|
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
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 3, 2024 05:46 |
|
|
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
|
|
|
a life less posted: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. Thanks, this should be pretty helpful in getting her to learn more tricks. So for the sounds of things I'll put roll over on hold and go for following the lure right now. I did discover something she likes though - dinner rolls. I had them last night and gave her a little piece of one (after making her shake, of course) and she loving loved it and came over and kept trying to shake with me to get some more I figure small pieces torn off can't be too bad for her just for training, right? Just plain, no butter, warmed up a little, with a rolled up piece about half the size of my first knuckle.quote:So, the training goes something like this: Very helpful! After I get her following lures I'll start it like this. When she lays down she usually sits in sphinx in her front and slumps her back legs over so it shouldn't be too terribly hard to get her to keep on moving over. quote:Good luck teaching your tricks! I love trick training, and so does my dog. My doggie likes it too
|
|
#
¿
Jan 2, 2011 17:01
|
|
|
Alright, so ran into a situation on a walk today that I'm sure I handled badly, and want to know for future reference. Spirit and I are working on leash etiquette. Before I let her pull on the leash because we were having potty issues and I just wanted her to go and do her business without having to worry about being corrected, but now that the potty issues are resolved it's time to address to pulling. I've been doing the method I saw on "It's me or the dog," where every time she pulls I promptly turn around, say "No pulling" and walk the other direction until she stops and returns to my side, then we turn back around and continue walking. She gets praised for walking loosely on the leash, and I do give her a moment after pulling to correct herself before I turn her around. But today there were two guys out smoking, and of course she wanted to see them so she pulled and I turned, and then behind us there was another dog being walked. So on one side it was "HEY GUYS SMOKING GO SAY HI" and on the other it was "HOLY poo poo ANOTHER DOG YAY!" so she was yanking me every time I turned. Eventually I just stood in one place and let her yank and whine until the other dog turned the corner and she lost interest. What do I do in that situation, where I can't go either direction because there's awesome stuff she has to go see RIGHT NOW on either side? I can't really go off sidewalk, because on one side it's about 2 feet until I hit the apartments, and on the other it's an ice filled parking lot I don't want to navigate with a pulling dog.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2011 00:37
|
|
|
Kiri koli posted:I would concentrate on working on the loose leash walking (I think there's a really good guide by a life less somewhere around here) without distractions first and work up through successively bigger distractions. Eventually your dog should follow your lead and walk calmly past distractions like this. But it'll take a while to work up to it. Yeah, that's definitely my ultimate goal is to have her walk loosely beside me. She'll never be off leash, since I live very close to a busy road, but it'd be nice to be able to control the walk a little better. She's honestly not BAD about pulling, but when she sees something that she wants to go look at like, like a person or especially another dog, she's all about trying to yank me off my feet for a chance to go inspect. quote:In the meantime, for situations such as this, I would work on ingraining in your dog that when you stop walking, she should sit. You stop, she sits, she gets treat. Over and over. You can make her sit on your side if you want to combine this with heel later on. Sitting is usually something dogs do particularly well, so it's very helpful. Even my dog will automatically sit now most of the time while she's spazzing out at something because I worked on it a lot. You can even work on it inside! She's extremely good at sitting, so this is definitely something I can incorporate into walks with no problems. I'll make sure she sits after I pull her away from a distraction, rather than simply waiting until she stops pulling and comes back to me. quote:If that's not enough, my trainer would probably tell you to teach your dog leave it where you basically block your dog from something they want (you can start with treats you throw on the ground) and when they leave off it, you give them a treat, something different than what they're after. She recommends doing it without words at first so that the dog learns to respond to your body language. I block little things that Psyche is after with my hands or I block her from things she wants to bark at like people by stepping in front of her until she backs off (she usually sits!) and gives me her attention. Your goal is that the dog focuses on you and ignores whatever you don't want them to have forever. We're working on leave it...slowly but surely she's getting it, but she's very good at selective hearing. She'll ignore something on the ground if I say leave it, but when it comes to people or other dogs she somehow forgets the command. But I'll try the body blocking more for sure, and definitely incorporate the sitting. I want to work on controlling the behavior now, when it's winter and there's not many people or pets out and about since it's so cold, because once the summer comes there's always people walking around. Thanks much!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2011 02:38
|
|
|
a life less posted:Just going to nitpick this phrase. You said pull her away. Ideally you want to get your dog's attention and have them voluntarily move away from the distraction. Easier said than done, yes. But when you pull your dog like this you're kind of doing the driving for them -- they're not able to make any decisions and therefore aren't really learning anything. Try not to use the leash as a steering wheel -- it's merely a safety device. I'm totally guilty of using the leash like a steering wheel - old habits from walking my parents dogs. But it's good to know that I'm not helping the situation at all dragging her down the sidewalk away from the distractions. I'll work more on focus, sitting, and rewards for good behaviors then turning back and forth on the sidewalk over and over again. Thanks much, helpful as always!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2011 23:02
|
|
|
Update on leash issues: Holy poo poo results! I'd been dragging her up and down the sidewalk away from distractions for a week, but after only two and a half days of doing the "Stop, sit, focus" technique there's actual results! She still isn't real good at looking up at me and waiting for the command to go forward, but now when she starts tugging and I stop, she'll trot over to me, sit down, and pout a little bit before continuing forward. She still sometimes goes "No mom I'm sniffin here it smells good  " when I try and coax her over from spending way too long at a single spot, but she's much much better about not hauling rear end to go see people passing by. It's helped that it's been very cold and crappy here so there haven't been many distractions on the walks, but she's doing way better! During our lunch walk she even came over close to me automatically when she saw the mail man walking out of a building, so of course I praised her like crazy after making her sit.It's ALMOST as if the folks at PI know exactly what they're talking about when it comes to dogs!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 20, 2011 19:57
|
|
|
 My progress! So Spirit has been doing much much better about pulling, for the most part. And then on today's walk, 3 deer walked by. Now, it was my fault for not immediately turning around when I saw the deer, but they were so close and so pretty that I watched them for a bit. Spirit, however, went loving nuts. She wanted to go see the deer SO BAD, plenty of pulling and lunging and no amount of "Come" or "Turn around" or "Leave it" or treat jingling would get her attention so eventually I just moved to body block her and dragged her down the sidewalk. And then just as we got all settled down from the deer (which took forever) an owl flew right out a bush she was sniffing and got her all riled up again. Well the walk was shot after that. 45 minutes of her being an rear end. Back to square one 
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2011 00:42
|
|
|
a life less posted:You're definitely not back to square one. Thanks for that I just got frustrated because she'd been doing so good, then a bit of wildlife walks by and she totally forgot everything because she was all wiggly wanting to go and see them. Admittedly it was pretty cool to see that owl, which sat on a branch right over my head - so pretty. And she is also getting good at "turn around" when there's not deer walking right infront of her, where she'll do a 180 on the spot. She doesn't come back to me, but she does turn! She really is getting better!Months though? Thank god I'm starting now before more people get out and about as the weather gets nicer so hopefully we'll have a good foundation when there's lots of people around.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2011 02:30
|
|
|
So first off, you guys were right - Spirit only needed another day to overcome her setback before we were back on track. She's doing pretty well - just this morning we were walking back to my building, and when my neighbor came out she immediately trotted over to my side and sat down without needing to be prompted! Progress! BUT when it comes to something she really wants to see, she's starting to get cheeky. See, normally when she pulls the command order goes "Come," then when she's close to me "Sit," then when she sits "Focus" where she has to look at me before we continue. However, since she knows that sit and focus follow come 90% of the time, she's started to just plop her butt down into a sit if I say come since she's knows that's what I'm going to ask her to do next. I don't want to discourage the sit, but if I say "Come" or "Turn around" she just looks at me like "No you're gonna make me sit anyways so I'm sittin " Is a tug on the leash to remind her to come appropriate in this instance? I don't want to walk over to her, since she's half assed on stay still and takes me walking as a sign to continue on and I don't want to encourage the behavior, since I said "Come," not "Sit."
|
|
#
¿
Jan 28, 2011 19:17
|
|
|
MrFurious posted:Sorry I only take advice from PI veterans with Trophy avatars  But in all seriousness, thanks for this. Her recall definitely needs work, so I'll try the long lead method to work on that - there's a field fairly close to my apartment complex that's no doubt full of fun things to sniff so it wouldn't take her more than 2-3 seconds to get distracted. It'll be something fun to do this weekend, since I can tell she wants to go to the field but it makes me uncomfortable walking around in it since there's so much snow on the ground that I can't be sure exactly where I'm about to put my foot, but standing in one place with a long lead shouldn't be too bad. And I'll definitely work on varying up the commands. Maybe leaving out sit every so often, since she's starting to put together come = come over to me and sit with minimal prompting.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 28, 2011 19:57
|
|
|
a life less posted:On top of breaking all the behaviour down and being less predictable, I would inject some fun into the exercise. Get your dog excited about what you're asking of her. It kind of sounds like it's becoming a bit of a chore for her. So, again, as Mr Furious said, modulate your voice, get excited, and work to be the most rewarding thing available to your dog. I'll incorporate this too - admittedly it does get kind of repetitive after awhile, since on her big walks I usually have to correct her about 5-6 times during it, so I can see how it would be getting old for both of us. I'll make sure to sound way more excited than I have been to see if I can get her running to come see what is it I want. And I have to go to the pet store anyways, so maybe I can pick up some more exciting treats, that might help too. And doing the recall training in the field will be an excellent break - I'm pretty set in my routine, so I'm sure she'd appreciate any variation. Captain Foxy posted:It's just really gratifying to me that we can all learn and help dogs in this way etc (I'm very gay I know). Ya'll have no idea how grateful I am to have PI as a resource. Every time I have expect to see "Oh my god just GOOGLE IT STUPID" as a response, but there's been nothing but good, solid, helpful advice that actually works. Leash etiquette is tough for sure, but Spirit is slowly but surely putting the pieces together, and I'm really happy that super knowledgeable PI folks are around to help me with issues before they become problems. PS I'm gay too we'll be gay together.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 28, 2011 20:52
|
|
|
Flesh Forge posted:I kinda think that certain behaviors like "roll over" are a lot more natural for some dogs than others. Darla was doing this on her own all the time anyway because she likes to have her belly stroked, so it wasn't a big deal to get her to do it when I ask her to. Getting her to bark on command was also not a big jump, because she loves barking anyway. I hate you. I've almost got Spirit with a "play dead," which I'm hoping to shape into roll over at some point, but she doesn't really follow treats with her nose so it's all about catching her right at that moment. A month I've been working on this crap with slow results.BUT I've also taught her "condolences" where she'll put her paw on my arm and bow her head. It evolved naturally from shake and is the cutest drat thing in the world. She's much better at the tricks that involve sitting down (Beg is coming up next!) than the tricks that require her to stand or lay down. ah well, we'll get there eventually.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 1, 2011 18:24
|
|
|
Leash pulling update! My little miss is doing so well now. This is going to sound sappy as gently caress, but I don't care - I honestly had tears in my eyes the other day when we were walking down the sidewalk and she saw a dog across the parking lot. I stopped, said "Spirit, turn around," and she turned around and walked over to me like it was no thing. She was mighty interested in that other dog and kept stopping to look over and wag her tail, but she didn't pull and I was just so drat proud of her. She's slowly getting the idea that she's allowed to look at stuff all she wants, but she's not allowed to go visit them unless I say we can. Changing up the routine and being crazy excited when I call her back to me when she pulls has been an enormous help - sometimes I make her sit, sometimes it's shake, sometimes she just has to stand there for a little bit. I'm also not treating every time (although it's most times ) to keep her guessing. By the time spring rolls around she should be the well behaved girl I know she can be.Right now we still have an issue with going around corners. She'll follow the sidewalk all day long, but if we come across a corner that she can't see around (one corner has a dumpster sitting there, another one has a building) she has to charge up just as fast as she can so she can see around and make sure there's nothing fun. To combat this I've been spending extra time with the corners, going back and forth a few times each walk, which I'm sure looks damned stupid to the neighbors. Is this the right idea to teach her that she'll get a chance to look at whatever's around the corner when WE get there, not when SHE gets there? I'm not sure if I'm really teaching her not to pull at corners, or if she just settles down after a few turns of it because she's bored stupid and wants to keep on going.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 7, 2011 17:56
|
|
|
Today's walk was out first big challenge, since it got over 50 today and there were lots of people walking around and hanging out outside. Spirit is now behaving pretty well towards people - she understands that when she sees someone walking our way that she's to sit where I stop. I definitely need to work on her reaction to being close to dogs though, she still pulls quite a bit when a dog is close to her. I think I'll start keeping "other dogs only" treats in my pocket to reward her for calm behavior around other dogs. But I did run into a situation today that I wasn't sure how to handle, and probably botched it. My downstairs neighbors have douchey dogs who bark and lunge at everything and everyone (I have never seen them walk their dogs, and they seem to think that tying them outside on a stake is just as good because hey, they're still outside right!) and unfortunately I have to walk right by them to get inside. Normally if I see they're out there I just walk Spirit around the block another time until the dogs are in, but today I was tired and she was tired so I decided to try walking past them. She did okay walking down the sidewalk towards them - she'd pull, I'd stop her and she'd sit at my side and then we'd continue when she was calm - but when we got right up close their dog started barking and lunging. Spirit was pulling too, but ignoring me because their dog was getting her super worked up and she wouldn't respond. I couldn't stand there and wait because I'm worried about their dog breaking its chain or stake so I dragged her in. What's the best way to handle walking my dog past another jerk dog? Is dragging okay in this case just to get her away, or is there something else I can do to make sure that Spirit focuses on ME when another dog is going wild instead of getting all worked up by it?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 17, 2011 00:45
|
|
|
Thanks for that post a life less! I can't believe I never thought to use "touch" as a way to get Spirit to recall to me  I've been using it more as a novelty than anything else, a way to get her to run around the apartment with me when the weather's awful. We'll probably never do an off-leash walk, because this town isn't dog friendly at all, but I can definitely start incorporating it into walks for when she's feeling a bit cheeky. By the way, my dog is down to being a douche on the leash only about 20% of the time now. Considering she was running 80-90% douchitude before I started working with her I'm very pleased! She's also picked up play dead, and she's inches away from having beg down  Trick training is so drat fun.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 25, 2011 20:28
|
|
|
 I taught my doggy to play dead! a life less taught hers to do a god drat handstand...
|
|
#
¿
Feb 28, 2011 22:54
|
|
|
Why isn't my dog learning to hang her head? Here's how I'm teaching her: 1. Hold up high value treat (cat food because it's the only thing she'll follow with her nose and she LOVES it and I never let her eat it) 2. Say "hang your head" and slowly bring the treat directly down from her nose 3. As soon as she lowers her head, click + treat She'll do it every time if move the treat down, but she doesn't seem to be really making the connection between what I'm saying and what I want her to do. The other tricks i've had issues with (roll over) were hard because I couldn't get her to do the behavior - for this one she's doing the behavior but only if I move the treat down for her nose to follow. Generally after two or three trick learning sessions she'll do it for me if she doesn't see the trick, but not this one. Is looking down just something dogs aren't overly comfortable doing and that's why she won't do it without me moving the treat down so she'll follow it, or am I just impatient?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 29, 2011 15:01
|
|
|
MrFurious posted:#1 - Don't put the command to the behavior until she's offering it reliably. You're luring, that's incentive enough. Name it once she's got it down. Otherwise it's just white noise she has to tune out. Awesome, thank you much, I'll try that. They didn't have that book at my library - my library is filled with romance novels and "Why you don't just Jesus as much as you should" books, but once I get some extra income I'll swing by Amazon.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 29, 2011 16:22
|
|
|
Why has my dog decided that her crate sucks! First thing I did when I got Spirit was crate train her, since I didn't want her roaming around the apartment while I was at work and getting into shenanigans. She took to it with no problems, popped right it with tail a'wagging when I said "Go to bed!" and stayed there with a bowl of water and a chew toy while I worked, no problems or hassles or anything. Then, two weeks ago, work went all crazy at me and I had to work a few evenings. On one she started kicking up a fuss in her crate, barking and whining when I put her in, because she's VERY firm on her routine and gets upset when it gets interupted. So I caved in and let her out because a) I have neighbors around me and didn't want her barking while I was gone and b) I really had to get back to work. Well I hosed myself good on that one, because it only took her one time to learn that if she bitches about it she doesn't have to go in the crate. Since then I've been trying to build the crate back up with her as a good thing. Treats rain like loving mana from heaven when she gets in there, she gets peanut butter smeared on a bone when the door closes, and I do not make a fuss about leaving or coming back - just "go to your crate" and "time to come out" when I leave and come back with no squeals or any excitement for either event. She STILL barks and whines and claws at the door as soon as it closes and I leave. Today I told her to go to bed and she laid on the floor, ears down and whimpering like she was saying "No ma please ma I'll be good ma don't make me go in there." It's not really seperation anxiety - if I don't put her in the crate and I leave the apartment she's quiet as a lamb and, honestly, she doesn't get into too much trouble if she's left out. But I'd much rather be safe than sorry and crate her when I'm not around to supervise, plus it gives the cat a break from her. She just hates it now 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2011 18:56
|
|
|
 So apparently in order to get Spirit back in her crate without grumping about it I just had to put my foot down and let her know that NO she will not get back out if she whines about it and YES she has to stay in there all day long while I'm at work or when I leave the apartment. She's back to going into her crate with her normal enthusiasm when she sees me get off the couch, put on my work shoes, and turn off the TV. I feel bad for my neighbors because I know she barked for the first few days that I was firm on it, but I left them notes of apology and monitored the situation with Audacity. Now she doesn't bark at all except for occassional "Hey there's something outside!" barks that she likes to do when she sees a deer or stray cat out there. She's also learned how to high five, and she's inches away from having "dance" down where she gives me both of her hands at once. I know she'll get it sooner or later!
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2011 15:14
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 3, 2024 05:46 |
|
|
Personally I wouldn't mind some info on how to keep dogs from running after stray cats. Spirit does fine with Baron - chases him a little bit but never really bugs him, since Baron will give her a swat if she gets to be too much of a jerk - but Spirit goes loving crazy barking at the stray cats around my place, and if we go outside for a walk and there's one sitting there she wants to charge after it so bad that most of the time I just turn her around and take her back inside, then try again a few minutes later and hope the cat's gone and she's forgotten about it.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2011 19:14
|
|