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Two questions! I'm looking at a dog for adoption, he's a Catahoula Leopard Dog cross. Reading about the breed I found out they're prone to deafness. If I were to adopt him it seems like it'd be a good idea to make hand signals as effective as voice commands in case he develops deafness. Is there a good website or book on using the two equally? Also, can someone post some more info on using the head collar or front clip harness to teach proper leash walking? He's a large dog and it doesn't seem he's been taught proper leash manners, I can control him with the basic leash and collar but he's got a ways to go before he's walking calmly. If I adopted him I'd give basic leash training a shot from the beginning but it'd be great to have some idea of how to use the harness or head collar to properly train.
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Nov 16, 2010 03:30
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 09:42 |
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I think I'm suffering from a lack of imagination trying to think of hand signals that are distinct enough from each other for commands. If he ever went totally deaf I'd have to have a LOT of confidence in him before letting him off a long leash, that would suck for such a large active dog but I guess that's just more impetus to train well. I'm still in the very early stages of thinking of adopting him though, so this is me getting way ahead of myself. I just went to hang out with him at the shelter for the first time today and I found out he sort of knows sit/down/shake a paw, but only pays attention if he's not watching everything else going on in the yard. His "sit" is him briefly touching his butt to the ground then sometimes bouncing right into my face because "OKAY I DID IT LET'S GO!". The shelter volunteer out in the yard told me not many other people can handle him, he's a big strong boy. Again, just another reason to train him well. I think a lot of the ADD comes from him still being in puppy mode, being unaltered (the adoption fee coveres the neutering, it'll get done), and just excitement at being outside. Basic manners such as not jumping up, walking calmly and coming when he's called will be first on the list, then once I'm confident in that we'd focus on more things. Clicker training is awesome and I can't wait to try it, and getting involved in agility or flyball would be all kinds of fun. /rambling about potential awesome dog Oh, another question. One worry I'm having is him marking in the house. How can I prevent this before it happens and what can I do to discourage it? The OP says something about addressing marking seperately from housetraining but I didn't see where. If he marks now, will he be likely to mark less often once he's neutered? Edit: a life less Thank you! He's a Mastiff X Catahoula and the colouring is Blue Merle, so he's somewhat dark, and he's not purely a cross of two merles. Plus he's a year old so hopefully we're in the clear. Some ideas for hand signals would be awesome, the dogs I grew up with were trained mostly with verbal cues and likely unconscious body language, I'm not sure what sort of signals would be best to get and keep a dog's attention, and be different enough from each other. Fat Dio fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Nov 16, 2010 |
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Nov 16, 2010 05:32
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Thanks for the ideas, it's a big help. I'm moving closer to probably adopting him so this is getting exciting. The Kikopup videos are AWESOME, I was up too late last night watching them. I especially like the idea of her asking for eye contact before giving a treat when teaching "Leave it", I'd been wondering how to keep the dog from fixating on your hand full of delicious treats. Edit: Well, nevermind - someone swooped in and adopted him. Fat Dio fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Nov 17, 2010 |
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Nov 16, 2010 16:16
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I'm trying to train my roommates' puppy but my daily schedule is pretty inconsistent due to classes and homework. I'll have some days with several hours free to train, and some days with maybe 20 minutes, and I'm more likely to use that time to play with him or go for a run just to blow off some steam so he isn't insanity personified in the evening. The puppy is a 4 month old MinPin X Chihuahua. Am I unintentionally doing damage by trying to get a lot of obedience and basic manners training in one day, then having a few days where I can't do all that much? How long is too long a training session for his age? I'm getting a clicker soon, but have been using mostly "Good boy!", tiny pieces of cheese, and kibble and he's responding fairly well. He's a quick learner but I'm worried I'm confusing him by having really full days and really empty days, and also some confusion from his owners and my other roommate not really following the "rules". So far he sits without any food reward, when he knows I have treats he'll come when he's called and we're working on "stay" and good leash manners, and I've asked everyone not to give him any attention unless he's sitting calmly so he got that figured out really quick. He'll run up to someone and sit in front of them as soon as they enter the room. I want to get the basics (sit, stay, come, drop it, leash manners) down, but it would be really fun to try agility and teach him to pull a wagon or sled - a VERY LIGHT wagon or sled, just for fun. I hear exploding puppy syndome is a real concern around here:  Click here for the full 480x640 image.
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Nov 24, 2010 01:35
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I think when I'm gone most of the day he goes out to pee when he needs to but doesn't get the crazy run-around playtime or long walks and runs. I don't want to paint my roommates in a bad light but I think he was mostly bought to be a tiny lap dog to look cute and cuddle. I took him for a 50-minute walk today and when I got home his one owner said "Thanks for taking him out, I like it when he sleeps". I started actively training him because they were mostly saying "NO" when he got too annoying but not really trying to teach him anything (like what "no" means). Last thing I want is to live with a "small dog", and I've never trained a dog from the beginning so I'm glad to do it. He is learning good manners very well, the "formal" training sessions were really only lasting a few minutes anyway so it's good to hear I'm doing it well. I also ask him to sit in the middle of play, or call him to me randomly during the day to make sure he'll remember. I have to get a clicker though, he really responds best when he knows I have kibble/cheese and I'm afraid he'll start to only work for food. I really need to bring up "NILIF" with his owners... Thanks for the advice and reading my rambling posts 
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Nov 24, 2010 18:17
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Rixatrix I assumed a life less meant that high impact activies like agility shouldn't be done until the dog is fully grown, or is that more for long dogs and huge huge breeds? Anyway, Ted already enjoys vaulting over the barrier we set up to keep him out of the kitchen so I don't see jumps being a hard one to teach, I'd just keep them low till he's grown.
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Nov 24, 2010 22:32
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I'm new to this so feel free to ignore me, but when she gets frustrated try getting her to perform a trick she knows well and enjoys doing, then go back to teaching the new one. Then you get to encourage and reward her for doing something well and then return to the new task. Seems like a good idea to have something happy and encouraging happen to stave off frustration. If she gives up and walks away I'd guess either the training session is too long or the reward/incentive isn't exciting enough.
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Nov 25, 2010 05:48
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This is probably a pipe dream but I'm starting to seriously think about the possibility of working with dogs when I graduate. The issue is, while I have worked with animals before it was with birds and reptiles as a zookeeper and in my university's lab. I also grew up with and currently live with animals but I've never trained a dog from scratch, so while I've been reading a lot I don't have any real practical experience. So anyway, my question is: Are there dog training certifications or courses I could take? Are some better respected or more of an education than others? I'm in Southern Ontario, a life less if you have any reccomendations that would be wonderful. Is this a really dumb dream to have even though I'm not currently a dog owner (I'd love to but it's not possible now  )?
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Mar 12, 2011 16:11
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Thanks for the replies  The Karen Pryor school looks pretty interesting but isn't within my budget right now. I do have a friend who's been involved in local agility, training and lure coursing groups with his JRTs, he's going to keep me in the loop and hopefully I'll be able to get involved a little, learn lots and get to spend time with piles of dogs  I've actually been thinking mostly about dogwalking, so while I'm not planning on opening a training facility I know I'll need to be able to deal with any problems that crop up when handling more than one dog at a time. I'd also want some reference or certificate for potential clients - I sure wouldn't hand my dog off to someone who can't prove they've had experience and training in dog handling. I'll look into apprenticing this summer when I finish classes and hopefully make those seminars in Guelph, that looks really interesting. Thanks for the advice!
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Mar 12, 2011 18:27
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I've been dogsitting since Sunday, and I'm been trying to teach Zoe not to PULL LIKE CRAZY whenever we go out for a walk. She's a ~70-lb Cattle Dog/Lab/German Shepherd mix so I'm often leaning my full weight back against the leash to avoid getting dragged and my hands and arms are really sore after every walk. I tried turning around and going the other way as soon as she pulled but it turns out she doesn't care which way we're going just so long as we're goinggoinggoing omg let's go hurry upppp!!!!. Now I just stop, then start again (while praising) as soon as the leash is relaxed and despite her ADD-type personality she's doing REALLY well at figuring out that pulling against the leash doesn't get her places. She's getting really good at walking in pace with me, which is so nice I have a silly question though, how do I handle road crossings? I can't stop in the middle of the road, obviously, and I can't avoid crossing roads to get to the bike path. It seems like she'll be doing fine, pulling once in a while along the sidewalk, then I have to let her pull me across a road crossing and she instantly regresses into omg wassat let's go sniff it omg another dog let's go say hi!!!!!! mode and starts trying to yank me around. Is there any solution to this? I know since I've only got her for a week this might seem a bit silly but I'd love for her owners to come home to a more enjoyable dog to take for a walk. Here she is being photogenic, then distracted.  
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Jul 7, 2011 23:18
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If I were to buy her anything new kind of collar or leash I'd buy her a front-clip harness. If her owners are interested in keeping the leash training up I will suggest they buy one. She jumps on people at the smallest provocation and she's smart as hell so I've been a little reluctant to use treats. I've mostly broken her of the habit of jumping on me but I can totally see her figuring that she can jump and grab treats out of my hand. I'll give it a try though, thanks! As for your other suggestions, a life less, she doesn't know "heel" and doesn't really know anything else other than "sit", so I'm not sure what else I'd give her to do. Right now a walk for her means "omg I get to go smell all these things all over the place as fast as possible" while dragging someone behind her. Her owners have been paying me to take her for walks for a while now, but that's just an hour at a time and they didn't ask for me to leash train her. She has so much energy I usually get her to the bike path and running as soon as possible just to burn off some energy. I figured with the week I had her all to myself I could spend as much time as I like trying to leash train her without worrying about burning through an hour before getting her any real exercise. If someone's paying me to exercise their dog for an hour, I'd rather spend as much of that time getting the dog running and tired out rather than training  Her owners are an older couple, I'd really like to show them that they can train her to walk nicely so they're not getting dragged around for the next 15 years. I'm also excited about the opportunity to try out some basic dog training techniques, it seems like anything I've tried with my roommates' Chihuahua gets undone the same day. Thanks for all the advice
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Jul 8, 2011 02:50
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I'd really appreciate some advice on how to deal with issues cropping up with my dog, I just got him on Friday. I feel really silly asking this because I feel like I should know what to do but I feel lost and confused. 1) While Oliver (dog) was sleeping, Dio (cat) sniffed him and woke him up. While still lying down he bared his teeth, then lunged at her. I was right there and grabbed his scruff, and he just went back to sleep like nothing happened. He's crated at night and when we're out of the apartment and I'm going to make sure she doesn't surprise him again. Until this incident, he'd always been super friendly with the cat, trying to get her to play and obviously not understanding her "gently caress off" body language. She's gotten used to him and approached him a couple times before with no bad reaction from him. 2) We've noticed he's freaked out by funny looking people (big hats/hoods with lots of fur) and weird machines like cherry pickers. His hackles go up and he's more defensive, sniffing, unsure and growling a little when he sees something like this. One guy actually barked back at him and lunged at him (he thought it was funny), which I'm sure made things worse. On walks if we pass someone I'll keep calm and keep him walking by, and praise him a whole bunch when we pass. On one walk we came to this weird concrete thing coming out of the ground with a bunch of graffiti on it. He was growling and unsure about it but after I approached it and climbed on it he was calm. Most people he simply wants to sniff and jump on, he's met my little cousins aged 3-9 and was totally fine with them. After seeing how he reacted after he was woken up by the cat I definitely won't let them approach him if he's sleeping or distracted, and stay right by them during any interactions. I'm disappointed in myself because I find myself unsure what to do. His intake papers at the shelter said he was fine with everyone new he meets, and described no issues. It also had some other information we've found to be false (said he gets carsick, he definitely doesn't). For the record he's been incredibly friendly and happy with my bf and I, never shown any aggression or uncertainty towards us. Edit: I just had him out for a walk to the park, he tried to lunge at and snarled at most people we passed, and seemed generally really intense and "on". How am I supposed to work on desensitizing him to the outside world when I still need to get him exercise during the day? Indoor tug and fetch only do so much. Fat Dio fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Jan 17, 2012 |
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Jan 17, 2012 21:06
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Kiri koli posted:How old is Oliver? Some people think that dogs can go through two fear imprinting stages where they become uncertain of things and can develop fears as a survival instinct. The first fear imprint probably happens around 8-11 weeks (not coincidentally when puppies need to be socialized the most) and it can possibly happen again between 6 and 11 months. Thanks for the reply, I was really upset after he snapped at Dio and started imagining worst case scenarios and that just got me even more upset Hopefully this is just a result of the move, I don't blame him for being stressed out.He's three, so he's past those stages. He's a JRT mix so I knew getting into this he could some spazzy reactivity issues but his intake papers didn't say anything like that. We have/will continue to take him out when there aren't so many people around. On walks I've been gradually expanding the streets we go on, and I notice he's calmer in general on streets he's already pee'd all over. I'll stick to familiar areas and not expand so quickly, hopefully that will help a lot.
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Jan 17, 2012 23:05
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I started teaching Oliver "watch me" by rewarding for eye contact. I took him outside to the back of our apartment parking lot, and had success in using treats to distract him from people walking past and trying to reinforce "Watch me" when he started focusing on someone. The parking lot setup worked well since the people walking past were close enough he could see them but far enough away he didn't get too excited. I'd like to try to teach him to "watch me" and focus on me and/or my bf when someone passes us on the sidewalk, rather than get all intense about the person. Also, I'm having the same trouble as Sagers in teaching "down". He already knows sit, but I haven't been able to lure him into a down without his butt popping off the ground. After a few attempts he just seems to give up like he think I'm teasing him 
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Jan 18, 2012 16:05
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tiddlez posted:He also does the yo yo thing where he will come back for the treat but then is straight off back to sniffing. I'm not really sure how to solve it. What about having a treat that he can't gobble right away? Like, hold the treat in your hand so he can't eat it right away, or something like frozen pb in a Kong/on a stick, and try to keep him by your side for a few steps while he licks at it. If you can keep him at your side for a longer time you'd hopefully reinforce that behaviour, rather than rewarding him for yo yo-ing back and forth. Just so long as the treat is more smelly and enticing than whatever he could be smelling on the ground.
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Feb 1, 2012 15:53
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How do you reward calmness for a dog that gets OMG SUPER EXCITED PANT PANT PANT at the thought that food might be somewhere nearby? I'm taking care of a 10 year old creaky lady Lab until this weekend, she's having trouble with her hips so getting up and down is tough on her. I'm trying to reward her for being calm, ignoring the cat, and staying put on her bed instead of obsessively following me and my boyfriend around. Tonight I tried out teaching her to put her head down on cue. Problem is every time I clicked and treated for putting her head down, she popped back up at attention because !!FOOD!! Same problem for rewarding for settling down and being calm, it just makes her excited all over again. Is extending the length of time she's required to have her head down or be calm the best answer, or is there another way? Lower value treats, maybe?
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Dec 28, 2012 03:25
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Yeah I know I'm not going to get results, I just wanted to practice for myself and see if she can learn anything worthwhile. Thanks for the advice MrFurious posted:just shower treats from the sky. She would have a heart attack and die happy.
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Dec 28, 2012 14:02
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So, Ticco's doing pretty well at staying in his crate for a few minutes (door open), but if I try giving him a long-lasting treat he brings it out to wherever I am to eat it beside me. How can I best get him to keep at it in the crate? If I bring it back to the crate it just turns into a "Ah ha! I brought it back out!" game.
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Jun 29, 2013 03:14
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 09:42 |
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I think Karen Pryor covered that in Reaching the Animal Mind, it apparently does seem like when a dog's focused on and working with you, it knows when a click belongs to it.
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Jul 14, 2013 02:32
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