Such interesting comments! Thank you all!
Is it possible that we are pushing Ellie too hard? She is now 1.5 years old. She obviously understands everything we want her to do, she has demonstrated she can do everything we want her to do, she just chooses not to do it sometimes. We stay at it until she does do what we want to do, even if it is for a second. We always end on a good note. We should be given sainthood for keeping calm and being consistent and for forgiving her "trespasses." That's the hardest part--correcting her and then forgetting it immediately and moving on.
She is so different from my other dogs, I have never encountered another dog like this, that is why it is so hard.
Last night I was talking to her. She was up on the couch with me starting at me (it was dinner time). I was saying in this soft soothing voice: "You know what? We're getting rid of you (Ellie head tilt), "We're selling you on Ebay" (head tilt), "In fact, you are going to be 'Buy it Now' for 50 cents," (head tilt), "then we are getting a DUMB Sheltie" (head tilt), an OBEDIENT Sheltie (head tilt). Then she leaned in and gave me a kiss and "smiled" and put her paw on my leg. I guess I'll wait until next week to post her on Ebay.
