Speak! Not Whine.

Leuca just had her lunch. It's time to relax and unwind before her nap. Sometimes we let her nap in the kitchen on her favorite "place". But usually we take her with us to the living room on her "place" to settle down. She would play with her toys on her own. Recently she would whine and would want one or more of the following:

1) wants attention usually to play with or to sit next to us when we're watching a movie
2) wants to go out and do her business (usually goes after 30 minutes to an hour after her meal or sometimes after a short nap)
3) wants a food treat (oh but she'll take that anytime if we let her...lol)
4) sleepy but wants 1, 2 or 3 intead

In this instance, she wants number 4.

Because she continued to whine, which she doesn't do often, I tried to take advantage and see if I can train her to "Speak" on command. Let's see what happens...



When teaching our puppy Leuca a new command, I usually just catch a behavior I like then take the opportunity to train her by associating the behavior with a command. Usually I give her a treat such as food like boiled chicken in bits or a soft treat cut up in small pieces, a praise, petting and/or a nice belly rub when she turns on her back. Patience is the key to her training and practice definitely makes perfect. In this case, I caught the wrong behavior and used a wrong command. Talk is not the right command because she was whining. Leuca barely barks so we have to wait until she does and teach her the command "Speak" which is harder to train with.



We quickly learned that t is really about staying our ground as her guardian. Times like these reminds me when my 18 year old daughter, Amanda, was still a toddler and tests my patience. Sometimes it is easier to give her what she thinks she wants because she looks so cute and melts our hearts however we do know we just need to be a little patient and remind each other to put things into perspective. We want a well behaved and balanced dog. Not a spoiled brat.



Minutes later, Leuca finally, relaxed and eventually feel asleep. Sometimes a few human minutes waiting can make a big difference to the well being of a determined puppy.