training an adult dog

[halfwaynowhere]

I recently adopted a dog from the shelter, she's 5 years old, and needs some obedience training. She's a good dog, but she doesn't know the basics, like sit. I'm working on sit and stay with her for now, I'm hoping to have her very well trained, so that if we were to go out off-leash, she would obey me. I don't intend on taking her off leash, except maybe to the dog park, but i still want that kind of control. She's very eager to please, so I'm hoping it won't be too much of a challenge. Any tips for training? she's a chihuahua/dachshund mix, btw.

[HappyDancer]

be consistant is the best advice...always use the same hand movements and words...and be patient...and have small treats handy as rewards lol...I used treats at first with the puppies then we moved to play reward and now they know all their commands

[LuvBullyKisses]

Yep..patience, patience, patience... Also try to take things slow. For example, start in your house with the least amount of distractions around. Put her on a lead. Use treats and some high value treats (cheese, thin microwaved hot dog slices) to get her excited. Always take it slow... make her stay for a couple seconds and reward her...don't stretch it otherwise you'll set her up for failure.

Good luck!

[halfwaynowhere]

thanks for the advice. it looks like i'm not going to be able to keep Dahlia, through no fault of her own. She's wonderful, but the mastiff doesn't like having her here, and I don't want him to hurt her, so we decided its best to adopt her out. at least it got her out of the shelter, so its more of a foster arrangement for now. I wish things could work out better, but I'd rather see her in a new safe home than be in danger here. I'll keep up with training though, she has started to respond to my hand signals, she does better with them than with verbal commands. Hopefully I can find her a new home in the next few days, I don't want to take her back to the shelter, but I might have to if things start to look rough with Oberon.