oh no lol he sounds very hard headed lol Funny thing with Tucker is that it took all of 5 mins to train him to open the door and 2 months to get him to shake hands lol I used food rewards when I first started training him and I also used a clicker but now we dont use either one! I think your trainer is nuts lol The food reward does not have to be anything big just tiny lil pieces that he can smell in your hand( I used chicken breast) they help to keep their attention. The clicker worked good at keeping his attention until the cats heard it and started coming to check out what it was and then "POOF" there went Tuckers attention lol We have a lot of stray cats out here and he loves to chase them and he never hurts them but it is a habit I need to break him of. As for his crate ( I know I will get some bad responses for this) he is in it all day while we are at work. We bought the largest one out there.. made for Danes.. so he has lots of room and can totally stretch out in it and I do it for his protection as well as for the house. The only doggy day care I could find was 100.00 a day and a not very well kept place at that and I have no one to help us when we are home he is just fine.. even at night.. he sleeps in bed with us with no trouble at all.. but the second we leave him alone oh lordy lol My husband and I took the trash out one night ( we have a long driveway) and when we got back Tucker was sittin at the door with a pkg of flour tortillias at his feet! and we were only gone for 3-4 mins. oh and also with his training.. we started off working on things for 10 mins or less at a time and I always look for natural triggers and that helps alot!
to get him to say hi I just started making noises that would make him bark and then made that sound and when he would bark I would reward him then I made a hand signel when I made the nosie and again rewarded him soon I dropped making the nosie all together . Finally I would tell him " say Hi" with the signel and now all I have to do is " say Hi" and he barks 1 or 2 times lol sounds like a lot but he learned it all in 3 days! Lord I am long winded lol