vneerland wrote: Not sure what opinion to pick out of your 'First friends' remark in the last paragraph?
Are you in agreement with the middle of the road attitude, or do you prefer harsher or softer treatment?
To me too, it is ask, tap, spank. More or less. So I am wondering what your preference is.
First Friends is the name of the place that I went to right after I got Abigail. the owner at the time was very heavy handed. Which I do not like. At the time I didn't know any different. It resulted in Abigail being handshy.
With Cino I have taken to the idea of when initially learning something it is fun/rewarded/motivate. Then as I work towards perfecting a given task then there is more of the ask, tap, spank. With reward when done correctly.
Reward for Abigail is easy - she is a highly food motivated dog. But she has little ball/toy drive. So for her all I need is some Bil-Jac and praise.
Reward for Cino is a little more involved. No food drive unless I haven't fed him for a long time. So for him it is all about the toy - a ball, rag, tug, etc... He will even try to steal the toy.
I guess I would be the middle of the road. Motivate/reward to start and then correction after the learning is done.
....
Judith - we all know what your idea of food motivation is! A 40 pound bag of dogfood doesn't cut it.