Update on Brena's training Training

hi. just thought i would post a short update on brena our smooth-haired mini doxie. she is almost 5 months old and is doing sooo much better on the housebreaking than she did when we first got her. she also knows quite a few commands (sit, down, stay, touch, leave it, high 5, shake, beg) that i am very surprised she would pick up so quickly at such a young age. i've read on breedia and other dog websites that doxies can be notoriously hard to train, but brena so far seems to be an exception. i have photos of brena in the hound section here, and she is my avatar. i think alot of it also has to do with what she picked up living with our two older dogs, chuk and katie.

sound like a little super star

thanks. she's doing really well for a 4 1/2 month old puppy. we train her with treats just like victoria stilwell on her show and she will also do them now without treats and just praise and petting. i'm really surprised by how well she is doing.

She's doing really well for such a young puppy.and I bet she loves the training sessions!

I like Victoria Stilwell and her methods.

i never thought i would enjoy any other dog breed as much as labs and lab mixes. i always thought doxies were cute, but i never thought about getting one until karren and i met Izzy our neighbor's doxie and fell in love with her. right away karren wanted a dachshund of our own, so after a lot of searching we found brena and fell in love with her. for some reason we found them very hard to find, and had to look all over till brena. brena's breeder susan was really sweet and sent us alot of pictures of brena and her mom and littermates growing up. they are posted in the hound section here.

she really does enjoy the training sessions, especially if she gets a treat or petting. we are very proud of her. karren and i love Victoria Stilwell, and used her methods when katie was a pup. here in America her show is on Animal Planet, and we learn a great deal watching her. her methods seem to have been tremendously helpful with little brena. we would NEVER hit or choke a dog as other trainers do who use old fashioned dominance training. we are also pleased that she is doing quite well with "No Bite" and recall.

if we had a video camera we would.

when we first got brena it didn't take her long to learn to sit and beg for a treat waving her front paws so cutely in the air. i just don't want her to do it too often for fear of injuring her back. why she likes doing that i have no idea. she just seems to enjoy it immensely.

i was talking to a friend today about brena's progress, and he said he thought alot of it had to do with katie. i agree. brena imitates katie and picks up on alot of things. being another dog, katie can train her much better than we can, although she does respond very well to me and karren.

she even picked up something from little old chuk. chuk often scratches at the carpet before he lays down, and today brena did the same thing. at least that's not a bad habit, unless brena decides by digging a hole in the carpet she'll find a badger...