Expression of frustration : life with duke the dachshund #1

 

Expression of frustration : life with duke the dachshund #1

Have you ever tried to train your dog by yourself? If you have, you will know that it is one of the most frustrating activities. With nothing to do in the summer holidays, I asked my mother for suggestions on what to do. Of course, she suggested maths which I immediately dismissed. I stared at the tiny brown face of my dachshund and had the crazy lightbulb idea moment to train him. Why is this crazy? Because I have tried this before and failed miserably. (other than with the commands sit and sometimes stay). Well, I guess duke guessed what I was going to do because it took me a good 10 minutes to make him come with me. 

This was successfully done by using 1 in 4 treats that duke likes,(unlike most dogs in this world, he isn't much of a fan of food) to keep him at my heels(literally). Once that was done, we revised 'sit' for the first 10 mins. Though he was very enthusiastic at first, he became more reluctant when he realised he was only going to get very minuscule amounts of the treat every time he did it right. In the end, saying the word 'sit' was followed by no response. He stubbornly stood there staring at me and waiting for me to give him a proper treat for not doing anything, while I tried to watch youtube videos on how to train a stubborn dog ( it seems that in all "how to train a stubborn dog" videos they use dachshunds as examples!). 

When I turned around to try and teach him 'sit' again I found him sitting outside my mother's door, willing for it to open so that he could escape from my training. By the time I made him come back a lot of time had passed. It seems a break was all duke needed because he was once again obeying my commands.  The real frustration began when I decided to teach him to do 'shake hands'. This is seemingly one of the easiest and basic commands taught to dogs. Of course, by now you would know that duke is not any ordinary dog. He is a stubborn dog. I started by making him sit in one place and tried to keep his interest in me by feeding him treats every few minutes.

 I pushed his pudgy little paw off the ground and onto my hand while saying " Shake hands" and then giving him a treat(this might not be the best way to teach a dog to shake hands but all other methods failed miserably). Every time my hand went to lift his paw he would lower his head and push his wet nose into my hand, trying to nudge his way in and get the treat. This made it very hard to lift his paw as it kept hitting his head(he deserved it), but I kept going on because :

1. It was hilarious.

2. I had been training him for around half an hour and he still hadn't done anything productive.

3. He deserved it.

So I continued lifting his paw and saying 'shake hands and then 'good boy!' while giving a treat. At some point, maybe 10 minutes into it, he lifted his head and just stared at me while showing the white of his eyes sadly, an expression which clearly expressed: " What did I do to deserve this torture? no treat is worth it for this". 

But I still continued for I was determined that he would eventually come around and do what I asked. I finally gave up and went to express my frustration to my mother. It was only then that I realised that dachshunds found it hard to shake hands as they have tiny legs for their long body.

Sometimes humans can be even more stubborn than their pets.

THE END