She 'Apes' her trainer (aka me)

[HominidCanisDomesticus]

So I just adopted a 6 month old husky/pit mix.. very sweet dog, looks like she wants to please, somewhat timid/shy in new places but is cocky at home. I though she knew how to sit, lay down, and shake.. but it is only a sequence she learned to get a treat. She does not actually know the commands. I have tried to show her over and over and she still does not get it. I can do it in order and you can tell she wants to understand (so she can get the treat) but does not really know what the command means. I change the order of the commands and suddenly she is confused and does the wrong tricks for the command. After a very short while I lose her attention and she stares off into space, refusing to look at me, and does not even respond to her name. I think her previous owners would just give up and give her the treat after she got tired of trying to listen. She seems very smart, but not very attentive. What should I do?? Should I make her work for her dinner? I am not sure what else to try! Any suggestions would be more than welcome.

[Suz23]

I dont train using a dogs dinner - its boring specially if its what they have at every meal every day - use some treat she rarely gets - use a couple different treats and only give the one she REALLY wants every so many rewards - it will encourage her to concentrate.

I would suggest you forget what you think she knows - it sounds like its confusing her. You want each basic behaviour on a cue so I would suggest finding new cue words for each behaviour - so maybe if you say down for down you could say drop?? Anything- because if she DID know what the previous cues were it sounds like she doesnt anymore. More likely they were never trained consistenly in the first place.

then work at teaching each bheaviour from scratch - each of those behaviours sit down and paw are easy to lure but only work on one each session - until she knows what they mean - then you can mix and match them so she can do all three consecutavily. Just dont have the same routine- mix and match them.

[lovethatdogg]

Yes, my dog sometimes does this, but he acttually know them. I find it helpful if you use hand signals!!! Keep trying until they do what you want, them reward with praise and the accasional treat. Work on one at a time and hopefully she will afentually get it.
http://www.loveyourdog.com/sit.html
Read this small part, it might help!
good luck