Can my dog be trained better or is he stuck in his stray ways?
A little bit of background on my sweet boy:
He’s a rescue stray who either had no interaction with humans or bad interactions with humans. The shelter estimated he was about 1-2yo when I rescued him a few years ago but he has grey hairs now so who knows. They were unable to lure him with anything and had to catch him in a trap. He had previously broken a bone (shelter vet guessed he got hit by a car) that had healed on its own so that just goes to show how long he was a stray. It took a while to get him used to being a pet. At first he didn’t even understand the concept of toys and maybe still doesn’t since he doesn’t really play he just hoards mostly soft toys and socks in his little dragon nest! He was a very nervous guy at first but now the anxiety only shows when he’s left alone (which isn’t often or for very long when he is). I only have a cat not another dog so he hasn’t had a role model on how to be a human’s dog. He loves my parents’ dog but we only go over a few times a week and she’s a bit chaotic. He’s definitely still a stray at heart but he’s opened up so much and is very loving, trusting, sweet, and gentle.
My problems:
- training him is difficult (not impossible) because he’s not super motivated by anything I have to offer at home. The big three, treats, play, and praise, don’t seem to matter much when it comes to training. The only things I’ve been able to train him on are house training, sit, down, no (most of the time), okay (to release him from his command), here, and excuse me. They’re all things I was able to show him by repetition and physically showing him. For example, I taught him “here” by saying it then physically going up to him and he connected “here” to “be close to me”. I say “excuse me” when I’m squeezing past him and now he knows that it means to get out of the way or I’ll get in his bubble lol.
- he sometimes gets into things he knows he shouldn’t get into even if I just leave him alone to run to the bathroom for a sec. Most of the time he brings me whatever he’s gotten into and he’s whining as if he’s telling on himself because he understands “no” and learned not to get into things by me catching him in the act and taking it away while saying “no”. However, he gets into stuff as soon as I leave him unattended if a)he’s feeling mischievous that day and b) if I accidentally left something out. There’s been a couple incidents over the years where he’s gotten into something potentially dangerous and eaten it. I’m pretty good at keeping things baby proofed at this point but I’m still human. I’m not sure if it’s possible but if it is I’d like to train him to not get into no no things when I’m not around to tell him no.
- I’ve been trying to leash train him for quite a while and I’ve been failing miserably. It’s so confusing because I thought that him getting into food things whether it’s dirty dishes or trash would mean that he’s food motivated but when I use a high reward treat at home (cooked chicken) to work on heel he just lays down and thinks he’s being good by doing so. I’ve tried the tricks like hand placement and guiding the food so he follows it but he’ll just lay down and stay there until I release him?? Then on walks he just pulls and pulls. He’ll stop and sit if I tell him to but as soon as I say ok it’s right back to pulling. I was told to train him at home away from distractions before doing it in a high stimulation environment. I’m thinking of breaking that law and using sniffing things on walks as a reward because he thoroughly enjoys that I just don’t know how to utilize it as a reward for anything other than good walking behavior if I can even figure out how to use it for that.
TLDR: he’s doing his best. He’s just a feral raccoon in a dog body that’s semi learned how to be a domesticated creature. The things I’ve been able to teach him haven’t been because of treat, play, or praise. It’s been me physically showing him how to do it until he makes the connection between the command and what I’m asking him to do but the long/indirect way instead of the straightforward reward way. I love him as he is I just want to better train him to keep him safer. I’m worried he’ll always be feral at heart and either pull off the leash and get lost/hit or eat something that hurts him.