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Have I set back potty training? Puppy (10 weeks) was doing very well. No accidents in the house, lots of praise and treats for going outside. Then the weather turned really, really cold. I didn't think he should be out too long, with just his puppy coat, and I'm kind of a wuss about cold weather myself. So when it's one degree below zero (that's Fahrenheit, don't even want to think about what it is in Celsius), I went ahead and praised him for going on the patio. Technically, it's still outside. We'd really rather he didn't go there. But frankly, I was about ready to just let him pee on the downstairs carpet, it was so freaking cold. Or go buy some puppy pads and put them in the garage. Weather has warmed up (well, just above freezing) and now he thinks the patio is the only place to go. He is happy to frolic through the yard, though. So I have been treating/praising for getting out onto the grass, and not treating but not punishing for the patio. We have cleared snow off of part of the lawn (boy, what a spoiled puppy), but the idea seems to occur to him mainly when he's on the patio. Now what?
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Jan 3, 2011 21:47
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EVG, My dog isn't doing this yet either. But what I'm doing is, when he goes out for elimination purposes, we always take him out the same door, and then take him to the same place. I think eventually he will start going to this door when he needs to "go" as opposed to when he just wants to chase something that's in the yard (we have lots of different doors). Eventually all my dogs have somehow learned to do a polite bark--just one!--at the door when they need to go out, if no one is paying attention. And the same for coming in. One bark. I think they learned this because with one polite bark I let them in (or out) whereas if it was a barking frenzy, I either ignored them or yelled at them.
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Jan 24, 2011 20:26
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About clickers: I had never used one before, until I got this puppy. I asked here, and checked out the videos that people referred me to (thanks, a life less!), and started working with my puppy. Then a couple of weeks ago he started a puppy class where they teach basic things, and they don't use clickers. The trainer doesn't object, but says it's hard if you have six people and six clickers going. We use the word "yes." My dog seems to retain the things I've taught him at home with the clicker much better than the things taught in class without. This could be because his focus is a little different at the class, there are other dogs, other people, lots of smells. It could be confirmation bias. But I really like it. I have trained dogs without it, though, and they've been pretty good citizens, too. Nothing too fancy. Playing dead when I say "Bang!" and point my finger at them. This dog also might just be easier to train. It's really hard to tell. But I do like the clicker. I will say, my son and I were teaching him recall. I had the clicker, my son made a noise just like the clicker. The kid is really good at mimicking noises (he could do a dump truck backing up before he could talk), so it was pretty close, and seemed to work just as well, but I can't make the noise the way the kid can.
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Jan 25, 2011 00:05
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EVG posted:How do you train your dog to run back to catch something you're about to throw? Can you fake him out? Pretend to throw it, and then, when he goes after it, or thinks he does, you actually throw it. Eventually he should get the idea that this is a fun way to play the game.
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Feb 4, 2011 06:51
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I got a harness for my puppy, now 14 weeks old, and he didn't mind it at all for the first few times, then suddenly he won't let me put it on him and in fact runs when I get it out. I have no idea what happened. I don't recall anything traumatic, but then, I'm not him. I'm thinking the last time he stuck his head into it willingly was right before I took him to puppy play time. At playtime, I unsnapped the leash, but left the harness on. So we're not using the harness for now, but I'm not sure how to get back into it. Treats have so far not proven effective at all. 
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Feb 9, 2011 06:15
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Thanks, I will try this. For some reason he seems to have picked this week to just become a holy terror, but he might also have gained some weight. (Hard to tell if the harness is too tight if I can't even get near him. Maybe I could try a tape measure.)
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Feb 9, 2011 07:20
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I have a question about terminology and signals. In my puppy class, the trainer has certain phrases that she uses. Some of them are common and obvious ("Sit! Down! Stand!") but she uses different hand signals. I didn't think that was a problem, but then it turned out when she taught us "Touch" that you pretty much have to use the same gesture I was using for "Down." And then trainers in some of the videos I watch use "off!" for something I would call "leave it" and "out!" for something I would call either "drop it" or "give." Now I know it doesn't matter as long as each individual dog knows what its owner/trainer/handler wants (for instance, a friend of mine, instead of saying "no," says something like "Bwah!" which means I can't tell her dog to get off me because by the time I've remembered the command, she's already gotten the dog). But if I want to get into something like flyball or agility, it looks like it would be better to have standard commands. Rhymes With Clue fucked around with this message at 09:52 on Feb 11, 2011 |
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Feb 11, 2011 09:47
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MrFurious posted:Where is the love for Charlee Bears? Do you have an opinion on them? I love the Charlee Bears but my pup gets bored with them pretty quickly, and starts playing with them instead of eating them. This also means he stops paying attention. When I use little slivers of hot dog, he pays attention. In fact he really gets focused and becomes a good, good dog. And unlike hot dogs, Charlee Bears are a good thing to always have in the pockets, though, since there are some things he always gets a treat for, and he doesn't always need the primo treats--that is, once I've got his attention with a couple of flakes of hot dog, I don't mind giving him lesser treats every now and then.
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Feb 11, 2011 09:50
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a life less, that is really cool. And Cohen is gorgeous. What I'm going for in training Pongo seems to be at odds with what he's learning in puppy class. I would like to tell him to sit, and have him sit there until I tell him it's okay to go, i.e., without adding "stay" to the command. And the same with "down." I guess he has to know "stay," but I'm not envisioning an occasion where he'd need to go down, up, down, up. As long as I'm wishing, I would like for him to never touch the cat food, even when I am not watching/listening. In an ideal world, I would like him never to eat anything until I've said it's okay (like, if somebody threw a hamburger over the fence, for instance). But I will settle for him not stealing or begging for my sandwich. Also at some point I would like to have him run beside me while I'm bicycling, since otherwise he will never be able to run as fast as he likes to. Obviously that's a ways off, since he's only four months old. I have tried this with previous dogs, and it worked well on the dedicated bike path, but I was always afraid to try it on the street. Unfortunately I have about half a mile of street before I even get to a bike path. A handstand would be really cool, but I'm thinking basics here.
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Mar 1, 2011 05:42
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Oh dear. I couldn't explain this to the trainer of his puppy class, but... Sometimes he does a lovely kind of fold-down thing when he goes down. It's like he collapses. But if I cue him, it's always a kind of sideways thing--essentially he sits, then slides his front paws forward. In the fold-down, he's symmetrical, and he looks very cute. He does it sometimes when he's playing, and it looks like he could just effortlessly spring back up, which he usually does about half a second later. No particular reason, but is there any way to teach him to fold-down instead of slide down when he does his down? (Boy do I feel picky. Nobody else in this thread, I think, has critiqued their dog's down. Poor little puppy. Okay, he's still cute when sliding into a down from a sit.)
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Mar 23, 2011 09:39
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Okay, I am not one of the expert trainers here. But my puppy has a "hide your face" trick, and here's how he learned it. Often when he was rolling around on his back, his paws would go over his eyes (both front paws), and when he did that, I would say, "Peekaboo!" and put my hands over my eyes. So now when he's on his back and I say "Peekaboo" and cover my eyes, he sometimes does the same thing! I didn't intend this and wasn't trying to teach it as a trick, but now I am. Oddly, now that I'm trying to teach it, he's doing it less. I tried to get a picture but it's fleeting, and since I give the cue (such as it is) with both hands, I haven't been able to grab the camera in time to capture it. I will keep trying. I'm also trying to associate it with a different cue than both hands.
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Mar 25, 2011 00:06
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Vino posted:Okay so I finally got the dog to walk/run without pulling so much so now I have been trying to train my dog to come when called outside. He comes when called inside but if he's outside then good luck getting to him. Don't chase him down. Don't ever chase him--dogs love this game and will initiate it, but when they do it, they're in charge (and they know it). This is a really bad game for them to know at times when you really have to get them. It sounds like you're on the right track with treats and letting him go again. Call him back when he's not so far away, then when he's good at that, call him when he's further away, and so forth.
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Mar 25, 2011 00:11
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Okay, my dog seems to have gone through some real changes lately. Six months old, border collie mix. Neutered on May 1. Cryptorchid, so two incisions, he had to wear a cone for a week (actually, 3 cones, since the first one wasn't big enough and he broke the second one). Now...he won't come. He will get to within an arm's reach and then shy away. Sometimes he will behave as before, i.e., coming right to me. Other times he wants to turn it into a chase-me kind of situation. He will get closer if I'm holding his leash, but he won't let me put it on him until we are AT the door. (During his recuperation, he had a leash on always, unless he was in his crate. He only likes the leash because he knows it means WALK, so he was very happy when we decided he was recovered, and now he doesn't want to have a leash on, basically ever again.) He has also started being a lot more aggressive toward the cats, who he has lived with since he was 8 weeks old with not a lot of problems. (Basically, one cat treats him as a cat toy--a live, more or less annoying toy, but something to be manipulated. The other one just hates him and growls whenever he gets too close according to her definition at the time, which could mean the same room.) He is now annoying them a LOT more. In short: He doesn't trust us anymore, and he's gotten aggressive. I have pretty much been trying to keep on training as usual, and sometimes that works. I really don't know what I'm supposed to do when he doesn't come. If I really want him, I can get him with a toy, but I don't want to teach him to turn every recall request into puppy play.
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May 29, 2011 08:38
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I can't get my dog to do a "sit pretty" or "beg." I tried it with the trainer--she stood behind him with the treat--and he just peels out, goes around, and...doesn't get the treat. It almost seems like he just can't do it. All dogs are physically capable of this, right? He will stand up on hind legs for a treat, and he's totally delighted to jump for it. Just thought of another question. He did puppy training with one trainer, and we did a session with another trainer that my vet likes. My vet is very old-school, doesn't believe in lots of treats (the dog should do it because he wants to please you, etc.), familiar with but not sold on clicker training, and her pick for trainer says sometimes you have to do a correction. The puppy trainer says never do a correction, never say "bad dog," treat good behavior such as not barking. This is just to show you where they're both coming from. My technique, such as it is, is to treat for things the first few times, then after that treat randomly, except for really important things like recall. Recall always gets a treat. I have heard (from a previous training session, previous dog) that random treats work better. What I was doing was having the dog do several things, like sit, down, sit, down, touch, then treating and treating. Then play. Puppy trainer says always treat for everything for the whole first year. Three touches = three treats. Old-school trainer says phase out the treats entirely as soon as the behavior is established. So what works for PI members with well-trained dogs? My puppy is super motivated by food, and sometimes by play. He's 7 months old, border collie mix, pretty smart, but can be stubborn. If I'm teaching a fun thing like "touch" the random treat thing seems to work well, but once we get into distractions he's not interested in treats or anything, really, except the distraction. And right now I pretty much always have treats on me, but I foresee a day when that may not be the case and I'll still want him to mind me.
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Jun 10, 2011 21:48
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Hey, he did the begging thing! First for peanut butter, then for kitty kibble (I don't think the cat food is really any better than the puppy food, but he lusts after it, so it's valuable). You're right, he's very wobbly and can't hold it for long. But at least now he knows where I want him to go.
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Jun 11, 2011 21:36
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Well, on the Susan Garret webinar, I hope someone got what she said about Value for RZ, because my computer skipped throughout that section and I don't even know what she's talking about!
Rhymes With Clue fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Jun 23, 2011 |
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Jun 23, 2011 20:31
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Fraction posted:I'd like to add to that - having a cue for your dog to jump into your arms (obviously depending on size). Not only might it be a good way to bring the dog back to you if it is a distance away and your usual recall cue isn't working, but it also gives the dog something to think about and gives them the choice where possible. I would love to be able to signal my dog to jump into my arms. However, I'm not sure I would be able to catch him unless we practiced, and I don't know how to practice something I'm not sure I can do (if you know what I mean). I can't really think of a baby step for jumping into my arms. Maybe jumping into my lap? Note that my dog weighs about 35 pounds now, and I can pick him up, although he doesn't much like it, probably because the only time I do it is to put him into the tub for a bath!
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Jun 30, 2011 04:44
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Okay, that was very neat. How much does Lola weigh?
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Jun 30, 2011 22:19
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Okay. Have been trying to teach my 9-month-old puppy to stay while I throw things and otherwise distract him. Have had success. But now, when he's not at stay, I can throw the ball and he will look at me and not go get it until I say, "Get it!" And then he will kind of amble over, get it, and amble back. But when my husband (who is not training him) throws it, he races after it and races back. I was kind of hoping to get him into flyball sometime in Oct. because I thought he'd like it, but have I ruined him for it? I may be thinking about this too much. I've trained other dogs to do this without working too hard at it, without thinking much about it, and without helpful videos from the Internet. I may just be trying too hard with this pup.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:40
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a life less posted:How have you been training him? I wonder if some of the hesitancy is being worried about making a mistake and being corrected. How I have been training him: Give command, treat if he complies (or click/treat if I'm using the clicker). If he doesn't comply, then no treat, and 2000 points for the dog, and at this point I'm in the hole by like two million points. As far as I know, I haven't corrected him for anything regarding playing. The only thing resembling a correction I've done is to yank him out of the street a couple of times on walks (when he ran out when a car was coming; he really would like to chase cars, and it was not so much a correction as keeping him safe, although he may have seen it as a correction). Ball is fun, and as far as I can tell, the reward for bringing back the ball is that I or someone else throws it again. So that will be interesting to work with. (ETA: But he is very sensitive, for instance if I come upon a scene of destruction in progress and gasp in horror, he will very quietly remove himself and stay out of sight while I clean up/repair, and it's not like I've ever beat him up for this stuff or even said a harsh word beyond the initial OMG explosion which, I confess, may occasionally have involved some profanity.) He does love tugging, though. And it's pretty easy to hype him up. Except... He also likes tearing around the yard at top speed, usually right after a walk (as we don't really go fast enough for him on these walks). I would like to encourage this kind of thing, too, but if I jump up and down and say things like "Yes! Go!"--he stops running and comes over to see if there is something else fun going on. Rhymes With Clue fucked around with this message at 07:15 on Jul 31, 2011 |
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Jul 31, 2011 07:05
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Chachikoala posted:Does anyone have any tips for teaching the return part of fetch? Get a treat, trade ball for treat when she brings it all the way back, otherwise no treat. Then, depending on the treat, you might have to wait a few seconds for her to chew the treat before you throw the ball again. Second option, ignore her until she brings the ball all the way back. Send her out for it if she returns without it. My pup had two things he would do--not bringing the ball all the way back, or bringing it all the way back and not letting go. For the first part, I did what I said above. For the second part, I kept a tug toy. As soon as I brought out the tug toy he wanted to tug, and I could grab the ball. Then as soon as one of us lost the tug game, I could throw the ball again.
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Aug 9, 2011 04:50
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Skizzles posted:I saw this guy at the park with a leash-reactive pit this morning. Every time he lunged excitedly or barked at another dog the guy just JERKED his prong collar as hard as he could and yelled no. If the dog kept at it (which of course he did) he would smack his snout or shout NO in his face. I've seen this guy before and even yelled, "That's only making him worse!" but was busy chasing down a lost dog. It was infuriating and sad to watch him jerk the loving dog off his feet, only to make the dog screech louder and lunge harder. I REALLY wanted to go say something, but... I figured he'd react negatively to some young woman coming up all like, "lol you're doing it wrong." How would you guys have gone about it? If I see him again I refuse to keep my mouth shut. First of all, it's probably best not to say anything at all unless somebody asks for help. But...I know it's not the done thing anymore, but it only took three yanks on a prong/pinch collar to teach my previous dog, a husky/chow mix, not to pull, and then he never did it again, ever. Whereas I have been working with treats/clicker for MONTHS with my current BC mix (now 10 months old) and he still hasn't got it and occasionally sees something he wants to chase and drat near pulls me off my feet. Now the trainer I worked with back then also taught alpha rolls and other things that really did not work with that particular dog. But the hard yank on the prong collar? That worked. (Obviously it is not working for this guy, though.)
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Aug 24, 2011 00:35
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get out posted:
The good thing about the training I've encountered at PetSmart is that they do it in the store, so there are lots of distractions, which teaches you and your dog how to deal with distractions. But when I went to Petsmart I had just spent weeks conditioning my dog not to follow a treat, but to sit back and wait until I said he could have it. They do a lot of luring! This didn't work out so well as it really confused Pongo. He would look at me like "This is a trap, isn't it?" He is a puppy and he's now in the intermediate class. The other dogs are older rescue dogs and they are calm. He's 10 months old and he is not calm. I spend a lot of energy getting him to leave those dogs alone--which, again, is good experience, since we have to do that on walks and things also. The training is pretty basic, but if you have questions or specific things you want to train for, they seem to be amenable to helping you work on them.
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Aug 29, 2011 23:59
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I would like to thank all the little trick-or-treaters that helped Pongo go from apeshit barking at the doorbell to NO barking at the doorbell in just four groups of TorTers. I have no idea how to reinforce this. Have Halloween once a week?
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Nov 2, 2011 08:39
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a life less posted:I'm glad I'm not the only one to feel like that. I've never been a fan of his videos. Something about him turns me off. I do feel like the video touched on an important issue, which is finding what is inspiring to your individual dog - at that point you can look into modifying your dog's motivation while respecting those innate desires. But yeah, on average I think kikopup/Emily Larlham does a better job at spearheading positive reinforcement training to newbie trainers. Oh, that guy. I hooked into one of his videos when I had a barking issue (well I still do) and it was about the least helpful dog training video I've ever seen. He spent 11 minutes lecturing on how of course dogs bark when you put them out in the back yard alone, and you solve the problem by not doing that, and I kept waiting for the entire 11 minutes hoping for some help for some OTHER situation. I know there are dogs out there who bark in other situations because I have one of those dogs. (For what it's worth, my dog, one year old, border collie mix, just loves and loves and loves to bark, and he will bark at anything, anytime. He will bark at anything that's different from the last time he saw it (i.e., when my next door neighbor was covering her plants at night, so they looked different when he went out for his midnight pee, so he barked). He will bark at dogs walking down the street. He will sit in front of me and bark because he wants me to play with him. He will bark in the car because he senses we're on the route to the OFF-LEASH DOG PARK yeah! and he's excited. He will bark at my cat because the cat looked at him. He will bark at his reflection in the sliding glass door. And on and on....) There are lots of things to say about all this barking, and other people have said them. That guy said nothing. It's like he just puts up these videos so you will hire him or buy his books. I'm sure he's a great dog trainer, but he's not a great trainer-trainer, at least not on video (but then, neither is Cesar). kikopup and some others have been just great, the things people here have linked to have been more helpful than not, and even most of the things I randomly found while surfing were of SOME help, but not him.
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Nov 9, 2011 22:42
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I posted this:http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2701637&userid=170314 in the "animal questions not deserving their own thread" and someone suggested I post it here as well. So, TLDR: Dog barks, not necessarily out of boredom, I'm considering getting a thing called Bark Free which supposedly sends out an ultrasonic signal when the dog barks. Would like to know if anyone has used this thing or if it's snake oil. It's marketed as a training device, and I probably wouldn't have it on all the time. The dog: 1 year old border collie mix, very active. He gets 2 longish walks a day, a good run 2 or 3 times a week, lots of tug, lots of ball-chasing, lots of indoor & outdoor training. He's a pretty good dog most of the time. He only gets really tired though after day-long hikes, which are not even weekly occurrences now. The barking: He barks whenever he goes outside. He usually starts barking within 10 seconds of going out. My husband gets up early, and often the dog wants to go out, but if he goes out on his own, he barks. When I say early, I mean before dawn. Nobody wants a dog barking at 4 in the morning. It's usually in response to another dog barking. The other dog can be blocks away, and there is always a dog barking somewhere if you listen. I don't have a problem with him barking an alert when someone comes to the door, and he's learned to bark and then be good while the door is answered. I also don't have a problem with him howling along with the dog next door when there's a siren. Dogs on either side of us bark--a lot--so I'm not expecting repercussions from my barking dog from my neighbors. But I want him to stop it and behave, and I particularly want him to stop it when I tell him to. Since he's learned to stop and be good when the doorbell rings, I know he can learn this, too. I am thinking of the Bark Free as a training aid. If it shuts up the dogs next door too, so much the better. My husband wants to get him a shock collar. I don't want to do that. I don't even want to get him the citronella spray collar, because he's a very sensitive mutt. What I've done so far, per his puppy trainer: When he barks, I say "hush" and give him a treat if he does. He has to be quiet for an increasing period of time. So far we're up to about 10 seconds. This is very patchy. Sometimes he shuts up and comes over and looks for his treat, other times he just keeps careening around the yard and barking. If the dog next door is going at it, it's pretty much impossible to get my dog quiet. Further note on the dogs next door: On one side, a small dachshund who barks pretty much from the moment her owners leave until they come home, alternating with a moan, but she's not very loud. My dog has pretty much learned to ignore her, mostly. On the other side, a big brown dog with black muzzle who has good days and bad days. On bad days he barks an awful lot--at anyone who walks down the street, at the trash truck, at the mailman. And my dog barks right along with him.
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Nov 28, 2011 08:56
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I posted this:http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2701637&userid=170314 in the "animal questions not deserving their own thread" and someone suggested I post it here as well. So, TLDR: Dog barks, not necessarily out of boredom, I'm considering getting a thing called Bark Free which supposedly sends out an ultrasonic signal when the dog barks. Would like to know if anyone has used this thing or if it's snake oil. It's marketed as a training device, and I probably wouldn't have it on all the time. The dog: 1 year old border collie mix, very active. He gets 2 longish walks a day, a good run 2 or 3 times a week, lots of tug, lots of ball-chasing, lots of indoor & outdoor training. He's a pretty good dog most of the time. He only gets really tired though after day-long hikes, which are not even weekly occurrences now. The barking: He barks whenever he goes outside. He usually starts barking within 10 seconds of going out. My husband gets up early, and often the dog wants to go out, but if he goes out on his own, he barks. When I say early, I mean before dawn. Nobody wants a dog barking at 4 in the morning. It's usually in response to another dog barking. The other dog can be blocks away, and there is always a dog barking somewhere if you listen. I don't have a problem with him barking an alert when someone comes to the door, and he's learned to bark and then be good while the door is answered. I also don't have a problem with him howling along with the dog next door when there's a siren. Dogs on either side of us bark--a lot--so I'm not expecting repercussions from my barking dog from my neighbors. But I want him to stop it and behave, and I particularly want him to stop it when I tell him to. Since he's learned to stop and be good when the doorbell rings, I know he can learn this, too. I am thinking of the Bark Free as a training aid. If it shuts up the dogs next door too, so much the better. My husband wants to get him a shock collar. I don't want to do that. I don't even want to get him the citronella spray collar, because he's a very sensitive mutt. What I've done so far, per his puppy trainer: When he barks, I say "hush" and give him a treat if he does. He has to be quiet for an increasing period of time. So far we're up to about 10 seconds. This is very patchy. Sometimes he shuts up and comes over and looks for his treat, other times he just keeps careening around the yard and barking. If the dog next door is going at it, it's pretty much impossible to get my dog quiet. Further note on the dogs next door: On one side, a small dachshund who barks pretty much from the moment her owners leave until they come home, alternating with a moan, but she's not very loud. My dog has pretty much learned to ignore her, mostly. On the other side, a big brown dog with black muzzle who has good days and bad days. On bad days he barks an awful lot--at anyone who walks down the street, at the trash truck, at the mailman. And my dog barks right along with him. Had to edit this to add: He cannot see the big brown dog, because the fence is high. He can see the dachshund, because the fence is low. I think he barks less when he can see the other dog. Rhymes With Clue fucked around with this message at 09:12 on Nov 28, 2011 |
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Nov 28, 2011 09:08
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About the prong collar: My dog prefers that to a front harness. Or at least, it seems like he does. I started a thread about how he hated the harness. We'd get ready to go for a walk and of course he was up for it, until he saw the harness. Then he would get this real hangdog look...he'd run into another room...he'd avoid me (and I am still at the point of not using his recall command when I'm going to do something I know he won't like). Eventually we'd get the harness on and he'd go out with his head and tail down and kind of almost limping. Definitely a different gait. A few minutes into the walk he seemed to forget about it, though, so I kept pushing it. Then my husband got him a prong collar, on the theory that this would work once, and we wouldn't have to fight with him about that harness. And that was in fact the case. I should note that this dog is about 95% reliable when it comes to me telling him to heel, stay with me, etc. It's that 5% that was troublesome. He has (a) nearly knocked me off my feet, (b) nearly broken my fingers, and (c) actually caused me to do a header when I slipped on some leaves (although as soon as I was down he came running back to me, very concerned). On a couple of other occasions I let go of the leash rather than get pulled into a certain body of water. So, first day with the prong collar, he was good. Second day, he went after something. I called him back--he ignored me--so I braced myself, and when he hit the end of the leash he let out a little yip and then came back. And that was all it took. Note that I NEVER "popped" the leash. I called him back to my side, and when he ignored that, his collar pinched him. And it did only take once. However, when I take him out in conditions where the footing's no good, I put the collar on. Sometimes I put it on with the prongs outward and clip the leash to both the prong and his regular collar (otherwise he could slide out of the prong, it's not tight). Thereby tricking him into thinking he will get a pinch if he charges to the end of his leash, so he doesn't. After that one time, he has never tested the collar again. Anyway, TLDR, he has never shown the aversion for the prong collar that he did for the harness. He's no more reluctant to have it put on than to have his regular collar put on. This is why I say he prefers it. And I don't have to worry about getting dragged through the streets of Denver when he goes after a bunny.
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Dec 1, 2011 07:47
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Pongo does that association thing too. He gets very excited whenever we pass a place where he had some fun (i.e., there was a bunny, he didn't get to chase it but he got to bark; another dog lives there and sometimes comes out to sniff and run along the fence). He also gets very excited in the car when we get near my friend's house, we sometimes take our dogs out together. He did that the second time we went there because HE KNEW, and he was only 3 months old at the time. He got excited when we made a certain turn, blocks away from her place. I would like to teach him to turn on a light switch. I realize I should probably get consistent heeling down first, but this is a fun thing. I've gotten him to target the light switch, but I'm having trouble getting him to flip it. Any suggestions? Any downside to this training that anyone can see?
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Dec 1, 2011 21:20
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I'd say start training him right now. When I got my puppy he was 8 weeks old and he knew "sit" and "down"--he didn't always do them, but he knew he was supposed to. He was also pretty good at the potty training. (I unfortunately relaxed the standards when it was 14 below and let him pee on the patio so that had to be undone when it warmed up to, say, freezing.) He started a puppy class as soon as he'd had all his shots--I think 13 weeks--and was ready to learn a lot more. After playing with the other puppies, of course. He also went to a puppy play socialization once or twice a week. Free play with lots of puppies six months and under. A couple of the doggy day care places here also offer that. Also provided a way for him to meet a lot of people, and even kids. (They weren't supposed to bring kids under 12, but they did.) Good socialization. Also, I asked that same clicker question, got some great answers and some great links. (I can't get to the thread now, for some reason.) But I think they work because, in essence, the dog gets rewarded twice--once when s/he hears the click and knows the treat is coming, and again when s/he actually gets the treat. But the dog also knows the exact moment he accomplished what you wanted (if you clicked at the right time--I know I haven't always been perfect about this). If you're fumbling around to get the treat out, the dog has already gotten what's being rewarded. I'm sure other people will also respond with some links about the clicker, but I found the kikopup youtube videos very helpful.
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Dec 20, 2011 07:16
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This is probably kind of weird, but can I teach my dog to howl on command? He's quite willing to howl when he hears a siren or when he hears another dog howling. I don't mind encouraging him to howl, but I'm dependent on a siren. I've captured some behaviors by clicking when he does them, but I don't think this will work with howling because I generally click when he does the action I wanted, and he then stops and looks for the treat. So if I click when he's howling, he will stop howling. He knows "speak." But that's one bark and then a treat. A good howl will be a little more sustained.
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Dec 29, 2011 03:39
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I have a dog, border collie mix, 14 months old. I also have two cats, a friendly large one and a not so friendly small one. The big guy is 8-ish (we have had him since '04, and I think he was a bit under a year when he strolled into our yard) and the little one is 13-ish. There have always been some altercations with the cats, who did not like the idea of a dog. Then the big one decided that a puppy was really a kind of cat toy and he could bat it around, and the dog is always ready for any kind of play, so that kind of worked. But the other cat really hates that dog. Now most of the time they coexist to the point that they can all three sleep on the couch at the same time, just inches from each other. But at other times the dog acts aggressive, particularly toward the smaller cat. All the cats I've had in the past have been able to defend themselves well from all the dogs I've had, and in fact the dogs were a little nervous about the cats and gave them respect. But this dog does not. A couple of times recently he's basically gone after the smaller cat with lots of snarling and barking. Now. When he's done that, my husband has corrected him and yelled at him. I don't know if that's the right thing to do, because I have heard that you shouldn't correct dogs that way when they do aggressive things because they will learn to hide their early stages of aggression, but all the examples I've found have to do with people (i.e., they hide the early stages, then they bite somebody). Does this work for cats too? I should note that the cats have high places to jump to, and they have claws. (Every once in awhile they will fight each other, rather noisily, and this is the kind of thing that will definitely attract the dog as if he wants to get in on it. And then he gets yelled at.)
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Jan 19, 2012 10:10
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Yikes! Signs of aggression! So, in addition to a flyball class, we are taking a CGC class, and this was the third session. Up to now Pongo has been a star pupil. Today he lost it. He lunged aggressively at the next dog over, usually a friend of his, however, this dog got hit by a car, was absent the last two weeks, and came in today with a cast on his leg. Pongo acted like he wanted to attack him. Failing that, he attacked my boot, and also grabbed the pants leg of his trainer. We would get him settled down, then he'd go into attack again. There is another dog in the class who behaved aggressively toward Pongo the first time they saw each other, and we keep them far apart, but that dog also had problems with the one in the cast. However, not as many problems as Pongo. The other thing was there are a couple of very small dogs in the class, and as soon as one of them starting looking a bit worried about Pongo's outbursts, Pongo decided to go for him, too. All in all, a really bad class. I have no idea what was going on, but I would really like to get rid of this aggression thing. What I did was whenever he displayed this behavior I walked him to a corner of the classroom where he couldn't see any other dogs, and I did this over and over, and the trainer said this was the best thing to do. Couldn't get him to focus on me until I did that. I spent 3/4 of the class in the corner with my dog. But he has never done anything like this before. Please tell me this is not a trend, and any hints on how to stop it (short of going all Cesar Milan on him) would be appreciated.
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Jan 28, 2012 22:41
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Kiri koli posted:How does Pongo do with small animals like cats or squirrels? This could be a prey drive issue, which can extend to going after animals that are injured. The attacking you and the trainer sounds to me like redirecting. You can tell the difference if the dog suddenly goes for something that comes into his vision, does a sudden snap, and then shows no more interest as long as the target is not longer between him and what he was going for. I assume he was leashed during this? I have seen my dog exhibit prey drive toward squirrels at the height of her leash reactivity and she went way overboard and redirected onto her leash. She is otherwise not super bothered by squirrels. The first time he went for the dog it caught me off guard, but the other times it happened were: He knocked his ball out of his reach (he was leashed) and it rolled over to where the other dog could get it, and the other dog jumped on it. The other dog looked at him and whined. The other dog got a treat from his owner. The other dog lunged at a third dog who was passing by (this was the "out for a walk" section of the CGC test--not the test, this is a class geared toward passing the test). He does have some prey drive--he lives with cats, but he will chase them out in the yard. Well, he will chase them in the house. They will also chase him. He loves that--he thinks they're playing with him. But yeah, on walks he has been known to suddenly take off after a squirrel or a bunny. He now knows he can't do that, but he wants to. He will also go after a ball, although if there's another dog to play with he prefers that. Best of all: another dog with a ball. It's hard to tell the line between fighting and play, because he has never minded playing kinda rough, and he comes out of play covered with the slobber of other dogs who've been mouthing him. So for me the line is when his hackles go up, because that usually means he's worried. In the class, that didn't happen. quote:If this is the first signs of reactivity you have seen and you see it again in the context of nothing that could be prey (or if you just want to check anyway) you should consider seeing a vet to rule out medical issues. quote:How far away were the two dogs when it started? The probable reason that Pongo kept behaving aggressively after you calmed him down is because you brought him back too close to the other dog. They were about six feet apart, and each on five-foot leashes. I did move him back, but it's not that big a classroom. He's got to learn to calm down at a closer range. I know there's a lot of reactive dog things in this thread, but the thread is so BIG. It needs an index!
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Jan 29, 2012 21:35
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Kiri koli posted:I know you want to be in that class and want Pongo to just get over it, but if he gets worse and the proximity is too close, you're going to need to find a way to lessen the stress on him, even if it means leaving the class. Believe me, you do not want to push Pongo and have him develop a general reactivity toward all dogs. It is MUCH harder to bring a dog back once they learn that 1) strangers are scary and 2) a fear reaction gets them what they want (the stressor moves away or Pongo gets to move away). Keep in mind your own reactions (if you start tensing up when you see that dog or whatever, he will pick up on it) and also the involvement of the leash. Leash reactivity is probably the most common and just because Pongo is good with other dogs off-leash doesn't mean he won't become reactive to them on-leash. I do think it was more that dog's problem than Pongo's because we went to his flyball class the next day and he was fine in that class, and there are some very high-strung dogs in that class! But I need to work on my attitude. I know this from training horses (years ago), but it keeps slipping out of my conscious mind.
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Jan 30, 2012 10:19
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notsoape posted:I just came across this video, and it kind of startled me. A lady is practicing heeling with her malinois using a 'touch stick'. About 40 seconds in, she flat out whacks the dog with the stick as a 'correction'. I get that mals are drivey, emotionally resilient dogs, and I knew there were still P+ trainers out there, but seeing it play out was really unsettling. That dog did seem a bit anxious, but I don't think "relaxed" was what she was going for. It actually inspired me to work on my dog's heel (which is never going to be that tight, I'm afraid).
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Feb 14, 2012 08:15
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whatspeakyou posted:This may be the wrong location for this, but I'll soon be introducing an 18-month, 45 pound American Foxhound mix to my home, which contains an 18 month old Cat (who obviously owns the entire house). Is there any specific training tasks I sould pursue in order to assure this loving dog doesn't eat my cat? He was fostered for a couple weeks with a woman who fosters cats and did extremely well apparently, but I'm still leery (and obviously over-protective of my cat). Dog is crate trained, if that matters. Dog needs to know 'leave it' re the cat. He will probably want to sniff the cat, and the cat will probably freak out. (A year and a half ago I introduced an 8-week-old, 9-lb puppy to two cats, and they freaked out even though they were both bigger, but then, the puppy was quite exuberant and just had puppy manners--he would sit. For a second.) If the dog sits politely and leaves the cats alone, and the cats have a place they can get away, preferably a high place, they should work things out eventually. The dog shouldn't get to sniff the cat while cat is still freaked out. I think I let my cats into the room where the puppy was crated, and they sniffed around while pretending they weren't really curious about this new pet at all. I also blocked off a couple of rooms with baby gates, which cats can easily get over and small puppies can't. One of those rooms contained their litter box. My cats got over being freaked out after a couple of days, and they aren't the best of friends, they aren't enemies. Being the same age, yours might well become good friends. It happens.
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Mar 17, 2012 04:56
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The Barking. Here is what I'm trying to do: put "Bark" on command, which has worked, and extinguish most other barking, excepting a polite bark to come inside, which has not worked. I took the whole bark/no-bark thing out of a Karen Pryor book where, apparently, she debarked a dog in less than ten minutes. I have been working on this for two MONTHS and still get random excited barking. I know he's going to bark if he sees a coyote outside the front window. What I'd like to extinguish is barking at the squirrel, the crow on the telephone wire above the back yard, and particularly the people next door who are trying to quietly enjoy their back yard. Or just barking to throw it out there and see if anybody barks back. He also barks at certain people walking by the house. Not everybody, and not even everybody with a dog. I don't know why some folks are barkworthy and the Great Dane is barkworthy and the Corgis aren't. So here we are, if I tell him to bark, he will bark and he treated. If he barks without the command, no treat. But barking seems to be its own reward. He really likes to bark! He is a year and a half old BC mix. So now what?
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Apr 16, 2012 17:16
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So my dog, 1.5 year old BC mix, is in flyball. He's doing good, with one exception, and that is that he focuses too much on other dogs. For instance when we're doing runbacks with a dog in the next lane (a crucial skill) he keeps looking over his shoulder to see where the other dog is. If the other dog drops a ball, then that is a ball that he would like to pick up, even if he has to jump a small fence to get it. He LOVES jumping a fence, particularly if he can steal a ball and then have another dog chase him. So. To combat this, should I keep him away from all other dogs? I have no idea how this would work. I can keep him focused on me when walking in the park, but if the other dog is friendly I also often let them greet. I take him to an off-leash park as it's the only (legal) place where he can get in a good straight full-out run, and of course he runs straight for other dogs, play-fights, chases, and herds them. Typically I will pitch the ball with my trusty Chuck-It, he will tear after it at top speed, grab it, then take it to the nearest bunch of dogs. Eventually he'll bring it back to me. I can also call him, and he will come, but not necessarily by the straightest route. There are also some neighborhood dogs that he has play dates with occasionally. When I was working hard on the recall I took him to the dog park, did not go in, and made him come to me from the end of a 20-foot leash about 20 times, and then as a reward we went into the dog park. I think it would be really tough to teach him not to react to another dog ever. TLDR, I guess what I'm asking is, how to teach a dog who really likes to play with other dogs to, at certain times, ignore those other dogs and focus on me.
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May 2, 2012 08:32
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n8r posted:So what do you guys think about rattlesnake avoidance training? There is some guy around here that is claiming he does it and his methods are suspicious at best. Lots of e-collar use in this area and this guy claims he can cure your dog w/ one nasty shock. I've heard of this. My husband wanted to get a shock collar for barking, but he said to ask our trainer. I asked her...she said absolutely not, the ONLY time she would ever recommend one was for rattlesnake aversion. (She didn't say that was the only way to do it, but she did say it worked.) She also said one shock ought to do it, and better a shock than a snakebite. This is a trainer who otherwise doesn't even want us to speak harshly to our dogs.
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May 27, 2012 08:55
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