This is a reminder to be patient and not lose sight of your goals. Many problems can be solved quickly with markers, but some may take longer than others.

Some of the long time posters are familiar with me and my dog, how we train, what our goals have been, and how my expectations have changed during the past five years. For those who aren't familiar, the short version is that I rehomed a 2.5 yo brood bitch. She was given to me for free, but the registration cost $400, and there was some contention between the breeder that produced her and the one who gave her to me. Sadie had been raised with kids and allowed to dominate other dogs in the home, so she came to me with poor social skills and repressed drives. I had to correct some issues and upgrade my training techniques, but using predominately markers and reward-based protocols, I now have a reasonably well behaved and well trained (albeit still dog reactive) companion.

One issue that we have had is her fear of water. While it would be nice to have a dog to swim with, her fear was so great that it was a battle that I chose not to fight. This, however, has always created a problem with bath time. Compound the fear with a working dog's ability to read cues, and you would not be surprised to hear that she has had some pretty averse reactions to seeing her tub come out. A close friend, who had never seen Sadie have a fearful reaction to anything, once asked why she was hiding under my truck. Obviously, I felt the solution to this was marker training, and in some instances, we even resorted to outright bribery.

In the beginning, no amount of luring could coax her from under the truck, and there was NO WAY she was getting in the tub by herself. I did not want to feed her fear or reinforce her superstitious behavior, I defied my nature and patiently persisted. Eventually, I was able to coax her out of her hiding spots and to walk towards the tub, using my bridge and rewarding at key junctures. After a couple of years (YES, two plus years of bimonthly baths), She would cooperate right up to about a body length from the tub, and then try to bail.

At that point, rather than forcing her the rest of the way, I guided and very lightly insisted that she enter the tub. When she got to a point where she wouldn't try to run, I began "helping" her into the tub and then rewarding. This evolved into being able to lure her the rest of the way, and that eventually fed into her following the "hup" command to enter the tub on her own. (Note; Years ago we had success getting her to walk up onto the vet's scale using this command).

This past weekend, some five years later,l I broke out the tub and she didn't go into avoidance. Her ears, head, and tail dropped, but she did not flee. She was about six feet away from the tub. seeing that she was willing to comply, I gave the command and she walked over to the tub. She paused, so I softly repeated the command, AND SHE GOT IN THE TUB! Well, three paws before she froze, so I poked the remaining leg and repeated the command once more, and she pulled it in also. Of course, at this point she is not interested in the praise, but rather, she is wondering where the pork jerky is at, but it sure felt like a big deal to me!

I'm sure you can understand that, many times, I was in a hurry or was just not humored by the whole game, but i stuck to my guns and did not break the gentle progression of marker training this task. Let this be a reminder to us all to just hang in there and give markers a chance.

!!OUTSTANDING!!

I've been enjoying marker training for a bit over 12 yrs now and I can't say enough about it.

My fav experience was helping my brother teach his Presa to get his nails trimmed.

Titan was 3 at the time my brother got him and the dog's only issue was trimming his nails.

The vets refused, the groomers refused. The previous owner said the dog had to be hog tied and he would be in a rage the whole time.

With markers we had him laying quietly on his side while his nails were being trimmed.

That took 3-4 weeks if I recall correctly.

 Quote: Duane Hull

I'm sure you can understand that, many times, I was in a hurry or was just not humored by the whole game, but i stuck to my guns and did not break the gentle progression of marker training this task. Let this be a reminder to us all to just hang in there and give markers a chance.

Thank you Duane!
Boy, did I need to read this today. I'm on your schedule, I believe I'm looking at "years" to tame the wild child.
Do you think in his old age; Bob left off the double zeros and meant 300-400 weeks? Please Bob couldn't it have been more like 30-40 weeks? 3-4 weeks, that's pretty damn good! But 5 years of perseverance deserves a standing ovation!

What a great story, Duane! Gotta love the power of marker training. This forum and website made me a believer. It sure made a difference in what we were able to do with our dog also. I'm convinced that a dog can learn anything through the use of marker training.

 Quote: Sheila Buckley

 Quote: Duane Hull

I'm sure you can understand that, many times, I was in a hurry or was just not humored by the whole game, but i stuck to my guns and did not break the gentle progression of marker training this task. Let this be a reminder to us all to just hang in there and give markers a chance.

Thank you Duane!
Boy, did I need to read this today. I'm on your schedule, I believe I'm looking at "years" to tame the wild child.
Do you think in his old age; Bob left off the double zeros and meant 300-400 weeks? Please Bob couldn't it have been more like 30-40 weeks? 3-4 weeks, that's pretty damn good! But 5 years of perseverance deserves a standing ovation!

Nope, but I will say my brother is very persistent with his dog training.

His first AKC ob comp dog (Kerry Blue)was HIT the very first time EVER for him and his dog in the obedience ring out of the Novice class.

The same show a Kerry went BOB in the breed ring and that's never happened before of since.

Mine was the top OB Kerry in the country the same yr but I never had a HIT.

This was back in the early 80s.

I look back at most all the dogs I've had over the yrs and will forever wonder 'What if' when I think about todays marker training.

 Quote: Bob Scott

 Quote: Sheila Buckley

 Quote: Duane Hull

I'm sure you can understand that, many times, I was in a hurry or was just not humored by the whole game, but i stuck to my guns and did not break the gentle progression of marker training this task. Let this be a reminder to us all to just hang in there and give markers a chance.

Thank you Duane!
Boy, did I need to read this today. I'm on your schedule, I believe I'm looking at "years" to tame the wild child.
Do you think in his old age; Bob left off the double zeros and meant 300-400 weeks? Please Bob couldn't it have been more like 30-40 weeks? 3-4 weeks, that's pretty damn good! But 5 years of perseverance deserves a standing ovation!

Nope, but I will say my brother is very persistent with his dog training.

His first AKC ob comp dog (Kerry Blue)was HIT the very first time EVER for him and his dog in the obedience ring out of the Novice class.

The same show a Kerry went BOB in the breed ring and that's never happened before of since.

Mine was the top OB Kerry in the country the same yr but I never had a HIT.

This was back in the early 80s.

I look back at most all the dogs I've had over the yrs and will forever wonder 'What if' when I think about todays marker training.

Don't you make me cry this early on a Monday morning, Bob... Those old "what ifs" can break our hearts But for a Kerry Blue to take High-In-Trial on his 1st time ever in the OB ring from the NOVICE class, your brother & you sure must have had GREAT things going for you with those Terrors (ooops I mean Terriers, of course, LOL) !!!

Fortunately, being "terrors" they pretty much would snub their noses at us when our training "enthusiasm" got the best of us.

Now were both just nice old grandpas'.

For sure on the "what ifs".

"If" is the longest word in the english language.

It can cover just about anything you want it to....if you let it.