Hi Anne and Maddie!
Molly is great at "sit" and terrific at holding eye contact and pretty reliable at "down," but she has been thoroughly inconsistent about responding to "come." It's my theory that because of her painful elbows she has gotten into the habit of thinking about whether the reward will justify the discomfort. With her elbows, it is clearly the rising up that is a problem. You can hear them clicking, and she nearly always hesitates when getting up from the floor or ground. On the other hand, if the "reward" were another dog to play with, she would jump right up and go! So my 2 cents worth is that when they have elbow pain, they weigh the options before following instructions.
We are going to try obedience class again after rehab from elbow surgery is behind us.
Martha Hoverson and Molly (in the car right now with her daddy on the way to the Foster Small Animal Hospital at Tufts; surgery tomorrow!)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Portland, Maine
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Elbows and Obedience Training Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 12:32:12 -0500
Hello, Listers-
I'm in need of input regarding obedience training (not for competition, at this point, just companion level) and a dog with symptomatic elbow dysplasia (diagnosed early, but not surgically "correctable")...
My 9 month old, Maddie, is generally a good and eager-to-please student. However, I'm having a very hard time getting her to do "downs" without food lures. She will sit every time, but stares at me blankly when told "down." She will only "down" when following a treat; the rest of the time she ignores me completely. I (and the trainer)am having a hard time determining if this is just stubborn adolescence or unwillingness to do something that's uncomfortable unless worthwhile food is the reward!
I try to avoid repeating any one exercise too much, avoid too many "tight turns", and am ever conscious of her elbows, but I'm finding it hard to differentiate between her stubbornness and what might be unwillingness to comply because of discomfort.
Any advice/suggestions for working with a dog with this physical limitation would be appreciated!
Anne
with Maddie and Titan
Cranford, NJ
_________________________________________________________________
STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
