Quote: Jason Dwyer

Jennifer,My boy is almost 11 months old.

He is still very much a pup, which is good because it means it will be that much easier to start over. Just remember that some degree of goofiness, lack of common sense, and plain ol' ridiculousness is to be expected at this age.

My boy is two and tests my patience on a daily basis.

Hi Jason, I did yank and crank with my Rotty at first. If your puppy is anything like her, you'll be okay. Now you know better and try not to beat yourself up, your dog will probably forgive you before you forgive yourself. Marker/clicker training is the best way to make your dog enjoy working with you again. I still correct her but it is always as light as possible to make her comply with already learned behaviors or bad pack behavior (usually calm firm verbal correction is all it takes.)

Since she is my family dog i do mostly fun tricks and basic obedience. I have started doing mostly free shaping which is a blast for both of us. like the other night i taught her to back up by marking and rewarding any backward movement, by the end of a five minute session she was taking ten step straight back and loving to figuring it out on her own... and its a useful command for a dog that likes to crowd a doorway.

as well i have heard that if you have done a lot of corrections with a certain set of commands and you want to start over you can rename them. I do German with Rotty now so we both leave behind the feeling associated with the English commands. Just an idea.

Good luck,

Rob