Hello

[MarciM]

Hello, i have an 8 month old great pyrenees/blue heeler. She is smart as a whip and i'm trying to keep up. I think she has some confusion as to whether she's working or guarding, thus she barks a lot. We try to exercise her for at least an hour everyday by running while we bike or ball throwing. But i think she's getting bored with the routine and is starting to dig holes. We haven't caught her in the act in order to show her that its wrong. We use the squirt bottle as our main deterrent, but we also use voice and body queues, "cesar style." we would like to enroll in advanced dog obidience this winter, but need to step up our training. Any advice or reccomendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Marci and Ellie May

 

[jackienmutts]

Hi and welcome to DTA. Eight mos is so young and energetic - and you're right, she's probably bored . Training and structure will definitely help. Hopefully you'll get lots of ideas to help on this sight. Most people on DTA tend to lean much more toward positive reinforcement training (talking TV trainers, think Victoria Stillwell - It's Me Or The Dog) as opposed to "Cesar-style" methods. I'm sure if you ask for help tho, lots of us would be happy to try to give you suggestions (and the first would be to put down the squirt bottle). Have fun!