Nothing In Life Is Free

[gratanter]

Hi!

I've got a charming and just a bit headstrong 14 week old pem puppy named Banjo. We haven't had any real trouble with him discipline-wise, but I was thinking about starting to use the NILIF program now just to head off anything down the pipe. (I'm constantly "impressed" by his persistence.) I thought it might also be good for getting down sit and stay while we were at it. Has anyone else used this with puppies?

If you haven't heard of it, it's mostly just making them sit before they eat, sit before they go out, that kind of thing.

Thanks!
- Caitlin

[Michael Romanos]

HI Catlin
Taylor's most enduring obedient thing he does is sit and stay sitting until otherwise told. He will stay in the one spot for an hour or more if I wanted him to. But it doesn't stop him doing other things he is not suppose to or is slow to cooperate- such as coming when called. Sometimes in agility training, I have to resort to carrying him from one training discipline to another when I'm in a hurry.
To have a Corgi behave in the manner you want and to cooperate when instructed, there is no compensation for puting in the "hard yards" ie time and effort, and in the absolutely proven method of praise and reward.

[glencorgi]

NILIF is for adult dogs with established true behavior problems. It is not a training philosophy to raise a puppy. At what age did you bring Banjo home as "charming and headstrong" sound pretty normal for a 14 week old puppy. I would enroll him in puppy kindergarten followed by a basic obedience class. Stay a strong leader and don't let things get out of hand, watch for warning signs and nip them in the bud. Now what you could do with NILIF is use it for pointers on leadership and modify it to meet needs as unwanted behaviors might come up.

Debbie

[Michael Romanos]

So right, Debbie. Don't expect too much of a puppy as young as four months.
I 've had all my Corgis quite oustandingly trained for the show ring by the time they were four months old, but in other ways they were still the normal Corgi puppy I hoped they would be. In fact, with Taylor I encouraged him in a good number of ways to remain with his puppy ways and make some choices for himself, for as long as possible - and it doesn't seemed to have done him much harm. If your Banjo is charming as you say then give him a little 'rope' and both he and you will enjoy each other even more.

By the way, when I said that Taylor is sometimes slow to come to me when called - it generally only happens when training in agility. A few weeks ago he won first prize at an all-breeds/all non-breeds competition for recall - he was considerably the quickest to respond to my calling him from a long distance.

[CorgiMum]

I'm bumping up this thread for myself and other newer members to read & keep current the information on NILIF.

I agree with you Debbie and Micheal, I too think of it as a situation for a dog, more than a pup. I consider their job as an adult is to carry out the daily commands that I give them.

After all, we love them, feed them, look after all their health and medical needs, care for their creative minds with classes, training, holidays and all manor of joyus life adventures. Expecting a dog to obey any sensible command that he is mentally & physically capable of doing, to me, isn't asking to much of him.

This is a good link explaining it I think:

http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

[corgimom]

Thanks for the article Barbara,

It just reinforced what my instructor said last night about Cody's jealousy when I give attention to my other pets or sometimes even a hug to my kids. He will stop whatever he is doing and run over by us and make it known that he thinks he is supposed to be the one getting the attention.

We used to acknowledge that which I know now was not the best thing to do, and we are now ignoring that behavior in him. I am hoping that when he sees that his pushiness in regards to this does not gain our attention he is going to stop.

Linda

[Chip's Mom]

Last night I was trying to clip Chip's nails and he growled - a little grrr and I got tickled and started laughing at him so he washed my face. I never did get his nails done as we went into playtime. I think I need to be less tolerant and more strict.

[Michael Romanos]

Reading through this thread again tells me that Taylor has changed a little. I don;t have to pick him up and carry him to position so much anymore but his time sitting in one spot has diminished somewhat. Perhaps it is where he is comfortable that counts. He still will sit untied outside a shop until I come and claim him but on some other occasions he'll start to move away ever so slowly. However I'm not too concerned.

[CorgiMum]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

He still will sit untied outside a shop until I come and claim him but on some other occasions he'll start to move away ever so slowly. However I'm not too concerned.

Michael, is Taylor off lead when you leave him outside a shop? That is not something that we would do here. Much too dangerous.

[corgimom]

If Michael did that here in our town, the dog would be gone when he came outside to get him; or someone would have already called animal control.

Linda

[CorgiMum]

If it ws done here, a corgi and lead would be stolen for sure. And if not on lead, well I don't want to think of that with all the traffic.

[Michael Romanos]

I am quite happy and reasonably unconcerned, to leave Taylor outside a store or shop untied because he knows I am in the shop and he knows to wait for me in a sitting position by the door. I wouldn't leave a trained puppy in this situation because of the fear of him/her being stolen. But stealing little dogs that have no 'gang' or dog fighting value, are most unlikely to occur in NZ. Almost daily Taylor goes off lead around less busy streets, so he is street wise, doesn't venture onto roads or crosses the street but he actually looks for the footpath and won't move off until I give the command to "go." He does this sometimes with driveways - waits for me to say "go." As I said in a previous thread it's quite amusing. He sometimes stops 50 metres behind me and waits for me to say left, right, go or heel. Where I live, dogs are only required to be under control - off-lead or on.

[Jhemphill]

From what I have read and heard in the states, people steal all sorts of dogs for various reasons and no dog is exempt from being used as a bait dog for dog fighting. There have been dog here in the states that have been stolen right out of their own fenced yards. Anyway most towns and cities have leash laws so you have to have them on a leash at all times when out and about. Leaving a dog tied up outside a store in US will likely bring a complaint to animal control for abuse. The only time Maxi is not on lead is when he is in his back yard and in the house.