Training

[bannerd]

I've been doing a lot of training with my dog. Mostly basic things like sit, stay, shake, and heel. He's six months old and eventually he gets to the the point where he won't do it anymore. At this time I stop doing it and walk away and he goes and finds his tennis ball. I throw that all over the house and he loves going after it trying to find it. He’s food and ball driven... he will do anything for a squeaky toy. I don’t want to push him in training and I want it to be fun instead of harsh. What do you guys think? Last night a pillow fell off the bed and I was joking to him. I told him to go get it and he actually did.. haha.

http://tinypic.com/r/10ns2t1/5

Kind of cute.

[bannerd]

What was interesting... how does he know what "Pillow" is?

[leih merigian]

I've been doing a lot of training with my dog. ... He's six months old and eventually he gets to the the point where he won't do it anymore. At this time I stop doing it and walk away and he goes and finds his tennis ball.

I'm guessing your training sessions are way too long. Keep them at or under 5 minutes...just do more of them, if you like. Several brief sessions over the course of a day will go a lot further than one long one that is overtiring for him.

Also, make sure your sessions have a definite beginning and end for him, whatever phrases you want to use. I always ask my dog if she wants to train (of course, the answer is always YES!), then we have a little warm up routine, then we train, then when we're done, I say, "We're done!" Then we play with toys and fetch and stuff, and/or go for walks, whatever, but the training time is clearly defined for her.

[CaroleBoaz]

I like to end my dog's training before he gets bored. Make them want more. My sessions are about 10-15 minutes. Several 5 minutes sessions would work very well.

[bannerd]

Yeah, I kind of sense that he's bored and then I change it doing the fun stuff. Last night I cooked some steak and the smell must have got him going. Drool coming out of his mouth and his tongue out a bit. I placed some steak on the floor for him and he went to eat it. I told him "NO!" and he backed off sitting down and starring at it. I finished making dinner and told him to get it and it was gone in seconds.

I have a hard time telling when he's tired though. I took him to the school here and we played ball for a few hours. When I got home he snoozed for two minutes. Last night he just hung out working on his bone at all hours of the night. Things are still new to him so I'm just taking it easy for a few weeks.

[Dutchringgirl]

Thats great! "Get it" was something Sadie picked up very quick too with out much training. I would say "get the bone" and point to her bone and then do the happy dance and that was it, she knew what to do. Just do it once or twice a time and thats it, then maybe do something else or play

[CaroleBoaz]

I keep trying to get my dogs to fetch the tv remote control for me. I guess they don't know that word, because they go looking for a toy to bring to me, instead.

[kchristy]

[bannerd]

That's easy put peanut butter on it

[Lauren]

I taught Xena to find my keys. She doesn't bring them to me though, she lays next to them and pokes them with her nose!

[leih merigian]

Yeah, I kind of sense that he's bored and then I change it doing the fun stuff.

The trick, and challenge, is to make all training fun.

[bannerd]

Interesting night tonight, I had him on his back and he seemed okay with it. Just checking for fleas and he nipped at me. It wasn't a really hard nip but it was hard enough to leave scratches and a few indents on my arm. I told him NO! and he jump back wanting to play like a puppy. He's very sensative with his feet and legs for some reason. Not so much his front paws now that he knows he gets treats for shaking. Any tips for telling him No and meaning it? I thought about tapping him on his nose.

[CaroleBoaz]

For nipping? What you want to do is squeal or make a high pitched yelp like it really hurts. If he doesn't stop, do the yelp and walk away. That's how puppies learn from each other when they nip too hard. The other puppy yelps and goes away and doesn't want to play anymore. You can just turn your back and ignore him.

Tapping on the nose, not a good idea. You're not teaching anything. Also, a lot of people don't like the word "no" because it doesn't mean anything. Find a way to redirect his attention to something YOU want to do. If he wants to play (that's why he's nipping) find a toy and play tug, or another game he likes that doesn't cause you to lose any blood.

[turnnburn52984]

On his back, he's likely to be a bit uncomfortable, and possibly defensive, depending on his personality and your relationship. I'd work on handling his feet while he's standing, and doing lots of marker training with the feet touching. Make it a happy time!

As for the nip, I'd let it go this time, because of the circumstances. In the future, if it were my dog, I don't squeal. I'm not a dog, and he knows that. He gets a NO or PHOOEY (which are both different then the negative mark we use in marker training) and immediately go back into happy mode, and ask for a behavior he's happy to give you (sit, down, stand). Ignore the puppy wanting to play, IMO, you'd get into a place where you're quickly reinforcing the nip gets attention and what he wants.

For training session times, I almost never go over a 10-15 minute session with my dog, who's 2 1/2. A 6 month old puppy, I'd work in 5 minute bursts, throughout the day. Never let it get to a point where your dog is bored... it's always a fine line of getting one more nice rep, or loosing the attention and focus of the dog. Quitting should always be on your terms, so err on the side of caution, and stop as soon as he gives you something you're just THRILLED with!

[Hillside]

You said you want training to be fun and not harsh? What methods are you using? You said he likes his ball, do you use that as a reward during training at all?

[bannerd]

Ahh, I've heard of the high pitch stuff. I think I need to get a tug rope because he's always trying to get me to do that. He has a really soft mouth and he knows what the skin is... I think he was a little excited last night after going for our walk. It started to down pour in rain and I'm pretty sure that's where he got his extra energy last night. He was nipping trying to get me to play but I'm no dog..he needs a friend I had him off leash and these two black labs were on leash. I didn't see them coming and they were very aggressive towards Kota. He took off running as fast as he could to me and heeled by my leg. He's doing good, the only thing I'm afraid of is he hasn't met my neighbors yet and he goes pee and poop outside off leash. I know it's his territory so I'm hoping I can introduce him before the clash.

As far as what I'm doing for training I've been doing a lot. I use steak bits and cooked chicken bits for treats and he will do anything for those. Even raw hot dogs he flips out for. The shaking thing he had no idea how to do it. So I picked up his paw and he did a quick bite and then knew it was skin and didn't clamp down (no blood loss ). I didn't say anything to him, I put the treats away and he just stared at me like "what the?". Few minutes later I tried it again and this time he was totally on the steak. I was touching his front paw and he was kinda okay with it. I gave him the treat and praised him. Eventually I moved to the other foot and he didn't mind it. As far as ball what I did was take the squeaky thing out of his toy. It has a little bladder thing and there is a small part you can pull out. You can blow through it and it will make a really high pitch squeak noise. I usually throw the ball and he would get it and just bail to his crate not coming back. A tiny squeak and he's running full speed to see what I have. I didn't have to do it at all yesterday.. he's so smart it's scary.

Last night was awful.. I got one hour of sleep. The furnace kicks on and when it kicks on it sounds like a door opening. He freaks out and barks and since the furnace did that all night last night you can imagine. it sounds like unstable duct work so I might need to get to lowes a buy a expander shim.

[Christie M]

I agree with the person who recommended using the toy in training. If he gets bored and then you release him to get the ball, then you are just rewarding him for shutting down.

For the nipping, I use whatever method works on the dog. I recently got an 18 month old who is a little mouthy, but very rude with her toys. She climbs up the rope/tug/toy and gets your hand. For her, yelping worked profoundly because she really didn't know what I wanted and this was clear communication. For my experienced dogs, if they mouth me, I would use a verbal correction - no or phooey and then stop the game.

I do condition my dogs to being help in my lap upside down. But I make it extraordinarily wonderful in the beginning, not just something to endure. Stress is cumulative and I don't want it to build from an interaction. I also try to make sure that I always release the dogs from a relaxed state.

[bannerd]

Kato has been fine with people I've met but I decided to bring some new faces into his Dungeon of doom. Anyways tonight was a bit different... he heard them knocking on the door and his hackles went up. He went to the wrong door (HAHAHA). Well I let the new faces in my house and he barked a fews times like (get out!).. I gave them treats to give to the pupp and he ate them but then wasn't sure what to do.. very timid. He didn't mind if they touched him but if things happen quick he would run the other way and act skiddish(nip a few times). I'm trying to figure this out and it makes no sense to me. After they left he acted sad and I decided to take him for a walk to watch the highschool game. I ran into another dog walker with a PUG and he looooved that dog. He was being very submissive and then he was jumping on the pug owner licking her and acting excited. I know I'm doing something wrong.. when they entered my home I told Kato... "Who is it!!!" and was acting happy but he wasnt. When he got scared he ran behind me and it was to the point if i turned 180 he would move behind me. I know this is his home to but any suggestions.? We go to places every night and he watches people walking by. Everyone he see's he wants them to pet him but inside my home it's different.

There were some strange noises going on in my house and I went to lowes and fixed them so maybe it was getting him upset? When the furnace kicked on the ducting would make a bang noise and he would Freak. I took care of that tonight and he hasn't barked once. I'm open to suggestions, thanks!

Oh... i havn't had this dog more than a week so I imagine he's trying to get use to everything?

[Christie M]

Age again? Most of the working dogs go through a fear stage somewhere between 8-14 months. They start noticing things that have always been there and acting defensive. My theory is that they are starting to experience defense for the first time and don't know how to handle that perceived threat. Are you working with an experienced trainer? We can all tell you online what we think, but nothing can replace working with someone who can see things first hand and offer guidance.

[bannerd]

He's six months and there isn't many trainers where I live. We have a lot of dog walkers here but I don't want to make things worse? It was nothing like the Mali I had though.. this is a different animal. My mali would bite and she would do it to kill. As soon as she was in that tunnel mode not even my voice would distract her(inside the home and out..). Kota is more like... "What is that...? Looks at me and I will just re-enforce it with "Who is it!!" and he will walk to them and just smell/sniff their areas. Very skiddish and very unsure... What is interesting is he doesn't know my brothers fiance and she came over and he rolled on his back for her.

After fixing the clunky furnace and showing him why the furnace does that he barked only once last night and that was at his self reflection in the window. The breeder mention something to me about a dog obedience guy that travels so I will give her a jingle.