Very nice pictures @reddust! How did you train your dog so well?I want to know because we have three dogs (two yorshire dogs and one chiweenie dog) and they are super super nice and adorable but they are far from being trained like your dog for sure. Here they are! :)!
I could write a book on that...I start out with one behavior I want to either stop or change a little bit. Depending on the dog you must first establish you are the highest rank in the pack. The dog must move out of your way when you walk, if they don't you will know they feel they are the highest in rank. So that is the first thing you must do when working with a dog. You are the leader. One way to prove to the dog you are the boss, roll them over on their back and lay on top of them. Make sure they can't bite you if they are a nervous dog or aggressive. I use a muzzle for more aggressive dogs like my daughters rat terrier that has teeth like a large shark for a short stumpy dog....
After you establish dominance, you can start teaching them to sit on command and use hand and voice signals. Use the same word or hand signal to establish a habit pattern and reinforce that pattern with a treat when the dog understands your command. The first things I teach dogs are, sitting, heeling (walking by your side on a leash), come on command when the dog is off the leash. You have to be established as pack leader for the dog to break away from chasing a squirrel.
You also have to understand the dogs nature. Some dogs are so inbred they are stupid like my daughters rat terrier. I have to lock him in a cage at night because he will poop and pee in the house and I haven't been able to break him of that habit. He also does revenge poops....hahaha
Sorry for the late reply, had an issue with my account. Luckily our dogs are super adorable and they move out of our way when we walk so we don't have to worry about that. Our dogs aren't aggressive either :), so I regularly roll them on their back but since they are so small I just simply block them with my hand.
"After you establish dominance, you can start teaching them to sit on command and use hand and voice signals. ". Yeah this is where I haven't been that successful, for some tasks they listen and for some others they seem to be confused :(. Or they would do good when we are around and once they are alone in the house sometimes they would want to eat out of the trash bag haha.
" The first things I teach dogs are, sitting, heeling (walking by your side on a leash), come on command when the dog is off the leash. You have to be established as pack leader for the dog to break away from chasing a squirrel." Yeah that's definitely the part I need to work on thank you.
I think that our dogs have good understanding of things, I just was not teaching them the proper way I think.
" He also does revenge poops....hahaha" looool that's funny :D