It turns out that every time I have a dog problem, I write it all out to post somewhere and ask for help and solve it myself by the end! So I'll use this blog to try to answer and document my own questions.
I'm having some trouble working with one of my dogs, Lenneth. She's a three year old intact female Great Pyrenees. We adopted her about two months ago from a situation where she had been living as a mainly outdoor dog. As far as I know she had no training prior to coming to live with us, but she walks pretty nicely on a leash and housetraining was relatively painless. It's taken her most of the two months to get really comfortable--initially she wouldn't take treats, play with toys, or solicit contact with us, but she has improved significantly. We spent most of the time just trying to get her relaxed and comfortable, working on teaching her her new name (by saying it and giving her a treat). Now that she is willing to take treats I decided to start working with her with a clicker. I chose to teach a nose-touch as the first behavior, figuring she's unlikely to have ever learned one before, and following Sue Ailsby's advice to use it as a confidence-builder for shy dogs.
She doesn't seem to be making the mental association that the click means treat or in any way relates to what she's doing. I'm able to do about 5 reps of her sniffing vaguely towards my hand and getting clicked and treated before she starts displaying signs of stress (panting, lip-licking, backing away) and disengages. To me, it seems like the treat is temporarily overcoming some shyness or fearfulness issues, then she 'comes to herself', realizes she's in an uncomfortable situation, and has to escape. However, in a non-training situation she does solicit closeness now by coming to sit on the couch or bed with us, trying to get into our laps, greeting us exuberantly when we get home and encouraging petting. Something about the training situation must be an additional stressor to her. I've conducted the 'training' sessions in three different rooms now, but one similarity is that I have always been sitting. My thought was that standing would be perceived as looming over her and a threatening sort of posture. Now I'm wondering if sitting is not enough, since I'm still above her head and often leaning forward, facing her. The next thing to try will be squatting sideways to her, perhaps. It's been difficult to find a treat that she will take--string cheese has been the current winner, but I may need to try to find a higher-value treat. She does really enjoy her dinner! She eats raw, so tonight I'll try some tiny bits of raw beef as the treat and see if that works better. And since she gives up around 5 reps, I'll stop at 3. Perseverence and consistency will have to pay off in the end.
