Trouble with my dog

[Piroska]

I think you should treat your dog the way you (should) treat your kid!
Have lots of patience and be consequent in your actions.
Let them now you're the boss and they can depend on you.
And even in wolf behaviour it is normal to correct the ones who do
wrong. Dogs need to know who is the boss (the alfa) and just as kids
they are always trying you out, trying to find a tiny slip in comment,
waiting to take over. :0)

Cindy.

[Minna]

Hi Karin and all,

my answer was based on dogs' behavioural studies and the recommendations I
gave really work. It is perfectly normal for a DOG not to be greeted
enthusiastically from the ALPHA of the pack. Submissive members of the wolf
pack greet the alpha - but the alpha does not greet them back the same way.
And again, it is normal for a DOG that you as "the alpha" can come and go as
you please. The submissive canine members of your pack don't need any
explanations or big emotions. The dog won't "think" that you don't like him
if you just ignore it these times. The dog will realize that you understand
its language and begins to respect you as a leader of its pack. And there
is even more into that: With separation anxiety many dogs' behavioural
consultants speculate that the dog that is showing s.a. symptoms do actually
act like the alpha. The dog tries to control your goings and comings and
doesn't feel comfortable when you are alone away. The dog is going crazy
just like a mother would if her small children were somewhere out alone
maybe lost. I have 3 dogs (2 CsWs and 1 CsW x Saarloos cross) and only my
male dog has had all extreme symptoms of separation anxiety (howling,
destroying everything, peeing and doing the big job too); he is also the
most dominant one of them. Karin asked if I have already solved this
problem. Yes I have, he stays generally in a kennel while alone - and no
damage has been done anymore. But he has also been alone (with my other
dogs) in hotelroom without destroying anything (god, I was afraid) for a
short time couple of times. I think that he is getting better and better but
I still can't totally trust him.

There is quite an easy way of finding out if your dog is having separation
anxiety or if it is just chewing things because it is bored. If the dog has
s.a, the dog begins to pee, defecate, howl, hyperventilate and/or destroy
things right after its owner has left the home and it normally doesn't eat
or drink. If the dog is just bored it begins to destroy thing later (and
should not have these other symptoms at all). And dogs that have separation
anxiety get extremely nervous when they notice that their owner is about to
leave them alone.

And Cindy, I believe that we should treat dogs like dogs and not like
children (because they don't undestand human behaviour that perfectly - they
will get confused). Dogs have learnd a lot of our language and behavior and
normally no big damage is done if we treat them like children - that shows
how flexible they really are; but it might be a good idea that we too would
make an effort and learn to understand their language and behaviour better
(there are so many good books and behavioural experts).

Minna

[Tina]

it might be a good idea that we too would
make an effort and learn to understand their language and behaviour better

Minna, I just want you to know that I truly enjoyed your post, and it made me
do a bit of deeper thinking too
I even shared my thoughts, and a few of your lines, with my list group. I
hope you don't mind. Please feel free to look for yourself http://groups.yahoo.com/group/STM-Tr...?yguid=3854678

[deborah]

Hi again
Your describtion on how to solve my problems, sounds more like the way
I've learned to do it
So far I've tried almost everything, except the car box, which I will get
very soon, but nothing has helped. But she is still very young (4 months)
so maybe it'll get better over time.
I am of my studies (summer vacation) for the next month, so I have lots
of time to train with her, so I hope, I will see some progress there
There has been a bit progress, but after a few days, everything goes back
to her normal behaviour... Can't really understand why, since there has
been no change in our daily routine.

Thank you to you all, for inputs to my problem.

Regards,
Deborah

[deborah]

Thank you very much for your email.

I think alot of training and work also helped out,
because a dog always feels better when they have something to do, and I
found that once I expected her to do her obedience work without any
treats
as a reward, she started settling down too... just an odd coincidence
maybe. But now we are working on carting, so she has been fairly
exausted during the day.

Sounds plausible to my ears, but the organisation I would like to train
her by, won't allow us, to go untill she is 4 months old - and she is
that today So next week I'll start. Untill now, I've done my best to
train her, and it she has been ndoing quite allright, she seems very
bright, a quick learner.

My dalmatian is
12, and latley he has been getting Urinary Tract Infections, and he
NEVER
goes in the house. But when he has a medical reason he cannot help it
because it hurts so bad he just has to go. I would not rule out any
medical
problems unless you have already checked it out, because alot of times
that
can be or IS the problem. And it seems more likley because the dog not
only does it while you are gone, but while you are there.

I have already had that checked out and there shouldn't be a problem.
Btw she does not only urinated, but also shit (-sorry don't know the nice
English word for that action )

And another thing, you said you were only gone for 20 min. Well when a
dog
typicly does something, be it destroy something or urinate etc. when
you are
gone, most of the time it will happen within the first 10-30 min. you
are gone.

I've heard that too, but when I had her under 'surveillance' she started
the destroying after 4-5 hours...

If you wouldn't mind explaining the full details of the problem and the
situations, it may make things a WHOLE lot easier to classify a
problem.
Hope I either may have helped, or will be able to help in the future!

Thank you so very much.
I would love to explain the full details, but my English knowlegde is
very limited, so I often find it very hard to explain, I love when I get
emails like this, 'cause then I'll just have to answer questions
You would help me a lot, If you could tell me what I have left out, a lot
to ask, but just give me a clue, and I'll be there.

Again, thank you all very much, for trying to help me out.

Deborah

[Silver_Dragon]

I would love to explain the full details, but my English knowlegde is
very limited, so I often find it very hard to explain, I love when I get
emails like this, 'cause then I'll just have to answer questions
You would help me a lot, If you could tell me what I have left out, a lot
to ask, but just give me a clue, and I'll be there.

You are welcome!
Well I got some of the answers already, leaving less questions... But here
are a couple.

I don't understand the situation at night, you say that the dog has acess to
the garden in case of an emergency, what exactly do you mean? Is there a
doggy-door and fenced area? ...I guess I just don't know the situation, but
if I were you, with a pup so young, I would REALLY try to get the dog to
hold what they have to do untill morning. I used a crate with my last dog
(the first dog I have fully trained, because I am only 18 and have not yet
had a full life of dogs yet!). I would take her out really late before we
went to bed, and let her out fairly early to go, and then right back into
the crate. Eventually she got up later and later, and now she can sleep all
morning without a problem. If you give a dog access to a place to go ALL
the time, they get the idea that they don't HAVE to hold it in, and they do
not learn HOW to hold it in! It makes a big difference having a dog penned
off, or crated for the night.


What kind of 'outdoor' scedual is the dog on? Dogs learn a set time of when
to do something and when they are going to have a certain action happen.
Like the time you leave in the morning, and when you return. I know some
people have already touched on this, but to pay less attention to the dog
when you leave and come home really can make a difference. I personally
have never tried this method, because when I come home, the first thing I
want to do is roll around on the floor with a couple of happy dogs!! So
when my girl started destroying things, along with yelling at her for doing
it (everyone advises NOT to do this, but from experience I swear by it!), I
would also just let her out and bring her right back in wehn she was done
doing what she had to do. When she didn't destroy anything, I would pet her
and play with her, and go outside and have her 'tennis ball time' which she
just LOVES. About half an hour of playing fetch with her favorite toy, and
she was quickly broken of the destroying habbit. I went by the 'rules' for
awhile, but needed to change them because they were not working. Everything
people say not to do, ended up working well in this situation and the
house-breaking too!

All I can really say is, do what you think is right in training the dog.
Their are some good methods, but they will not work for every person or
every dog. If one does not work, try another! Most cannot hurt too much!
)

Good luck with your pup! I am sure as she grows out of her puppieness, she
will be a good dog. My obedience trainer said that the magic age for a dog
is 2 years. After that everything just sort of 'clicks', and with my young
dog I realize that is just about the case! She has gotten so much better at
about 1 1/2 years, and she has been acting like the absolutely perfect dog!
She is a therapy dog, and a carting dog, and I think when you do so much
training with a dog, that is really what will end up being the best thing
for them.

~Silver Dragon~

[deborah]

Hi again, I'll answer the best I can, and thank you for helping me out.
I understand most English but it is a bit hard 'just to talk' without
knowing exactly what to say...

I don't understand the situation at night, you say that the dog has
acess to
the garden in case of an emergency, what exactly do you mean? Is there
a doggy-door and fenced area?

No, what I ment by 'emergencies' was, that she at all times can walk
through our door, at daytime, in case she really has to go, and I'm not
there to talk her for a walk. In the nighttime there's really nothing to
do

I would take her out really late before we
went to bed, and let her out fairly early to go, and then right back
into
the crate. Eventually she got up later and later, and now she can
sleep all
morning without a problem. If you give a dog access to a place to go
ALL
the time, they get the idea that they don't HAVE to hold it in, and
they do
not learn HOW to hold it in! It makes a big difference having a dog
penned off, or crated for the night.

I guess so, and I agree with you. It is only through the day she can go
outside singlehanded, if she really needs to, and that's why I got
confused since she chose to do her business inside our house.

What kind of 'outdoor' scedual is the dog on? Dogs learn a set time of
when
to do something and when they are going to have a certain action
happen.
Like the time you leave in the morning, and when you return. I know
some
people have already touched on this, but to pay less attention to the
dog
when you leave and come home really can make a difference.

I have always tried to ignore her half an hour before leaving and same
thing until half an an hour after returning.
- She's getting better and better at that point. Now's she's just
excited, she no longer jumps up and down, peeping and so.

Normally I talk her for a short walk when I get up from bed after being
dressed. (It here needs to bed said, that I only sleep about 6 hours a
night, so she won't have to wait 10 hours from her evening walk for me to
get up again)
Then a half hour walk an hour-to half an hour before leaving, so she has
time to cool down. Then she get's a long walk when I've returned from the
university, and again just before suppertime, we usually walk around in
the forest for an hour or so, sometimes we 'miss' the woods, but then
I'll just take her for ar bit shorter walk somewhere else.
Just before bed, I've been trying to walk the same tour every night, so
that she can learn, that when we go like that, it's bedtime and she has
to do her business. It has really helped. For a week now (the time I've
been practising it) she hasn't had any troubles keeping it in.

She has shown great progrees in not to be peeing everywhere, but there
still is some troubles. Eg. right before typing this mail, I heard her
peeing for a very short time and then I copuld hear her pee... I took a
walk with her only half an hour earlier.. It is things like that, which
confuses, and to be honest, irretates me a bit, because I can't
understand why. But, I still try mu best not to be angry or use
bodylanguage that tells her that I am. I still believe, that positive
learning is the only way of learning
She still destroys a bit, but the damage is minimal. For one thing, I
know keep her in my bathroom with all her favourite toys and a nice bone.
The rest of the day, I just make sure that nothing is inside of
dogreach The trouble is, that our house is in two (stores? - is that
the correct word, I mean the word you use, when you have both a first and
a second floor... - hope you guys understand) so when I'm upstairs to
email you all for an example, she has every chance of being destructive
without me never knowing untill I get down and it's too late. But it is
going better and better.
Now she's just eating and destroying everything that even looks like
food - and paper - and tobacco of some reason...
But it sound worse than it is, I am actually quite proud of her. Since
the day my husband said, enough is enough, there hasn't been the problems
which couldn't be handled from time to time.
the only thing in which she hasn't shown progress yet, is concerning the
biting in people and clothes... She does not bite hard or anything, she
just does it all the time, even though I correct her each and every time.
But I guess it will come over time.
She is still very excited when she sees children. Even though she's still
a very yound pup, I have troubles in holding her, but that to is getting
better, since the kids now have known her for a while, and find her a bit
less interesting - then there's no longer the big 'hello-scenes' from
their side, so I think that'll get better to.
Unfortunately I do not know any kids, besides my siplings, which aren't
very good at saying "don't" when the dog jumps up at them and so. My
husbands siplings aren't doing very well at that either, guess there
should be a new class in their school 'how to act and behave around
animals'... Most kids could certainly use it

And btw a tip you probably all, already know... I've heard the advise of
giving the dog a T-shirt you've been wearing when you have to leave it or
you go to sleep, several times, but never really followed it (don't know
why I havn't);
My dog normally sleeps beneath my bed, and I put my clothes on a chair
right next to the bed. Every morning that I see that she hasn't destroyed
anything, she has, funy enough, stolen one of my
T-shirts and has been sleeping quite calmly on it all night. So it really
looks like it works, and since I wouldn't give her a T-shirt, she had to
take one for herself
She has never been destroying any clothes yet... and I hope she keeps it
that way
The CsW I had, ate my panties all the time, even when I had put them in a
certain basket where I keep my laundry, she could find and destroy them.
Then I got a box, that she couldn't open, and kept my panties in there -
then she just took my bra's instead... crazy dog

That's all for now...
All the best to you all,
Deborah

[deborah]

Sorry for the late answer to this mail... Of some reason your mails alway
lay in the bottom of my mailbox... usually I do not look their, cause
there should only be 'old' emails. Sorry...

****In my opinion, the symptoms described by Deborah indicate there are more possibilities .
May be: 1)The dog is scared of Deborah. She could have made some
educational mistake. (I don't think so.)

I don't thin she's scared, but she is 'respectful'... sometimes I feel
really bad when I'm angry with her and let her know so. I couldn't dream
of yell of her, I just talk to her in an angry tone, but sometimes it
happens that she peeps...

2)The dog is confused and doesn't know how to behave.
The behaviour of Deborah and her husband wasn't consistent- every time
the same. They punished or rewarded her not always for the same the same way.

You have a point there. Sadly my husband isn't so interested in dogs,
(he's a computer engineer, say's it all doesn't it ) so when he spends
time with the dog, he doesn't act the way I've learned the dog that we
do. More sadly is the thing, that my husband and I act quite different in
almost every aspect of the dogs life... I've been trying to tell him
what's right and not, and he has been listening and learning quite well,
but all of you in realationships know, that your partner only 'allows'
you to correct him or her, a certain number of times before they get
angry and feel unuseful...

3)The dog makes this on purpose. She made something(Deborah) what the dog doesn't like or she does something what is not acceptable for the dog often.

- I do not hope so, but I wouldn't know. It is certainly not on purpose
then...

I do not think either, that she's suffering from seperation
anxiety.. 'cause she does not show any other signs than destroying and
peeing and so.. She is not nervous at all when I'm about to leave, she
gets a bit exited, because I get dressed - she know that that action also
means a walk in the forest I've now been trying to get dressed, and
then stay inside and then take my clothes of again, so she doesn't
necssesarely connect being dresses and to get a walk with each other.

The dog panics when left alone. You should never greet a dog
like that enthusiastically, in deed you should not greet it at all.
**** (Karin)This I don't find like normal behavior between the dog and
his owner.
When you behave to the dog like this for longer time, then he
thinks, you don't like him. He doesn't understand why you behave like
this to him.
You are punishing him every time you ignore him after coming home.
You push him away and he tries to attract your attention may be even by
peeing when you see it....

- I see my dog as part of the family, and when she is grown I'll get a
CsW... so it not like I don't like dogs or that I seperate them from me
and my familys life. BUT, I do think, that a dog is mainly still a wolf,
and I wanna raise it that way, not ignoring the wolfpart. And as I've
learned the alfa never greets the rest of the pack, as an earlier email
on this topic informed us as well. That's why I don't think that my
ignorance when leaving and returning, has caused the problem. The leaving
and returning has so far went pretty much without troubles.

.... dog like this you should try to get the bond
between your and the dog little less intense.
Don't allow the dog follow you
everywhere when you are at home and give it generally less affection.

I know, and I've tried. But how do you actually tell a dog not to follow
you around when she hasn't yet learned the "stay"-command? She normally
does not follow me around, but some days are worse than others...

Regards,
Deborah

[Minna]

Hi Deborah and all,

now after reading this new description of your dogs behaviour it sounds like
he is just a normal puppy and you too don't sound that desperate anymore.

You told us that you had a CsV that used to eate you panties and even bras.
My male CsV (yes, the same one who also has had separation anxiety) also
does this. And this is not only crazy; it is also dangerous. He already
once had an intestinal blockage after he had swallowed my bra and he had to
be operated. It was a big and expensive surgery and he could have died. Now,
when I see that he has swallowed something not suitabel, I give him some
salt directly into his throat and then he will vomit everything out. Lately
he has been much better also with this "crazy habit" of his but I must take
care taht I don't leave my underwear anywhere where he could get them ... I
know this sounds very funny, but actually it isn't ...

Minna

[Silver_Dragon]

She still destroys a bit, but the damage is minimal. For one thing, I know keep her in my bathroom with all her favourite toys and a nice bone.
The rest of the day, I just make sure that nothing is inside of
dogreach The trouble is, that our house is in two (stores? - is that
the correct word, I mean the word you use, when you have both a first and a second floor... - hope you guys understand) so when I'm upstairs to
email you all for an example, she has every chance of being destructive
without me never knowing untill I get down and it's too late. But it is
going better and better.

Ok, I know someone told you to pay less attention to the dog, and do not let
them follow you everywhere, in this situation I couldn't disagree more! If
you KNOW the dog is in a position where she can destroy things, remove them
from it! Sometimes it is just that simple. Take the dog with you out of
the room they otherwise would be left in. A fairly new training tecnique
(have not had to try it), is when you are just doing what you have to do
around the house, have the dog attached to a leash that is looped around
your waist or belt. The dog will be forced to watch you, and pay attention
to you, other than do whatever else she wants to do! Only do it for a
little while at a time (maybe 10 minutes at first, once or twice a day, then
up to 20 minutes once they get used to it). It is just an excersise to get
them to pay attention to YOU. But if you do not like that idea, do NOT
leave them in a room unattended if you know or suspect that the dog will do
something wrong. Or if you do, make sure you are right there to correct the
behavior as SOON as it happens!

the only thing in which she hasn't shown progress yet, is concerning the biting in people and clothes... She does not bite hard or anything, she just does it all the time, even though I correct her each and every time.

The absolute BEST method for this, as funny as it may sound... Is to 'yelp'
(like a mother or littermate would) and turn away as soon as the dog bites.
Not only are YOU going to do this, but everyone else around the dog. It
will soon catch on that it cannot bite because it will not play, and it has
upset you. I cannot stress enough how well this works!

She is still very excited when she sees children. Even though she's still a very yound pup, I have troubles in holding her, but that to is getting
better, since the kids now have known her for a while, and find her a bit
less interesting - then there's no longer the big 'hello-scenes' from
their side, so I think that'll get better to.

The best thing I learned in the obedience classes I took with Ivy, was that
when a stranger or anyone really, is approaching you, have the dog trained
to sit in a heel position when it is greeted. The dog will want to get up,
just through strong corrections and positive rewards, the dog will learn
that it will have to sit and be good to be greeted by others. If you want
information on how to train this step-by-step, I will be more than happy to
share, just let me know!

My husbands siplings aren't doing very well at that either, guess there should be a new class in their school 'how to act and behave around
animals'... Most kids could certainly use it

I couldn't agree more! I think EVERYONE should be taught how to act around
dogs, most people have not the slightest clue how to act around and properly
care for a dog, and it is amazing how many of them HAVE dogs!!! I think
dog/animal care should be a required course, and I would be more than happy
to teach it! ;o)

And btw a tip you probably all, already know... I've heard the advise of giving the dog a T-shirt you've been wearing when you have to leave it or
you go to sleep, several times, but never really followed it (don't know
why I havn't); My dog normally sleeps beneath my bed, and I put my clothes on a chair right next to the bed. Every morning that I see that she hasn't destroyed anything, she has, funy enough, stolen one of my T-shirts and has been sleeping quite calmly on it all night. So it really
looks like it works, and since I wouldn't give her a T-shirt, she had to
take one for herself

I don't know about this one! I think it would train the dog to take your
cloths, if only for now to lay on... it could progress to destroying, or
destroying things to get AT the cloths, if they are not on hand. Plus I
don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to wake up to a dog hair covered
shirt, I have to at least go all day before it gets covered! )

Going to paste info from the other message here:

I don't thin she's scared, but she is 'respectful'... sometimes I feel really bad when I'm angry with her and let her know so. I couldn't dream
of yell of her, I just talk to her in an angry tone, but sometimes it
happens that she peeps...

If you mean 'pees' I do not know 'peeps' (except those colorful little
marshmellow things at easter time)... so I will assume you mean pees. If a
dog pees while you are yelling at it, or when greeting you, it is a very
high submission act. The dog wants you to know that 'you are right' and
'you are boss, I know'. Do NOT yell at a dog for submissive peeing!!! The
dog will NOT understand! If you have real problems with this, you are going
to have to build the dog's confidence a bit, and because I have not yet had
an overly submissive dog (Ivy is very submisive, but not nearly that much),
I would not know the best methods to go around training this.


And one more thing mentioned is if the dog does pee 'on purpose'. If the
dog DOES do it on pourpose there are a few methods of realising this. That
would be 'marking' different areas of the house, or if the dog comes over
infront of you and just starts peeing. If it does pee infront of you like
this, it just wants attention. Even by yelling at it, she will recieve
attention that it is looking for, ignore the dog under any and all
circumstances!! If it keeps up there would be other methods of correcting it.

Hope this has helped some. If you have more questions or need more
information, just let me know I would be happy to help with what I can!
Good luck!


~Silver Dragon~

[deborah]

Hi again
I think I'll try out the new training method you told me about, if she
does not keep up the good work. Right now she doing pretty good, and I
hope the rest will work out bu training and the fact that she's getting
older

The absolute BEST method for this, as funny as it may sound... Is to
'yelp' (like a mother or littermate would) and turn away as soon as the dog bites. Not only are YOU going to do this, but everyone else around the dog.
It
will soon catch on that it cannot bite because it will not play, and it
has upset you. I cannot stress enough how well this works!

I do know this method, and have used it since we got her, at 8 weeks old,
but it hasn't worked yet. I've tried not to be too naive and stop my
corrections (I've heard that's the worst you can do in that situation)
but kept doing it. Normally she stops for a few days, and then she begins
again, like everything else... she shows progress, I get happy, but are
still training, and then she sets everything back to the bad behaviour...

The best thing I learned in the obedience classes I took with Ivy, was
that
when a stranger or anyone really, is approaching you, have the dog
trained
to sit in a heel position when it is greeted. The dog will want to get
up,
just through strong corrections and positive rewards, the dog will
learn
that it will have to sit and be good to be greeted by others. If you
want
information on how to train this step-by-step, I will be more than
happy to
share, just let me know!

I would really appreciate it. My only problem concerning training is,
that I don't want to push her too hard. She seems very bright, but every
time I train her a bit too intensively, she (like described above) does
what I tell her to, and then a couple of days later, she does not, even
though I've been training her every single day...

I don't know about this one! I think it would train the dog to take
your
cloths, if only for now to lay on... it could progress to destroying,
or
destroying things to get AT the cloths, if they are not on hand. Plus
I
don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to wake up to a dog hair
covered
shirt, I have to at least go all day before it gets covered! )

I know, that's why I've been giving her an old T-shirts, so she does not
steal mine. It can be that you are right about the destroying, but it has
really helped, she now relax at nighttime.

If you mean 'pees' I do not know 'peeps' (except those colorful little
marshmellow things at easter time)... so I will assume you mean pees.

I'm sorry, I did not use the right word. I mean the sound that a dog
makes when it is hurt and so. Not howling, but... and here should be the
word I do not know
She has only been peeing one time when I yelled at her, I stopped right
away. Sometimes, very seldom, she pees of excitement when we have
visitors in the house, only a few drops, but we are working on it.

If the dog DOES do it on pourpose there are a few methods of realising
this.
That would be 'marking' different areas of the house, or if the dog
comes over infront of you and just starts peeing. If it does pee
infront of you like this, it just wants attention. Even by yelling at
it, she will recieve attention that it is looking for, ignore the dog
under any and all circumstances!! If it keeps up there would be other
methods of correcting it.

She has not been marking - yet
But it has happened a few times that she has looked at us, sat down, and
started to pee. The first times I yelled at her, but last time I was just
so tired of her, that I didn't even react and since then she hasn't done
it again. It was the 5th of June.
Just to excuse myself so I don't sound like a quitter , I have to
mention, that this particular day, she had started the morning by ripping
my sheets apart, then been peeing and doing the big job in the kitchen
just after I had taken her for a walk, where she had done both,
Then she hunted my cat, tried to eat my staircase, been digging big holes
in the garden and destroyed my favourite, newly planted, tree.
Then she ate the roses, cat again, peeing again, ate almost THREE KILOS
of beef-filet we should have been eating when my parents and siplings
came over for dinner, a pound of pork and almost same amount of chicken-
filet, destroyed some toiletpaper and spread it all over the house....
and so on, and so on...
I had just had it there, so I didn't even yell at her when she was peeing
right in front of me. - Since then she hasn't done it. You gave me the
explanation why, I guess.

Hope this has helped some. If you have more questions or need more
information, just let me know I would be happy to help with what I can!
Good luck!

Thank you again, I really want you all to know that I really apreciate
your help and advise.

Deborah.

[Silver_Dragon]

I would really appreciate it. My only problem concerning training is, that I don't want to push her too hard. She seems very bright, but every
time I train her a bit too intensively, she (like described above) does
what I tell her to, and then a couple of days later, she does not, even
though I've been training her every single day...

I think you have GOT to have control over your dog. If it does not want to
listen, MAKE it! It is the only way a dog will learn. The best way is to
ALWAYS have a leash on when you do your initial training, that way you do
not have to chase the dog around, and can quickly and easily correct it.
As for the method of training the dog to sit nicely while being greeted,
there is a large process to this, but more than well worth it! It is
actually a part of the CGC and TDI tests here in the US... SO Ivy needed to
know them to pass these tests.
The first thing you do, is to have the dog sit in a heel position. Walk
forward using a treat as a lure, as in training to heel, and tell the dog to
sit. It should be in the proper position (if not, gently place the dog in
the position), and reward it with treats and praise. Do this untill the dog
sits properly each time. Then you can work your way up to telling it to
'stay' or 'wait'. Whatever command you choose, it does not matter. Then
just have the dog sit there for a few seconds at first, then a few more each
time it correctly does the given amount of time. Reward after each command
done right, and do NOT be afraid to correct! If the dog does not stay, push
it back into place and repeate the command. After the dog gets to doing
this right, then you should get someone as a distraction. Have him/her just
walk by after the dog is in the 'stay' position. If it gets up, correct it,
if not praise! Easy as that! Then have the person walk closer each time,
but just walk PAST the dog at first. Then, have the person approach the
dog. At first passing right by (preferably on your right side, away from
the dog). Then when that is sucessful, have the person come up and pet the
dog, then walk away.
Eventually people will be able to approach you and the dog will just sit at
your side (assuming you have given the command). This HAS to be done on
leash at first, untill it will ALWAYS respond to what you are asking of her.
You should take the dog for a 10 second 'walk around' break inbetween each
of the steps. For exaple, you are getting the dog to sit at your side:
walk, have the dog sit in heel position (if not right, correct) give treats,
and get up and move around for 10 seconds, and then do it again (maybe only
4 or 5 times in a 'session', maybe only 2 or 3 sessions a day).
But do use alot of praise, and in any of your training, do NOT be afraid to
clearly voice your commands, and place the dog where it should be. It needs
to be told EXACTLY what you want of it, or the dog will be REALLY confused,
and may not respond because it does not know what you are asking her.

I am going to be away untill Monday night, so that will be why I probably
will not respond to any mail untill then. See ya!

~Silver Dragon~