she does this with Oscar as well...?

I know when we call Mickey to us we say it in a happy voice so he gets more excited and walks over happily with his tail wagging. Do you call her over in an angry tone?

[tikeyas_mom]

Originally posted by primabella
Well, maybe she is asking for a belly rub. :p Are you sure she thinks she is in trouble? If she does this with Oscar as well...?

I know when we call Mickey to us we say it in a happy voice so he gets more excited and walks over happily with his tail wagging. Do you call her over in an angry tone?

I call her in a high pitched "Tikeya Commer girl" And clap my hands and have a smile on, I NEVER would call her in an angry tone, EVER then she would think she was in trouble :).

[aly]

Do you use the word "come" for your recall word? Tikeya is associating whatever word you use with being yelled at. First thing I would do is change your word to "here" or something similar.

Start out with Tikeya on a leash and say "Here Tikeya!". Show her a good treat that you're holding and she'll most likely come. Grasp her collar and feed her the treat and praise her. It is really beneficial to get them used to having their collar held when called. That way they won't get into a habit of coming to you then running away.

After she does good on the leash, you can attach her to a long line and extend the distance she is from you when you call her. Every single time she comes, praise her, reward her, pet her. I know its upsetting when dogs don't come when you call, but you should never yell at them for it. Thats why they stop coming. When she doesn't come, go quietly grab her collar and lead her away from where she is. She needs to associate very good things with coming to you and not yelling. Remember to say the recall word only once. After you do work with her on the long line, try it offleash.

This will take a little time and patience but I think it will work. Let us know how it goes!

[aly]

Another reason why dogs stop coming when called :

Imagine you start taking Tikeya to the dog park every Friday. When you're ready to leave, you call her to you, put her leash on and leave. After about the 3rd or 4th Friday, she stops coming.

From her eyes, every time she is called, she's receving something negative - going home. Playing with the other dogs is much more fun so she starts to ignore her recall word.

In a case like this, I would periodically call my dog to me, hold her collar and praise her for a minute, then reward her by letting her go back and play. Its important that they don't always expect something negative to happen.

I'm wondering if Tikeya is on any medicine or anything. Like, do you call her to you a lot then give her medicine, or another unpleasant experience? If thats the case, you might want to simply go get her at those times instead of calling her. Or if you do call her, give her an extra special treat before and after the medicine or whatever else she doesn't like.

Changing your recall word will help immensely.

[ParNone]

Aly's got some great advice there. I was also going to add
that if you're angry, stressed, having a bad day, don't call her to
you. Make sure you're in a happy, happy, joy, joy mindset,
when training, "come". I think dogs really can sense your inner
feelings, so while you may think your tone and body language
are fine, they can read otherwise. Gotta be true.

Normally Oz comes to me really good, but the other night in
agility, we ended up having to work out with the advanced class,
who were preparing for a competition. There were tons of
people watching and the whole process was run like a
competition. I was stressed to the gills. Totally nervous
about all those people watching us. It was not in any way
shape or form directed towards Oz, but when it was our turn,
he refused to come to me. I had to go get him several times.
The instructor came out to talk to us to try and calm both of
us down and was telling me he was feeding off my stress.
You could just see he was like "man, I'm not coming to you,
there's something really wrong with you right now".

Before our second turn, I started pumping us up. Talking
excitedly to him. Telling him he was gonna get his Popeye's
biscuit everytime he came to me. Didn't even have to do any
obstacles, just as long as he came. No worries this was all for
fun. And truth be told it was doing more to releave my stress
than his. By the time we got back in the ring, I was totally calm.
Completely focused on just having fun. He did great. Came
happily to me everytime I called him. You could just see in
his face, "Oh thank god, you're back!".:)

Par...

[Crikit]

Aly said all that I was going to say. Like she said the recall should be a good happy thing and should never be used when associated with negatives in any way shape or form.

[tikeyas_mom]

thanks so much aly, I am going to try a new recall workd and I am not going to use negitive things with her anymore, you are a really great dog trianer I get :). I will pm you when results start coming in :):)