Are you satified with how you raised your dog?

Kimbers

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#1
Eeep, looking back on the past year and a half with Kailey is so depressing. I sometimes feel like I completely failed.
Don't get me wrong, she's an amazing dog and I wouldn't change her for the world, but there's just so much I could have done better.
For example, I really charged ahead of foundation, both with agility stuff and plain old manner/obedience. She wasn't always ready for what I was throwing at her, and I was too blind to see the signs. I should've been working with recalls and drive before pushing the "sexy stuff", as Susan Garrett calls it. Instead of doing wraps around trees at the park, we should've been building drive and been doing circle work. Instead of teaching her a dozen new tricks each week, we should've simply been forming a stronger bond. I know tricks help build bonds, but not when you only focus on the results and not your dog.
As it is, Kailey's doing pretty well. We get lots of compliments at the places we train, though, to be fair, she's been doing agility-type stuff for nearly a year now. I just wasn't doing it right.
It's just frustrating because we could be so much better along at this point. She's developed a few bad habits that, thinking about it now, I definitely contributed to and could've prevented.
Ah, well, I guess that's just how you learn. And I honestly feel like I learned a ton through doing everything wrong first. Thankfully, pupster has remained loyal and loving the whole way through.

Anyway, do you feel satisfied with the way you raised your first dog? Were you smart enough to research and seek help, or did you just lunge on in to it like I did?
 

Laurelin

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#2
Mia's my first puppy as an adult that was mine to raise. Summer came to me already pretty good.

As a pet, I raised Mia pretty darn good for her temperament, I think. Sports? I was hoping to be a lot further than we are. But at any rate, I'm overall happy with her. She's a good little dog with great manners and a good focus on me. I get a lot of compliments on my two out and about.

Nextdog I will have some more tricks up my sleeve but I'm sure that dog will throw me some loops too. I try to remember it's all about the journey. :)
 

ACooper

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#3
Yes and no.

There are many things I did right, and there are many things I feel I could have done better. Same with the last dog and the one before that. Live and learn, I'll correct many of the 'mistakes' I made with the next dog.........and I know I'll make a bucket of new ones *shrugs* it's an endless cycle because I'm always learning and I hope that never changes :)
 

Paige

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#4
There are so many things I could've done better. I've made a lot of mistakes BUT I have always searched to learn so I can be better for him. I needed to be. He was so shut down. I think there are a million things I could do even still but for the most part him and I are both happy and content. I'm not seeking to fix things that aren't broken.
 

Southpaw

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#5
Yes! Much to my surprise, Juno turned out wonderfully fabulous. We had a lot of rough, frustrating patches which is why I'm surprised that it all turned out okay. Is she perfect? Heck no. But what dog is.
 

yoko

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#6
Yoshi was my first dog that was just mine. She is the first inside only dog I have.

I'm pretty proud we got house training down in about a month. She knows basics like sit, lay down, stop, drop it along with more difficult things. She's AMAZING off leash. Always comes back and stays within seeing distance.

The ONLY thing I wish I had done different was work on leash manners. We are working on it now but when I first got her it wasn't something I was too worried with.

I'd say I'm really satisfied with how I've raised Yoshi and with my next dog I know a couple thinks I'd tweak but all in all I'll probably try to stay as close to this as I can.
 

Beanie

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#7
It's kind of the opposite with me and Payton. I feel like I spent so much time putting in foundation work and building up a relationship, and a training/working relationship between us, and just ENJOYING my puppy, that I neglected some of the other things that I probably should have been doing. There's a huge list of stuff SG trains her puppies on at particular times and even now I have done very little of them with P. I had big plans. It didn't turn out that way.
I don't exactly regret it, but I sometimes feel kinda panicky, LOL. Like "Oh God, we need to be doing this and this and this!!" And... we're not.
Ugh.


I don't have any complaints about Auggie because he's perfect LOL.
 

Kimbers

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#8
Glad to know I'm not the only one who didn't do everything completely right.

As far as remembering to enjoy the journey, I definitely need to focus more on the moment at hand. Acknowledge the mistakes I made in the past, but focus on working with the current moment and not rushing to the future. That's what got me in trouble in the first place.
 
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#9
Well Squash is the only one I have raised from a puppy, and for the most part, yes. Did I do everything perfectly? No. Am I happy with the dog he has become, and with our relationship? Oh heck yes.
 

Flyinsbt

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#10
Every dog is a learning experience. Especially when dog sports are part of the picture, there will always be things you could have done better.

No I'm not 100% satisfied with how I raised any of mine, but all my dogs have been awesome, so I couldn't have messed up too badly.

The most important thing to remember, I think, is that we and our dogs are all individuals. So you can't look at what someone else did with their dogs in a certain period of time, and feel like you've failed because you didn't accomplish the same. Maybe that wasn't right for your dog, maybe it wasn't right for you. Maybe you just didn't have the same amount of time to put into it that they did. Just enjoy the dog you have, and the next one will be a whole new learning experience.
 

MericoX

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#11
I always had plans for the dogs as puppies, to start right away with clicker training, agility foundations, etc. Yeah... not even close. lol
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#12
The most important thing to remember, I think, is that we and our dogs are all individuals. So you can't look at what someone else did with their dogs in a certain period of time, and feel like you've failed because you didn't accomplish the same. Maybe that wasn't right for your dog, maybe it wasn't right for you. Maybe you just didn't have the same amount of time to put into it that they did. Just enjoy the dog you have, and the next one will be a whole new learning experience.
This kills me but its so right on. I *must* not compare Backup to other dogs, no no no. Also, so many people have all the answers for him until they work him and then many of them have scratched their heads and said, hmmm... Let me get back to you...

It's really essential to remember, even when it's hard, that its all about the two of us and our journey, not theirs.

(Even when he won't hold a stay on the dock or even when he speeds off barking and slamming into everything on the course like a blind bull who's just been branded)
 

PlottMom

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#13
Is she perfect? Heck no. But what dog is.
Her name is Daisy. :D

In reference to the initial question, I wish I'd done a lot more differently with Rage. I wish that every day, because I still get so frustrated with her and have to give myself a "time out". Ditto to Liz - she's sosososo handler soft... if I so much as raise my voice, say "no" too sharply or stamp my foot, we're done for the day. She acts like her world has imploded. I feel AWFUL because she only does it with me, and I really wish I'd had a clue when she was originally purchased for me.
 

smkie

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#14
I am very pleased with what Pepper and Victor taught me as I taught them. TO me it isn't about how I raised them, but how we progressed together. Our learning with our difficult issues caused me to think outside the box, and to seek out new people with new approaches that helped me help them and made us all more accomplished at everything we tried to do. i don't think of it as raising my dog. I don't think it works that way at least for us. IT is a communication skill that we just keep working on for the duration of our time together. I always figured if we were stuck, it was because I wasn't communicating what I needed from them and wasn't listening to what they needed from me. Specially with Pepper. I have a lot of people to thank for Victor, from CT here, when I first brought him home and he was such a basket case, to Pets for LIfe for giving us such a hard raised bar to set as our goal, to our ttouch teacher Patn2paws for helping me calm his nerves. Everyone played a part in building their confidence and I followed through with the daily practice. Mary my old lab had her share in raising them both as well by setting a stellar example and always having such a happy demeanor in everything we did. THe KC Clay Guild as well for allowing me to bring VIctor so he could learn how to be a good shop and there for public dog. I am very happy with how they both developed, I just know it took a whole lot more than me by myself.
 

mrose_s

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#15
Nope. I made a lot of messes by focussing ont he wrong things.
Start training at day 1... sure. Ended up with a dog that was incredibly toy driven that I didn't recognise till she had become very movement reactive.
We're still stumbling through that issue. Should have spent more time playing in more places.

Did socialise her early, but not enough. She was always going to be timid and for the most part I'm proud of how far we've got concerning that.

Now I'm trying to sort out her resource guarding, guarding food (increasingly so) and me from Buster in the loungeroom and the bedroom. Now the family has banned food treat training in the house... because this will fix it? And arn't allowing me to do any training, taking her priveleges is mean and today they looked at me like I'd beat her when I took her to time out for posturing at Buster.

I don't know, I love that dog but the last week has made me feel like I've made a huge mess of her.
 

Brattina88

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#16
For the most part, yes. There are a few things I would change (for example when I was younger I lost my temper easier and was too hard on her probably) but Maddie is such an amazingly perfect dog for me, I wouldn't change anything. We got into clicker training and shaping pretty early on and that was perfect for us. She knows a ton of tricks and is generally well behaved. I agree with Yoko on the leash training part :eek: but it wasnt a high level of importance to me and that's why.
So, my next dog who I raise from a pup, I will do very much the same things; but I truly hope to get into sports much much much early.

With Bailey, I got her as an adult but she's coming along sooo nicely. So far, I am satisfied with where we are going. Life changed for me quite a bit this year and we arent as active with RallyO comps like I'd like to be, but we're good with where we're at :D

love my girls
 

Saeleofu

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#18
Both my dogs I got around 1 year old Gavroche I trained from scratch, Logan had been started (and very heavily socialized) by his breeder.

I'm satisfied with both of them. If ever I feel down about their performance on a given day or something, I only need to look back at where we started to realize how far we've come. Logan was an amazing dog when I got him, and we passed the CGC two weeks after he came home (obviously that means he already had the skills when I got him), but to look at where he is now and where he was then amazes me. Probably even moreso BECAUSE he was already so good, I didn't believe at the time there was much place to go.

Gavroche is just a completely different dog from Logan. No, he's not as competitive, or as outgoing, and I can't take him everywhere, but he's a spectacular little dog and he's my heart dog, and I love him to bits. Even though he's not "wired" for competition, he's done a fine job teaching me how to compete. And how to work through behavior issues.

Of course there are things I could have done differently with both dogs, but the important thing is they turned out well and they have taught me along the way. And that's how every dog I ever have will be - there is no such thing as raising a dog "perfectly." Just do the best you can with the dog you have, and take any little stumbles along the way as learning experiences.
 

Red.Apricot

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#19
I wish I hadn't said yes when people asked to pet her. I wish we'd gone EVEN MORE places. I wish I'd been less up-tight about stuff.

Mostly, though, I love the dog she's becoming, and I'm super pleased with her.
 

Barbara!

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#20
I love how Chevelle has turned out. I trained her well from day one and she's just an easily trainable dog. Listens and responds well and not a lot of shaping involved. The only thing I wish is that she were a little more driven, and a little less fearful. That's not something I can fix with training, though.

Baloo, I wish I would have worked with him more when he was younger and I wish I had the patience to work with him more now. He's a pretty difficult dog.

Malyk I wish I would have had when he was a puppy. He wasn't brought up right and has a few issues because of it.

And Penny is perfect. She doesn't know sit or lay down or any of the conventional tricks, but she had manners, knows our routine, and knows what is expected of her. She's a great dog.
 

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