What is something you wish you had done (or done differently) with your dog(s)?

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#1
What is something you wish you did differently with your dogs in the past?

Considering I was pretty young when my family got Crystal, I didn't really know that much about dogs. I wish I spent more time ingraining a recall into her, because she was good about staying near us when she was a puppy and if I had trained her to recall I do believe she could have been an extremely reliable off leash dog. I also wish that I socialized her to men a bit more, and prevented a few of the dog encounters she had. Otherwise, I think I did pretty good for my age... :p
 

teacuptiger

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#2
With Buddy... I wish I'd done everything I've done with Roxie. Buddy was a good dog, but I could have been a better owner. I was just really young when we got her, and I don't know half the stuff I know now.
 

*blackrose

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#3
I wish I would have had more time to spend actively working him when he was younger.

I wish I would have not let some things slide with the, "Oh, I can fix that later," excuse. Because now it's later and those things have become habit for him. Oops.

I wish he had spent more time around dogs that wanted to play with his toys. Because now he doesn't want to share any of his toys, and I think that is part of his hatred towards Sherman.

But otherwise, I'm pretty happy!
 

Elrohwen

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#4
I don't know, really. He's not reliable off leash now, but I can't say I didn't work on his recall like crazy when he was little, and he was off leash every day until 8-9 months. I do wish we had been in off leash training classes when he was younger, but I didn't really have access to anything like that. For NextDog I'll get some private lessons or something and make sure we're working on that from the beginning.

I wish we had worked more on focus in public, but I'm still not entirely sure exactly what I would have done differently there.

Overall I think I did a pretty decent job with him.
 

BostonBanker

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#5
Meg: I wish I hadn't spent so much time trying to make her be okay with other dogs, and had instead managed interactions more. Otherwise, she's honestly pretty perfect.

Gusto: I wish I'd recognized his stress signs earlier and responded better. And a million other things, mostly agility related. But that is a big one. I feel bad that I (and everyone else) thought he was having obedience issues and didn't see his distraction and disconnection for the stress it is.
 

cellardoor

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#6
I wish I had taught an automatic stay with any sit or down, rather than teaching stay as a separate word. I suppose I could go back and fix this, but it would have been easier to have that consistent from the beginning.
 

MandyPug

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#7
I wish i hadn't been as harsh with her as i did when she was a pup. I very much did the cesar milan stuff because i had a wild puppy who was not allowed to be rambunctious due to an injury and my family was not a believer in crating so i couldn't do that. I always wonder how spunky and fantastic she'd be if i hadn't scared her so much as a pup, she's still pretty amazing and athletic but i know she would've had more drive.
 

Slick

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#8
I wish I had never proofed Leo's release command by saying things like "orange"/"octopus" etc.

He now is SUPER specific about the word OK, to the point that I have to say it with the perfect pitch AND loudness. Sometimes it takes be two or three tries before he finally releases, and that is WITH me now knowing exactly how he wants to hear it.

Leo is super super specific about commands anyways, so making him aware of variations in words was a really dumb dumb move.

This happened a few weeks ago:
My brother was taking care of Leo, and he calls me
B: "Hi. I've tried everything, but Leo won't eat. He is just staring at me really sadly"
Me: "You have to say "Okay"."
B: (to Leo) Okay!... Yeah, that didn't work. He twitched but is still not eating.
Me: Siigh, not this again. Ok, you have to say it perfectly. Say it excited, but pitch your voice up at the end of the word.
B: (to Leo) Okaayyy?...Nope, still nothing
Me: I think your voice is too low.
B: (squeaky) Okay! *Leo jumps on his food and wolfs it down*

This is what I have to deal with :rofl1:
 

JacksonsMom

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#9
I think I did most stuff okay. The biggest I regret is probably not working on recall enough when he was younger (he naturally stuck close until about 6ish months old, so I just never worked much on it) but I think he'd be MUCH more reliable if I had really jammed it into his head and heavily rewarded for staying close.

I wish I would've found a better first time vet and groomer because those early experiences traumatized him, I think, so now he's forever deathly terrified of groomer and vets, even though we have good ones now.
 
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#10
I wish I had taught an automatic stay with any sit or down, rather than teaching stay as a separate word. I suppose I could go back and fix this, but it would have been easier to have that consistent from the beginning.
I am with you, next dog I have sit will mean sit, down will mean down, etc. there is no need for the word stay. They should stay until the command/cue is over with the signal of a release word. I think teaching a dog this way would make things more convenient, and probably creates better safety for the dog if they learn impulse control teaching it this way.

I wish I had never proofed Leo's release command by saying things like "orange"/"octopus" etc.

He now is SUPER specific about the word OK, to the point that I have to say it with the perfect pitch AND loudness. Sometimes it takes be two or three tries before he finally releases, and that is WITH me now knowing exactly how he wants to hear it.

Leo is super super specific about commands anyways, so making him aware of variations in words was a really dumb dumb move.

This happened a few weeks ago:
My brother was taking care of Leo, and he calls me
B: "Hi. I've tried everything, but Leo won't eat. He is just staring at me really sadly"
Me: "You have to say "Okay"."
B: (to Leo) Okay!... Yeah, that didn't work. He twitched but is still not eating.
Me: Siigh, not this again. Ok, you have to say it perfectly. Say it excited, but pitch your voice up at the end of the word.
B: (to Leo) Okaayyy?...Nope, still nothing
Me: I think your voice is too low.
B: (squeaky) Okay! *Leo jumps on his food and wolfs it down*

This is what I have to deal with :rofl1:
:rofl1::rofl1::rofl1:

That is hilarious. It is something I have wondered about/imagined when people teach their dogs not to never accept food from strangers and how that would go if they went on vacation without the dog(s).
 

DJEtzel

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#11
I wish I tugged more with Recon, for sure.

Wish I tugged with Frag, too, and didn't inhibit drive so much.

I wish I locked Patton in a straightjacket from day one. :p
 

RD

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#12
I wish I'd better exposed her to noise before we moved to Mexico and all she heard for two years was construction noise. I think it messed up her brain and she'll never have the kind of reactions to loud, large sounds that I want her to. It's the only thing she's a freak about but it really bothers me, because it didn't have to be that way.

I would've given her better exposure throughout her adolescence/adulthood to other dogs and appropriate play. She had a great start, but after her first heat I didn't properly cycle other dogs and polite play back into the equation, as we dove directly into finishing up her public access training for her career as a service dog. I feel like because she went from "all dogs = enemies" during her heat cycle, to being encouraged to interact with nobody but me during training, to then moving out of my parents' house so she saw no more of Dash and Dakota.... just not good for her social networking. :p She can exist around other dogs, but I'll never trust her with them.
 

Torch

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#13
I was too hard on Henry. There's a lot I would change about how I trained him. On the upside, he's bombproof and very obedient.

Rhys I was too easy on. I was afraid of squashing his drive and having another really soft dog. He is still a really good boy, but I wish I had a little more formal obedience with him. Especially with managing his DA; sometimes he's really good at ignoring other dogs, others he's a maniac.

Overall I'm pleased with them. I wish I had a little more of a happy medium going but one day I'll get there lol.
 

PWCorgi

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#14
Frodo:
Oh man, if there was a redo button for Frodo....
I'm sure he would still have issues, but I could have done so, so much differently. Just, everything.


Siri:
The number one thing I wish I would have pushed harder with her when she was a baby is handling. Even as a puppy she never really liked to be handled a whole lot, and I did work on it some, but looking back I wish I had done SO much more desensitization and counter conditioning with people handling her. It doesn't affect us on a daily basis, because I don't really care if she doesn't want strangers to pet her, but at places like the vet, or SFE she has a really hard time. She's not a bite risk, she just does not want people touching/restraining her and will try to wiggle away or stand with every muscle as rigid as possible. I've started working on some behaviors that will hopefully make her and the people at the vet's office happier and easier.

I'm fairly certain that we could have or would be well on our way toward a CGC if a stranger didn't have to pet her.
 
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#15
I wish I had spent more time desensitizing to nail clipping and making it more positive. Ryker turns into Cujo every time I try to clip his nails.
 
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#16
With Cinnamon I wish I would have done all the things I did right with Luna. But I learned from the mistakes I made in the past and am trying to do right by Luna now.
 
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#17
With Squash, I wish I would have had more people over to our house and sent him for some overnights at other people's houses when he was wee.

With Pip, I wish I would have done more classes and more training in places outside our home. I think he'd like things like Rally if he weren't so nervous about unfamiliar venues. I mean, he'd never be an outgoing dog but I think I could have preventing him shutting down.

Maisy... I wish I'd approached nail trimming differently. She's always been terrified by it, and in the early days I took a very "hold her down and get it done" approach which backfired badly. Just now overcoming that.
 

JacksonsMom

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#18
Siri:
The number one thing I wish I would have pushed harder with her when she was a baby is handling. Even as a puppy she never really liked to be handled a whole lot, and I did work on it some, but looking back I wish I had done SO much more desensitization and counter conditioning with people handling her. It doesn't affect us on a daily basis, because I don't really care if she doesn't want strangers to pet her, but at places like the vet, or SFE she has a really hard time. She's not a bite risk, she just does not want people touching/restraining her and will try to wiggle away or stand with every muscle as rigid as possible. I've started working on some behaviors that will hopefully make her and the people at the vet's office happier and easier.

I'm fairly certain that we could have or would be well on our way toward a CGC if a stranger didn't have to pet her.
This, Jackson, so much.
 
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#19
I wish I spent more time with my Buddy. Had I known he'll leave me sooner, I wish I spend quality time with him.
 

krissy

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#20
I wish I had gotten Kili a harness earlier in life. She has no problem with actually wearing a harness, but she doesn't seem to get it when she lags behind and gets pulled forward by her back. Doesn't seem to matter how many times she learns that if she moves faster it will stop happening. She does NOT like getting a pull to her back. I would think it would be a lot nicer than jerking your neck... but that she apparently doesn't mind.

I never put a harness on her until this summer. She sees a chiro every 3 months and I thought it might help if she wore a harness instead. Her leash manners are pretty good, but sometimes she gets the idea that she wants to suddenly dart off the sidewalk and gets a jerk to the neck. Got her a harness to try to avoid that. I also thought it would be better for jogging and biking. But it's something we need to work on because apparently she thinks the leash coming from her back is suspicious.
 

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