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Engineer Lenk posted:Two questions: what size/breed is he, and what's the weather condition like outside this time of year? He is a Chihuahua mix; emphasis on the mix part. We think it's a lot of Jack Russel and Daschund. We are in a condo. And I live in Phoenix, AZ, so it's not too terribly cold outside. Yeah, he was scolded, but it was gently at first. I figured he was just stupid and picking up on the fact that there is a mess, yet he thinks a mess in general, like spilled water, is cause for concern on his part. Which, is extra awkward for us. I usually give him extra love and reassurance for times like that. He did also quite enjoy the praise he got for outside elimination, so at least there is that he can look forward to. We tend to show him how happy we are when he does pee outside. He has received treats for this behavior. So, what you're suggesting sounds about right. I APPRECIATE A METHOD. Thank you for the detail! I think I needed something more concrete, like this. My original intuition was to limit his area so he would stop having accidents in the spots he seemed to prefer having them. I'll go through the carpet again with the enzymatic cleaner, but I fear he's peed so much it may need, at minimum, carpet cleaning. Hopefully doing both will do us some good here. I do snap my fingers and point where I'd like him to pee, when we are outside. And he does seem to listen to that! You think if I continue, with your protocol, that this cue will be adequate? After that, he tends to pee in the right spot. I did also teach him to pee first, then walk instead of how he used to want to walk immediately. He does not tend to poop on cue, he tends to be exceedingly picky about where he poops. Again, thank you. It seems as though we were doing a couple of things correctly. I couldn't find an explicit protocol online! LimeMonger fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jan 5, 2013 |
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Jan 5, 2013 04:39
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Engineer Lenk posted:Strictly speaking, the treat in front of her face is luring to keep her still. Did your method of keeping her still and moving around into position translate easily into a pivot? Oh yeah, I totally lured the pivot part. I just shaped the feet-on-book part. Sorry that wasn't clear. I still use luring, but I find that some things Psyche gets much better through shaping because she refuses to think sometimes and I can never fade the lure because she's in robot mode or something. As part of the shaping feet-on-book exercise, I built up some duration and then added the lure to get her to pivot. I tried it a couple of ways at first, based on a kikopup video. I did it standing in front of her, holding the treat in front of her face, and taking a step in a circle so she copied me. I tried treat in her face and walking into her side and lastly, I got into heel position and pivoted with her. She seemed to like me in heel position and I found it kind of natural to step into her to get her back legs to move without making her feel like she has to move the front ones. Also, from heel position, she kind of has her head turned to look at me, so it's easy to follow me in a small circle. So yeah, that translated pretty well into a pivot and then we just had to work on her keeping her feet on the book. She'll do it with me in heel or in front now without a lure, but I've been lazy and haven't worked her up to doing it without me.
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Jan 5, 2013 04:41
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pienipple posted:Hello dog training thread! A dear friend of mine has 3 dogs, 2 pure bred shiba inu and a shiba-looking mix from a rescue. I'm looking for recommendations for a trainer and/or behaviorist that serves the Long Island, NY area. I wish I had a name for you. Unfortunately I don't know of anyone in that area. That sounds like a terrible situation, and I'm sorry you and your friend have to deal with it. Talking to a professional is a good start. Honestly, if your friend cannot manage the dog 100% for the rest of its life something bad like that may happen again. It's a big responsibility to care for a dog who is dangerous to other dogs. If your search is coming up empty PM me and I can give you the name of the woman I like to use near me, and she might have a reference for your area.
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Jan 5, 2013 05:07
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a life less posted:I wish I had a name for you. Unfortunately I don't know of anyone in that area. That sounds like a terrible situation, and I'm sorry you and your friend have to deal with it. Talking to a professional is a good start. Honestly, if your friend cannot manage the dog 100% for the rest of its life something bad like that may happen again. It's a big responsibility to care for a dog who is dangerous to other dogs. If your search is coming up empty PM me and I can give you the name of the woman I like to use near me, and she might have a reference for your area. Thanks, yeah that's why she wants him evaluated by someone who actually knows what they're doing. I was hoping someone here might know someone since PI tends to know its poo poo. There are two CAABs in the area that see private clients: Dr. Barbara Pezzanite and Dr. Peter Borchelt And I've seen some recommendations elsewhere for schutzhund trainer Steve Hong for working with dogs that have an aggression/reactivity issue. I'm having trouble finding info about anyone aside from their own testimonial pages. :/ It sounds cliche but he's usually a good dog. 
pienipple fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Jan 5, 2013 |
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Jan 5, 2013 05:55
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LimeMonger posted:He is a Chihuahua mix; emphasis on the mix part. We think it's a lot of Jack Russel and Daschund. We are in a condo. And I live in Phoenix, AZ, so it's not too terribly cold outside. There's some strong anecdotes out there about little dogs being harder to housebreak. They can be wimps about seasonal changes - but since you're in a mild climate that's probably not much of a factor. They also have smaller bladders and need to process more food and water size-proportionally than larger breeds. Add to that the reduced size of the mess and a surprising number of toy dog owners will just put up with it, whereas they'd train it out of a larger dog (or more likely get rid of a large dog). So if you get a secondhand small dog someone turned in or one from dubious breeding circumstances, they probably have some bad habits baked in. My small dog with no housetraining issues - a former outside dog used for breeding. My special project small dog - two former owners. If he knows snap + point, that will work fine. It's harder to get pooping on command, though I know a couple of dogs that have it down. The brisk walk should help with pooping. Since he's small, he may never develop the bladder control to go 8-10 hours before peeing, but 6-7 should be doable barring any medical issues when he's resting.
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Jan 5, 2013 06:17
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Okay I can really use some help. So my aunt, cousin and their dog moved in a couple months ago. They have a 7lb chi mix, and she's got issues. Since they've moved in, he will start barking at noises outside, something he never did until my aunt and her dog showed up, her dogs done this and I think maybe Feldman's picked up on it? But the thing I need help with, is now he gets kind of freaked out at stuff. Like if he's laying down with my mom or something, and there's a noise, he'll jump up and start growling and trilling, with his eyes popping out, it seems to really startle him now. A few minutes ago this happened, but he seemed to go after my aunts dog, while acting like that. He didn't ATTACK her, but gave her a few nips/hassled her some. All this poo poo started when they move in, and it hasn't gotten any better. Any advice on how to deal with this? I'd like my dog to be able to be calm like he was before the move-in, not jump and barky/freaked out like he is now edit: Also, if I try to calm him when he's doing it, he'll direct his growls and trilling/nipping at me.
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Jan 5, 2013 06:25
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Triangulum posted:Ugh training Vecna to pivot has been the most frustrating thing I've ever tried to teach him. It's taken me weeks to get him to stand on the target (a large book) rather than lay/sit down while putting his front feet on it. And now that he's got that book on floor = stand with front feet on book, he for some reason thinks I want him to put all four feet on the book Where are you placing the treat? That's something that's really critical in this exercise. Also keep reinforcing for a while longer for doing anything at all with his hind feet (as long as the front feet stay on the book). This way you can get him to realize he needs to try to do stuff with his hind feet. Reinforce for a small lift of the paw or any movement of the hind feet. Alternatively take a break from pivoting, shape another simple hind end awareness exercise (backing up, lifting one hind paw at a time etc) and then go back to pivoting again. I didn't want to make my own movement a part of the exercise and these were the things that helped me with Pi.
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Jan 5, 2013 09:46
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Almost immediately after I bitched about pivoting, Vecna figured it out 
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Jan 5, 2013 10:56
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Engineer Lenk posted:It's harder to get pooping on command, though I know a couple of dogs that have it down.  ), which in turn results with them going quickly, if they need to go. Basically I've just praised my dogs mostly with the cue word as well as with other words. I guess you can treat after they are done too. I haven't used treats, but it still works for my dogs and is actually almost 100% for all of them. I cue elimination only if I really need to and will praise with the cue words nearly everytime.
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Jan 5, 2013 12:19
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Guys my 1 year old dog appears to be afraid of the rain, every time it rains he runs inside and shits and pisses his business somewhere inside when he needs to go. He goes on the grass otherwise but the rain scares the poo poo out of him and he won't budge with a leash. I'm sick of going poop hunting after a rainy day
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Jan 5, 2013 14:49
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I've been dealing with Lola's anxiety about strange people/new things for months now, and she's come along great. The only time she'll have a defensive reaction (vocalising at them, and trying to lunge or leap away) is if they are a teenager or acting in a way that she considers inappropriate (loud, trying to touch her, talking to themselves, etc). She let a woman (whose dog she knows) touch her yesterday. She's never had contact with this woman before; we've seen her with her dog, but only a couple of times. So my dog let a stranger pet her I'm just not sure where to go from here. She's still bad about strange people in the house--we don't get strange visitors enough to practice, and the postman keeps catching me at inopportune times--but she's really good about walking through town on a loose leash, ignoring people or checking in with me for treats when she goes past someone she would have barked at in the past.
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Jan 5, 2013 16:59
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Anidav posted:Guys my 1 year old dog appears to be afraid of the rain, every time it rains he runs inside and shits and pisses his business somewhere inside when he needs to go. He goes on the grass otherwise but the rain scares the poo poo out of him and he won't budge with a leash. I'm sick of going poop hunting after a rainy day Put a coat on him, schedule breaks and supervise (tether/crate) on days when it rains. If he goes outside in the rain, praise/treat.
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Jan 5, 2013 20:00
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Engineer Lenk posted:Put a coat on him, schedule breaks and supervise (tether/crate) on days when it rains. If he goes outside in the rain, praise/treat. You can also give him treats and praise when/while it's raining to condition him to associate rain with positive things.
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Jan 5, 2013 21:53
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LimeMonger posted:Again, thank you. It seems as though we were doing a couple of things correctly. I couldn't find an explicit protocol online! Just for the record: The Puppy & New Dog Owner Thread has a link to a housetraining guide that I wrote that goes over all of this.
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Jan 6, 2013 18:00
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Bash Ironfist posted:Okay I can really use some help. Okay, I waited a full day to see if I got an answer for this, so I'm gonna bump it. Any advice for me on dealing with this? I miss my chill dog
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Jan 6, 2013 22:13
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Hey all, I originally asked about trainer suggestions in the dog sports thread (thinking about trying out rally-o) but I decided to go a different route and just try to get our training as advanced as possible. I still haven't gotten a CGC title on Faye so I think I'm gonna start with that. How does this person look for a trainer? http://www.rockymountaindogtraining.com/ She's the only one near me that mentioned positive training. Does she look like a potential good fit?
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Jan 9, 2013 18:01
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Bash Ironfist posted:Okay, I waited a full day to see if I got an answer for this, so I'm gonna bump it. Any advice for me on dealing with this? I miss my chill dog Is Feldman getting more exercise yet? A tired dog is a good dog.
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Jan 9, 2013 18:04
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moechae posted:Hey all, I originally asked about trainer suggestions in the dog sports thread (thinking about trying out rally-o) but I decided to go a different route and just try to get our training as advanced as possible. I still haven't gotten a CGC title on Faye so I think I'm gonna start with that. How does this person look for a trainer? http://www.rockymountaindogtraining.com/ I sent you a PM as well, given that we live close together. I see her say all the right things on her bio, but I don't see the credentials I would expect given how competitive it is around here and I suspect you can probably do better in the area.
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Jan 9, 2013 21:55
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Bash Ironfist posted:Okay, I waited a full day to see if I got an answer for this, so I'm gonna bump it. Any advice for me on dealing with this? I miss my chill dog Well? Is Feldman getting more exercise yet? I took my dogs out a minimum of 4 times a day when my spouse was going through chemo this summer and I was off work as his caretaker. You have no excuse unless you have agoraphobia 
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Jan 11, 2013 07:37
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My dog is really insistent when we're on a walk and he has to go. He absolutely will not keep moving if he decides pooping is a good idea. Is this alright? I know you're not supposed to let them dictate stuff on walks.
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Jan 11, 2013 08:09
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adventure in the sandbox posted:Well? Is Feldman getting more exercise yet? I have a not terribly bad case of agoraphobia and the dog's the best thing that ever happened to me.
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Jan 11, 2013 09:30
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Fraction posted:I've been dealing with Lola's anxiety about strange people/new things for months now, and she's come along great. The only time she'll have a defensive reaction (vocalising at them, and trying to lunge or leap away) is if they are a teenager or acting in a way that she considers inappropriate (loud, trying to touch her, talking to themselves, etc). Quoting myself. Any ideas/help, dognerds?
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Jan 11, 2013 09:47
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Fraction posted:Quoting myself. Any ideas/help, dognerds? What are your ultimate goals for Lola? What do you NEED her to do and what do you WANT her to do? Dogs with a history of reactivity have burned neural pathways for reactive behaviors. These pathways can be buried, but not erased, so in a sense you can never cure a reactive dog, you can just keep plugging away at their good behavior so that it becomes much stronger than the bad behavior. Because of that, it's not unreasonable to draw a line and say, my dog is never going to do this. For example, I will never ask Psyche to let a stranger pet her or go to a dog park. It's just not in her to do it, she doesn't want it, and I don't need it. But I do have the practical goal of getting her to let someone she knows handle her, for boarding and emergency purposes. So make a list of goals and stop yourself before you cross the line into things that you would do just because other people do it and not because it's good for Lola. At the top of the list should be things you NEED, followed by things you WANT that you think will benefit her. There's nothing wrong with running out of new goals and just perfecting the old ones. Does that help or were you after some other kind of advice?
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Jan 11, 2013 14:57
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Kiri koli posted:Does that help or were you after some other kind of advice? Thanks Kiri, that helps a bunch! Really, all I need for her, that she isn't at yet, is to not react aggressively to attempted pettings. If I could teach her to just move away, and that I'll take care of the situation so that someone isn't going to get up close and personal, I'd be happy. I just worry that people lunging past me to stroke her are one day going to provoke a bite. The other things are things I want; not things that Lola necessarily wants. I have to remember that.
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Jan 11, 2013 15:09
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memomi posted:My dog is really insistent when we're on a walk and he has to go. He absolutely will not keep moving if he decides pooping is a good idea. Is this alright? I know you're not supposed to let them dictate stuff on walks. Just let your dog poop if it has to. He just has to go, he's not taking over the world. kiri koli posted:For example, I will never ask Psyche to let a stranger pet her or go to a dog park. It's just not in her to do it, she doesn't want it, and I don't need it. But I do have the practical goal of getting her to let someone she knows handle her, for boarding and emergency purposes. This is where I am at now too. Major will never ride free in the car without meds, he won't be a dog park dog, I won't let small children near him. Those are things I know he can not handle and that's ok. He is totally fine in a crate in the car and he can work in a classroom with other dogs around and he doesn't seek out and destroy children so I'm content. I keep working on proofing things and doing things I want to do with him within reasonable parameters, like he could handle a rally or advanced obedience class but not a beginner obedience with a bunch of wild barky dogs just getting started. Instant Jellyfish fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Jan 11, 2013 |
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Jan 11, 2013 15:44
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Instant Jellyfish posted:This is where I am at now too. Major will never ride free in the car without meds, he won't be a dog park dog, I won't let small children near him. Those are things I know he can not handle and that's ok. He is totally fine in a crate in the car and he can work in a classroom with other dogs around and he doesn't seek out and destroy children so I'm content. I keep working on proofing things and doing things I want to do with him within reasonable parameters, like he could handle a rally or advanced obedience class but not a beginner obedience with a bunch of wild barky dogs just getting started. Both Major and Lola have made so much good progress. I think it's hard for people who work so hard with difficulty dogs when the day comes that your dog is basically in a good spot and just needs you to continue managing and proofing things in the way that (you've established through blood, sweat, and tears) works. You get stuck in 'OKAY WHAT EPIC, CRAZY DOG THING DO I NEED TO DEAL WITH NEXT?!' mode.
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Jan 11, 2013 16:19
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memomi posted:My dog is really insistent when we're on a walk and he has to go. He absolutely will not keep moving if he decides pooping is a good idea. Is this alright? I know you're not supposed to let them dictate stuff on walks. If the dog stops and plants its feet, let him poo. However, I'd start trying to get it on cue (because I am a total control freak). Say "go poo" or whatever when he does and praise him mightily. It'll take several weeks/months for the association to seep in even a little bit, so don't rush it. Then once he kind of understands the cue, bring him to an appropriate place and cue it on walks. I do this for both my dogs - they understand that when leashes are on they're trotting along with me on the sidewalk and not out for sniffing & eliminating. I'm kind of OCD about it though, so I have different leashes/collars for when I'm going out on a real walk with my dogs vs. just a quick bathroom break (slip leads for quick breaks, harnesses for proper walks). I feel like the different equipment helps them differentiate how quickly they need to do their business.
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Jan 11, 2013 19:11
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update for me Training with Buddy is going even better. I've got him bringing me toys and dropping them at my feet and sitting until I give him the go command to play. He still needs to practice things in a more social environment and get used to more people but he sits,lays, somewhat comes over. I've got him trained to go lay down on a bed/sheet when I say "bed" and point to the object. His nipping while playing has gotten better too, I got angry and bopped him on the nose a few times while playing and quickly re-learned why doing that is a bad idea. He got more aggressive and it was completely counter intuitive. Got back to just yelping and walking away and ending playtime once I calmed down and that works 1000 times better. Don't let your anger from a bad day bleed into training and play time cause dogs will definitely pick up on that. I am having troubles with keeping Buddy off of furniture we've told him "no" to be on though. If I lay in bed he will go to my wifes side of the bed and jump up even though he knows hes not allowed. If I tell him to get off, he just lays down. I tried to teach him the difference of commands for getting on and off the bed so he would only get on beds when I tell him to. That hasn't seemed to work and I think I re-enforced him being allowed on beds and thats why I'm having this problem. Any good games/training methods I can do to help get a dog to stay off furniture? The objective is to get him to lay in his dog bed in our room at night and sleep in there with us. I don't want to kennel him at night if I don't have to and hes shown we can trust him with that much at least.
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Jan 11, 2013 21:18
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I'm at work and don't have time for a proper reply, but with dogs: SOMETIMES = ALWAYS So keep in mind what you sometimes allow your dogs to do.
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Jan 11, 2013 21:45
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Langolas posted:Any good games/training methods I can do to help get a dog to stay off furniture? The objective is to get him to lay in his dog bed in our room at night and sleep in there with us. I don't want to kennel him at night if I don't have to and hes shown we can trust him with that much at least. Glad to hear your lab is doing good! Your dog knows he can get a treat by getting off the furniture but he can't do that trick without getting up there in the first place. If you don't want him on the furniture, just be consistent and don't allow him up there at all. Treat him profusely when he goes on his dog bed and kick him off the bed right away when he goes up there. That didn't work with our lab. He learned to wait until we were asleep and then would sneak up to the end of the bed. We didn't care too much cause he makes a nice foot warmer and he'll go to his bed when we tell him. I'm glad we never hit our dog. I slipped on the ice today while he was walking behind me and just booted him right in the face. Instead of thinking he did something wrong and shying away, he came over to see what the hell my problem was. I gave him some treats and we were cool.
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Jan 11, 2013 21:57
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Ikantski posted:Glad to hear your lab is doing good! Your dog knows he can get a treat by getting off the furniture but he can't do that trick without getting up there in the first place. If you don't want him on the furniture, just be consistent and don't allow him up there at all. Treat him profusely when he goes on his dog bed and kick him off the bed right away when he goes up there. Hes doing really well, I'm just making new dog owner mistakes in training. I definitely gotta remember that "sometimes" = always as mentioned by a life less. I still laugh when he got on the guest bed and my wife was yelling "DOWN" so he laid down and sat there looking at her. Hes too smart for his own good sometimes, but dumb as a rock too. He keeps purposely eating little parts of his rope toy he shreds off occasionally and then he does his army poop crawl around the yard trying to get the poo poo dangling from a thread to get out of his rear end. I just sit there laughing at him cause its his own fault for purposely shredding his rope in the middle of playing... then eating said parts. I take the rope away from him when we aren't playing though cause I definitely don't trust him with it. Another command I'm working on is a "watch me" command which hes struggling with. Hes not an eye contact type of dog and is attention span is just about zero. His patience for toys/high value treats is getting better though. I can ALMOST drape a toy or piece of dog jerky across his nose while he sits and leaves it. I'm trying to build him up to be able to pile treats on his nose
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Jan 11, 2013 22:13
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Kiri koli posted:Both Major and Lola have made so much good progress. This is so true. When I went to his behaviorist this last time I was all geared up for setting up my next goals and training plans and things and she was like "well, he seems fine see you next year" as he chilled at my feet while I talked to her. It was such a huge change from a year of sitting in the car doing nothing or the months of walking towards and then away from dogs/kids/weird people. After 2 years of working with the vet behaviorist and a number of trainers he is finally the dog I thought I adopted and I can slowly start exploring the things I wanted to do with him to begin with. It's sort of amazing. I've been capturing and rewarding play bows from Major lately and last week he voluntarily play bowed at my neighbor's dogs through the fence 
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Jan 12, 2013 01:20
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Kiri koli posted:Both Major and Lola have made so much good progress. I still have a bunch of little things to work on, but just being able to walk through town or hang out at my mum's busy work (with Lola suitably chewing a ball out of the way) is amazing, compared to how she was when she first started getting reactive. But yeah it's difficult to remind myself certain things, especially when I see success stories (like the Reactive Champion dog). Lola doesn't want people touching her - and I have to respect that. Physical contact has to be on her terms. It's just disappointing when she's come so far and yet still reacts and lunges at someone trying to pet her (usually when I've just explicitly told them not to). You can train your dog but not people, I guess! 
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Jan 12, 2013 09:10
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Little pom came into work today... he's got some major issues. I ended up recommending them to a positive reinforcement behaviorist however I wanted to see if I could work with him a little bit so he behaves a little more while I'm working with him. His issues: -Barks and generally gets REALLY ANGRY about other dogs. He will literally turn and bark his little head off, causing me to chunk a massive bit of hair from his underbelly. Ended up being able to blend it in a little bit but at the same time, it worries me if he suddenly turns and goes nuts while I'm working on a dangerous area. - Bites randomly. I tried to put a muzzle on him, he bit me and a co-worker (didn't break skin). I ended up grabbing the scruff (not mean, just as a way to be like "hold your head still" so I can get this thing on you. He ended up screaming his little head off.) I ended up putting an ecollar on him because he wouldn't let me get close enough to his face. Later, I ended up putting him on the floor and managing to put the muzzle on him. I'm thinking it was because I was coming from him above, not at eye level. I'm thinking next time he comes in, I will have to work on him "in the back" so he doesn't bark at the other customers that come in, and doesn't pose a risk to himself when I'm working with sharp instruments around him. Any help on this, or being able to set them on the right tracks until they can get to a behaviorist would be fantastic.
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Jan 14, 2013 08:43
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I've had my dog for 3 years and love her to death, whatever she is. However, she's always been irritatingly neurotic about where she poops and has held it for hours, even days if she doesn't get a walk which takes her past her constantly rotating magic spot. With a child on the way and about to start a predoctoral internship I'm feeling much less willing to tolerate this. She adamantly refuses to go in the yard. It is bizarre, she will be running up and down the stairs whining like she is about to have an accident but once I take her out she just stares off into space. Thoughts? I tried to fix this in the past by using a walk as a reward for pooping but she would literally hold it in for days and I eventually got worried about this and gave in. Industrial fucked around with this message at 14:43 on Jan 14, 2013 |
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Jan 14, 2013 14:39
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This is a great thread. I have a mutt, but he's definitely got some Schnauzer in him and possibly some Pug (he's got an overall Schnauzer look but a really short stubby nose and breathes like a Pug). My fiancee recently moved in, and brought her cat with her. Melvin's always been a really good-tempered dog, and so I've never been in a position where I had to do much training other than when I snap my fingers he runs and gets in his crate. Teaching him to live around the cat has been... exhausting. If the cat's in the same room, he'll dash at it, so I've kept him on a leash near me when I can. Eating breakfast this morning, I had him on the leash around my arm and my cereal in my hands, and he lunged and cereal went everywhere so that was sort of the last straw. Now I'm looking for training advice (e.g. this thread) and am potentially looking into obedience training classes. I bought him a muzzle to use when I can't be there to restrain him (e.g. when I had to use the bathroom), but I know that's not a permanent solution, or ever a longer-than-15-or-20-minutes solution, so I'm reading all I can. Oof, this is going to be hard when my dog has (apparently) a high prey drive. But, I'm going to do all I can, I just need to learn the right way to do it.
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Jan 14, 2013 15:47
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Industrial posted:I tried to fix this in the past by using a walk as a reward for pooping but she would literally hold it in for days and I eventually got worried about this and gave in. Look back a couple of page or two, there seems to be an influx of people worried about where and when their dog poops lately. I would talk to a vet, it really doesn't sound healthy for a dog to not crap for a couple of days.
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Jan 14, 2013 16:04
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Ikantski posted:Look back a couple of page or two, there seems to be an influx of people worried about where and when their dog poops lately. I would talk to a vet, it really doesn't sound healthy for a dog to not crap for a couple of days. She will if I walk her though, it's behavioral not medical.
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Jan 14, 2013 16:45
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Industrial posted:She will if I walk her though, it's behavioral not medical.
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Jan 14, 2013 17:05
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QPZIL posted:Teaching him to live around the cat has been... exhausting. If the cat's in the same room, he'll dash at it, so I've kept him on a leash near me when I can. Eating breakfast this morning, I had him on the leash around my arm and my cereal in my hands, and he lunged and cereal went everywhere so that was sort of the last straw. Now I'm looking for training advice (e.g. this thread) and am potentially looking into obedience training classes. I bought him a muzzle to use when I can't be there to restrain him (e.g. when I had to use the bathroom), but I know that's not a permanent solution, or ever a longer-than-15-or-20-minutes solution, so I'm reading all I can. I wouldn't even make the muzzle a 15 minute solution - he can corner and freak the cat out pretty easily even without using his teeth and then you risk a scratched cornea and the possibility of making the whole situation worse. Is he crate-trained? Are you doing anything to proactively keep him from lunging? Does the cat have his own space to chill? If I were approaching this, I would use a very slow cat introduction period to the house as a way to teach cat=AWESOME TREATS. Keep the cat and dog in separate rooms most of the time, and when they are allowed access to the same area make sure you have the dog on a leash and a large quantity of high-value treats. Then if the cat comes around, stuff the dog with treats. If he doesn't take treats, the cat is too close. Eventually, he should see the cat and immediately orient to you to get treats. Keep reinforcing 100% until he can see the cat sprint off and just stares at you for treats. Then you can fade reinforcement gradually - two out of three times he sees the cat, then half the time, then a quarter of the time, then whenever you feel like it. If he ever gets it in his mind to chase the cat again, go back to separate areas and only on-leash time where he sees the cat and work your way back. Working through it this way is a large upfront management and time commitment, but it pays off down the road in the form of a live cat.
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Jan 14, 2013 19:24
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