[Dailydrool] Perfect dog in ? days

[dpmcquade at juno.com]

<<so ..what is up with all the books on ' train your Bassett perfectly in 15 days!  just buy my book for ...$50 or so and  you will learn my  secrets".  i dont have $50 or any amount to spend on books so am hoping you  folks will help me learn how to have this perfect dog in two week's time.>>

In the publishing world, we call this a marketing technique. Sure, everyone in the world wants to have a perfectly behaved dog in two weeks. People will come running to buy a book like that.

That doesn't mean it will happen, especially with a basset.

Part of the reason is that bassets are so smart. You decide to train little Daisy, so you go out in the yard and tell her to sit. First time, she looks at you quizzically. "What is this?" She's curious. But your command makes little or no impact. Perhaps you push down on her butt to get her to sit. She looks at you with a "don't touch the merchandise" look. Then she runs off to play.

You call her and get another look. It says: "Could you be talking to me, mom? Nah--I must have misheard you. After you did that to me, why would I want to get anywhere near you?"

You go over to her, and you start the process again. The treats are good, but the response isn't as wonderful as the book promised you. Maybe you don't have good enough treats.

You go in the house, cook up some of the chicken you'd planned on having for dinner. Daisy's tongue is hanging out of her mouth as she watches the stove. After cutting up the chicken, you return, with the dog, to the yard.

Now you have a whirling dervish on your hands. Daisy wants that chicken. Nothing will separate her from it. "Chickie, chickie, I looove chickie," she's crying. Trying to get her to sit now becomes impossible.

When you command "sit" the fourth time, you get a look that says, "We did that already." No human on earth can make a basset do things more than three times in a row--usually you're doing really well if you can get a young basset to do it twice in a row, unless it's something she really wanted to do all along.

The secret is to  keep training sessions short and varied. Six times of trying to do "sit" will be a disaster, so break it up with other commands. Take it slow and make it fun.

No, you will not have a perfectly behaved basset in two weeks. As this list can attest, bassets don't even start to get their brains until they are two or three, so training is a challenge. But if you keep up with it, consistently and carefully, in time you will have a well-behaved basset. Not in two weeks or even two months, but maybe in a year or two. But during time, the hound will be slowly improving.

All the time you're doing the training, your basset will be training you, too. In the end, you'll have a lovable sweetheart hound you wouldn't trade for all the well-behaved breeds in the world. You'll eventually decide that perfect obedience is for dumb dogs, and why would you want a dumb dog?

Then you know you're a true basset slave.
Pam, with Drew, food slave to the Dashing Bassets (who really are well behaved most days)

PS As for the biting thing, puppies eventually outgrow that. But I'll leave how you live through this stage to the experts. I got plenty of nips while I raised our Jane, but it was nearly eleven years ago, and I must admit I'm rusty in that area.



 

____________________________________________________________
Get the sign you need for the impact you want. Click now!
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3oB4gnhzv5Otb2EzdX6Vu1YeKgSBd8XrFjZTwFR6sQryESkY/