She doesn't see me as 'valuable' - She doesn't respect me

[LauraD]

Tessa, I hear you and understand what you are going through. My Riley is/was difficult too when it comes to getting and keeping his attention. I posted a few threads in the "Showing and Training" section concerning this.
I have to say what has been working lately for me is what has been said by others, "relax and try not to be too tense or try to get things too perfect". I did the opposite for months and it was just a disaster for me and Riley. Now that I have tried relaxing and enjoying our walks, he actually pulls a lot less and is not so intense. It's going to take a while, but I can see improvement now where there wasn't any before, regardless of the treats I was using. Some dogs are just different and require a different way of training than others. Hang in there and try the relaxed method. It really helped me. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

[Tessa]

Caraline and LauraD - I just took Bella for a walk and before I'd even seen your posts, I decided that it was just going to be a fun time. She improved IMMENSELY. She does understand what "heel" means and obeys wonderfully. She also started to pay attention to the "watch me" command...even when dogs were barking at her through the fence.
I'm so proud of her.

[Caraline]

Woohoo

[LauraD]

YAY!! Wasn't that a great feeling? Keep up the positive attitude, it helps a lot. Congrats!!

[Cathy T]

Hooray....things are coming along!

[Karlin]

Bella is a bit young for teaching or expecting her to heel. This is usually not something that is focused on until a dog is older (just starting around six months -- but it needs to be trained, incrementally. Just a few sessions won't be enough for her to manage a whole walk, and if she learned when younger, it won't really have held -- she was likely just too young for something that precise ) -- instead focus on having her walk on a loose lead, which is more natural anyway (heel is kind of hard for a small breed and is the most boring possible way to walk for any dog -- no sniffing, no exploring, and people walk so SLOW to a dog! -- she is young and more interested in exploring so heel is going to be an extra challenge for her anyway). If you want you could order something like the Sense-ible harness which clips at the front -- this stops pulling immediately as they have nothing to pull against. If they try to pull, they just turn themselves around so they quickly stop completely. At this age it is too hard for them to concentrate on strict and precise commands like heel, or long downstays -- anything that takes huge amounts of self control. Instead do what you are doing --- have fun, relax, focus on a loose lead walk, and consider the special walkign harness. They are really great for pullers.

[TKC]

Sometimes you just need to sit in the park with your puppy on a long lead and reward for checking in and slack on the lead. No words, no movement of the lead or collar, no calling the name ... just simply reward for for your puppy CHOOSING to be with you. Timing is important, rewards should be rated based on the external stimulus and the effect it has on puppy.

I belive when a puppy chooses to be with you and is rewarded for that good choice, then that behaviour will reoccur giving you more and more opportunity to reward. Once you have repetition of a behavour then you can add the cue.

We see many puppy cavaliers who are excited, lunging etc and simply standing still and doing as per above makes a huge difference.

Good Luck.

[Tessa]

Thanks TKC, that was really helpful. I'll give it a go on our walk tomorrow and let you know how we went...