I need training advice!

[lka0192]

Last year my American Bulldog passed away and after a few months of not having a dog around I decided to start looking. In early November I found a Dutch Shepherd that was up for adoption at shelter out of town and absolutely could not pass up the opportunity. I have ZERO experience in owning a breed of this kind of intelligence (my American Bulldog was not the brightest) but I figured I could learn. Kira is now 7 months old and I adore her. I hired a local trainer for private sessions of basic obedience and Kira did wonderfully. However, there are certain things I still need major help with.

1) On walks and runs Kira attempts to chase after cars. If I say "leave it" will - but I have to repeat it EVERY single time a car passes. I live downtown so there is a lot of traffic which makes this a huge issue. I have this same problem with "off". She realizes there is no point in begging for my food (which I never give her) if she can jump on the counter top or table and get it herself. I can say "off" and she will listen but the behavior continues.

2) Her kennel has never been used for punishment. There are bones, toys, and a comfortable bed inside of it. She is also rewarded every time I have to put her in it. Despite all of this, she hates being in it, and lets me know with this awful high pitched shriek that seems to never end. I've been doing what the trainer recommended but its not exactly working out.

3) She gets plenty of exercise and we interact all day everyday - training, fetch, play... but I don't have a job for her to do and its starting to effect her behavior (as in she creates her own job and majority of the time that means shredding things around the house and her toys). Agility is off the table until I can find a safe dog park with a course. Any ideas would be appreciated!

[LyonsFamily]

What kind of trainer are you working with and what have been his/her suggestions? Does the trainer only deal with obedience, or can they address behaviors as well. Instead of working to correct the problems when they occur, work on rewarding when the problems don't occur. You can do this with a clicker or just your voice with the word YES. Put the dog in the crate and when there's silence, sound and give a treat. Don't punish for the barking, but when the silence comes again, sound and treat.

It's very simple to do marker training and dogs, especially DS, will pick up very quickly that being quite in the crate means a reward. You can do the same thing with the counter surfing and car passing. When a car passes, put her in a sit or halted stand and get her to focus on you. If the car passes without her chasing it, reward her. She'll soon learn to stop and look at you when there's a car passing. After a while you can reward after 2 cars and then after an entire block of cars. If she isn't already, she should always be on a leash and never allowed near enough to chase the cars, so she's close enough to you already to ready to focus.

Agility doesn't have to be off the table if you don't have a dog park. You can build a few jumps and smaller obstacles and transport them anywhere. I currently have a 20x20 yard that I share with 4 units and we practice agility multiple times a week. My dog walk and pause table are often set up in my living room to teach on/off instructions and hind end awareness. I set up 2-3 jumps in the backyard and an occasional teeter to work on jumping patterns, and the weave poles can go anywhere. While we can't practice the entire coarse without dragging everything to a park, you can get a good 20 minutes of specialized training in very little space.

Agility training isn't really about running a course every time, it's focusing on individual obstacles and their transition to the next. If you can string 3 obstacles together, you can string 4, 5, etc, as long as your dog has the attention and stamina and that can be trained without obstacles at all.

Joining a dog sport class will also give you something to do. If you take a beginner agility class you'll learn most of the basics and be prepared to practice on your own. Very little of a beginner class is running the entire course, some may never even get to it. A lot of clubs allow members or past students to rent the ring for a half hour and do run thrus too, once they are trained. At the local club here it's only $10-$15 for an hour.

You could also work on Rally-O. You can set that up anywhere. Print out the signs from the AKC or UKC website, and tape them on a stick, cone, or plastic cup. You can rearrange them anywhere, inside or out, and work through different routines.

[centrop67]

When a {insert moving item here} passes, put her in a sit or halted stand and get her to focus on you.

This is very difficult for Radar. A handful of cheese in his face won't bring his focus to me in these situations.

Of course, he acted perfect when we worked with the trainer on this, but the walks/runs have become quite distressing for my wife and I - not to mention the other dogs, skateboarders, scooterers, and sometimes joggers on our outings.

We've taken to finding paths with limited distractions, but that's not always possible. BTW: he socializes fine with other dogs and people at the dog park.

Interested to see other people's advice on this or if it is something these dogs grow out of.

[Christie M]

Sorry that this is such a short answer, but since she is blowing you off when she goes into drive...is it possible that a game that engages drive would keep her with you more? For example, a well trained game of tug to work on obedience, agility and other exercises with that being her primary reward system.

Secondly, well timed corrections are not the devil, but they have to mean something to the dog. A correction that makes them look at you and go "Wha...huh?" that can then be followed up with reward for leaving the stimulus is the best chain of events.

[Boogies]

When running sled dogs, it's very important that they pass by stuff without stopping to sniff, look, chase, etc. . Imagine an entire team running one direction and one dog going the other direction. Not so good. Staying focused on the trail is especially important for the lead dogs so we teach a command called, "On by!"

I had a wide belt, actually a collar for a milk cow, that I hooked dogs to while getting them to the sled. I also used it for walking them. You don't have to have one but it frees your hands to work the dog.

With your dog on a short, maybe around four foot, leash, approach the forbidden obstacle. As you approach, clap you hands to get the dog's attention and call, in a happy voice, "On by!" , then break into a run. Your dog will follow you or get pulled toward you by the leash. At the very least she will be forced to look in your direction. Go crazy with praise. If your dog jumps on you or runs next to you, run a few more steps while praising.

Keep up the happy voice and put her on heel. Keep a fast pace and anticipate her reaction to cars and other distractions before she has time to react to them. Keep those, "On bys!" coming and make yourself more interesting to her than the distractions. In time, you won't have to run as much and she will have forgotten why chasing cars is fun.

A note on tying dogs to your belt:

Make sure you can get loose in an emergency.

The belt should be at least 4 inches wide across your back so that it covers more than one vertebrae. You don't want one popping out if the dog hits the leash hard. I use a climbing harness, that fits around my hips, for skijoring. A woman's center of gravity is in her hips. I'm not sure how the harness would work for a man but I think it would work well in place of a belt.

My sister made padding for my belt out of a 4 inch wide stiff but flexible plastic and pieces cut from my closed foam camping mattress. She finished it with a blue, goretex sleeve and a strip of reflective tape.

[GRANITE]

where are you located?







/

[GRANITE]

http://www.macsk9.com/
if near chicagoland area
tell him Adam sent you great guy

[susanna]

With my dog there where the same behaviour. Goes off with rewards. nowadays look at me when joggler etc is coming, towards or behind.

Energy level, take peacefull walks. Start bloodtrack. Its calming and brainwork, yeat easy to do by yourself.

[Stacy_R]

Ditto everything Stephanie said and ditto Chrisite's comment on corrections.

Secondly, well timed corrections are not the devil, but they have to mean something to the dog. A correction that makes them look at you and go "Wha...huh?" that can then be followed up with reward for leaving the stimulus is the best chain of events.

Tyson has come a long way from his puppy days of staring down other dogs. By using a combination of marking/treating and well-timed collar corrections, he has learned that it is okay to look and sniff in other dogs' general directions, but staring is no bueno. Sidenote: My best tool on walks is the Rally "front" position. I use it A LOT when the greenway is loaded with people who use flexi-leads and/or have zero control over their dogs. It balances pressure on both sides (in front of him and behind him) and keeps him focused on me until released.

[LyonsFamily]

Sidenote: My best tool on walks is the Rally "front" position. I use it A LOT when the greenway is loaded with people who use flexi-leads and/or have zero control over their dogs. It balances pressure on both sides (in front of him and behind him) and keeps him focused on me until released.

Yes! I totally agree and love the come front from Rally. We had a front for recall with traditional OB stuff, but the quick swift front from a heel in Rally really is a life saver. It's also wonderful in dog friendly stores when someone with a cart wants to get by. There's not enough room in the aisle for me, a dog in a heel position halt, and a person with a cart, but with the dog in the front position, there's magically space. To add to that, it's also a great time to reinforce the "look at me" command since they're front and center.

Have you learned the new Rally front where it's call to front, 2 steps back, front, 3 steps back, front? I've been using that one lately to escape from threatening squirrels when one front isn't enough and Odin forgets all about them by the end.

[Stacy_R]

the quick swift front from a heel in Rally really is a life saver. It's also wonderful in dog friendly stores when someone with a cart wants to get by. There's not enough room in the aisle for me, a dog in a heel position halt, and a person with a cart, but with the dog in the front position, there's magically space. To add to that, it's also a great time to reinforce the "look at me" command since they're front and center.

Agreed..."life saver" is correct! Front is my favorite tool pretty much anywhere...we use it A LOT!!!

Have you learned the new Rally front where it's call to front, 2 steps back, front, 3 steps back, front? I've been using that one lately to escape from threatening squirrels when one front isn't enough and Odin forgets all about them by the end.

I didn't know about this one...we will try this out on our next walk!

We haven't competed yet, but I am looking forward to seeing how he does in Novice the next time we have a show close by. I have all of the commands printed and laminated and got some cones to practice the weaves, etc. His biggest issue right now is rear-end awareness...
"yes, Tyson, those 2 things back there are YOUR legs and they are attached to your body..." LOL

[spencer_sarah1]

Hi I have same problem with Romany with car chasing I find if I stand still or get her sit she's worse so I keep her walking and tell her to walk on but have to keep her on short lead as worse on longer lead and praise her when doesn't create when car passes she's 2 now lol still stubborn but tells one car off in ten use be every car its a slow processes but she's getting there but at least you know not only one with this problem my curiosity is why wants to chase cars its strange