[Desdemona]

Oh, where to start. My family has two Havanese. Cute and charming, but not piece of cake trainable like our previous dog, a lab, was. We started watching The Dog Whisperer about the time the first of these two came into the house (she was a 4 month old puppy) and without some of his techniques and advice, life would have been much worse, particularly the walk. Things like don't tense when going past a house with a barking dog and keep the leash short, etc.

Dog training is also like raising kids - there's a lot of trial and error. Not all techniques work with all dogs. We bell trained the first puppy to the back door for when she needs to go out and the second one won't do it. He paws humans when he needs to go out. But, he'll fetch and his sister won't. Go figure.

BTW, I read through this thread and when Caesar has a "red-zone" case, he does put the dog on the ground and hold them there until they heave a big sigh. His usual solution, though, is a good walk every day. Even toy breeds. They're not nearly as rambunctious when they're tired.

[KYGrandma]

Yep, I just took my 9 mo. old parti-poodle out for a long walk. We are staying at my Mother’s condo until she recovers from a broken hip. Since there’s no yard, a very long walk is a great way to keep him calm.