Positively | Victoria Stilwell | Forum

Thanks to you both. I will start working on these and report back if needing more info. She has learned " lets go with way" from my saying it on walks (effectively it means follow me.) So i am going to change my phrasing to "tilly, come here" since thats what i seem to say at hom...

I have a chihuahua 5 month old. She plays the catch-me-if-you-can game when i want to pick her up or reach for her (to pet or leash) . I reach down and she darts away. I have to trap her into the kitchen where she has no where to dart away to reliably get her to not do this. Anysuggestions as to a c...

What do you mean by ' go with'....do you just mean get along well? Or for some time of working activity? At my local small dog rescues they are generally mixes and vary greatly in personality. They live with foster families who get to know them and often have them with other dogs. So its doable to f...

Yes that is exactly what we are doing. I meet guests out. She's in kitchen behind gate. Friend comes into living room w/o passing her, sits on floor. I put treats on the floor around guest for her to find when we come in. She comes in, finds the guest,then gets upset. starts to bark. Stranger doesn'...

I'm wondering if I should change HOW I'm introducing the guest. She definitely is upset for the first 5 minutes, then seems to get over it. I'm trying to eliminate the 10 minute period and change that pattern so she has a different auto-response and she starts to know what IS OK behavior and that th...

OK, getting people to come back is probably do able. The 100 is a really big number . we've been meeting 6-10 a day but most of them are out and about. She is showing GREAT improvement. Generally willing to sniff hands and not shaking. Sometimes tollerating being held by others. BUT, not exactly hap...

Have an 11 wk chihuahua and have had her 2 wks. Have been doing the best I can with socialization trying to get her to meet 100 strangers by 12 wks. Am doing well with getting her to go out to meet strangers but not able to get many people to the house (averaging 1 a day only). She is coming alone w...

Can someone walk me through some very specific steps to get puppy ok with alone time?? We're in our second week together (she is 10 weeks) and I'm making next to no progress on this. I'm not sure if I should just work on crate time first or also integrate alone-in-the-kitchen time....or if doing two...

Question about socialization in the home vs. out I am much more successful getting her around strangers each day by heading to a mall, coffee shop etc. Sadly, I'm having great trouble getting my friends to come over and visit her and toss her treats at home. I'm wondering if the effects will be the ...

I ended up getting her into kindergarten and what I huge change I've seen in here since. She's really opened up and been non-fearful in many arms and meeting many people since. Getting her on the ground in places where she could be (parvo free) was the key I think. She could work it out a little bet...

Started clicker training tonight w better treats she is much more motivated for with great success. Trying to think of something to teach her to go towards the treat or eventually the hand of the stranger. Any thoughts of a good one? Am trying to ultimately have a key word to indicate to her it is f...

We moved one step forward and two back today... Older woman friend came in to hand feed puppy breakfast. Puppy is very leary about approaching but hungry enough to do so. We progressed to being able to both standing and softly slowly move about with puppy calm.....all good! Had the two kids from yes...

I have a puppy ( 10 weeks tomorrow ) that is under socialized and fearful of strangers. I am working on having people over and having her inch her way to take kibble from their hands. It is slow going .... We had a set back today where she barked at a 7 year old and they scared each other. They did ...

Just came from vet. He said, "don't let her decide about who to approach. calmly hand her to someone with her body facing them. it shows her you are the boss and have decided this person is safe" god! I'm so confused..... He also said on the socialization issue he didn't recommend stranger...

Update on our socialization progress...and couple of questions: So last night we went to a coffee shop and I didn't allow her to retreat in fear by climbing up my body. She sat next to me only on a couch shared by strangers. The woman next to me was very willing to go slow and offer doggie cheeze wi...