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Instant Jellyfish posted:I know I've seen her on a mat in your videos before, have you done a lot of mat work? Major gets kind of "lost" when we go to new places and aren't actively working and having a super solid mat behavior has really cut down on his anxiety about exactly what he should be doing. He knows if he sees a mat anywhere that it is his job to go to it, lay down in a settled position (hip kicked out, sometimes head down, looks like this), and watch me for further instructions. If he gets into a loop of pacing around the house after something stressful has happened or he's being a dick and attention seeking by breaking things I can tell him to go to his mat and he will settle and once his body is settled his mind seems to follow. I have done a good amount of mat work and my original goal was to have it as a portable relaxation spot. I tried a few different ways and ran into much the same problem I'm having now: Psyche sees the mat as work and doesn't find it relaxing. I did shape the settle position and she now often lays around with her leg kicked out. It was a huge improvement at the time, but she can still be worky in that position and I didn't get any farther. She will stay on the mat (and now we're teaching her to go to it when someone is at the door), but my attempts to make it relaxing have so far failed. I plan to do the protocols both on and off the mat and am specifically selecting for calm posture/behavior. When we started it today, we had to repeat the first 'sit for 5 seconds' several times. She was able to hold the sit for five seconds, no problem, but she kept offering me frantic head turns. I had to show her what I wanted with a Wait command and then we moved on and she mostly stopped, but was still tense and worky. I'll repeat the days and individual exercises until I get the relaxation I'm looking for with each one and then I'll repeat them again with down and with settle on the mat. Perhaps by starting over this way, I can work up to the mat relaxation I was originally looking for.
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Jan 25, 2013 04:55
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XIII posted:So, I recently adopted a dog. He's an awesome brindle boxer. He knows your basic sit, down, etc., but needs some work to really reinforce them. Things like when I tell him to sit, he HAS to move next to me before he will. Also, if there is something he deems more interesting, there's an 80% chance he'll ignore me. I've been working on getting him to associate a clicker with GOOD JOB, which seems to be working, slowly. We're going to keep working and we'll get it down. Charging a clicker should take 5-10 minutes of click -> immediate treat. Then every single time you click, the dog gets a treat very shortly afterwards. It's a whole lot more useful for shaping and capturing good behavior if click always means treat rather than trying to do something more subtle with it.
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Jan 25, 2013 05:43
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Engineer Lenk posted:Charging a clicker should take 5-10 minutes of click -> immediate treat. The first day we started, I did just that. After about 5-10 of click->treat, we took a break, then did it a couple more times that day. From there on, whenever he does something right, I mark it with a click and a treat.
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Jan 25, 2013 05:57
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Kiri koli posted:it's too cold for walks.
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Jan 25, 2013 06:02
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Riiseli posted:Too cold? Proper clothing and e.g. a buff over your nose and mouth and fleece booties and a jacket (if necessary) for Psyche should enable you to go for walks. If it goes below -20*C/-4*F I shorten the walks a bit and encourage the dogs not to run like crazy. Yeah, it's certainly doable, but it kind of caught me unprepared. We usually get less than a week of such cold weather during the winter and the last two winters were unusually mild. Psyche is such a snow dog that I didn't know her limits until last week when she was high stepping during her morning pee. I didn't really have time this week to get her booties or make them and it would have taken me a week+ to desensitize her to them anyway. She's pretty averse to wearing things and is still touchy about her feet. It was <0*F with the wind chill, but in a few days, it's supposed to be like 40*F anyway. Honestly, she's not a super active dog (unless the prozac was damping some of her energy, which is certainly possible), so the walks are probably the least of the factors. There's another one that I only admitted to myself this morning: I've had a really tough year and have been dealing with depression and anxiety myself due to stress from grad school. I've been short-tempered and, to be fair, a dog that barks as often as she does would drive a normal person insane. I've kind of known all along that I was probably affecting her, but it was never super obvious and I was always calm during actual reactivity sessions and kind of told myself that was enough. Anyway, I've got a whole plan for relaxation sessions daily and I think it'll help both of us. And tomorrow will be slightly warmer, so I'll put on like a billion layers and we'll go for a nice walk. 
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Jan 25, 2013 15:54
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I've never been able to create relaxation in Cohen when we're out. The best I can get is when she sometimes dozes for a minute or two in the crate after running around and being alert for a few hours. She'll lay down and hold a position for a good long time (like when I have her on a mat while I work with a client in class) and she'll busy herself with a long lasting treat in her crate if I give her one, but I suck at teaching a dog to settle. My friends have told me that it's because Cohen is used to being asked to work whenever I approach her crate/mat - she's my only working dog, so she's always convinced it's her turn. My other friends with multiple sport dogs have had better luck teaching a settle when we're at shows. It might be because they're more consistent in their crating routines too. I've never worked through the protocols for relaxation, as I've never felt I needed to, but I am occasionally frustrated when Cohen is always "on" when we're out. And it's been too cold for walks for Cohen lately too. I haven't bothered buying her shoes, and the combination of the cold and the salted sidewalks are pretty uncomfortable for her. So I've been taking her to class with me, doing more training indoors and providing more long lasting treats. She's still kind of nutty, but the cold breaks soon. XIII posted:So, I recently adopted a dog. He's an awesome brindle boxer. He knows your basic sit, down, etc., but needs some work to really reinforce them. Things like when I tell him to sit, he HAS to move next to me before he will. Also, if there is something he deems more interesting, there's an 80% chance he'll ignore me. I've been working on getting him to associate a clicker with GOOD JOB, which seems to be working, slowly. We're going to keep working and we'll get it down. Re: moving towards you to sit. Teach him to sit on a mat, or on a platform. Only reinforce for behaviours on the mat. Stay super close to start, and very gradually begin to increase the distance once he's 90%+ successful at the previous distance. Re: attention waning. Make a list of things your dog finds reinforcing. Everything from favourite toys, food, games, behaviours. Sniffing. Jollyball. Liver. Tripe. Peanut butter. Kibble. Tug. Etc. Then arrange them on a list of most valuable to least. Mix up the types of treats/reinforcement you offer during a training session and use an appropriate level of reinforcement for the level of difficulty you're working on. Sits in a quiet kitchen may get kibble or verbal praise, but sits outside with the distractions of people, other dogs, etc may get tripe. As he gets better at focusing outside, you can begin saving the really good stuff for further difficult behaviour. Always end the session with your dog wanting more. Be fun and engaging and very low pressure to start. Work more on making training a game than something formal and serious - it'll help instill a love of learning for the rest of your dog's life. Re: the licking. Is he jumping? Teach sit as a default behaviour. Is his attention wandering to lick objects? Work on building his attention span up and focusing on you for a longer period of time. Teach him to hold an object in his mouth to keep his mouth busy while you work if you have to.
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Jan 25, 2013 16:45
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This is Reggie  He's a Lab/Mastiff mix (and maybe some hound?) that my girlfriend and I took in last July. He's a rescue from Georgia and he is 2 years old (will be 3 this July). He's a wonderful dog who is so docile and loving and just wants to be near people. However, we believe he was abused by his first owners.....He is very afraid of men, so much that for the first month if I made any sudden moves towards him he would pee EVERYWHERE. Since we first got him he's so attached to me now and deals a lot better with strangers who are men, we had a Christmas get together with over 15 people and he was the star of the show! He went up to everyone and even fell asleep on one of my larger more intimidating friends. He rarely barks and is not aggressive at all, I can put my entire hand in his mouth and he will never bite down or nip at me. We love him to death. Here's my question and issue: he is a little destructive with clothing and shoes (which we solved by being better about leaving those things out) but recently he has been having accidents inside the house. My girlfriend and I both work and she leaves at 6:30 am and I leave at 8:30 am. He gets walked at 8 am for his poop/pee walk, 4pm when my girlfriend gets home for a pee, and midnight for his before sleep pee. Prior to this month he has had an accident maybe once every month or so just because our schedule was so in flux last year and it was hard to get home for the exact times when he needed to go to the bathroom. Just this month alone, he has peed in the house twice and pooped once. He is REALLY bad when my GF and I have sex, he has to find something to destroy or will pee outside of the room (the peeing is a new thing). I usually give him a bully stick to calm him down or treats and that works well but he tears through them so fast and then he cannot handle knowing we are home but not being able to get into the room with us. When he pees/poops, it's almost always on the rug in the living room and we clean it up with the Petco cleaning supplies but I have a feeling he thinks it's ok to have accidents on that surface. The only other place he ever pooped in the house was the first month when we switched his food and he had diarrhea for a day. How do I keep him from thinking this behavior is ok? I hate to discipline him or even raise my voice because we've come so far in his trust in men and I know he trusts me the most. When I want him to get off the bed in the morning it's a fight because I have to bribe him or if I go to grab him off the bed he's gonna pee on it so I let him come out on his own accord. Thank you in advance for any advice you could give me.....
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Jan 25, 2013 17:05
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You have a dog who likely has a mild case of Separation Anxiety, and is very anxious in general. There is a house training guide in the OP of the Puppy & New Dog Owner thread that still applies to you. If he's having accidents in the house, he's not house trained. Also, I'd put fair money that he likely was not abused, just poorly socialized. This is a very common misconception. To start with, you have a reasonably good idea about what his triggers are before he has an accident, because all of these things stress him out. Take advantage of this and take him out for a potty break before these instances. He can't pee on the rug if he's all out of pee. You reference cleaning the rug, but make sure that you are using an enzymatic cleaner such as Nature's Miracle. Carpet Resolve isn't going to do it because to them, it still smells like pee. If you're doing this already, then I recommend removing the rug until you've got the house training under control, because it may be a texture preference for him that you'll need to train out. Next, you need to be doing things to build confidence. The best way to do this is to train your dog. Tricks, dog sports, whatever. These will improve your relationship, but they also have the added benefit of building confidence in your dog. Confident dogs are not anxious dogs. I speak from experience, here, as an owner of an anxious dog. If you are interested in going the dog sports route, I highly recommend nosework or agility. Use the OP of the Puppy thread to find a good trainer. A force based or traditional trainer is going to make your problems worse so choose carefully and feel free to post again to sanity check. If you would prefer to just train tricks here, peruse the OP in detail and start watching youtube videos. I also highly recommend you pick up Pat Miller's "The Power of Positive Training" - it is an excellent starter reference. So, to summarize, you need to start by managing and working the house training issue, but a lot of that is just a symptom of his general emotional state, so you need to tackle both problems in tandem.
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Jan 25, 2013 17:23
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The simple answer is crate training. The peeing indoors might be a response to the colder weather, or he might have really had to go one day and then just got out of the habit of holding it when he needs to go. Check out the house training guide in the new dog/puppy thread, or read back a few pages in this thread for some more hints. Basically you need to limit his freedom to a point where he is going to be successful, whether that be a crate, an exercise pen or a room. Keep him in an area you know he won't soil and give him regular bathroom breaks (like, regular enough you can set your watch by them). Consider also having a dog walker walk him in the middle of the day. When he's not crated/penned, you need to be giving him your full attention. If your attention wavers and he sneaks off to another room to pee that will set all your progress back a good few days/weeks. Don't consider him housebroken until he's gone at least a full month with zero accidents. And considering his history of sporadic "accidents" you may want to keep up a very rigid, controlled schedule beyond that. If he pees on the 26th day since you started hard core management of his freedom, reset the clock and try to go another full month without accidents. The freaking out while you're getting intimate can also be solved via crating. It'll probably feel awkward as hell, but give him a frozen kong stuffed with various tasty things prior to these times, and crate him up. It'll help if he's worn out from a walk/run too. Kongs can be stuffed with anything. Peanut butter. Cream cheese. Chicken. Pumpkin. Frozen meat seems to last the longest. The puppy thread (and I think the OP of this one) has some links for how to get started in crate training. It needs to be a fun, positive experience for him. Also, your dog probably wasn't abused. It's pretty normal for under confident dogs to be scared of men. Just a heads up.
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Jan 25, 2013 17:25
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a life less posted:Words . Awesome. I'll bust out a mat and we'll get to work on that over the weekend. A lot of it is he tends to give attention where he feels it will get him the most attention back. If someone else will pet him, he's going that way. No, no jumping. If we're on the couch, he wants to get in your lap and lick your face. He doesn't seem to want to lick anything but people. It's mostly annoying if we're just laying around and he wants to sit there and climb on you and lick. We've been withholding couch privileges for when he's in lick mode.
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Jan 25, 2013 19:17
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My dog is the same way, but usually he just wants to lay down and has his belly rubbed, and then the licking/mouthing stops.
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Jan 25, 2013 20:08
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Yuzenn posted:My dog is the same way, but usually he just wants to lay down and has his belly rubbed, and then the licking/mouthing stops. He quits as soon as you pay him any attention. As long as you're at least petting him a little, he's fine.
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Jan 25, 2013 20:18
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XIII posted:He quits as soon as you pay him any attention. As long as you're at least petting him a little, he's fine. It sounds to me like, in conjunction with the other things you said, he just doesn't know how to deal with you paying attention to things besides him. Licking is calming for dogs and him trying to be in your lap is probably attention seeking behavior and a sign of stress. My dog leans or stands on me when I am sitting or puts her paws on me when I'm standing if I am doing something she doesn't want and she's stressed about it. She also licks us to calm down (which we somewhat encourage because she used to chew instead of lick). This problem should improve as you use a crate and teach your dog confidence and how to be alone.
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Jan 25, 2013 20:32
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Kiri koli posted:teach your dog confidence and how to be alone. Any pointers on this? He doesn't mind his crate at all, despite a previous "foster" leaving him in one for about 22hrs a day for about 5 months, but because he's never had an accident or torn anything up, we typically just leave him out.
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Jan 25, 2013 22:26
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Hey guys, first time dog postin' here. I read the OP in regards to training and so on, but I have a tricky situation since I have trouble giving positive/negative reinforcement for the wanted behaviour, cos' Im asleep. We have two dogs. one dog, Hachi has been my girlfriends for a few years. The other dog, Ichi, we got last year when we moved in together. She is a rescue from a less than caring owner, who had just bought some form of aggressive dog and literally told us 'Im either giving her to you, or to the other dog' so we took her. And now, shes really awesome. Except she likes to piss on the floor when we sleep. Hachi is trained. Hes a male so its also obvious when he pisses in the house, since its usually on something else. He doesnt do it often. The two dogs sleep in our bedroom at night, either with Hachi on our bed (old habits die hard) or on their own bed on the floor. Ichi is kind of a drinker, so I like to make sure shes got water when she needs it and leave a bowl in the bedroom for drinking. she will usually drink once we are in bed, falling asleep. I hear this. When we are asleep, sometimes even when we are simply distracted (by xbox, phone, guests, whatever) she will go in there and piss on the floor. since we very rarely catch her in the act, we cant give her negative reinforcement. Since we dont really see her piss outside in the garden, we cant reward that either. This wasnt such a problem our old house as it was hardwood floors and we used puppy training pads. She would piss on them, or worse case scenario, the floor itself. Our current house has carpet in the bedroom, and even leaving the training pads around she will not use them. we try using the piss deterrent spray after shes peed somewhere but then she just pisses in another spot. The obvious solution here is to just put her outside at night. I dont think thats great for her self esteem since she as issues stemming from her previous owners who didnt really look after her well, and obviously mistreated her in a number of obvious ways (shes terrified of brooms, swearing sends her running out of the room and she wont make eye contact with males unless its me when im just home from work or feeding her) and I dont want to take away the privilege of sleeping in our room unwarranted. TLDR: how can I teach my dog not to piss on the rug, but either hold it, or piss on the training pads? If the pads are on a hard floor (tiled bathroom) she will do both poops and pees on the pad. if its on carpet, you may as well not have it there. since this is my first dog post, a funny picture to appease the forum gods. Ichi is on the left. 
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Jan 26, 2013 14:15
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There have been a number of housetraining questions asked lately. Go back a few pages and read them and the answers. The braindead simple solution to your problem is to crate your dogs at night and limit their access to water for the few hours leading up to bed time. A dog will naturally avoid soiling its den and it will encourage it to hold its bladder if at all possible. Your dogs right now a) aren't in the habit of holding it and b) more so, are in the habit of voiding indoors. You need to work on both of these things via heavy duty management to break the bad habits and implement new good ones. My rule of thumb is to limit a dog's freedom to an area you know it won't mess. It can be a crate, an x-pen or a room. Keep the dog limited to that area when it's not 100% under your direct supervision (like when you're sleeping). Offer frequent bathroom breaks outside to instill good elimination behaviour, and offer these breaks regularly so your dog understands that a schedule has been set and can be relied upon. You can gradually begin to expand the area you've limited your dog to, contingent on there being zero accidents over the weeks. But do not give complete freedom back until the dog has gone at least a full month without an accident. If the dog has an accident on day 18, reset the month counter and start over again at day 1. Read back a few pages and post again if you still have questions. Also there's a good housetraining guide in the OP of the New Dog/Puppy Megathread.
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Jan 26, 2013 14:29
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XIII posted:Any pointers on this? He doesn't mind his crate at all, despite a previous "foster" leaving him in one for about 22hrs a day for about 5 months, but because he's never had an accident or torn anything up, we typically just leave him out. Eh?
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Feb 1, 2013 05:02
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Hey there, It's been awhile and we had taken care of my wiener dogs dislike for cold climates. He has developed a new one though. Our child cries, like most children do, and almost always our dog likes to... well... join in. It's not so much a problem during the middle of the day, it's almost adorable. It's an issue for sure during the evening as my son generally fights sleeping tooth and nail. During this time he (dog) will be held by my wife or I and soothed. That generally (95% of the time) doesn't work. Any ideas or tips?
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Feb 6, 2013 17:27
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What does he do when he cries? Whines? Barks? Is anxious? Excited? I'd probably start associating bed time/crying with crate time & awesome frozen treats like kongs, bones, etc. It means the dog will be out of your way so you can take care of your child, and it will replace anxiety with feel good emotions. Once you clarify what exactly he's doing we may be able to offer something a bit more detailed.
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Feb 6, 2013 17:33
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It doesn't look like he's anxious. He's generally in a relaxed area laying down, he's not fighting to get away, he's not trying to get down and go to my son. When my son howls, he howls, when my son lets out short choppy cries our dog does too. It's more like mimicking rather than whining.
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Feb 6, 2013 18:05
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Thomase posted:When my son howls, he howls, when my son lets out short choppy cries our dog does too. It's more like mimicking rather than whining.
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Feb 6, 2013 18:17
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Thomase posted:It doesn't look like he's anxious. He's generally in a relaxed area laying down, he's not fighting to get away, he's not trying to get down and go to my son. My dog sings with sirens and with me if I imitate a siren. I always figured it for a feature rather than something to be trained out.
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Feb 6, 2013 19:35
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If it were the case that it was singing and not a crying baby I would agree. It's pretty horrible in the evening and in the middle of the night when we are trying to let our son cry it out.
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Feb 6, 2013 20:08
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Yeah, I would use food to interrupt/distract/preempt howling in these situations. Get him out of the habit of singing along and into the habit of expecting X fun thing instead. It'll likely take a little while though since habits can be tough to break.
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Feb 6, 2013 20:11
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Alternatively, toss your son a frozen kong or some boiled chicken and kill two birds with one stone. Don't forget to click and treat.
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Feb 6, 2013 21:50
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Ha! My son got more out of our dogs Christmas toys then the dog did! I guess the middle of the night is all that I'm concerned about. Definitely toys in the evening but the idea of going downstairs at 1/2am isn't appealing maybe I'll just move his crate to the basement.
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Feb 6, 2013 23:52
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I taught my dog to howl on cue (so he could sing along when the radio's playing "Werewolves of London," for instance). Ever since I did that, it seems to me the he howls less than he did before. He and the dog next door used to really get into some two-part harmonies, but now he pretty much confines it to sirens and when I cue him. (Sirens always get him, though, even when he's on a walk. Although he looks at me first, as if waiting for his cue.) I also taught him to bark on cue; unfortunately this hasn't really helped with the barking. Well, maybe a little, now that I think of it. Hmmm.
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Feb 7, 2013 08:52
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So, how would one go about teaching a dog to speak if he wasn't a very vocal dog in the first place? I can't really click when he barks, since he never barks.
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Feb 7, 2013 16:00
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XIII posted:So, how would one go about teaching a dog to speak if he wasn't a very vocal dog in the first place? I can't really click when he barks, since he never barks. Does he grumble or sigh? You could try capturing one of those.
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Feb 7, 2013 16:30
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wtftastic posted:Does he grumble or sigh? You could try capturing one of those. Well, he's the "harrumph"-y-est sum bitch ever, so I might go for that. Which would be hilarious, I think
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Feb 7, 2013 16:39
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Yeah, it's just a matter of capturing it, really. If there's a situation that induces a bark like a fun play session, teasing, knocking at the door, etc you can use that. If she's disinclined to bark ever it may be a tough trick to teach.
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Feb 7, 2013 16:40
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XIII posted:So, how would one go about teaching a dog to speak if he wasn't a very vocal dog in the first place? I can't really click when he barks, since he never barks. I tried to "woof" quietly at my dog to get him to bark. He went and hid on the bed. I decided that it's a feature, not a bug.
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Feb 7, 2013 16:51
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I'm having some trouble with 'fading the lure.' First of all I'm not exactly sure how far to go with it even I can get it to work; I've read that you're supposed to stop giving the dog a treat for every click eventually, so they'll follow commands when you don't have a handful of food. Never seen anything on how you're supposed to do it, though. More pressingly, I can't even take the first step. This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk4PPcE1CqY kikopup video said that you start fading the lure by getting the dog to follow your hand when you don't have a treat in it. Wellllll, as soon as I try to get Lee to trail a treatless hand he shoves his nose in, gets a sniff, notices the lack of treat, and then fixes on my other hand with the treat supply and the clicker.
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Feb 7, 2013 20:06
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Holy crap. My dog is getting to be a real rear end in a top hat. Inside the house - If he sees someone walking by, he barks his head off. On walks, same thing. I'm trying hard to train him out of it, but it doesn't seem to be working at all. I believe MrFurious gave me the top of rewarding for even a second of silence, then adding seconds as time passed, but it just... isn't working. We haven't even gotten to a cue like "quiet" because quietening down just isn't happening... More problematic than that, however, is he is now scared to jump out of the back of a vehicle. I understand that it's because the vehicle (SUV) is high up and he's scared without a step, but how can I get him to learn that it's not scary and he won't get hurt? I mean... I could buy a set of dog stairs, but what the gently caress - How am I going to transport them? Right now we've been backing the car up so he can jump into a snowbank, because without some middle ground he just won't get out. Any ideas on how to fix the fear? Important - He is a Newfie who almost outweighs me, so picking him up to make him get out of the car isn't an option.
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Feb 7, 2013 20:07
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Wulfolme posted:I've read that you're supposed to stop giving the dog a treat for every click eventually Where did you read that? You always treat for every click. You just start to space the clicks out so they need to do a little more work each time. For most general training purposes, 1 click always equals 1 treat. You don't have to have the treats in your clicker hand, I used to put mine in a ziploc bag in a chest pocket. Click with one hand, then the other hand would reach in and grab a treat, it doesn't take long. Also, do the first part of leave it, where you have treats in your hand but the dog only gets one when he backs off. Kikopup is the best, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9gTe0jPJbU Postess with the Mostest fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Feb 7, 2013 |
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Feb 7, 2013 20:17
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uptown posted:Important - He is a Newfie who almost outweighs me, so picking him up to make him get out of the car isn't an option. Look into ramps, not stairs. I know an older lady who has a st. bernard and she has a ramp that lays flat in the back of her car and when she needs to get the dog in the car, she slides the ramp out and he walks right on up and she slides the ramp right back up.
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Feb 7, 2013 20:36
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^^Thanks for that idea. I called the local PetSmart and they have a ramp that I can return if it doesn't work out for us. I'll look into that tomorrow Ikantski posted:Where did you read that? You always treat for every click. You just start to space the clicks out so they need to do a little more work each time. For most general training purposes, 1 click always equals 1 treat. You could also get a chalk bag - They're for rock climbing, but they work well as a treat holder too. uptown fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Feb 7, 2013 |
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Feb 7, 2013 20:46
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uptown posted:Holy crap. I had to go back and check because that didn't sound like advice I would give in the situation you described above. I think this is your first post on the subject: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3471773&pagenumber=30&perpage=40#post410189668 and this is a life less' response: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3471773&pagenumber=30&perpage=40#post410190324 That said, this looks a little different now than before, so I suggest you read her post again. In your original post the behavior could have been construed as frustration or bratty barking, although it's borderline. Now, this sounds like he is barking because he is anxious or concerned about these people on the street and wants them to go away -- NOT because he wants to meet them. If this is accurate, it is the beginning of a reactivity problem. It's important to realize that this is probably (although not definitely) a result of poor socialization - in essence, not meeting scores of different people and learning that they are all good. Do you agree with this assessment or do you think your dog just wants to meet these people and play with or greet them? If it's a reactivity issue, the first step is playing Look At That! but I don't want to write up a long post unless it's appropriate to the situation.
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Feb 7, 2013 21:32
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Whoops, sorry. Must have been the avatars that confused me. I do think he wants to get people to go away. This is unpleasant and I don't want a dog who scares people - His bark is pretty gruff, so even if you can't see him, he sounds like a pretty scary guy. I did socialize him a fair bit with people and some dogs, but I'd really like to fix the situation. Now I don't know how to socialize him without him being a barky jerk, so it's started to get cyclical. Please, teach me what Look At That! is and I'll try it out.
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Feb 7, 2013 21:47
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Not a problem, and ALL's post is great as usual, but it looks like the situation has deteriorated so it's time for something a little different. Look At That! (LAT) is a training and desensitization protocol that comes from Leslie McDevitt's book called Control Unleashed. It's an excellent book and definitely on the recommended reading list, but I'll give you the basics below. The technical aspect of LAT is very simple, but understanding why it works is a bit counter-intuitive. I'll go through the how first, and we'll cover the why next. This assumes that you've got a dog that is clicker savvy, so if you don't, make sure you heavily charge the clicker before starting any of this. With any training there's what's called the Three D's: Distance, Distraction and Duration. Each of these variables can make the behavior you're trying to train harder or easier. Duration is irrelevant to us here, and we're going to keep it as short as possible. Distraction is a major impediment so we're going to choose an area that is as free of it as possible, and we're going to control the Distance variable because it's the easiest. So here's your plan. Start by loading up with very high value treats. Get your leash and your clicker and find a park or similar area that you can watch from a good distance away that is free from other distractions. Step one is to figure out where your dog's threshold is. Start as far away as you can - shoot for at least 50 yards. Practice a couple of easy tricks like sits or downs so he knows we're training out here and that clickers still mean rewards, even outside. Next, we walk slowly, but normally towards the park and keep an eye on your dog (be careful not to stare at him because you're just going to freak him out, just be aware of what he's doing). We're waiting for him to notice the people. As soon as he orients on the people, click and wait for him to orient to you for a treat. If he looks at you, deliver several treats in a row and go nuts with praise. If he doesn't, you're too close and you need to back up, but this protocol should prevent that from happening. If this goes well, you're going to turn around and repeat several times. Before long, your dog is going to look at the people and then immediately look to you for a treat before you even click - this means he gets it, and that you're now operating UNDER his threshold. You can safely approach a few feet closer and continue. Remember that as you get closer and closer, the stimulus (people in this case) will be competing increasingly harder for your dog's attention, so take small steps. Do this a dozen or so times in a day and then stop. The next time you work, you should start from the same starting position but, if you're progressing, you should get to shorter distances faster. Eventually you'll be two feet away from people and your dog will be like "Whatever, treats already!". Now as to how and why this works. This is primarily based upon counter-conditioning principles like ALL posted previously. The problem we're dealing with is that we are effectively competing with the environment for our dog's attention constantly. This is always true, but in a case like this, we are consistently losing, so we need to find a way to regain control of the situation. Basically we are reducing the level of stimulus, people, by moving as far away from them as possible. This lowers their value on the distraction scale, and by consistently rewarding our dogs for recognizing and subsequently ignoring the stimulus in question, we're getting the behavior we want. It's okay for our dog to glance at people or squirrels as we walk by. The problem is when they are staring at them or worse. As time goes on, we are not only decreasing the value of that stimulus, but we are also turning it into a behavior chain which results in exactly what we want - focus from our dogs. When I practice this with my dog, I end up walking down a street and every time we pass someone my dog will snap to me as if to say "Did you see what I did there?!" rather than chasing them down to try and greet them. Good luck! Post if you need more help or have questions.
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Feb 7, 2013 23:29
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