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Harry Lime posted:If he is very thirsty when you get back it means either he is barking constantly when you are gone or drooling excessively due to nerves. Or if he is like Freya, both. If the crate is on a hardwood floor your worry will not be scratches but water damage. Last night we noticed moisture under Freya's brick bed(an idea shamelessly stolen from Cassiope) in her crate moved it to investigate. What we found was that her drool had seeped through the cracks of the concrete tile and collected under the crate. We now have a patch of heavily water damaged floor that will cost us a fair bit when we stop renting in our current apartment. I checked this out and nothing seemed to be wet. He's never been a big "drooling" dog, in fact I can't think of a time I've ever seen him drool. My guess is he was barking and whining a lot while alone. I'm setting up a camera to record him tomorrow and see what exactly he's doing in there.
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Feb 3, 2011 19:23
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Regarding impulse control and arousal, I'm trying to apply this in a pretty simple exercise: I waggle my fingers and move my hand around Darla's head in a circle, and her typical reaction would be to mouth my hand (not really to bite, just mouth it). When she doesn't react I reward her. Is this a good direction to go, with more variations and arousing stuff? I think these are useful things to encourage her not to react to anyway, to curb her playbiting, but I'm hoping this will take her towards a calmer general mental state in the long run - should it?
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Feb 3, 2011 19:59
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Flesh Forge posted:Regarding impulse control and arousal, I'm trying to apply this in a pretty simple exercise: I waggle my fingers and move my hand around Darla's head in a circle, and her typical reaction would be to mouth my hand (not really to bite, just mouth it). When she doesn't react I reward her. Is this a good direction to go, with more variations and arousing stuff? I think these are useful things to encourage her not to react to anyway, to curb her playbiting, but I'm hoping this will take her towards a calmer general mental state in the long run - should it? This is definitely a good exercise for mouthing. Psyche would not stop biting at us (mostly hands but sometimes other things) when we first got her. So we did a lot of ignoring or leaving when she did, but we also played games with her where we would have her lay down and I would waggle my fingers at her or reach back to pet her side/feet and then I would reward her for not following my hand with her mouth. It really helped a lot. As for being more calm, I think it will help in situations where she'll need to be handled, but I'm not sure how well it will translate to other things. My trainer is really big on bodywork, basically massaging the dog to get them to relax in stressful situations. It has helped. When we first started class, Psyche was always alert and wouldn't lay down. Now she lays down and relaxes and we're trying to massage her into laying on her side and relax there. There are also exercises where you raise your dogs excitement level with toys or whatever and then bring them back down to a calm state. You work on how fast you can bring their excitement down and then that should translate into other situations. I haven't really done any of it directly though. So many things to do!
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Feb 3, 2011 23:25
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Yeah I'm also integrating that "chill out game" technique from the Lowering Arousal article when Darla is running/free playing in the back yard, every minute or so when she stops tearing around like a fruit/brings me the stick/whatever, I ask her "Down" and enforce a little break. I guess I'll see over time. Regarding the problem with keeping her calm around the older Schnauzer I'm gonna go on with having them sit next to each other and feeding them one piece at a time, and I'm also having Darla "pay" for each piece with a Touch. Romy (the Schnauzer) is already visibly much calmer around the pup after maybe 5 days of this, and hopefully Darla will make the long term association "Sitting next to my buddy Romy and being nice = happy tummy".
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Feb 3, 2011 23:35
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I have to say, this approach feels really awesome trying to help Darla's flinch reflex (again my own fault, for the early Dog Whisperer approach that hosed her up this way). I know it will take a long time to really settle in and become permanent but gosh the immediate results are so dramatic. Apologies for repeating this, I've pretty much turned into "that rear end in a top hat who will not shut the gently caress up about his god damned dog".
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Feb 4, 2011 02:03
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How do you train your dog to run back to catch something you're about to throw? My dog has a new-found LOVE of catching stuff thrown in the air, but is having trouble grasping that we want him to "go long" to catch it. He understands how to play fetch and likes that too, but never "anticipates" the throw like I've seen labs/retrievers do - where they KNOW you are gonna throw it and run out to where it is going to be. Danny just stares at us and the toy in our hand, like "Listen stupid, I see you have the toy. Why would I go over there when the toy I want is right here in your hand?"
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Feb 4, 2011 05:08
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EVG posted:How do you train your dog to run back to catch something you're about to throw? Can you fake him out? Pretend to throw it, and then, when he goes after it, or thinks he does, you actually throw it. Eventually he should get the idea that this is a fun way to play the game.
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Feb 4, 2011 06:51
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EVG posted:How do you train your dog to run back to catch something you're about to throw? This isn't quite the answer to your question but it's similar. We're teaching Sadie a "back" command which means backup. I put my arm out, hand is palm down and then I wag it at her vertically to indicate that I want her to keep backing up. Eventually, I want to be able to stand there and have her back up until I stop moving the hand. We're teaching the back up basically the same way that Victoria Stilwell does on her show, just via blocking. Start making the hand motion, say the command and then just walk into them. They'll back up. She kept backing to the side though, so we had to rig the game so that she had to back up in a straight line. We made sure to walk to her to treat after backing up, so she understood she had to stay there. This is also very useful for the kitchen when we are cooking and is the real reason we started teaching it.
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Feb 4, 2011 15:08
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EVG posted:How do you train your dog to run back to catch something you're about to throw? In agility I think I would refer to what you're looking for as a "forward drive". Not all dogs pick it up naturally while playing fetch. This if the way I was instructed to do it in class. First off, the cue for it is "go" - like, "go table, go weave" (which translates into go forward to the table, stop looking at me, stupid). There's also the cue "get out" which is similar to go, but it's a drive off to the side instead of forward. Anyways, that's mostly irrelevant here and I'm just doing a light agility sperg. So it's super simple to set up. The basic idea is that you'll lure your dog for the first 3-4 attempts. Take your toy and really amp your dog up with it (we use tugs so the dogs go pretty nuts). Then you're going to take it and throw it underhand with an exaggerated body gesture (almost like you're bowling) and say the word "go". Your dog runs to get it (don't throw it far), you run to catch up to the dog, you take the toy, playplayplay, then throw it again, coupled with "go". The idea is to get your dog really amped up for the game so he's having a blast and 100% focused on the toy. On the 4th or 5th repetition, psyche your dog out. Do the same play/tug wind up but as you're going to toss the toy underhand, switch it into your other hand and only make the (super exaggerated) gesture. Hopefully your dog will follow your hand and body and not the toy. If he turns around to run at the ghost-toy, quickly throw the toy to where he's aimed. Now the toy isn't a lure, but a reward. Now that you've got this anticipation of the toy being thrown you can start building a really good "go" from there. To start, keep the distances short, energy REALLY high, and make the game super fun. Your dog gets a huge amount of his information via your body, so you want to support what you want your dog to be doing with your body. (I'm getting overly technical again. Sorry.) I hope that's kind of helpful. Most people aren't looking for something quite like that when they want their dogs to anticipate a ball, but it should work.
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Feb 4, 2011 15:17
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Looking through Dr. Sophia Yin's Youtube channel I saw her teaching a specific way of handing treats that reinforces eye contact pretty well, I wish I had started this way: http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperBark1#p/u/46/MHVRg98tBuk Basically you make it look like the treat is coming out of her face, so the animal naturally looks at your face, and over time the association is built "good stuff comes from my face, so look at me a lot". Neat technique, I was already doing something like this to teach Darla her name anyway but I think I'll start doing it a lot more generally.
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Feb 4, 2011 15:58
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a life less posted:Your dog gets a huge amount of his information via your body, so you want to support what you want your dog to be doing with your body. (I'm getting overly technical again. Sorry.) What's there to be sorry about? Technical information is good!
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Feb 4, 2011 16:03
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I find it hard to believe that this hasn't been covered yet but I did some scanning through a number of the pages and didn't find much. My dog (Yorkie-Poo), like a lot of dogs, likes to bark when the door bell rings or when someone new comes into the house. Once he does his barking while checking them out, everything is fine. The problem with this is that he also goes to work with me most days (a family business with an outdoor showroom). Again, when people come into the building he sprints up to them while barking, will put on the brakes and continue to bark while sniffing them out. If the people acknowledge him and put their hand out for him to smell, he usually does so and is good. But if someone was to ignore him and keep walking, it seems to make him bark even more. If I go outside without him to greet a customer, he will sit inside at the door and bark at them for the first 5-10 seconds that I am talking to them. Then he is fine and you won't hear much from him. If he has seen me talk to them outside and then walk inside with them, he is fine. But if there were to just walk inside from the very start, he would bark. If I allow him to come out with me, he will run out ahead of me and repeat as if they had come in the front door. Bottom line, I need this to stop, it's just annoying and even though 95% of the customers don't care, because they think "he's so cute", I do and it's not real professional. Lately I've started putting him on his collar and taking him outside with me, so I can try and control and "train" him from sprinting all hell bent out of the door and straight to the customer. Then I am tying him up as to try and "train" him to not bark during those first 5-10 seconds of me greeting a customer. We did take him to puppy training when we first got him and he knows how to loose leash walk, sit, lay down, leave it, shake, "watch me", stay. But he doesn't know how to not bark at strangers! I am assuming part of this comes naturally from his Yorkie side, but all-in-all, what is the best style of training to break him of this? (The more specifics on exactly what/how to train him the better!) Thanks in advance!!
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Feb 4, 2011 19:04
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AzCoug posted:I find it hard to believe that this hasn't been covered yet but I did some scanning through a number of the pages and didn't find much. This stuff has been discussed a bit, but it's probably lost among all the chatter. There are a couple things I would suggest and then maybe others have suggestions as well. For barking at a doorbell or door opening, enlist a friend to ring the bell and then counter-condition your dog to the sound. When the bell rings, dog get yummy treats to eliminate any excitability or anxiety at the sound. I would do this for a while until the dog begins to react less to the sound, like it's become a background noise. Then you can start operant conditioning. Decide what you want your dog to do when someone comes in the door. Maybe teach him to go to a mat by the door and wait to be interacted with. Or maybe he should sit quietly for attention. You'll need to set up this foundation yourself because obviously your customers are not always going to cooperate. You can ask them to ignore the dog until he sits quietly, but of course it won't always happen and you'll probably have to restrict your dog's access until he learns what is expected of him before he can greet people. You can also work on a quiet command or an acknowledgment command. Some dogs just want to alert their people to what's going on and once you acknowledge what they're barking at, they will stop. Stopping your dog from sprinting to the door is probably very important because he's already overexcited and sprinting will just make it moreso. You could work on heel such that he learns to walk calmly by your side over to the door.
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Feb 4, 2011 19:59
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Rhymes With Clue posted:Can you fake him out? Pretend to throw it, and then, when he goes after it, or thinks he does, you actually throw it. Eventually he should get the idea that this is a fun way to play the game. Hah, no. He's too drat smart for his own good (aussie mix). Thanks for the other tips, I'll try that! It's kinda hard to get enough space to practice, generally it's in our hallway inside our condo. I long for the day when he finally learns good enough recall that I can take him to the park to play!
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Feb 4, 2011 20:34
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AzCoug posted:I find it hard to believe that this hasn't been covered yet but I did some scanning through a number of the pages and didn't find much. Fixed that for you. This has been touched on in a couple threads, but I guess not on here. I'm going to copy/paste something that I wrote up for the Small Dog Megathread. a life less posted:There are multiple ways to approach dog barking. Some breeds are barkier than others, so while you can drastically reduce barking through consistent training, you cannot expect to completely extinguish the behaviour. I would pay special attention to the classical conditioning bit, and do it first (why I wrote about operant first I have no idea...). Also, as Kiri koli said, don't let your dog charge the guests -- crate him (and make the crate a super fun happy place) or mat-train him. Have him on leash and try your best to keep his attention on the treats. Yorkies are a barky breed, so you may not be able to extinguish all alert barking, but you should be able to get it down to a manageable level. Just work on him associating the arrival of people with the arrival of food. It will take several months for you to completely accomplish this.
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Feb 4, 2011 22:01
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Hey guys. I'm bringing this over from the other thread. Cassiope told me I'd get better answers here.quote:My wife and I rescued a mature beagle from our SPCA. It was probably close to two years ago now. Cassiope posted:Try over in the training thread. I know a few of us have some separation anxious dogs. No she is not crate trained. She hurt herself going nutso in different crates. She first had a larger metal cage which she would bite and chew and try to push her nose through until she bled. We tried it for two weeks, and then got worried she was going to really hurt herself. We went and got a plastic crate, thinking it would be less harsh on her when she tried. She did the same thing over another month, and chewed her way through it and again cut up her nose and paws on it. She also goes against the norm and will pee and poop in the cage and roll around in it. She has many, many toys, but has no interest in any of them unless one of us plays with her. She has no chewing habits or anything like that. If we give her one of those kongs with treats to puzzle her, she tries, gets the easy ones, and then leaves it alone. She doesn't play with the cat either. They're actually like best friends. They sleep cuddling with each other quite often. We have tried to wear her out, and we have tried the fake leaving. Like I said, 90% of the time she's fine and calm. The other 10% just seems to come at random and she just goes bonkers. With the wearing her out or fake leaving, a lot of the time she's good. But we can do the exact same thing, and then she'll lose it. We can't find a trigger for her.
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Feb 4, 2011 22:59
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Sudden Infant Def Syndrome posted:
Hey Separation Anxiety buddy. Maybe something is happening during those 10% times that freaks her out and causes her to act out in the ways you described? Have you tried getting video of her when you are absent?
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Feb 5, 2011 02:02
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Kiri koli posted:My trainer is really big on bodywork, basically massaging the dog to get them to relax in stressful situations. It has helped. When we first started class, Psyche was always alert and wouldn't lay down. Now she lays down and relaxes and we're trying to massage her into laying on her side and relax there. Thanks for this suggestion, this is having a noticeable impact on Darla's playbiting. There was a particular vid by Kikopup that showed a great technique, basically just touch the dog in pleasant non-threatening ways and click/treat - maybe half of Darla's playbiting is just reaction to what I'm doing and she's doing it a lot less already. Hoping that in a month or two it will sink in. I also started playing tug-of-war again (I had stopped a while back because I read from a few different sources that it encouraged biting) but now with a "chill out" break each minute or so to teach her to calm down when she needs to, she figured it out pretty quickly. When I first started playing tug with her I was also trying to teach her to let go (for different reasons) but I didn't give the reward of starting the game back up again so she never saw a reason to quit. I was pretty surprised that with this "chill out" approach she caught on within maybe 5 minutes. I'm just gonna stop worrying too much about neato complex doggy tricks and spend most of my time on pretty basic stuff (down, stay, come, leave it) and teaching her nice social skills until she evens out.
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Feb 5, 2011 05:23
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Sudden Infant Def Syndrome posted:No she is not crate trained. She hurt herself going nutso in different crates. She first had a larger metal cage which she would bite and chew and try to push her nose through until she bled. We tried it for two weeks, and then got worried she was going to really hurt herself. We went and got a plastic crate, thinking it would be less harsh on her when she tried. She did the same thing over another month, and chewed her way through it and again cut up her nose and paws on it. She also goes against the norm and will pee and poop in the cage and roll around in it. The basic idea for how to deal with separation anxiety is to make you leaving a pleasurable experience, and your return boring as hell. Of course this is easier said than done. SA is probably one of, if not the most, difficult dog behavioural issues to treat. I would consider crate training her. I would also suggest preparing a frozen kong for her -- I put peanut butter or cream cheese, some bits of banana and sometimes some kibble into it (ewwww). Try to figure out what your dog's favourite foods are and smear a generous dose inside. If you can't use a crate, what about setting up an x-pen and make it a nice cozy place for her. Exercise her well (which you said you've been doing... good stuff.) Countercondition her to the processes of you leaving. Make getting your keys a predictor for getting a treat. Putting on your shoes, treat. Coat, treat. Then just don't bother leaving. Or step out for 10 seconds, 1 minute, etc. Make your returns unpredictable, and when you do arrive back, don't pay her any attention for 10 minutes or so. Be the most boring person ever when you get back. The last two entries in McConnell's blog The Other End of the Leash touched on SA a bit, so you might get some ideas from both her entries and the comments.
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Feb 5, 2011 16:26
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Found an excellent video on dog body language with many examples - it's all dog/dog communication but it seems pretty good stuff to know in general: http://www.petfinder.com/videos/petfinder-dog-parks-and-good-play-vs-bad-play.html I've seen this kind of info detailed elsewhere but this vid is especially clear and has a wider variety of items.
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Feb 5, 2011 20:11
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Food aggression question!!!! So, I had posted the thread about my parents' "wolf dog" puppy a couple of weeks ago, but I think the question is better here. The little husky mix (my mom claims it's part wolf, but really it just looks husky) is about 10 weeks old. I've always been sticking my hand in her food and I pet her and gently tug her ears to get her used to disturbances while she eats... you know, just in case there are kids about in the future. I'd been away for a week due to illness and when I went by today to visit and see how she's doing with her food, she started to snap at me. I can't believe the sudden change. How do I curb this? I honestly have no clue how to start... our lab/basset mix doesn't have issues like this and I understand that a husky breed will be much more difficult. Any advice on fixing this problem early would be fantastic.
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Feb 6, 2011 02:35
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Is it aggressive snapping or playful dumb puppy bites attempts? Definitely practice NILF (Nothing in life is free) training. It's the best thing you can learn to do with a spitz breed. But EVERYONE has to follow through with it, not just you. Have her do a trick or command, before giving her food, toys, before going for walks, everything "good".
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Feb 6, 2011 03:11
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Hawaiian Shirt posted:Food aggression question!!!! Firstly, every animal deserves to be able to eat their meal in peace. It's pretty common that messing with the dog in this way can irritate the animal and can actually encourage resource guarding. The animal gets sick and tired of being irritated when all it wants to do is eat its meal in peace and will react aggressively. So, right now your pup is either anticipating that you're going to take away her meal, or she's anticipating being messed with. Whatever the reason, your arrival signifies negative things to her. Your job now is to countercondition her so that your arrival is now synonymous with a) the arrival of good things and b) not being messed with. When you approach her bowl start dropping awesome treats in there -- a few pieces of hotdog, or something else similarly awesome. Just drop 'em in the bowl then keep going on your merry way. With enough repetitions your dog should start looking up expectantly as you approach, tail wagging, waiting for those treats which are infinitely more interesting than kibble. I also highly suggest you buy and read Mine! by Jean Donaldson, and get the rest of your family to read it too. It lays out plainly the science behind conditioning and counterconditioning and also has step by step exercises for you to do with the dog. Feed the dog in a quiet area of the house so there's less stress associated with meal times. Also, IF the dog happens to be part wolf (and that's a big if) I would anticipate you having a more difficult time training the resource guarding out, but it shouldn't be impossible as long as you respect the dog's space. As far as getting the dog used to future hypothetical children, in a perfect world the dog shouldn't ever guard anything (especially with children around), but I wouldn't ever leave something like that to chance. Manage meal times and any other situation where you think the dog might react unfavorably because it's better to be safe than sorry. Accidents can and do happen, unfortunately. Also what Kerfuffle said. NILIF is great with any dog. Make her work for anything she wants: food, outside, meeting other dogs, getting on the couch, etc by performing a command.
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Feb 6, 2011 03:13
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a life less posted:Also what Kerfuffle said. NILIF is great with any dog. Make her work for anything she wants: food, outside, meeting other dogs, getting on the couch, etc by performing a command. I'm a noob trainer but I agree with this totally, food being the easiest part to manage; 1 or more tricks = 1 bit of food, very easy for the dog to grasp. edit: I've raised maybe 20 Alaskan Malamutes through my life and I never heard of this ear tugging thing, but then I was never interested in really training them properly anyway, they were just cool outdoor pets my mom had. Flesh Forge fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Feb 6, 2011 |
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Feb 6, 2011 03:22
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Thank you guys, this has been very helpful. I didn't mess with her food that much, just every once in a while to make sure there weren't any problems. I will definitely start practicing NILIF and teaching my family to do the same. We also just bought a clicker, so I'm very excited to get her into a training regimen. I honestly don't know what I'd do without the Pet Island... I'd probably be dead. Also, I'm sure an accident could happen, but I'm just trying to minimize the chances. Not too many little kids in the family anymore, but you never know when one of them is going to have their own children and bring them by.
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Feb 6, 2011 05:57
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Flesh Forge posted:http://www.petfinder.com/videos/petfinder-dog-parks-and-good-play-vs-bad-play.html This vid made me realize that what I was thinking was "herding behavior" was really just Darla trying to get the older dog to play Chase, and the older dog not wanting to do it. I am a big dummy head. Darla actually taught me the right way to play it, so now she'll tear around like a fruit and I'll flop around sorta-chasing her (I acutally don't move very much) and after a short bit of that I do my pathetic best to let her chase me. Since I'm over 40 and a smoker and kind of a slob in general, my best is pretty lovely, but she doesn't seem to get stuck in that horrible/cute mode of just zooming around like a goober until she keels over. Now when I take our older schnauzer outside, we all understand that Romy's done playing and she can go in on her own, and the puppy and I will provide good wholesome schadenfreude for the neighbors. Good times  The "Touch" trick I taught her seems to be really sinking in, and lately she is much more likely to simply touch her nose to my fingers than to bite, so even though I only started teaching her that as a cute semi-useful trick, it seems to be a good alternative behavior that is curbing the playbiting.
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Feb 6, 2011 15:39
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A question for a life less, and others who are into training their dogs: How do you talk to your dog? Do you speak to them in full sentences (outside of lavishing them with praise  ), or just quick phrases--probably ones that you've already trained as signals? I realize that when I talk to my sister's dog and get a response, it probably has a lot more to do with my tone and my body language than the words that I'm actually saying.fake edit: I purchased How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves, Mine!, and The Other End of the Leash. I'm getting waaaay to into reading this stuff, it's starting to make me question my physics major :/ Is there a degree for animal behavior studies? Hmmmm...
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Feb 6, 2011 17:37
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my dog boyfriend!!! posted:A question for a life less, and others who are into training their dogs: How do you talk to your dog? Do you speak to them in full sentences (outside of lavishing them with praise If I want Cohen to understand everything I'm asking of her, I speak in one or two word commands (heel, side, sit, stay). If I'm out and about, or don't really care if she listens 100% I'll use longer phrases with key words I knows she recognizes (go get your toy, c'mon let's go). And then, because I'm crazy, I'll also converse with her when I don't think anyone's watching. She doesn't answer back. The shorter the conversation the better for communication, in my experience. I'm glad you're getting so into the literature! There are degrees for animal behaviour studies, but I don't know a thing about them.
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Feb 6, 2011 19:09
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I still don't know if it's normal for a dog to take commands from "just anybody" - probably this varies from dog to dog but it really surprised me when I noticed this, both for verbal and gesture cues for tricks that I've taught Darla. She will even take commands from the Pakistani woman at the corner gas station, whose voice is about as different from mine as I could imagine between tone and enunciation, plus she looks and (I'm sure) smells different. I'm pretty sure not all dogs do this, e.g. I've read that border collies are so precise that they have trouble filtering out subtle things like inflection with commands from their regular trainer. Is this weird or common? There are a lot degree programs out there from major schools for animal behavioral sciences: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&&sa=X&q=degree+program+for+animal+behavioral+sciences&fp=a02c97597e71f11 You probably want to avoid the "clown college" type online schools and "certification programs" but there are a lot of state universities offering that type of program.
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Feb 6, 2011 20:14
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a life less posted:And then, because I'm crazy, I'll also converse with her when I don't think anyone's watching. She doesn't answer back. I talk to Psyche when people ARE watching. First, I haven't really been able to test it, but I think that my talking even when I'm not giving her a command will occasionally help her to calm down when she's having a fit because there's an off chance she'll hear me and focus on that, breaking her concentration on whatever else. But I've also developed this bad habit of telling her things like 'Don't be rude!' and that she's dumb and shouldn't bark at people. I know she doesn't understand, but I have this weird feeling that the people she's barking at don't think I'm doing anything about it in between commands and whatnot and that my telling Psyche that she shouldn't be upset makes them think I'm aware of how bad her behavior is...even if they thought about it for two seconds, they'd see how ineffective just talking is. But yes, I talk to my dog. If I want something specific, I give the short commands, but I also talk to her in sentences and whatnot. High pitched voices are supposed to reassure anxious dogs so...in conclusion, I probably look like an idiot at all times I'm with my dog.
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Feb 7, 2011 01:49
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Leash pulling update! My little miss is doing so well now. This is going to sound sappy as gently caress, but I don't care - I honestly had tears in my eyes the other day when we were walking down the sidewalk and she saw a dog across the parking lot. I stopped, said "Spirit, turn around," and she turned around and walked over to me like it was no thing. She was mighty interested in that other dog and kept stopping to look over and wag her tail, but she didn't pull and I was just so drat proud of her. She's slowly getting the idea that she's allowed to look at stuff all she wants, but she's not allowed to go visit them unless I say we can. Changing up the routine and being crazy excited when I call her back to me when she pulls has been an enormous help - sometimes I make her sit, sometimes it's shake, sometimes she just has to stand there for a little bit. I'm also not treating every time (although it's most times ) to keep her guessing. By the time spring rolls around she should be the well behaved girl I know she can be.Right now we still have an issue with going around corners. She'll follow the sidewalk all day long, but if we come across a corner that she can't see around (one corner has a dumpster sitting there, another one has a building) she has to charge up just as fast as she can so she can see around and make sure there's nothing fun. To combat this I've been spending extra time with the corners, going back and forth a few times each walk, which I'm sure looks damned stupid to the neighbors. Is this the right idea to teach her that she'll get a chance to look at whatever's around the corner when WE get there, not when SHE gets there? I'm not sure if I'm really teaching her not to pull at corners, or if she just settles down after a few turns of it because she's bored stupid and wants to keep on going.
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Feb 7, 2011 17:56
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http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3364451&pagenumber=10#post387556283a life less posted:The Goal Been doing this and it was really gratifying today to be outside, with some rear end in a top hat running a leaf blower nearby, wind blowing, wind chimes and a bowl of treats in her line of sight - and I could still get her attention. Great technique!
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Feb 7, 2011 19:12
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So a short update on Gus: I "installed" a few carabiners on the main cage door and ziptied close the other door we really aren't going to use (side note: I couldn't find a single door wire-mesh crate) and then setup my FlipHD to record him yesterday. Last night my wife and I watched the video and saw that for the whole 60min that the Flip recorded he did nothing but bite at the doors and pull/tug on everything in sight, both with his paws and his mouth. I put a frozen peanut butter Kong in the crate with him as well but he just sort of played at it a while before going back to his escape attempts. Never once did he settle down. It made me a little concerned that he was going to hurt himself and I know when either my wife or I let him out he is extremely thirsty. Anything more I can do for him? He still seems ok to go in there if his blanket is in while we are in the room. Otherwise it's like we are putting him in jail.
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Feb 8, 2011 18:35
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Major and my homework for this last log session (we have phone interviews with the behaviorist every two weeks) was to see how he did without his DAP collar on. I've done a lot of behavior mod stuff so it was important to see which parts of our work are helping. I needed to give him a bath anyway so off it went and I promptly forgot about it. The next day I thought I was going to have to strangle him. He was driving me nuts! He was leaping at the windows inside, barking at everything, pacing, panting heavily, and generally being a trainwreck. The collar was off for less than 24 hours and I'm not entirely sure how I managed to live with Major before. I promptly ordered DAP spray and a diffuser after that. Today I forgot his morning L-theanine pill and had the same thing happen. Eventually he will be able to be off medications and things but we are not there yet. In better news we got the greenlight to move the car this session! We are moving up to 20 minutes in the car not moving or <5 minutes in the car moving. I'm hoping by the time Major needs his rabies shot and physical next month we will be ok driving to the vet and back without screaming from either of us.
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Feb 8, 2011 22:52
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Instant Jellyfish posted:Major and my homework for this last log session (we have phone interviews with the behaviorist every two weeks) was to see how he did without his DAP collar on. I've done a lot of behavior mod stuff so it was important to see which parts of our work are helping. I needed to give him a bath anyway so off it went and I promptly forgot about it. The next day I thought I was going to have to strangle him. He was driving me nuts! He was leaping at the windows inside, barking at everything, pacing, panting heavily, and generally being a trainwreck. The collar was off for less than 24 hours and I'm not entirely sure how I managed to live with Major before. I promptly ordered DAP spray and a diffuser after that. Today I forgot his morning L-theanine pill and had the same thing happen. Eventually he will be able to be off medications and things but we are not there yet. Wow, that's amazing that it is making such a big difference. But at least you know its working! Congrats on getting to moving the car! Edit: I'm pretty curious about the DAP collar now. They've pretty expensive though and I've read that they only last four weeks. Do you have a good source to buy them? Does Major wear it all the time? I wonder if they could be frozen at night to stretch them out a bit... Kiri koli fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Feb 9, 2011 |
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Feb 8, 2011 23:01
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hey guys. We just moved into a new place, instead of my crappy duplex we now get a nicer place with a fenced in yard. Yay! Moxie gets to run and pee to her heart's content. However, we now have more neighbors than before and as it turns out this is a problem. Moxie barks in her crate. I don't know how long she barks for. We need to figure out a way to film her and see. My neighbor commented to me this morning though that yesterday Moxie was "really throwing a fit" and "was it because you left her in a cage?" With just a few noise violations we can either be evicted or forced to get rid of Moxie. I don't know how to curb the barking immediately. We've been doing "calm time" in the crate and she loves going in there because she gets awesome treats every single time. She'll let me close the crate door and she'll just hang out in there for a long time as I'm going around the house and outside. I think she just starts barking later, after we have been gone awhile. What my boyfriend wants to try is a bark collar. They spray citronella when the dog barks. Is this a horrible idea? We really need to avoid getting kicked out of this place 
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Feb 9, 2011 01:21
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I think PI generally frowns on bark collars, even the citronella. If you leave her out of the crate does she still bark or just destroy stuff? Also, what's this DAP collar? Is that the whole pheromone thing that's supposed to calm dogs? I'm kind of worried Greta's car anxiety is getting worse and our trainer suggested that if we can't get it under control. It's not that bad yet, not even close, but I need to start coming up with a plan to get her more comfortable with the car
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Feb 9, 2011 01:30
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Kiri koli posted:Wow, that's amazing that it is making such a big difference. But at least you know its working! Congrats on getting to moving the car! I actually use a NurtureCALM collar which lasts 60 days and doesn't stop working just because it gets slightly moist like the official DAP collars. You can stick it in a plastic bag when you aren't using it to make it last longer but Major does wear it all the time or else he wakes me up repeatedly at night whining at nothing. I bought it from my behaviorist but its cheaper from Amazon so I'm going that route this time. Levitate the collar has dog appeasing pheromone, which is secreted by lactating bitches and has a calming effect on a lot of dogs. If you look through my past posts in this thread you can see what all I have done to work on Major's travel anxiety. Sadly there aren't any books about dealing with it but you really need to associate the car with happy fun times. A good way to start is just to hang out in your car and give the dog something awesome to work on like a stuffed kong or bully stick. Instant Jellyfish fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Feb 9, 2011 |
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Feb 9, 2011 01:31
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^^^Thanks! I think I'll bring it up with my trainer at the end of the week and see about getting one.Cassiope posted:hey guys. I thought about a bark collar for a while and read the reviews on amazon and concluded they are pretty ineffective. Do you play music for her? It sounds like she is just getting used to all the new noises. I think she will adapt, but in the meantime, try covering the sound when you're not around with music, leave the tv on, etc. Also, tell your neighbors/landlord that you are working really hard on Moxie's training and that she will probably need a few weeks to adjust. We got several complaints the first week we got Psyche and our landlords understood that it takes a few weeks. And lo and behold, there have been no complaints since.
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Feb 9, 2011 01:31
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Instant Jellyfish posted:Levitate the collar has dog appeasing pheromone, which is secreted by lactating bitches and has a calming effect on a lot of dogs. If you look through my past posts in this thread you can see what all I have done to work on Major's travel anxiety. Sadly there aren't any books about dealing with it but you really need to associate the car with happy fun times. A good way to start is just to hang out in your car and give the dog something awesome to work on like a stuffed kong or bully stick. Yeah, I'm kind of worried she associates the car with the vet, though she's been getting carsick before then. Hanging out in the car with her or giving her a treat is probably a good start. We don't drive her around a lot but it's going to be a problem if it gets worse. She mainly just throws up, but also seems to calm down if it's a longer trip on highways, without the starting and stopping. It just looks like she's getting more anxious about the situation
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Feb 9, 2011 01:48
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