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Hey Linda - I hope that you don't mind if I expand the "autistic" dog thread a little bit. It really got me to thinking once again about Emilu and her "issues" and how much of it was me and how I trained her, and how much is due to her rather quirky personality. I know that I was a very beginner trainer and when we first started training I wasn't planning on showing her, so I didn't do some things the way I would now if starting to train a dog "from scratch" So I will take at least a good half of the "blame" for our performance problems. BUT - I am wondering now about many of her reactions, and wonder if any of you notice problems with your dogs that are due to personality issues.
For example - Emilu has always been a lagger and a very "wide" heeler. I'm really thinking that at least the wideness has a lot to do with her being uncomfortable being close to me all the time. It is definielty not in her nature to "hang close". And then there's the "treat" factor. I'm sure I could have weaned treats better than I did, but even now, most of her learning has to do with her real desire for treats - that's really what has always motivatied her - praise , and certainly petting her or even patting her chest almost tends to make her nervous and doens't seem to be a pleasant motivation factor to her. "Deterant" training can teach her pretty quickly what "not" to do, but I find it hard to motivate her. And of course her "dog reactive issues" have always been something to deal with , and makes her more nervous at shows. Maybe she really wasn't an ideal dog to show , but she's the dog I had. Linda - does Remi heel wide? I was just wondering if the closeness of heeling bothered him? I would imagine the running agility would be better because they can be further away from you. Have you noticed any other challening training issues with him that might be due his personality? Anybody else? It can just be quirks - I like to read about them and see what I can learn from it, or commiserate
For example - Emilu has always been a lagger and a very "wide" heeler. I'm really thinking that at least the wideness has a lot to do with her being uncomfortable being close to me all the time. It is definielty not in her nature to "hang close". And then there's the "treat" factor. I'm sure I could have weaned treats better than I did, but even now, most of her learning has to do with her real desire for treats - that's really what has always motivatied her - praise , and certainly petting her or even patting her chest almost tends to make her nervous and doens't seem to be a pleasant motivation factor to her. "Deterant" training can teach her pretty quickly what "not" to do, but I find it hard to motivate her. And of course her "dog reactive issues" have always been something to deal with , and makes her more nervous at shows. Maybe she really wasn't an ideal dog to show , but she's the dog I had. Linda - does Remi heel wide? I was just wondering if the closeness of heeling bothered him? I would imagine the running agility would be better because they can be further away from you. Have you noticed any other challening training issues with him that might be due his personality? Anybody else? It can just be quirks - I like to read about them and see what I can learn from it, or commiserate