Fella--not the brightest bulb on the tree

[Jeri]

Fella is stubborn and a slow learner, but we are making progress.  At dinner last night, I only had to squirt him once to get his nose off the table.  When I let him out, the neighbor's kid was playing with a ball.  Fella ran over to the fence to bark, and I said no and Fella ran back to me and ignored the kid until it was time to come inside--almost ten minutes!

As I mentioned above, I use the squirt bottle for correction, and Fella does not like getting wet and is learning to avoid it by listening to me!  But last night I had to let the kids out in the LIGHT rain.  Fella looked resentful, as if the sky was punishing him when he had done nothing wrong.  He refused to move away from the house and do his duty, but I picked him up and deposited him on the lawn anyway.  Away from the shelter of the roof overhang, Fella could really feel the rain and did not like it. In a desperate attempt to dry himself off, Fella rolled over on his back and as a result got thoroughly soaked.  A complete and total idgit.

[Barb]

Awwwwwww.....  sounds like you have made a lot of progress in a short time.  Hang in there mom - you are doing great.  Who knows what he has gone through in the past.   Would love to see some pictures !

[Jeri]

Another thing about Fella is that music and singing intrigue him.  If Kevin sings, or if I play certain songs on the stereo, he will look at Kevin or stand infron the the speaker with his his cocked to the side like Nipper.  The songs that really get his attention are songs with complex harmonies (Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen), wide vocal range with abrupt high notes (The Immigrant Song by led Zeppelin, Hocus Pocus by Focus) or non musical sound effects (I'm in Love with Car by Queen).  I really need to try getting a pic of his Nipper pose.  I took a drowned rat pic of him after he rolled on the grass in the rain, but am not sure how it turned out.

[Kari]

Sounds like things are progressing...great job! We use the squirt bottle of Penny and it kind of works  :verdict:! I take it on our walks because she thinks she needs to bark at every dog that we pass and I am trying to train her out of it  !

[Delia and girls]

AWWW! It sounds like he's really coming along fast. LOL on his attempt at drying himself off! I hope that picture turned out good, so you can post it. 

[LUVMYGUNNER]

Sounds like he is doing great. Might not be his fault,  maybe he was realy never worked with,  or talked to. We have had Petunia since she was 6 months old and for some reason,  she does not want to learn anything. she has her days but most of the time she acts like she doesn't hear us. 

[David C.]

Oh man, we missed the post about you guys getting another shot at Longfellow...what a funny name for a dachshund!   That's great that he is working out with Boone & Skeeter, and even better that he has attached himself to you.  I'm sure Skeeter doesn't mind that Fella is more attached to you than "her" Kevin.

I'd stay consistent with the commands.   I've been pretty lax with the Zs.   Consequently, Zeke, in particular, has become slow to respond to my commands.   If I get angry, they will respond, but I don't want to have to use anger for every command.   Zeke acknowledges my normal commands with a wag of his tail, but, more often than not, he just continues on his merry way.   Zora still seems so eager for attention that most of the time she will respond to a command the first time, but sometimes when she is curled up and comfortable, it might take two prompts.

[LUVMYGUNNER]

You might want to try clicker training it worked realy well for us when we trained Gunner and Petunia for potty training.

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

I missed your post too Jeri congrats! He sounds like a character. Love the rolling to dry himself off story LOL!!!