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Wellness Wednesday for July 5, 2023

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

  • Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.

  • Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.

  • Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.

  • Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).

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I desperately need help training my puppy. We spent over $1,000 on a training course that came complete with a shock collar with a remote, have done group classes, tried reinforcement with treats, tried a clicker, etc. I try and train him at least 10 minutes every day. Nothing works!

He destroys things while we're not there, is incredibly clingy all the time, jumps on us and guests, and barks at the cat. I truly need help - what are some good resources that people have tested with difficult puppies and know work? He's about 1 year old for context.

Edit: More context. He can sit, lay down, roll over, fetch, and is pretty good at coming when he's called. What he really needs help on is 'heel' and 'off' - the latter being similar to 'down' or 'drop it.'

From this description, it sounds more like a problem of excess energy than lack of training. How much exercise does he get beyond the "train him 10 minutes every day"?

He has a backyard that he runs around in for at least an hour every day. And I mean he full on sprints, no lead or anything since the yard is fenced in. Maybe we should let him out more.

That'd probably be a good thing to try. May also need more hands on play time to stave off boredom.

Makes sense. More cardio would be good for me too hah.