|
Levitate posted:How do people usually start getting their dog to ring a bell when they need to go out, and what kind of bell do they use? A desk bell, a string of bells that the dog jingles, etc? We ordered a bell for infants off of amazon. It's big and colorful and plastic (because we weren't sure if she would try to destroy it). Then we saw that the pet store has bells on a strip like sleigh bells and that probably would have worked too. To get her to use it, first we introduced it and because she is typically scared of new things that make noise, we spent time rewarding her for approaching and then nosing it before putting it on the door. When we hung it by the door, we asked her to nose it there by touching it and then giving her a treat when she did. Eventually, she started ringing it herself to go out and if we want to take her out when she hasn't rung it, we just point and she has at it. You just have to be incremental about it. I think introducing it away from the door is good because you get the dog to know that you want them to ring it. If the dog won't ring it by the door, then you can ring it yourself. When the dog does it right, reward! Make sure the bell is rung everytime you go out and make sure that you take the dog out everytime they ring the bell. We haven't had a problem with ringing the bell for fun much, but then my dog seems pretty happy to pee every hour if we'll take her out.
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2010 19:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 05:47 |
|
|
Cool, thanks. Even if she would reliably wait by the door, that'd be great, but whatever works. Part of having a puppy I guess.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2010 20:33
|
|
|
Levitate posted:Cool, thanks. Even if she would reliably wait by the door, that'd be great, but whatever works. Part of having a puppy I guess. You can also teach her to sit by the door. We taught Psyche to sit whenever she wants us to open a door and so when we go to take her out, she has a spot where she sits to wait for us to open the door. She's too hyper to stay there from when she rings the bell to when we get all our stuff together, so she sits when she sees that we're ready to leave. But every dog is different, so yours might start to connect sitting by the door with going out and stay there longer.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2010 23:17
|
|
|
Does anyone have an opinion on the use of medication to help with training? Psyche has been making a lot of progress in her reactive dog classes. We've been doing basic nosework and she loves it! She gets focused on it and there could be a hundred people in the room and she wouldn't care. She even ignored barking. But she still had two freak outs during the session between games, one that I don't know the cause of and one where the assistant came waaaaaay too close to her when she wasn't looking. Since we're taking a break for the holidays, our trainer suggested we put Psyche on doggie Prozac to give it a chance to start working before her classes start again in January. She says it's worked well with her other clients and that it might help bring Psyche down just enough that her training will be more effective. She also pointed out that Psyche is showing some compulsive behaviors like excitable barking (she barks a lot at things that just excite her without displaying any other fear or aggression), shadow chasing, tail chasing, and I think her need to constantly steal things might be compulsive too. I think we might try it out. We're going to continue her training full force, and if the medication moves her threshold up a bit, I think we might be able to make more progress. I don't think she'll have to be on it forever and if it brings her to a place where we can do more activities I know she'll love quicker, I think that's worth doing. Any thoughts?
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2010 03:44
|
|
|
Kiri koli posted:Does anyone have an opinion on the use of medication to help with training? I wish I had more experience in medicating dogs. On one hand, I wouldn't interpret her slow progression as a deficiency on her part (or yours), but as simply part of the CC process -- meds may not be necessary. On the other, if your trainer and vet agree, then I could see it helping. Who's your trainer again? Can I do a quick snoop of his or her website? Please let us know what you decide. If you do opt to medicate, could you report back with your experience a few months down the line? I'd love to hear how it works, if it does. Maybe try posting in another thread? (Or make a new one.) This thread isn't as high traffic as some, so you might stand a better chance getting some responses that way.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2010 06:07
|
|
|
Kiri koli posted:Dog psych meds I would talk to a veterinary behaviorist before starting a course of meds, rather than just talking to your trainer and vet. I have an appointment for my dog's severe car issues that may require medication because I have tried all of my trainer's suggestions and the vet didn't feel comfortable dealing with behavioral issues. Some meds can actually increase reactivity/impulse control issues so you really need to find someone who knows what they are doing. Its just like people psych issues, you need to see a psychiatrist instead of your general practitioner. I was planning on writing up our visit last week, but it got moved back to the 31st.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2010 06:43
|
|
|
a life less posted:I wish I had more experience in medicating dogs. On one hand, I wouldn't interpret her slow progression as a deficiency on her part (or yours), but as simply part of the CC process -- meds may not be necessary. On the other, if your trainer and vet agree, then I could see it helping. Who's your trainer again? Can I do a quick snoop of his or her website? I'm not interpreting her progression as slow at all...in fact, we started talking about meds because she's progressed so fast in some areas. Because of weather and holidays, Psyche has had something like 8 1-hour classes in the last three months and very little close interaction with other people or dogs outside of that (just things she sees on walks). Despite that, she has shown obvious progression in the areas of being around people and other dogs. It's like she took all of her little-to-moderate anxiety and moved it up to no anxiety, just some warning/excited barking which we are working on replacing with other behaviors. But she still can't be approached because her major triggers are still there. There are a couple of things that will just make her flip her poo poo. Things that can't really be controlled, like in class she'll be fine with people around, but then someone will face her too much and she'll go berserk. It's getting rarer but...it's hard to describe, but I just feel like she's dealing with sub-threshold things so well, but her threshold isn't actually moving any. And meds would help with that and her other compulsive behaviors, like pulling fur off her tail. Does that make sense? Here's our trainer: http://www.petbehaviorconsulting.com/ I really like her, I just wish we could afford to do small sessions more often. I feel like that would be more productive. We have an appointment for Wednesday, so maybe I'll make a new thread after I hear what the vet has to say. Instant Jellyfish posted:I would talk to a veterinary behaviorist before starting a course of meds, rather than just talking to your trainer and vet. I have an appointment for my dog's severe car issues that may require medication because I have tried all of my trainer's suggestions and the vet didn't feel comfortable dealing with behavioral issues. Some meds can actually increase reactivity/impulse control issues so you really need to find someone who knows what they are doing. Its just like people psych issues, you need to see a psychiatrist instead of your general practitioner. I was planning on writing up our visit last week, but it got moved back to the 31st. I tried googling veterinary behaviorist and I'm having a hard time figuring out if it's an official designation with a separate degree and everything. Also, when I try to find one in my area I just get the vet programs at my local universities. My trainer is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and the vet she told us to go to lists animal behavior as one of her areas, but she just has the usual DVM. But yeah, I read about the side affects where it can increase problems so I intend to ask about all that and hopefully I can tell if the vet is talking out of her rear end. But I don't know who else I would go to.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2010 15:45
|
|
|
Kiri koli posted:I tried googling veterinary behaviorist and I'm having a hard time figuring out if it's an official designation with a separate degree and everything. Also, when I try to find one in my area I just get the vet programs at my local universities. Veterinary behaviorist refers to a veterinarian who went on to specialize in behavior, so the GP to psychiatrist analogy is pretty accurate. It is a pretty small specialty, but you can be sure that anyone on that list has extensive experience with using drugs in combination with training, and knows when that's appropriate/helpful.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2010 15:57
|
|
|
Kiri koli posted:I tried googling veterinary behaviorist and I'm having a hard time figuring out if it's an official designation with a separate degree and everything. Also, when I try to find one in my area I just get the vet programs at my local universities. It is a specialty within veterinary medicine with a board certification exam, here's a page explaining it with a search option to find someone near you. I would check an see if the vet you're going to is at least a member of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior because it shows they are keeping up with current research. It may be hard to find someone who is certified in your area because there are only 54 in the country last I checked. The one I'm going to isn't, but has a masters in behavior and has made it her focus so I trust her.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2010 16:09
|
|
|
Crooked Booty posted:This is what you want: http://dacvb.org/directory/ Ha, I saw that site and thought it looked shady. Thanks. Just as I expected, the nearest one is 2 and a half hours away. That isn't too bad, but I think we'll talk to the vet first and ask some questions about her qualifications and experience.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2010 16:15
|
|
|
Kiri koli posted:Ha, I saw that site and thought it looked shady. Thanks. Just as I expected, the nearest one is 2 and a half hours away. That isn't too bad, but I think we'll talk to the vet first and ask some questions about her qualifications and experience. Since there are so few a lot of them are able to do phone consultations or work with your trainer, so don't discount them just because they're far away 
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2010 16:22
|
|
|
Instant Jellyfish posted:Since there are so few a lot of them are able to do phone consultations or work with your trainer, so don't discount them just because they're far away I'll keep that in mind, but I always squirm a little at the idea of diagnosing a dog over the phone. Everytime I describe Psyche's behavior, I feel like I'm not doing it justice and want to go on for forever just to get every nuance in there. And I don't even really know what I'm talking about! I think I'd definitely trust a vet with behavior experience who has witnessed my dog's body language over someone with a behavior degree that I've just talked to over the phone. I'd even feel weird having the trainer do the talking, though she understands the correct language to use for dog behavior.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2010 17:03
|
|
|
Kiri koli posted:I'll keep that in mind, but I always squirm a little at the idea of diagnosing a dog over the phone. Everytime I describe Psyche's behavior, I feel like I'm not doing it justice and want to go on for forever just to get every nuance in there. And I don't even really know what I'm talking about! I think I'd definitely trust a vet with behavior experience who has witnessed my dog's body language over someone with a behavior degree that I've just talked to over the phone. I'd even feel weird having the trainer do the talking, though she understands the correct language to use for dog behavior. I totally get that feeling, but if you continue to have issues don't discount the option. They really are professionals and have seen all sorts of behavioral problems so they know what to ask. They expect your descriptions to go on forever! Even the one I'm seeing in person has a 10 page form to fill out that includes diagrams of my house, the entire veterinary history of my dog, his daily schedule, and every aspect of his training so far. I've seen some people even send in videos of their dog's behavior so the behaviorist can understand it better.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2010 17:53
|
|
|
I need to train Lee to not react to my cat or else I won't be able to adopt him. I've started giving him treats when they're close to each other, and when they both have their noses an inch from the ham Lee doesn't pay any attention to her at all, but as soon as the treats are gone, it's back to normal. He stares at her, standing about a yard away. He whines a little, and inches in closer. I've stopped it here and gently pulled him away or distracted him all but once. That once, Etta James hissed and clawed at him and they started to fight. Lee tried to go in for a bite but Etta ran away before he could, and I put my hands on his face and gently held him on the ground while Etta got on a table. I believe I shouted his name during the scuffle, too. Mistakes were made, I guess, but I just didn't want anyone getting hurt. Need some voices of experience here. I know there was one PI dog named Brisbane that went from kill to cuddle, so I'm sure there's hope. How should I go about desensitizing Lee to my cat? Also, what are some good, reasonably priced treats, or a good recipe for making them out of bacon grease or ground beef or something? The lunchmeat certainly gets his attention but it's had to work with.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2010 12:23
|
|
|
Oh my god, I am about to lose my mind. I bought The Cautious Canine, Fight, and Click to Calm, and while I've been wading my way through them (agh), I've stopped taking Comet off-leash around other dogs and just walking him around the block instead. In the last week he's started peeing in the house, which led to a vet visit where the vet says it's a behavioral issues, and even though he's always been great with kids before....yesterday he rushed and bit my 4 year old cousin. Luckily my cousin wasn't hurt, but now I am at my wit's end and don't know what to do. I'm still reading these books but both Comet and I are incredibly unhappy and frustrated. I feel like no matter what I do, I can't win. What do I do with him in the meantime, while I read these books and put together a plan?
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2010 22:24
|
|
|
Emasculatrix posted:Oh my god, I am about to lose my mind. I bought The Cautious Canine, Fight, and Click to Calm, and while I've been wading my way through them (agh), I've stopped taking Comet off-leash around other dogs and just walking him around the block instead. In the last week he's started peeing in the house, which led to a vet visit where the vet says it's a behavioral issues, and even though he's always been great with kids before....yesterday he rushed and bit my 4 year old cousin. Luckily my cousin wasn't hurt, but now I am at my wit's end and don't know what to do. Ugh. I don't envy the position you're in. It sounds really frustrating and difficult to cope with. What was the situation when Comet went after your cousin? Why do you think he might be peeing in the house? What has changed recently? My first guess is that he's not getting enough exercise now that you're not taking him off leash. A leashed walk around the block isn't really all that fun for anyone. Have you considered semi-structured activities for the two of you, like skijoring or Rally? How are you finding the books? Are you finding any useful information? I would make a list of Comet's triggers, undesirable behaviours and what you want him to do instead. Then do your damnedest to create what you want, and ask here if you're not sure how to create behaviour X from Y. I'm kind of surprised at this perceived backwards slide, but it's not unheard of. I can't remember, have you looked into trainers? Finish up the books and see if you can sense any progression on his and your problems. If you're still having difficulty it might be time to hire a professional who can help you face to face. In the mean time, just take things one step at a time. Wulfholme posted:Need some voices of experience here. I know there was one PI dog named Brisbane that went from kill to cuddle, so I'm sure there's hope. How should I go about desensitizing Lee to my cat? Also, what are some good, reasonably priced treats, or a good recipe for making them out of bacon grease or ground beef or something? The lunchmeat certainly gets his attention but it's had to work with. For treats, I've used chicken liver (you can use beef too) that I bought at the local Asian market for cheap. I boil it, cut it into treat sized pieces, and then I bake it for a few hours at a low heat. Other people may have better recipes. I think there was one that quite a few people liked in the Animal Questions or Random Nonsense thread. I normally use cheese, liver, bits of bagels, hotdogs, and bacon for super high value treats, and kibble and cheapo unhealthy dog treats for more mundane treats. For the cat stuff, you're going to have to manage Lee's behaviour a lot to start with and not allowed any unwatched interactions between him and the cat. Prey drive can be dangerous, and Aussies (like most herders... and dogs in general) will chase something the moment it starts running. How is your cat dealing with Lee? Is she dog-savvy? Or nervous and flighty? If she's the latter, you can probably approach both of them the same way. Keep up the counterconditioning, where the presence of the cat/dog makes the treats start flowing. Cat appears, treats start. Cat disappears, treats stop. Keep interactions brief and always end on a high note (if possible). If Lee seems to be getting excited or starts whining give him a time out. You want to keep him as mellow as possible. Give your cat plenty of places to get away from the dog. A really awesome tall cat tree can go a long way to making the cat more comfortable, and therefore the dog less likely to get excited and focused. Once you notice Lee beginning to anticipate the presence of treats when the cat appears you can start approaching this operantly, by rewarding for not paying attention to the cat. (In operant conditioning you're rewarding for a behaviour, in counter conditioning you're changing an emotion.)
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2010 04:13
|
|
|
Emasculatrix posted:I'm still reading these books but both Comet and I are incredibly unhappy and frustrated. I feel like no matter what I do, I can't win. What do I do with him in the meantime, while I read these books and put together a plan? I also had to give up off-leash time for a while, but I replaced it with playing fetch/frisbee with Pi on a long line or long walks/running in the forest. I also taught him a bunch of tricks and came up with all kinds of games and did a lot of nosework with him - anything I could think of that he might find enjoyable and that would get him to see working with ME is the best thing ever. Additionally I started rewarding him with whatever he thought is rewarding, regardless of whether I thought it was gross or not. What a life less said is good advice. I also suggest that in addition to the list of triggers you make a list of things Comet finds reinforcing. Don't think about if you think they are "good" things or not, just list them all and place them in order. Then think about which ones you could use to reward Comet and how. You can use things which you might think are "bad" behaviors to reinforce desired behaviors by using the Premack principle. For example, my dogs find chasing squirrels up trees extremely reinforcing. I don't like this behavior at all, but I sometimes allow them to chase as a reward for coming when called. Rixatrix fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Dec 21, 2010 |
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2010 08:57
|
|
|
Okay PI, I'm ready to accept some advice. I've got this dog, the shelter said she was a husky/Australian shepherd mix, and I've had her since 2005. She's independent and very smart, learns extremely quickly, but has a tendency towards selective listening. In the past she had good recall off-lead (not 100%, but like 70-80%) without treat motivation. I did not train her formally to do this, she just stuck around and listened when called. In the last couple months I notice she completely ignores me off-lead and sometimes on-lead unless I am physically getting her attention (a very light nudge or tug on leash). On-leash she is always in a properly fitted prong collar and on a 6' leather adjustable leash (google "European leash" I think). Inside she listens, but since moving from my house in AL she had a couple month stint in a house with 3 other dogs and learned to beg in the kitchen, knock the trash can over, etc. I have been keeping her crated/contained when gone and using a can filled with pennies to discourage trashcan sniffing (the penny can is her "ultimate punishment"). Since she is part husky I will never 100% trust her off-lead in a non-enclosed area. But at the dog park the other day I noticed that she completely ignored my voice altogether, something she hasn't done before. What books, articles, or advice should I use to best get me back on track to training my dog to listen to me? I now carry treats outside (when no distractions are present) to lure her to me and always make a huge fuss when she comes so she associates coming to me with AWESOMENESS. But if she is on a scent or sees another dog within running distance.. no dice. I need to buy another 20' cotton lead (I lost mine) but since I never had a dog before that was trained for recall/off-lead work where do I begin? My goal is to have her listen to ME regardless of what is going on around her. I'd like to know how to instill that "you MUST listen to me, you have no choice" instead of this "I could listen, but nothing bad will happen if I don't!" self-reward system she has learned. Inside I am very strict on NILIF and I am wondering where to begin for outside work. Where do I begin?? Here's the booger in question giving me the "I heard you say my name, but I'm gonna keep sniffing and ignore your command" face:  Well-Blended by sabarika, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2010 03:37
|
|
|
Read this. It's long, but it's good. A simple way to start training a recall cue is The Recall Game. Here's another article on teaching a recall cue. Practice three times a day every day. You can give her all her food as rewards for recalls for a week or so if you like. Getting a long lead is a good idea. Never ever tell her off or otherwise have bad things happen to her for coming to you. Some people like to teach a separate emergency recall. Most people will need to use a separate cue for the emergency recall in order to avoid diluting or poisoning the cue by accident. A friend just told me the other day how she teaches hers: She uses a whistle for a cue, because it's something that always sounds the same, can be heard from afar, won't be used "by accident" in everyday situations and is neutral. Calling for your dog in an emergency will affect your voice and your dog may respond to the anger/worry/panic and decide it's best to keep away. Still, using a sound you wouldn't normally use in public (yodeling, going RRRRRRR, mimicking an ambulance etc. use your imagination) may also be ok and keep you from overusing the cue. She blows the whistle every single time before setting the dog's food bowl down. When practicing outside, she only uses the whistle when the dog is already coming to her and then rewards with something really really good, I think she said she uses whole pig ears. When the dog knows to come when she hears the whistle, she keeps up the whistle+food bowl thing and maintains the cue in other situations occasionally and still uses the best thing ever as a reward. With her method, you can't do many repetitions because you can't give your dog twenty pig ears in one session, but over time you end up classically conditioning the cue to Must Go Best Thing Ever Waiting. a life less, are the Training Levels already included in the recommended reading list? If not, they should be. It's a lot of reading but it's solid advice.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2010 07:39
|
|
|
Rixatrix posted:
I've seen that before, but honestly I don't really understand why it was written. Is it essentially a training guide? Who wrote it? Where is it used? Maybe you could write up something about it and I'll add it to the OP.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2010 16:34
|
|
|
Rixatrix posted:good advice I definitely never give her punishments for coming to me, I try to get excited or treat her and make it sound like that was the bestest coolest thing EVER for her to do. Also these methods involve a lot of treats, but what's the best way to wean her off them so she doesn't decide to ignore me if no treats are involved? Think I'm gonna teach the recall commands in French, that way there's no mistaking it or becoming desensitized if other owners are out there saying "come" and "here" all the time too.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2010 17:19
|
|
|
huskyjackal posted:Also these methods involve a lot of treats, but what's the best way to wean her off them so she doesn't decide to ignore me if no treats are involved? The idea is to make you the most enticing option around -- better than that random dog over there, better than that marked bush. The most effective way to do this with most dogs is food. We don't tend to compel our dogs to come to us, we reward them for making the right decision. This is one of the fundamental divides between a lot of old school and new school training. The idea is to not go waving a bit of food in your dog's face then ask her to come -- if you do that then, of course, when the dog doesn't see you with treats in hand she'll ignore you. You keep treats hidden on your body and vary your rate of reinforcement. Ie, your dog might get treats most of the time she comes, but not always. I've always been taught to keep the reinforcement high when calling your dog to come since you don't want your dog to hedge her bets that what she's sniffing is more rewarding than you are. The idea of working up to a really solid recall (via the links Rixatrix gave you) is that your dog will spin to respond to you almost without thinking. It can become a subconscious response to orient to you when you call. It's that response you want to create with treats, and you want to reinforce that behaviour for the rest of your dog's life.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2010 17:40
|
|
|
a life less posted:I've seen that before, but honestly I don't really understand why it was written. Is it essentially a training guide? Who wrote it? Where is it used? Maybe you could write up something about it and I'll add it to the OP. huskyjackal posted:I like that the first article doesn't poo-poo on the idea of shock collars, although I doubt I'd use one unless I were in a situation where my dog was heading toward danger and I needed to reinforce the STOP NOW thing. Just not gonna drop $150+ for one though when all I need to is re-establish her basics. Good luck with your training, huskyjackal!
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2010 11:11
|
|
|
Rixatrix posted:I'd like to reiterate I don't personally advocate the use of shock collars in training dogs pretty much ever, at least not without a very competent, +R based trainer. If a positive reinforcement based trainer says she's done all she can and recommends the use of an aversive, THEN it might be needed. Otherwise not. The author of the first article outlines very strict conditions where she will use a shock collar as +P and maintains that very few dogs in her career have ever needed it to get an absolutely solid recall. Thanks for the feedback though! I'm still cautious because of my dog being part husky and having the tendency to sort of zone out... I can't even say "oh it's the husky in her" because every dog is different, but I can assume she may have a predisposition to 'ignore' my commands.I've been working on the recall inside and she's doing better, but I can assume it's because she suddenly gets treats every time she comes. ;3 Fun to use French even though I sound silly. I hope my training pays off, it would be great to have her react to my voice without having time to think about whether or not she wants to obey the command.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2010 13:40
|
|
|
So, if anyone has suggestions on how to improve Pi's teeter performance without retraining it from scratch, I'm all ears. He used to be somewhat slow/hesitant with the teeter before, but I got him to enjoy the movement/sound by lots of repetitions and rewarding the fastest performances really well (a whole meatball for a fast teeter if I recall correctly). Then a couple of months ago we were training in an indoor facility with plastic, somewhat slippery flooring. Pi ran to the teeter, which slid maybe half a meter on the floor before he had even had a chance to tip the teeter. After that his teeter performance slowed to a worried crawl. I timed a couple of his performances from videos taken at trials, and it takes him over five seconds to tip the drat thing at the moment. He's not a very fast dog overall and we just don't have the seconds to spare. I've tried using the best possible rewards (pig ears etc), shaping a faster performance by only rewarding the fastest, decreasing the movement by propping the teeter between two tables, using a buja board at home to get him to not worry about the movement. Nothing seems to work and Pi's still worried. He'll do it, but slooooowly. If I try too hard to egg him on, he'll jump off. Edit. Might as well give a Rho update! He's doing better and working with me again. He'll still wander off to sniff if there's any downtime, but it's manageable. I honestly don't know what did the trick, my guess is he kind of grew out of it. Maybe there were bitches in heat around where we live? Who knows, I'm happy to be working with him again 
Rixatrix fucked around with this message at 10:55 on Dec 28, 2010 |
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2010 10:52
|
|
|
Rixatrix posted:So, if anyone has suggestions on how to improve Pi's teeter performance without retraining it from scratch, I'm all ears. He used to be somewhat slow/hesitant with the teeter before, but I got him to enjoy the movement/sound by lots of repetitions and rewarding the fastest performances really well (a whole meatball for a fast teeter if I recall correctly). It kind of sounds like you need to build it up again -- maybe not from scratch, but from something more simple. How did you start to train it? For us, we had the teeter maybe a foot high and each end padded with carpet samples to soften both the noise and impact. My trainers warned that the teeter was one of the easier obstacles for the dog to go "off" of (either after a bad experience, or no discernible reason at all) and they had to go back to extremely high rates of reinforcement. We were encouraged to reward with treats at the moment of tipping, and again for a solid 2o/2o contact. I would recommend you stop trying to build a faster teeter, and to start building up Pi's confidence on it instead. I think the speed will come if you make the obstacle easier for him, and then gradually raise its height in imperceptible increments.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2010 13:50
|
|
|
a life less posted:How did you start to train it? Pi was obstacle trained the way I never recommend anyone to do it these days  He was pretty much just lured and gently half-forced onto equipment with a manic rate of reinforcement. Then as he got to realize there's really nothing to fear, he started enjoying himself. This was a couple of years ago, when I wasn't knowledgeable and confident enough to disagree with the trainer in the class. However I did manage to build on that and get him a decent teeter performance by reinforcing faster performances. That's gone now though - I'm not exaggerating if I say his training was set back about a year or so by that one incident. I'm not too keen on retraining because Pi isn't very shaping-savvy and I'm no good at helping him work through the stress and frustration shaping causes in him. Rho is being obstacle trained mostly through shaping and it suits him perfectly, Pi not so much. I have padded the end of the teeter if we're training on something other than sand and I'm already working on rewarding him for the downward movement. I guess I'll just keep at it, even though I feel we've made little progress in two months. I guess I might as well add counterconditioning him to loud noises into the mix. Can't hurt!
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2010 14:15
|
|
|
I finally had my appointment with the veterinary behaviorist today and I thought since we all recommend them so much it might help people if I wrote up my experience. Sorry its so long! It was a complicated process. The vet I went with isn't board certified but has done internships with board certified behaviorists and she is a member of APDT and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior plus she came highly recommended from my vet so I trusted her completely. For some background I've had Major, a ~3 year old hunting/farm dog mix, for 5 months and in that time he has developed severe travel anxiety that has continued to escalate despite work with trainers. Now it takes him days to recover from car rides and has started becoming dog reactive when we drive places and gets stress colitis. He also has some mild anxiety indoors and has being urinating indoors randomly. Before the appointment there was a 10 page form to fill out detailing Major's background, things I have tried so far, household dynamics, what an average day is like, and details of previous incidents. I'm sort of OCD and have a behavior background so I did a full behavior log of a day in Major's life and a complete trip in the car. She also required his complete medical records and if it was an aggression case she will have your vet run medical tests like thyroid levels so she has those going in. When the Dr. got to my place (she only does home visits right now, she's in the process of moving into a new office) we began with going over the form so she could clarify things and take notes and observe Major in the house. She noted right away that he is very attention seeking and has trouble relaxing. He will lie down or even settle on his side but he isn't actually relaxed, its more of a conditioned response because I've rewarded it so much. We also took a spin the car, since that's where Major's main issue is. He did what he always does, which was nice so she could see what I deal with. She brought along a Manners Minder remote treat dispenser to see if it would help. Major immediately knocked it sideways in his crate and when she went to adjust him Major put his mouth on her hand and was very anxious about her being near his crate which is something I have never encountered. After the Dr. had gone over all the forms and taken all her notes we started discussing how we are going to tackle this issue. She was very mindful of cost limitations and straightforward when she thought the more expensive option was not the best. She gave me many options and let me choose which to pursue now and which to contemplate for later. The consult fee includes 4 months of biweekly phone rechecks so we will be able to tweak as we go along. It was so nice having someone else see the behavior and she had so many new ideas to work on. I had run out of ideas and was feeling really frustrated and hopeless before this but now I have so many more resources and we haven't even looked into medication yet. If anyone is having behavior issues with a pet I highly recommend finding a veterinary behaviorist. It was very expensive but its totally worth it to have hope that I can take my buddy places again some day. This post has gotten crazy long so I'll detail what exactly we're doing moving forward in a different post if anyone is interested. Instant Jellyfish fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Dec 31, 2010 |
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2010 02:53
|
|
|
Instant Jellyfish posted:This post has gotten crazy long so I'll detail what exactly we're doing moving forward in a different post if anyone is interested. Yes please! I love hearing about this sort of stuff. I hope to be involved with dog training if not behaviour (which might be obvious to y'all) so the more information I can soak up the better. The Manners Minders are really neat. They're kind of easy to screw up the timing with, but they're an excellent idea. It's a shame I've not really had the opportunity to use one (but my wallet probably thanks me). What were her thoughts on Major's trouble relaxing? How does she want you to approach that? As the owner of a high strung dog I've noticed this behaviour in my own mutt. I can shift my weight slightly in a chair and she's up immediately from what I thought was a deep sleep just in case I leave the room without her. How long was the appointment? And what are your plans going forward regarding addressing his behaviour? What had you tried previously? Had you had much success on your own? Sorry for all the questions!
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2010 03:37
|
|
|
a life less posted:Yes please! I love hearing about this sort of stuff. I hope to be involved with dog training if not behaviour (which might be obvious to y'all) so the more information I can soak up the better. No problem! I didn't want to throw everything in one post because its quite a lot of info. The appointment was 2 hours, which was the standard first appointment time. The first hour was mostly going over the form and discussing her observations, the second hour was going over options, coming up with a plan, and seeing him in action. Before this I had tried clicking for quiet behavior in the car, exhausting him before rides, refocusing him when he fixated on other cars, rewarding him for cars passing when not in the car, using chew toys to keep him distracted during rides, driving around the block and rewarding for calm behavior, sitting in parking lots and rewarding for cars approaching/calm behavior in general, and practicing calm behavior just sitting in the garage. He had gotten to the point where he would hit the window so hard lunging at passing cars that I was worried he would hurt himself. Lately I have managed it with slight success by playing the Through a Dog's Ear CD and keeping him in a completely covered crate but otherwise have had very little success. Its a tough situation because he can not travel in a way that I can reach him to reward him so the manners minder I think is going to help quite a bit (even though its freakishly expensive). Our plan for this month is Major is to wear a nurtureCALM 24/7 pheromone collar and take L-theanine daily to reduce anxiety in general. The collar is like the DAP collar but cheaper, it lasts longer, and you can take it on and off. It is not made by the same company so it doesn't have the research behind it but the Dr prefers them to start off. Our training homework is to work on mat training, getting a bathmat and having relaxation time (massage and calming music) on it daily, in the hopes that the mat will bring calm in his car crate. The mat should help with the hypervigilance indoors too as its going to be paired with a "go to mat" command. This is going to be hard because Major has terrible body awareness and commands that involve him moving his body in a certain way or to a certain place are challenging for me to train but I'm happy to work on it. I also need to step up my NILIF because he has some obnoxious attention seeking behavior that she gave me some ideas to work on but said that can be on the back burner right now. I'm also getting a manners minder of my own and teaching Major to ring a bell for a treat and eventually working on him being able to do it in the car to give him a job in the car other than worry. He is not going to be able to be in an uncovered crate for quite some time so with the bell I can give him something to do without having to see him. She usually redirects dogs to sit or down but I can't see him do that and a "speak" command is sort of the opposite of what I want. The trick is going to be rigging all of this up in his crate and getting him to not destroy it. There's a crazy gimp hood for dogs that she mentioned could be used instead of a covered crate but she thinks the crate is much better so we're sticking with that. For the next two weeks we're just going back and forth on the driveway working on relaxation, after that we may graduate to up and down the street a few houses. Right now 5 minute rides are about as much as he can take without coming unhinged. The Dr suggested a kong but Major gives up on kongs right away so instead she wants me to freeze tasty things to the sides of a metal bowl so he can just lick it off easily. Licking is supposed to have a more relaxing effect than chewing. Bully sticks sort of work right now but he whines while chewing and they are gone in 15 minutes. Next month we will reevaluate whether to start him on a daily anti-anxiety meds and if the pheromone collar is helping I'll probably get him DAP spray and a thundershirt and just soak him in the stuff for rides. Major is a dog who really craves closeness so she thinks a thundershirt would be really good for him but I have to wait until I get paid to try. We are avoiding Xanax and she mentioned herbal solutions but says she doesn't recommend them for dogs because they rarely work. I guess they work well on cats though. She gave me a list of books to look into too, although there aren't any good books on travel anxiety: How to Behave so Your Dog Behaves by Sofia Yin Oh Behave! Dogs from Pavlov to Premack to Pinker by Jean Donaldson ZOOmility: Keeper Tales of Training with Positive Reinforcement by Grey Stafford I'm sure I'm forgetting something so I'll probably add more when the clinic emails me her typed up notes of what we went over and decided to work on this month.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2010 04:18
|
|
|
I sometimes go hang at my parents' place as a bit of a day trip (go over, drink coffee, come home), and more often than not the dogs come with. Thing is, you need to catch a boat (waterbus/ferry) to get to them, and all dogs have to wear muzzles. I'm not sure how the brain of my little monsters work, because while they are fine wearing the muzzle while we're getting on the waterbus, sitting down and travelling, it's getting off that's the issue. They somehow know which stop is ours, no matter which route we take. They get really excited and hyped up that 'Yay! We get off here!' .. and that's when it gets weird. Trillian then mopes and has to be dragged along, while Oddjob will drag his nose along the ground and paw at his face while we're walking up the aisle to leave, as we get off, and along the jetty until there's enough room to stop and remove the muzzles. I can't take them off on the boat and don't have the opportunity to stop and remove them as soon as we get off. At the moment I walk in front, half dragging and repeating 'Just keep walking', as they scurry between mopes to catch up. I've got a little container of these http://www.love-em.com.au/liver_treats.html which are like little liver crackers, broken up into teeny pieces which can be easily eaten with their muzzles on - they get a morsel every so often while travelling. Is there anything I should be doing to make them still be ok in the muzzles while disembarking? Should I just make them wear them during the day at home at random times to get used to wearing them off the boat? Is it just a mental thing - they know they get off and the muzzles come off.. so they want them off now not later? Should I feed them treats we we leave the boat too?
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2010 08:08
|
|
|
What's the best way to teach my dog to roll over? She's got sit and lay all set, but when it comes to roll over she just stares at me blankly. Unfortunately she's not overly treat motivated so rolling the treat over her nose just gets me a shrug. I've tried patting the area behind her head to see if she'll roll over and see what my hand is doing back there, but she ignores it. When I tried to manually push her over she was having none of it and got up to walk off. She's the first dog I've owned and I want her to be able to do a million tricks Well, not a million, but I've only had her for a month and she's already got sit, lay down, shake, and puppy boxing (she stands up and puts her hands on my hips while I "punch" her in the head).
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2011 01:00
|
|
|
That thing I sent posted:What's the best way to teach my dog to roll over? She's got sit and lay all set, but when it comes to roll over she just stares at me blankly. Unfortunately she's not overly treat motivated so rolling the treat over her nose just gets me a shrug. I've tried patting the area behind her head to see if she'll roll over and see what my hand is doing back there, but she ignores it. When I tried to manually push her over she was having none of it and got up to walk off. There are probably better ways, but I definitely got frustrated trying to figure them out and did the push over method. Of course, you can't actually push the dog over because they'll jump up and be like wtf. So I did it through shaping with a clicker, first having Psyche lay still (and not try to eat me) while I swept my hand toward her, then I pushed her gently until we worked up into a real flop over. And then we just worked on momentum until she accidentally rolled over. It scared the poo poo out of her but I jackpotted it and keep jackpotting it until she got the point. Now I just need to replace my hand sweeping at her with something else because people think I'm pushing her over when I'm not really putting any pressure on. Maybe someone else has a less stupid method though. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2011 02:22
|
|
|
Looking for a little advice here... Our pup gets into moods sometimes (probably not helped by spending a week over Christmas in a house with other dogs to play with) where she basically isn't interested in toys, or playing with us, or anything except trying to play with the cat. For the most part it's nothing bad...the cat is fine and it doesn't bother her too much, but sometimes the dog gets rough before we can separate them. Again nothing that's going to hurt the cat, and the cat isn't too bothered, but I just don't really know what to do to teach the dog that the cat is off limits. The cat is part of the problem because 75% of the time she wants food and is busy running back and forth attracting the dogs attention. So...I don't know. We try to put her on timeout in another room when she does it. Not sure if that's really doing anything...not sure if she's connecting the things or maybe she needs to stay in there longer Trying to give her treats a lot when she sees the cat only seems like it's feasible if we can completely control their interactions...i dunno, maybe it just needs more time, but it's kind of frustrating. I think more exercise would be a huge help but she's not old enough to go to a dog park...we really shouldn't take her for walks because she hasn't finished her vaccinations, so we're left with playing with her inside and she loses interest really fast sometimes. Eh. I dunno e: they'll sit nicely next to each other if the dog knows we're watching and rewarding her for being nice, but the biggest problem is when the cat decides to go somewhere or do something in motion that attracts the dog. Maybe we just need to spend more time on it I guess, and she needs to grow up some, get more exercise, etc Levitate fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Jan 1, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2011 03:55
|
|
|
Kiri koli posted:There are probably better ways, but I definitely got frustrated trying to figure them out and did the push over method. Of course, you can't actually push the dog over because they'll jump up and be like wtf. So I did it through shaping with a clicker, first having Psyche lay still (and not try to eat me) while I swept my hand toward her, then I pushed her gently until we worked up into a real flop over. And then we just worked on momentum until she accidentally rolled over. It scared the poo poo out of her but I jackpotted it and keep jackpotting it until she got the point. Now I just need to replace my hand sweeping at her with something else because people think I'm pushing her over when I'm not really putting any pressure on. I'll try the hand sweeping motion, but she's hot a huge fan of the clicker since the one I got at petsmart is so loving loud. It bugs her and she doesn't like to hang around it long enough for me to prime it up with treats...which, again, she's not a huge fan of. She'll take treats but it's like "Eh, thanks I guess" rather than being delighted to get anything. Also, related to my first post here, but it's a christmas miracle! I've had the last 2 days off of work for the holiday, and I decided I was going to be 100% diligent about not letting her even vaguely out of my sight and sure to keep her walks on schedule, and she's peed twice for me outside - both times I told her "go potty" while she was peeing, with a "good potty!" afterwards and lots of snuggles and good girls. By gum she may be catching on! She's still going to be around me 100% until I'm confident she's got it down, but we've turned a corner for sure. Thanks PI
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2011 16:27
|
|
|
That thing I sent posted:I'll try the hand sweeping motion, but she's hot a huge fan of the clicker since the one I got at petsmart is so loving loud. It bugs her and she doesn't like to hang around it long enough for me to prime it up with treats...which, again, she's not a huge fan of. She'll take treats but it's like "Eh, thanks I guess" rather than being delighted to get anything. Before you give up on it, I would suggest getting a different clicker (try a pen or the top of a snapple bottle even!) and try different treats. Dogs can be pretty fickle, but treats make training tricks a lot easier so try little cheese cubes or hotdogs or even cheerios. Some dogs are more interested in toys or petting or whatever, you just gotta find what makes her excited and use that as a reward.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2011 16:38
|
|
|
I've been preoccupied with New Years festivities and the subsequent recovery. I have a feeling this will be a long post since there's lots that I'd like to catch up on. Instant Jellyfish, thanks for going over all that in detail. Please keep us posted as you go on. I like how you were given specific exercises for your dog, as I would probably only think to approach it via counterconditioning. The bathmat thing sounds like a great idea. You mention that he has difficulty with body awareness. You probably have more than enough on your plate, but I know of a handful of exercises that might improve on this a bit. I'm sure even going through the bathmat exercises should help to a degree. I've been working a lot with my dog on her body awareness through paw placement exercises and pivoting via perch work. I'd be happy to go into detail with these if you're interested. Those books look great. I'm familiar with Sophia Yin and Jean Donaldson -- they're very grounded trainers, and I find them very accessible. I haven't heard Grey Stafford's name, but if he's lumped in with those two I should probably keep an ear out for him. iwik posted:Is there anything I should be doing to make them still be ok in the muzzles while disembarking? Should I just make them wear them during the day at home at random times to get used to wearing them off the boat? Is it just a mental thing - they know they get off and the muzzles come off.. so they want them off now not later? Should I feed them treats we we leave the boat too? The thought of your two Cavs with muzzles on makes me laugh. I take issue with mandatory muzzling of dogs in public places -- it seems so much more likely to harm than help. But anyways... It sounds like you only use the muzzles in these situations, yes? With the muzzles being associated with this stressful and exciting experience it's overloading them and they might be shutting down. You've got the right idea -- I would put the muzzles on them periodically through the day and make the entire duration they're wearing their muzzles loving AWESOME. Check out this thread for a basic idea of how to (re)introduce your dogs to something like a muzzle. (Okay, it's for a gentle leader, but it's similar enough for it to apply.) http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/dog-training/12448-acclimating-your-dog-gentle-leader-long.html I would keep food coming the entire time they've got the muzzles on in the boat, treat them as they're disembarking and every other time. When they're wearing muzzles you are an automatic treat dispenser. While you're acclimatizing them, work on rewarding them for movement too to mimic moving them off the boat. They may seem fine wearing the muzzle while stationary, but they're likely at least moderately stressed by them, which is why I'm recommending going back to square one. That thing I sent posted:What's the best way to teach my dog to roll over? She's got sit and lay all set, but when it comes to roll over she just stares at me blankly I used to have a video up on youtube on how to teach your dog to roll over, but I think I took it down a while ago. The video helps explain the basic movement, but hopefully I'll not confuse you too much by just typing. First, you have to teach your dog how to follow a lure. Check out this post from the first page. Scroll down to section B vii - 'Common training problems'. The most relevant bit is this: a life less posted:For example, first, I teach a dog how to follow a lure with its nose. Each time the dog puts its nose close to the treat I click/treat (C/T). Then I up my requirements and I C/T for each time the dog's nose follows the treat. Then I C/T for following the treat a greater distance. You're teaching a dog how you want it to act when you have a piece of food in its face. That should help solve the problem you're having with her not following your hand the way you want. Remember to go slowly, and use something super awesomely tasty for treats. Remember: the dog decides what's tasty, not you. So, the training goes something like this: I have the dog in a down position, either sitting like a sphinx (body erect on legs) or with both back legs out to the same side, laying on its hips. Obviously you want to go with the direction the dog gives you -- whichever way the legs are pointed that's the way they'll roll. Some dogs are better going one way than the other, so try to figure out which side your dog is most comfortable on. I take the treat and I move it down to the floor, around to the dog's top shoulder (this will cause your dog to drop its other shoulder) and then finally move the treat slowly over the dog's back. If the dog stops following the lure at one point go back a step and work on it until your dog is comfortable then try again. Break the behaviour down into tiny packets that are easy for your dog to understand. If the dog gets up, or stops following the lure properly you're going too fast. Pushing the dog probably won't get you what you want 90% of the time if you push a dog they'll push back, and you end up confusing and concerning them. I'm all about achieving a behaviour via shaping and luring. Good luck teaching your tricks! I love trick training, and so does my dog. Levitate posted:Looking for a little advice here... I would probably approach this via punishment. I don't like to advocate positive punishment, but I've found the best way to address an already riled up dog is to hold its collar and give a gentle but firm reprimand. At least with my crazy Aussie I've found this behaviour relatively successful. The true training portion comes into play when you reward for ignoring the cat when they're both in the same room. Sometimes they just kind of need you to snap them out of it when they zone out while focused. Also, if you feel that your time outs aren't working, you can try switching locations. My preferred time out method was a leash connected to the coffee table. It was easy to access as opposed to putting her in another room. Up her exercise if you can too. And remember, puppies are assholes, and it takes time to correct behaviour. Be patient and stick with it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2011 00:31
|
|
|
Thanks. It's not too bad in general but I had a pretty anxiety filled day yesterday anyways so it felt extra overwhelming! Leashing her to the table probably is a good idea. She's not a fan of that and I think it'd definitely get the timeout message across to her
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2011 01:09
|
|
|
I’m looking for some advice regarding my dog and his sad, pathetic separation anxiety. I’m going to apologize now for all the  but I wanted to have all the bases covered.Pickles is a little over a year and a half. He’s crate trained to the point that he will go into his crate, a bit unwillingly. He doesn’t see it as a safe place, and I don’t think he ever did. When he was at the shelter before we got him there was a sign on his pen saying he was an “escape artist,” as in, he would bust out of his kennel the minute anyone opened the door an inch. When he was at our vet’s getting his cherry-eye operated on, in the additional notes section our vet listed him as an “exuberant escape artist,” as he would consistently push his way out of the crate he was in. How embarrassing. He freezes up and we carry him to his crate and place him in front of it and eventually convince him to go in. When he is crated, he turns into a drooling mess, constantly licking the crate walls. His neck and chest are usually wet after coming out of the crate. Feeding him in the crate doesn’t really seem to make a connection with him, but maybe we haven’t been consistent enough with it. He’ll rush the crate to eat the food, and will even let us shut the door up behind him. But the second he finishes eating and realizes that he is locked in, he starts drooling and moping. He has always done this, in our old places, and in our new house. I don’t think it is the stress of moving, anyway, as we have been in and out of the “new” house for the past 8 months renovating it. Pickles helped. We also keep the crate stocked with smelly things that smell like us (shirts, pillowcases, a blanket). We’ve never used the crate as punishment, but I think being away from us is punishment and we are in a rut. Any treats and water that are left in the crate with him are disregarded until we come home or let him out. Then he runs in and gets his treats and shows them to us and eats them. Then he goes into the kitchen or into the crate and drinks a lot of water, leading me to believe that he never touched it while we weren’t there. The crate became a moot point about two weeks ago when we got home from grocery shopping and the dog was at the kitchen door to greet us. We were perplexed when we saw that the crate door was not open. Oh wait, no. The bottom latch was undone. And the crate door was bent slightly. Meaning Pickles pushed his way out of the bottom of the crate door. The next day we tried crating him again to see if this would be repeated, and left for about 30 minutes. Came back and he was still in the crate, but his nose was scratched a bit from pushing up against the crate door’s pointy parts and trying to unlock it again. We started leaving him loose in the house to see if that would alleviate his stress (at this point we thought maybe it was more crate-related?) He has ripped the trash bag coverings we have over the door windows (we moved in a bit ago and haven’t had time to buy appropriate window things) trying to see out of the doors. Everything else in the house is untouched. This has continued for the past couple days. Tonight we came home to find evidence of Pickles’ great jumping skills, at least. The inside of the doorframe is scratched from about 6 feet down to the ground. There were paw smears all over the door. At the top of the door too. There was a bit of drool on the door from him licking the doorframe and the door (similar to what he does in the crate). I don’t really care if he damages the doorframe or chips paint, as that can be repaired, but I don’t want my dog, in his wild flailings, to injure himself with a bad landing or bust through a door window or something equally horrible. He had a scratch on his belly from god knows what this evening. I am considering picking up/borrowing an airline kennel crate of an adequate size, as that doesn’t have as many pointy parts. Would confining him yet again make this worse? I work eight hour days, five days a week. My boyfriend is in grad school, but can spend some time at home and can sometimes take the dog in to his studio while he works. My parents have offered to watch Pickles, as in I drop dog off on way to work, but I don’t think that that would be an everyday realistic possibility. Thoughts? Again, sorry for the long post.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2011 01:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 05:47 |
|
|
a life less posted:Instant Jellyfish, thanks for going over all that in detail. Please keep us posted as you go on. I like how you were given specific exercises for your dog, as I would probably only think to approach it via counterconditioning. The bathmat thing sounds like a great idea. Right now we do some light cavaletti work and standing on a box with the front paws. Eventually I'll add in pivoting and targeting with back paws but we're not there yet. I figure eventually the light bulb will switch on but he's such a big lug and doesn't do well with luring so it takes a while and a lot of patience. I grew up with corgis so its a little frustrating but he's enthusiastic and we'll get there at his pace. If you want to talk about your work with body awareness go ahead! I love hearing about Cohen's tricks, she's one of my fav PI dogs. Impossimole posted:Separation anxiety SA is really challenging and if it so bad that you are worried that he may hurt himself you may want to talk to a veterinary behaviorist. That being said there are plenty of people who have dealt with this problem and there are things you can do. The book I'll Be Home Soon by Patricia McConnell is something you might want to pick up as it goes into things way more in depth that I think any of us can here. You're going to want to work on desensitizing Pickles to you coming and going until its not a big deal any more. You might want to start by just getting ready then sitting down for a while. Then move up to leaving for 30 seconds to a minute. Just ignore him while coming and going. Leave him with a stinky snack that he only gets when you are doing going away practice. Here's a good site that outlines this process. Also really work on making the crate awesome while you are there. If he feels like going into the crate means your leaving then its never going to be comforting to him. I would work on shaping him going to the crate on his own. Reward for just looking at the crate at first and slowly move up to being in the crate. Jackpot with something super fantastic when you shut the door for just a split second. The key is to always make it a positive thing and keep sessions short. If you see him drooling you've taken it too far for that session. You may also want to look into some scientifically proven calming products like DAP diffusers and the Through A Dog's Ear cds. They are meant to be used in conjunction with training so don't expect them to fix the issue alone. Don't give your dog any herbs or supplements without talking to a vet first and be wary of things that don't have any research behind them! Increasing the amount of exercise your dog gets can also help in many cases. A tired dog is a relaxed dog. Again, I recommend seeing a professional because SA can get worse over time if the dog continues to practice these behaviors and they are certainly controllable with the proper training. Instant Jellyfish fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Jan 2, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2011 02:37
|
|