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I've got a little question (it's not huge though): pretty much every time I get out of my chair, if Lola (six month old Jack Russell Terrier pup) is on the chair with me, on the other couch or on the floor asleep, she will jolt awake and watch me intensely. If I dare go to the door that leads upstairs, she runs upstairs past me to join me in the bathroom (she guards the stairs for me). If I go to the kitchen to wash up she'll either come and sit in the doorway, or she'll move to the couch so she can watch me over the threshold. Now I really don't mind her following me (especially since I'm often alone until 10pm or so), but I just feel bad if I have to go to the toilet and she bolts awake. She doesn't have SA or anything (she can be left alone while we're out without crying, though she's not crated - she's in a dogproof room until we can successfuly reintroduce the crate, as last time we rushed it and she despised it). So basically is there any way I can convince her to stay asleep while I move around? I feel like a heel sometimes, is all.
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Mar 26, 2011 22:47
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a life less posted:You can work on crate games if you're serious about wanting your dog to stay put, and exercise the restraint to jump up and follow you if you'd like. It's a pretty common behaviour for a lot of the high drive dogs -- mine is the same way. Eventually I just stopped caring if my shifting in the chair woke her. If I'm serious about her staying put I bring out the crate since I've done exercises to teach her that she does not exit a crate until I say okay, even if the door is open. Thanks! I'm not at all bothered about her staying put - it's nice to have her come upstairs and be on guard/keep me company - I just felt a little like a heel for waking her up. Even if I did crate games with her, she'd probably still jolt awake; she does like to know what's going on. When she's older and I can start more hardcore exercise with her (jogging, more fetch, etc) that might kill some of her lingering energy.
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Mar 28, 2011 19:57
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a life less posted:Incorporate the Look At That game into your walks when you notice him getting nervous. The beauty of the game is that it allows the dog to take a brief glimpse and what's freaking him out, and then back to you for a reward. It's a more operant way to deal with reactivity. Not the original asker, but I've been playing LAT with my JRT puppy (barky-reactive toward kids and some strangers) and she'll now offer strong glances between me and the trigger. We've been able to walk past kids about two feet away (with me between her and them) with only two or three treats given to her, and her holding pretty good eye contact. I've got a question though. Now we're at this point--her looking at the trigger, then straight back at me, often even when the trigger is closer than she generally likes--should I be clicking for her looking at the trigger still or for looking at me? I've been clicking her for eye contact with me, but I'm not sure if that's right and I don't wanna screw it up when we've got a good thing going 
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Apr 18, 2011 11:06
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a life less posted:So, I guess, the answer to your question is that you'll be clicking her for looking at a distraction, and the click should reorient her, assuming she's far enough away from it. Cool, thanks. I wasn't sure, so what I'd been doing previously was clicking 2-3 times for the first sighting of the trigger, and then moving to clicking each time she looked at the trigger and then back at me (clicking as she made eye contact). I'll go back to clicking for looking at the trigger. Is the aim of LAT to teach the dog to calmly look at something for longer and longer periods of time? (Like a swift glance, a full second, two seconds, etc.) I have found though that since I've been clicking for eye contact, she's started to offer it in unusual situations. She saw geese for the first time yesterday, for example, and stared at them for a few seconds before apparently having a lightbulb moment and flinging herself around so that she could meet my eyes. 
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Apr 18, 2011 15:45
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a life less posted:I think the original intention of Look At That is a way for the dog to quickly get her ya-yas out and then continue actively working with you. The book McDevitt wrote was designed to create better control of a dog. Thanks! It does seem to be working, and a couple rounds of LAT is good for getting Lola's focus around her triggers, so I'll probably just carry on doing what I'm doing (maybe try to click a little early, but she does pre-empt it and glance between me and the trigger pretty quickly). Stupid puppy is too clever for me. You mentioned something about Focus earlier? (Clicking for eye contact.) Is that just used to keep your dog's attention around more exciting things, like a way of showing that you're always 'better' than the things around you? I'm having a problem teaching Lola how to bow right now. So far I'm just getting her into the position (by moving the treat toward the floor with my hand under her belly to keep her upright) and rewarding like crazy for holding the position. I had trouble teaching my other dog this, and she's a little easier because she's bigger. Lola is a seven month old JRT pup, so I can't really do a progressive toward-the-ground bow (click for bending legs, etc) - her movements are just too small and quick to see, and we've done enough treat near floor = lie down work that she just wants to flop straight down. Has anyone had any luck using an unusual method of teaching this? I think it's a problem with me, not with the puppy (I had trouble teaching Lola to stand, too - and I had trouble teaching that to my other dog).
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Apr 22, 2011 20:28
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a life less posted:With bow, some people lure it. I captured it with Cohen. Does Lola ever bow naturally during play? Cohen would dance around and bow before I kicked a ball, so I brought my clicker out with me to the park and clicked and treated each time she did it. It took a while for her to do it without a ball around, but with enough repetitions I managed to get it on cue. Capturing can be slow, but helpful for some of the more unusual tricks (sneezing, ear twitches, head shakes, etc). Lola only really bows when she's trying to initiate play with my other dog. She'll very occasionally bow when I have my foot on her boomer ball, but that ball (and most other balls) just sends her manic; she can't learn anything when she's that wild. I saw the youtube vid you linked before I started a couple days ago, funnily enough. I think I might have been moving too slowly with the treat - I'm going to try really fast moving the treat diagonally towards her and click for her following the treat, bending her elbows, etc, so that she gets the idea better that she isn't supposed to lie down. I might try using her target stick rather than a food lure, as it was pretty hard to fade the lure before when I was getting her in position and feeding for position.
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Apr 23, 2011 12:55
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Fraction posted:I saw the youtube vid you linked before I started a couple days ago, funnily enough. I think I might have been moving too slowly with the treat - I'm going to try really fast moving the treat diagonally towards her and click for her following the treat, bending her elbows, etc, so that she gets the idea better that she isn't supposed to lie down. I might try using her target stick rather than a food lure, as it was pretty hard to fade the lure before when I was getting her in position and feeding for position. Okay so after I whined yesterday about our issues with this, I tried this morning. Got a handful of kibble, lured Lola into a stand, and then moved the treat diagonally toward her. And she went straight into a pretty good bow, then did it almost perfectly for another ten or so reps (the last six or so of which were just with an 'air cookie'). Maybe she was thinking overnight and it just clicked. Crazy puppy.
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Apr 23, 2011 23:03
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rivals posted:Alright I've got an issue with a seemingly simple solution but it's been regressing so I need a sanity check. Kaidan has always had an issue with licking people. If you have any exposed skin, chances are he'll sit there for (not exaggerating) 5, 10, 15 minutes licking incessantly. This includes arms, legs, neck, etc. We normally deal with this with a standard 'leave it' and click and treat when he stops, works great. a couple months ago we started having people over on a more regular basis and he did completely fine, he wasn't getting obsessive about the licking at all, however over the last week it's gotten worse than ever before. It's been getting to the point where I can't even let him sit next to guests because every 30 seconds I'm telling him to leave it. Do I need to up it to higher value treats and keep being consistent or is there something else I can try? How about a two-pronged attack? If he's near them and doesn't lick, shovel high value treats (teeny tiny chunks of chicken, cheese, liver, etc) down his throat. If he licks, the guest being licked gets up and leaves the room for five seconds. It'll probably take him ten or fifteen times to learn that not licking = great food, and licking makes people go away. Alternatively, if you have a bunch of people around and he's licking a lot of them, you could always put him on a long line and simply remove him from the room for a couple of seconds rather than the people he's licking. But still treat like crazy for anything that isn't licking (and isn't obnoxious, like barking or pawing hard).
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Apr 26, 2011 19:31
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If he changes immediately to someone else, I'd recommend removing him then. You probably were starting to work through an extinction burst - a behaviour will get worse before it gets better. Just keep removing him when he starts licking and plugging him full of treats when he reaches the person/doesn't lick. Use a unique word or noise to mark exactly when he does something to earn a time-out, put him in the room, let him out, etc. Sometimes (okay oftentimes - he's a husky, right?) you just gotta out-stubborn the dog! Is he better if there's less people in the room? (Will he give up more quickly, I mean?) You could always try just having one other person round, removing consistently for licking, and then gradually increase the number of people present after a couple of days or weeks' work.
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Apr 26, 2011 22:58
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I'd just like to start this off by noting that Lola is doing really, really well with her reactivity. She hasn't barked at anyone outside for about a week and a half, and prior to that when she has barked it's been only once or twice, and it was easy to regain her attention by simply saying her name. Today, two people on motorized(?) skateboards went past, which neither of us have seen before, and Lola simply gave them a glance (they were about twenty metres to our left) and carried on her way back with her ball. And of course, because nothing stays positive for long, we're running into a new problem: possessive behaviour around other dogs. With Jess (my other, older, very tolerant but strange-dog-aggressive dog) she doesn't do it, and nor does she with my friend's Cairn, but with strange dogs outside she sometimes nips at/snarls at them if they come too close to me (or my bag). She used to growl or lunge at other dogs if they came near her ball when we were playing fetch - after she did this twice, I started putting her ball away when other dogs are around (she only occasionally barks at Jess if Jess grabs the ball indoors - once every twenty or so throws that Jess attempts for, and has only barked at Millie when they both play fetch outdoors once or twice despite north of a hundred throws over the last month or so). Occasionally, she would bark at other dogs that approached my bag (I always carry a bag with me, for a spare tennis ball/treats/poo bags), but since this has happened before today maybe three or four times her entire life with me so far (she's nearly 8 months old now), I wasn't too concerned. However, today she did it to two dogs--she was very tired from playing fetch for longer than usual, and she does get more short-tempered with other dogs if we play fetch for too long without a break, so it was my fault--including a border collie that she usually gets along with well, and a strange staffie. Both times, the dogs approached us, I put her ball in my bag, and she greeted the other dog. With the border collie (this happened first), she let him sniff at me and have a few strokes on the chest without fuss, but then (literally without warning - she'd been happily sniffing him, then just moved closer and snapped at his muzzle). I told her off (not ideal, but I was caught off-guard and just told her to snap out of it), she backed off, I stroked the collie again and gave her a treat instantly after as she didn't react. The second time, the staffie came up to us faster, was more pushy with sniffing at my bag, and she air-snapped at his flank and then at his face when he turned to look at her). I immediately put her lead on and left. How should I deal with this? I'm not sure if she's being possessive of me, or my bag (which is full of the wonders of the world). I can't devalue myself as a resource for two reasons: a) I need her to want to be near me, and we have worked a lot on making my presence and attention a Really Great Thing, and b) there's literally nobody else who can feed, walk and play with her, as my mother often works shifts of 9am-9pm, four or five times a week. I'm also leery of feeding her around strange dogs (I didn't mind with the collie, as he is the most laidback, softest dog I've met), because I don't want to trigger any food aggressive behaviours in other dogs, and I can't reward her for being good with her tennis ball because she used to guard that (she's gotten better at not guarding, and will now often just drop the ball and sniff the other dog, then pick it up and come back to me without fuss). In future I definitely won't be playing fetch for so long (an hour solid, with only two breaks, at about 15 minutes and 30 minutes), but we were both enjoying ourselves, so I kind of forgot. Has anyone got any suggestions in how to deal with this, though?
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May 2, 2011 17:28
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a life less posted:I've run into the same problem with Cohen. She can be kind of insecure around other dogs, she sees me as valuable, and her behaviour dips noticeably when she gets tired. It's a prime opportunity for resource-guarding. Thanks for this! I'm hoping that her over-tiredness today made her snappier than she otherwise would have been (which is often the case for her reactivity with both people and dogs), so I'll start putting the ball away after 40 minutes for a couple of days and see if that helps. Would it be any help in practicing good behaviour around the dogs she has no problem with, to get a foundation for her behaviour? I could start creating a cue which means 'wait there and be calm' when there's another dog near me (using my other dog first), alternating between giving Jess attention and giving huge jackpots to Lola for being non-reactive; then do the same with my friend's Cairn the next time she brings her over to my house, and hope that that gives Lola something to fall back on? Lola is pretty amazing at generalising (once she knows a cue in a few rooms of the house indoors, she will offer the behaviour on the first cue nearly every single time outdoors), so maybe practicing with two dogs will at least give her *something* to think on other than 'oh god that dog is near my great thing gotta get them away!' I might try taking her ball on a rope, too, rather than the ball and chuck-it (and spare ball). I can probably shove everything else in my pockets (it's just easier with the bag), and we'll see if she reacts at all just with me, and move on from there. If she is trying to guard the bag rather than me, it'll be a lot easier to deal with.
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May 2, 2011 19:02
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a life less posted:Yep. This is definitely a situation where you can start to set positive precedents before going out into the more challenging 'real world'. Think of "be good" as a control exercise, or a long sit/stay. And of course remember not to test it in the real world until you've done your homework. Again, I think that management is equally important here. Good luck! As soon as my exams are over, I'll start in earnest on teaching her to behave more appropriately. Since I'll be using Jess and my friend's dog, I know I can use food to reward her behaviour too - so if they're getting pats, she's getting chunks of chicken slice, etc. Hopefully it'll work, and thanks for the in-depth (as always!) answer.  Out of curiousity, has anyone heard of Natural Dog Training? Kevin Behan, of NDT, suggests things like making yourself prey-like (can't find the link for that bit now, but he suggests 'being the moose') and pushing against your dog as a reward/relaxer: feeding your dog whilst gently pushing against the chest, working up to a hard push against them and removing the food reward (video here). I know this is a little off-topic in that it isn't asking a question about dealing with behaviour, but it's about a (relatively obscure, I guess) method of training.
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May 3, 2011 18:12
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Levitate posted:uh, that sounds pretty weird. "unresolved emotion"? really? Sorry, the video was a last-minute add-on link (the video didn't show the shaped push that he mentioned elsewhere, but showed him pushing at the dog's neck and upper chest whilst feeding, from what I could see). I've just been looking through it, and the site is pretty damned hard to navigate. I also don't get the strange terms that he uses. I was just curious to see what other people thought about it!
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May 3, 2011 18:27
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Flesh Forge posted:There's a huge amount of doubletalk that is very hard to take any practical technique from. I try to keep an open mind about training techniques but pretty much all of this article has me going WHAT THE gently caress: At first, when I looked at the site I was thinking it didn't seem too bad. Be the biggest and best thing in the world to your dog, push against them, that seems interesting. But then... quote:We can think of predatory energy as electric and preyful energy as magnetic; thus, the form-of-a-thing engenders a specific electromagnetic vibration in an animal’s perception of it, just as molecules are arranged and just as the sense of smell works (according to a new theory as detailed in the “The Emperor of Scent”). In other words, a dog doesn’t think of its owner as a Being, but as being a specific electromagnetic vibration of a predatory aspect relative to a preyful aspect along a spectrum. What.  In the comments sections, seems like he's got a pretty attached fanbase... so at least
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May 3, 2011 20:40
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Riiseli posted:"Healy training megapost" I'm not sure if what worked for Healy would work at all for Lola. I've made myself a massive Awesome Resource for her, and I think that pushing her away if she was being obnoxious to other dogs would only reinforce that other dogs are a threat to 'her' resource. I'm not even sure if it was me or the bag that she was guarding. Punishing blowing off a recall and punishing aggression aren't things I'm keen on doing with her; punishment can have fallouts, and she's a pretty sensitive dog as it is. She sounds like a dog that is very oriented toward you (what breed is Healy, out of curiousity?); while I've made myself and my attention rewarding for my terrier pup, it's still not the same. She'll work for my approval and affection, but the best combination hands-down is a primary reinforcer (food, toys, etc) on a varied schedule of reinforcement with my praise.
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May 4, 2011 15:45
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Hdip posted:Oh well I'll keep working on it. She is meant to be an outside dog really. It's just to hot to leave her outside all the time in the summer. Why is she supposed to be an outside dog? And how long are you leaving her outside each day?
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May 6, 2011 20:29
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get out posted:I'm going to try the Kong thing. I have one of the bigger ones for her but she hasn't even sniffed it. Do I fill the entire thing up or just put a little inside? I've been hearing such conflicting advice. Some people tell me to not put anything inside of her crate with her so she knows when she goes in there it's time to sleep/relax. Aaagh. I usually fill the entire thing and freeze it, so it lasts longer. And for the conflicting advise, think about what you would prefer: in a comfy bed in a room you like being in with some delicious food at hand if you want it, or having nothing at all in there to eat?
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May 10, 2011 21:34
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Egg Poacher posted:Is there a good approach for: Will she tell him to back off (tense body posture, hard stare, growl, snarl, air-snap, etc) if he gets too rowdy? If not, you could try leaving him on a long line when she's around, giving a verbal marker and removing him when he gets too ramped-up. It's honestly better for her to tell him when and how to play with her though, in my experience. Egg Poacher posted:Also, with regards to the Chihuahua: whenever I enter the room she will do a little wee. I'm trying coming in with a treat each time, will this eventually prevent such a response? Is she excited to see you, or does she seem anxious? She likely has something generally known as 'submissive urination' (or is there a medical/behavioural term for it, anyone?). What you could try doing is entering the room and not looking at her at all - keep your body very soft and relaxed, your movements slow, and sit down very slowly somewhere in the room. Don't look at her at all until she comes to you, though you can entice her with outstretched (just held on your lap/the floor before you) hands with stinky treats on, or offer a toy. As far as I'm aware (I've not had much experience with submissive urination), keeping everything calm and very gentle will go a long way in soothing the problem.
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May 12, 2011 22:36
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Egg Poacher posted:Bloody hell. Simply because of his breed, I make sure he's penned up when no one is around and is never left alone with kids or other dogs. Hopefully he isn't seeing a little lamb chop running around. Thanks for pointing this out though, I'll read up on it. Staffies/pits are pretty drat unlikely to ever be aggressive to humans (unless bad breeding, badly raised - they are supposed to be placid enough around people that their handlers could stick their hands into their mouths mid-fight and not get bitten), including children. I still wouldn't leave any dog together with a kid unsupervised, and nor would I leave together a dog that is prone to dog aggression (such as bully breeds) with another dog. If her 'back the gently caress off' signals (snarls and snaps are pretty extreme forms of stress signals) aren't being taken seriously, then he definitely shouldn't be around her. You could try working on impulse control games, get him playing with you in the same area but not *with* the chihuahua, and work on training around the chi. If he's completely ignoring her signals, too, then you need to back her up by removing him entirely from the situation. Give him a ten-second time out period in a dog-proofed area (NOT his crate), and reintroduce him to her. Make sure she has plenty of places to escape to if she wants. Fraction fucked around with this message at 00:07 on May 13, 2011 |
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May 12, 2011 23:14
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Flesh Forge posted:It's really odd and pretty specific, just when I'm holding out some kind of treat. He doesn't seem to be showing any fear, he just ... isn't in a hurry to come get whatever it is. I should add, he's getting a *little* faster about it when I put something on the floor, but gosh it's taking a long time. That is a pretty weird Dog Thing. Have you tried, in a totally relaxed, day to day situation whilst you're just chilling, smearing some peanut butter (or melted cheese, or something similar) on your fingers on both hands and offering one hand to each dog? Maybe seeing Darla happily lick something nice and stinky and tasty off of you will encourage him to think that hands = good food = you can get that food. It sounds a little like someone's been pretty harsh to him in teaching him to 'leave it' (like shouting if he's gone for something they've dropped).
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May 22, 2011 21:06
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Sylink posted:However, we are now trying to start off leash training. IMO, you're expecting too much of your dog. There is a massive difference between being indoors and outdoors on-leash (and indoors off leash), and being outdoors and off-leash. You need to find somewhere less distracting than the woods to start with; do you have access to a secure yard or field, or anywhere you can take him other than a place that will be stock full of smells and critters? The issue with teaching recall in such a distracting place is that it's very self-rewarding to NOT come to you - why respond to someone shouting your name when there's a squirrel a metre above your head, or a pile of deer crap to roll in? Also, it's possible you aren't using something motivational enough. What treats are you giving him for recall? You need to find a food or toy he goes absolutely crazy for, and reward him liberally with it when he comes back to you. What is motivating indoors or outdoors and on-leash will not be motivating when he is outdoors and off-leash and can self-reward so much. To reduce his ability to run away, you do need a long line, too. If you use a huge length of cheap rope, as he gets better you can cut it up - so when he's responding 100% with 50m of rope, trim off a metre, and so on.
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May 28, 2011 16:28
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Does anyone know of any good impulse control games to play with dogs? As part of my 'Lola you must learn to be civil to other dogs' thing, I'm doing impulse control games with Lola again, to further cement her 'leave it' and ability to work around distractions. We already do 'It's Yer Choice' (we're up to her leaving low value food on the ground whilst off-lead and indoors) and stay/release when we're playing fetch outdoors, but I can't really think of any others. I also don't know how to advance It's Yer Choice past increasing the value of the food on the ground (and tossing it past her, etc); it's going to be very hard to do the walk-over-food thing because as soon as it's there, she'll look at it once or twice and then move about two to three feet away, and is very reluctant to come closer. I guess I could bring Jess in and let her eat the food, but I don't want to overload Lola and make her too competitive, so I don't know if it would be a good idea or not, and how to work up to that level.
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May 28, 2011 21:18
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Flesh Forge posted:This article helped me a great deal, especially the "chill out" game when playing tug of war, or any situation where you're holding a valuable toy during a game really. Huh, for some reason I actually had this fav'd - as 'article on impulse control'. Thanks for reminding me I had it! There's another article I remember glancing at once that taught you how to instill a chill out cue for your dog so that in new situations it looks to you to play - but for the life of me I have no idea where I read it. Rixatrix posted:Using food, you can work your way up to putting food on her or even throwing it at her. You can also work IYC into other training, which in my opinion is something you should do pretty quickly anyway. Use lower value distractions and ask her to perform a trick (something easy she knows, like sit or a hand touch) before rewarding her with a higher value treat. Working IYC into your training rather than keeping it up as a solitary exercise will prevent your dog persistently defaulting into "leave it". It's something you really don't want - you should aim to get her to default into "leave it while offering other behavior to earn reinforcement". Yesterday we were doing 'with me' around the food on the floor (cue to walk generally to heel) so tricks are a natural progression from that! Can't believe I didn't think about it durr, thanks!
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May 29, 2011 10:52
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PotatoManJack posted:The staffy on the other hand is almost always pulling, lunging at smells, on 2 hind legs leaning against the collar when she sees another dog or person she wants to go and see. It make walking her really unpleasant, and my wife and I basically take turns with who is on ‘Stormy Duty’ Like a life less said, you'll probably want a head halter for her. I have a staffie cross, and as long as her muzzle is long enough to hold it, a halti (or similar) will make walking her *so* much easier. It's very hard for a dog to pull when you have control of their head. Leash corrections, by the way, will not work on the vast majority of staffies; they just don't give a poo poo. (Leash corrections don't work on most dogs as it is, but they work on staffies even less.) You really don't want to do what I did with my staffie-beagle and give leash pops and end up with your dog having a super strong, muscled neck from pulling against it regardless. How much exercise is Stormy getting, each day? Staffies are pretty agile, and since she's mixed with border collie she's going to be needing a lot of exercise--upwards of an hour a day off-leash, really. If she's getting short walks during the week and then 'long' walks at the weekend, that could be why she's pulling so much when you start out. Does she like to fetch, or play tug? If she does, try playing that for half an hour, indoors or in your yard, before you take them out. You could also try popping her in a harness and taking her for a jog each morning or night for half an hour, if she doesn't like to play (which would be odd, giving her breed mix). Tiring your dog out physically is a third of the battle to achieving good LLW skills - you're asking a lot of a mentally immature dog to walk perfectly loosely at leash when she has so much energy she wants to kill by moving. You could also give her meals only out of kongs and other similar food dispensing toys, and/or do daily training with her, to help tire her out mentally, too. Also, you might want to look at the value of the rewards you use; kibble and plain biscuits aren't going to cut it. If you don't already, try using things like microwaved hot dog, cheese, freeze-dried liver, etc. The stinkier and messier the better! If she's not particularly food motivated, you could also try using toys - staffies tend to go crazy for tugs, and something like a real fur tug (which you periodically reward her with for a couple of minutes of tug-play) could keep her glued to your side. Every dog is an individual, and they like different things! Between correct training (a life less's post), more physical exercise and more mental exercise, you'll find it a lot easier to walk her.
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May 30, 2011 16:00
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The BLT posted:I have a pretty important question about what I may be able to do to train my dog to not want to kill any cat she sees. Unfortunately, your dog has a very high prey drive. That she's caught and killed a cat is worrying for any future dog-cat interactions; if you and your girlfriend move in together, it's likely the animals would never be allowed in the same room, and have to be kept in separate areas of the house. Has the cat lived with a dog before? Is it nervous or confident? If the cat stands it's ground, you might be able to desensitise your dog to it - whilst your dog is wearing a muzzle, is tethered so she can't reach the cat, etc, for a long while. If the cat is likely to run, I don't think there's anything really you can do - it will just trigger her prey drive more and she'll want to Get The Thing. Other posters may have better advise but personally I'd just keep them separated at all times, because I think it's too risky given that your dog has killed a cat before.
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Jun 2, 2011 10:40
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Chachikoala posted:We noticed that she plays pretty rough with a lot of mouthing and soft biting. The vet said that she thinks the previous owners must have played pretty rough with her. Training this out of her is priority 1 over the next couple of weeks. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to prevent mouthing / biting while playing or when she gets overly excited? You could try yelping and stopping immediately if she mouths. Move away, totally disengage from her until she's calmed down plus another 3-5 seconds. If she is really revved up, and tries mouthing at your clothes or leaping at you or anything, just walk slowly out of the room. As soon as she's calm, turn back, cue her to do something (to sit, to play dead, to fetch a toy - whatever) before you carry on. Rinse and repeat, and she should pretty quickly get the idea that mouthing is painful and makes the fun stop.
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Jun 9, 2011 23:31
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errol _flynn posted:How do I keep my dog from running across the road and stay in our yard instead? When I am out with my dog and watching him, it's not a problem but when I am not right there with him, he slips across the road to the newly dug/planted farm fields in a second. I assume they are just chock full of tempting new fresh smells and cowpoops. I'd say this is a situation where tethering your dog (or fencing your yard) would work better for everyone involved. You really don't want to take your eyes off of him, and him shoot across the road at the same time as a car passes by. It is quite likely VERY self-reinforcing for him to run to the smelly farm field, rather than stay around when you aren't watching him.
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Jun 10, 2011 00:00
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How do I train my dog to... bring me any toy on cue? So far the only way I can think is to shape a general retrieve of any toy from her toy basket. With five minutes and a handful of kibble, I managed to shape her to bringing me a toy of her choice in the session from the basket. I'm not sure if this will make it too 'obedience'-y though. My plan next is to get her to bring any toy from the basket, then add the cue, increase the distance, change my position, and then generalise to cold trials. I'll be using kibble until after the cue is added, and then reward with tug on successful retrieval, with kibble being an intermittent reward (hopefully increasing her good tug drive in the process). I'm just not sure if I'm over thinking it though. There is probably a much easier, less formal way to teach it - but I can't think of an alternative.
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Jun 10, 2011 14:19
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Elixibren posted:Haha, except we're not getting number 6. Not even after an hour. And we pretty much start at about 4. :P And with his cone of shame on, we're limited on what we can give him now. But he likes his crate. We played "crate games" with him, and he always gets a treat when he goes in (just more creative now since he's coned). Hey there, apparently you have my dog  Lola would be quiet in the crate for as long as it took her to finish whatever I put in with her (or as soon as she bored of the kong etc) and then she would whine. That would happen for a few seconds, and then she started screaming. What I found working was to praise for quiet - and tell her in no uncertain terms ('nope') that whining was unacceptable. Cutting her off at whining prevented her from escalating to screams, and she will now stay quietly in the crate (and go in of her own free will, which she never did before). We are still working up to her being quiet while I'm out of the room, since she panics and whines a little, but thats getting much better now. I should note that I use 'nope' to give her a chance to redirect herself. It's very calm and quiet, and I immediately praise for the behaviour I want after (anything but stressing out). I'm leery of saying 'go do this', but just thought I'd share - this is what works for us.
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Jun 16, 2011 17:57
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Skizzles posted:I apologize if this has been brought up before, but how can I work on getting Shadow to do commands from a distance? For him, if he's 5+ feet from me, he thinks EVERY command is a recall. If he's like 15 feet away and I tell him to sit, he thinks he has to come up to me. Now, I'm delighted he has great recall... but obviously it's a little off. My first guess is that I really need to improve his 'stay' command and go from there? Start inside, with something easy - sit or down. Start by cuing right next to him (so you are like an inch away), then move back an inch or so and cue/reward. If he moves forward to follow you, I would just lean or move into him slightly, just pushing him back. Keep taking tiny half-steps back until he can do it perfectly for one behaviour, and then start another. When he knows 2-3 cues from the other side of the room, start bringing in distractions. The problem with improving his stay (to use stay) is that you don't want, in order to get him to for example lie down outside 20m away, to have to shout 'stay! down!'
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Jun 19, 2011 11:28
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Chachikoala posted:She loves playing tug. we have a special tug rope that we play with and keep it out of reach unless it is time to play (I always win as well). Maybe we can do short leash sessions today and help move some of that behavior along. You really don't need to 'win' when playing tug. In fact, I often find with dogs I've played tug with that letting them win (mix it up - sometimes you snatch it away and laugh at them and dangle it and amp it up, sometimes you loosen your grip so they can get it, and sometimes you cue a 'drop') makes them much more excited to play tug again next time. Always end on a positive note, too, when she still wants to play.
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Jun 20, 2011 17:30
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That's pretty awesome; shame I missed it.  Question though--anyone know what she means by: '2. Loo training is magical a. Train in the bathroom. b. Minimize distractions, maximize focus on you.' Does she mean using your bathroom to train, initially, because of the lack of distractions? I've never heard of using a bathroom as a place to train, so that's a little strange for me (I've mostly heard using the place that your dog spends the most time/is most familiar with).
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Jun 23, 2011 21:39
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a life less posted:That's exactly what she means. She uses the bathroom a lot when training puppies. I've never personally used it, but didn't have trouble ensuring all focus was on me during brief training sessions. I suppose it'd make sense to use toilet breaks for the handler as two or so minute training spurts. I'm totally going to do that tomorrow, since Lola follows me to the toilet anyway. Oh, and I have another question (not related to the webinar): A week or so ago, whilst me and Lola were walking on the park with my friend and her dog (we'd just leashed the dogs up to go home), Lola saw a bird. We've been doing a thing where she looks at birds (which she is really prey-drivey towards, same with squirrels), looks at me for a click/treat, and then holds eye contact with me until I let go of her leash and tell her to GO GET IT. She sped off after the bird, turned as soon as I called her (about a metre from the bird, just as it took off) and sped back to me, and waited for me to collect her leash. My friend was bemused, and I explained that it was using the Premack Principle to reinforce her attention around Exciting Prey Things. Is that actually right though, or have I misunderstood PP? My plan is to increase the time that she watches me, and phase out the click/treat (just to stop her from instantly gunning for the bird - sometimes there's one treat, sometimes two, before she is released) so that her reward for being good is to charge the bird.
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Jun 23, 2011 21:51
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a life less, out of curiousity do you have any videos of a standard training session with Cohen? I'm always curious as to 'how' other handlers work with their dogs, and since none of my friends are that concerned with training (I actually annoy them babbling on about it ) I only really have what I've seen on things like It's Me Or the Dog to compare with. Actually, I'd love to see anyone's videos of a general training session! I find training fascinating.
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Jun 25, 2011 16:13
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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. Now if I could only remember that Lola has that cue, I always forget about it but she absolutely loves it.
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Jun 29, 2011 15:36
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Kiri koli posted:I think if your dog is little enough to be scooped up in bad situations, that's a great tool, but you need to be careful. My husband had been defaulting to picking her up even in salvageable situations (it took me a while to notice because when we're together, I'm usually holding the leash) and I think that's a big part of what poisoned it for us. I had to pick Lola up today, because some idiot let his dog come bounding over (he was calling it, but half-heartedly and it didn't pay a single whit of attention to him). Lola wasn't impressed with being toted through the air at a fast pace, as the drat dog followed us for about 20-25m, but she only vocalised once, which was a lot better than I expected. Well done on your work with Psyche! It's really awesome hearing how other people's progress with reactive dogs is coming along. I just wish I had a good training class near me; of the two I can attend at the moment, one relies on forcing your dog to confront things and the other uses dominance theory so uhhh no thanks!
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Jun 29, 2011 18:30
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Rhymes With Clue posted: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? I just followed the Kikopup video for training it - here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXdpTMV7R9c Lola picked it up really fast, and it's the only thing other than barking that she's on an intermittent reinforcement schedule for because it is so rewarding to her (she loves to be carried). Just take it real slow and your dog should understand, though! Oh and edited to add, a video of Lola showing it from today. One thing to remember is that if they do it from a distance and don't break first, it's going to be like having a dog three or four times their natural weight ramming into your stomach. It's slightly better if you bend your legs so they aim at your upper thighs rather than directly at your stomach, too. Fraction fucked around with this message at 12:46 on Jun 30, 2011 |
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Jun 30, 2011 08:55
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She's around 12-13lbs (last weighed her at the start of the month, she was 12lbs then). So when she charges from a distance, it feels a whole lot more like she weighs ~30lbs. Oh, and to see how easily a dog that doesn't like it can pick it up (if they are food orientated), I taught my eleven year old dog, who weighs around 28lbs, to do it today: here. It's not on verbal cue because Jess isn't great with verbal cues, but she got the idea and trusted me enough to do it within twenty minutes or so. I don't think I'll be getting her to charge at me and jump though, because I'm pretty sure that would snap me in half! EDIT: A couple weeks ago, someone on a dog training community I'm in sent me the full version of a nine-page journal (Training methods and owner–dog interactions: Links with dog behaviour and learning ability) from here. I just saw it again now after forgetting about it; it looks pretty interesting. 'Abstract: The methods by which owners train their pet dogs range widely, with some exclusively using rewards, and others using a combination, or only punishment-based methods. This paper examines links between the way in which owners reported to have trained their dogs and observations of the dogs’ subsequent behaviour. It also explores associations between behaviour of owner and dog when tested in their own home. A total of 53 owners were surveyed about their preferred methods for training each of seven common tasks, and were each filmed interacting with their dog in a series of standardised scenarios. Dogs owned by subjects who reported using a higher proportion of punishment were less likely to interact with a stranger, and those dogs whose owners favoured physical punishment tended to be less playful. However, dogs whose owners reported using more rewards tended to perform better in a novel training task. Ability at this novel task was also higher in dogs belonging to owners who were seen to be more playful and who employed a patient approach to training. This study shows clear links between a dog’s current behaviour and its owner’s reported training history as well as the owner’s present behaviour. High levels of punishment may thus have adverse effects upon a dog’s behaviour whilst reward based training may improve a dog’s subsequent ability to learn.' If anyone wants, I can email it to them - not sure about the legality of posting it up here. It looks pretty fascinating though. Fraction fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Jun 30, 2011 |
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Jun 30, 2011 22:34
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I really need to stop posting in this thread Today on our walk, I completely forgot my newfound thought yesterday of slow everything down for making Lola less reactive. We were going to somewhere Lola's only ever been once before, and that I haven't been to for a while, and I completely forgot that one of the houses you have to pass has a husky or mal chained up outside during the day. The dog is the most chilled out, lovely thing ever, which is cool. It wasn't cool that Lola started barking and snarling as soon as she saw it (it was laid next to the car tyres so I think she was startled and reacted in typical terrier fashion). I hauled her past since there was nothing I could do, and carried on walking. When we were leaving the field, I had a thought - that perhaps I'm too 'soft' with Lola in regards to her reactivity. Some of her best-followed cues are those that she knows there is a negative consequence for; such as a penalty walk for breaking a stay. I remembered that Lola used to not be able to be in the crate with me in the room without pitching a fit, and simply interrupting her whine with a calm, firm 'no' has made it so that she even goes in there voluntarily now. So I tested it: when we were heading back from the field, about three or four metres from where you can first see the husky, Lola's hackles started going up. I continued forward - she saw the dog, barked, and I told her firmly 'no'. I didn't shout, didn't touch her. She stopped barking--didn't stare at the dog--and just calmly looked between me and the dog for LAT rewards. We carried on walking, since I was running out of kibble (story of my life ), and then I on a spur of the moment thing turned back after a few seconds' walking and walked back. Lola's hackles didn't go up, she didn't shut down (took treats), she didn't go all wiggly like she does when I raise my voice. She just very calmly looked between me and the dog, even when I amped her up by rubbing her sides and cooing happily at her. She even turned her back on a strange dog to let me stroke her better.But I'm conflicted about this because, on the one hand, punishment in treating aggression is bad. But on the other hand... I'm not sure exactly that Lola's barking at dogs IS aggression. She used to be really friendly with other dogs, and I'm not sure if she just upped and decided that her excitement was now going to be aggression, or if her excitement became some sort of reactive frustration. Plus, Lola's a JRT - barking is incredibly self reinforcing, and part of her nature. I obviously don't want to make her reactivity worse, but... I don't know. For what it's worth I don't use 'no' as a punishment so much as to interrupt a behaviour - to tell her 'that isn't going to get you a reward so knock it off.' Any ideas? Fraction fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Jul 1, 2011 |
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Jul 1, 2011 21:14
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 19:23 |
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Apidae posted: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. Haha, Lola tried this! Once she realised that she could pull on roads, for a while she would be a little bitch about it, and since the two main roads between my house and our park are really busy I couldn't stop. What I had to do was find some really quiet roads, make sure they're perfectly clear, and then go. We had a cue to cross the road, so I gave that, and stopped each time she pulled. Progressively started crossing busier roads, using food lures at the busiest when I had to get her across quickly as possible without letting her pull. She's pretty good now, and only loses her head a couple of times on the walk to the park, because she's so excited and wants to gogogo.
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Jul 7, 2011 23:24
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