Training Theories, Tips & Tools

Don't know how to deal with him anymore...Escaped from the dog park.....what can I do?

Abbeyroad86 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:10:50 GMT

My dog is an escape artist, I've known that for a long time. But he has never tried anything this stupid ever in the 2 years I've had him.

I mean he has broke out of every crate we've ever had for him, until we got him this new crate. He has never even tried to break out of a fence, and he is always supervised.

Today I found out 2 big issues with him. First of all he can't be trusted off leash anymore and second of all I learned that he is dog aggressive. And I don't know what to do.

Today he broke out of the dog park. We normally go when its empty because as a puppy he was attacked by a larger dog and there are so many people who don't supervise there dogs and just put there dogs in the fence and just leave.

Today we went when it was empty and my poodle was running around playing when a woman came in on the other side to give her Pit Bull some water. My dog went nuts barking and growling and it appeared he was testing the fence. Now he has not ever acted this way toward another dog. (He will growl and bark at a dog that is far off or unfamilar but up close and personal he never acts like that because he can see the dog isn't going to hurt him. We worked long and hard to get him to trust and now he can play with new dogs he just met or so we thought until today) We always thought it was a fear response and he was over it, we did so much training to get him to the point he has been for so long. The trainer and us never considered it dog aggression just fear reactivity. But I'm starting to think he is dog aggressive now too.

Well once the Pit was gone he was fine, but he found a opening in the fence between the two parts of the park (big dog and small dog), something even a Chihuahua would have had issues squeezing through so I went to pick him up to leave because I knew he was getting ideas, and he took off and squeezed through. And ran toward the open gate on the other side of the empty park.

My husband caught him and we went straight home, neither of us had been so upset in our lives and we just don't know what to do anymore with him.

He is an escape artist. And even though I was following him around at 6 months pregnant I just wasn't fast enough to catch him. (Then again I've never been fast enough)

And we know its not us, because why has every other dog we have had been totally obedient and no issues, including our other dog we currently have. We've put all our dogs through training, we spend one on one time every day with each of them and we work with them every day.

Infact our other dog in all this just sat patiently and waiting for me to leash her up
But what can we do with him. He could have gotten hurt.

I know I may sound like a terrible owner but I'm not. I've never had a dog with half the issues this dog has and I don't know how to deal anymore with this, other than never take him anywhere except out for his walk and to the vet and to the groomer.

Again I hate to say its him, but I know its not us. I used to wonder but I know its not. His trainer even says its not us. If it was us, we wouldn't have such a well behaved Terrier mix. And our previous dogs that have passed wouldn't have been so well behaved.

What do we do now?

Control Unleashed Class #3

Jewlieee — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:05:19 GMT

Over the last week, I hit the "look at that" game pretty hard with Abbie. I also took a step back and just worked on relaxation (nothing else) on the mat (I call it blanket). All we did was lay down on the blanket together while I talked to her quietly and massaged all of her "calm" trigger points. Now whenever I bring the blanket out she wags her tail and lays right on it when I put it down. (wonderful!)

I don't know if I mentioned this in one of the other threads, but i tried Leslie's method of Look at that and Abbie was way too intimidated. I was really surprised because she was so nervous by me bringing something out from behind my back that she basically shut down. So, I took her outside and just waited until she looked at something then I c/t. This was pretty confusing for her at first because we have worked so hard on "watch me". Watch is her default behavior.

Anyway, once she figured out that I was c/t for looking at stuff, i walked her down the side walk a few houses. A dog was out back and came racing to the fence line barking and carrying on. I c/t like a mad woman and backed up down the side walk until abbie wasn't reacting anymore. Then we sat there and I c/t every time she looked at the house with the dog. The light bulb totally went off and she figured out the game! Eventually I was able to walk her past the house 3x without her reacting. I had to be super fast with the c/t but we did it.

So, fast foward to last night's class: the instructor re-organized the room so that Abbie didn't have any dogs immediately next to her. Abbie could still hear and she knew the dogs where there but it was a lot less threatening. She did fantastic in class! It was such a huge difference from last week it's not even funny. I was even able to take one of the sheets away so that we could practice look at that with a dog across the little walkway. She never once barked, lunged or growled.

The most difficult part was when we were doing box work. The belgian in the class was working on the off switch game, using a tug toy. Well, the box was right next to our little space and the dog was coming pretty close, growling and tugging on the toy, getting all riled up. Abbie came to full attention and was about to react so I threw myself on the floor next to her blanket (our relaxation technique) and fed her for staying on the blanket and not reacting. She did get juiced but didn't go over her threshold. yay.

So, we might just get there after all. The look at that game seems to be making the biggest difference out of everything. What a great tool.

Hide and Seek: Mental and Physical Challenge = Big Fun!

doji — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:54:38 GMT

Of all the things we do with our dogs, the game they seem to like the best is "Find It!". This is like canine hide and seek. We execute it like this: We set the dogs up in a room on sit/stays. If your dog does not know this command, or is not solid on it, use a helper to hold the dog out of site. Grab a favorite toy, a stuffed toy works great because it can capture and hold your scent best, but anything will work, such as a tennis ball or kong toy. If your dog is of the sporting group or a mix thereof, the scenting part will come naturally. If not, still give this a try, its a great mental workout, and most dogs will love it, not only for the challenge, but for the interaction with you.

Rub your hands over the toy well and then place the toy in front of the dog’s nose so they know what they are looking for. If the dog licks or bites the toy, that is even better, because his own scent will be on it as well as yours. Leave the dog out of site and place the toy in an obvious location in another room. To start out, be obvious so success will follow. Return to your dog, place your hands in front of his nose and say, "Find It!" in an energetic, fun voice. Some dogs will understand immediately how the game is played. They will hunt down the toy and either bring it to you or at the very least grab it and "celebrate it". This is where you make a big deal by lots of verbal praise, whooping and hollering!

For the dog who is confused lead him into the room where you have placed the toy and repeat the command. Watch him and give him a chance, if he is still confused in a few seconds show it to him and repeat the command. When he grabs it, give lots of verbal praise. Repeat the game and the dog will catch on.

This is a fantastic bad weather day activity to burn off energy. But it is a great outside game too. Use the same method, we sit/stay in the garage and hide in the yard, under bushes or in the seats of the patio furniture, etc.

Remember to increase the difficulty of the game. You will be astounded at your dog's progression.

Ways to increase mental work besides increasing the difficulty are to teach the dog the command for "drop". When he finds the toy, hold out your hand and say drop. Some will get it right away, make sure to praise. For those who don't, pry apart the jaw and repeat the command. When the toy is released, use lots of verbal praise and go immediately into another round of play. For the dog who wants you to chase him with the toy, totally ignore it. Turn your back and walk away unconcerned, this will extinguish the undesired behavior when repeated enough. You can also teach a command for returning back to the designated sit/stay position also. Use a phrase like, "Get Ready!" or "Line Up". If repeated consistently, they will catch on.

This is a great bonding game, which you know I love, building the companionship between you and your dog. It also fulfills the mental and physical needs our dogs have that come from generations of working for humans. Try it today!!

Training the Independent Breeds

spiritdogs — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:01:38 GMT

Hounds, bulldogs, terriers, huskies...others with a will of their own. Anyone want to share their training tips for the "I'm not Lassie" types?

I'll start - my inclination is to tell people who want to own an independent breed or supremely confident dog, to start early. I would put such a dog right in to a good puppy class at age 8 weeks. I find that the more these dogs learn that they can run things, the more they run things:-)

Making the most of a very bright puppy

corvus — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:36:55 GMT

So, I have this puppy that is incredibly bright and LOVES to train. He is creative, confident, extremely alert, and persistent. I've been clicker training him and he is tremendously good at it and can't get enough of it. I've been doing a little free shaping with him and he is excellent at it. He tries new things and he only needs a couple of clicks to figure out what he's doing right. He is fun and dead easy to shape, and he is already streets ahead of my older dog, who finds free shaping a bit stressful and likes training to be very easy.

My question is, what should I be doing with him to get the most out of all these traits that make training him so fun? Are there things I can do with him to take him that little bit further? To encourage him to be everything he can be?

Recall word...

3girls — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:00:02 GMT

What is your recall word or words you wished you used?

I already use so many "standard" recall commands I'm lost trying to figure out another command word.

We already use ... "come" "c'mere" "with me" "let's go"

I finally got my really reliable recall dvd

Control Unleashed class

Jewlieee — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:28:51 GMT

I'm sooo excited about having a trainer that is teaching a control unleashed class. I've read the book and all, but it is more valuable to practice with folks that have actually applied it.

Last night was our first class and we went over things like relaxation protocol, passive attention, reorienting points and default behaviors. I was really impressed with the way Abbie behaved. With 5 reactive dogs in the class, most of who I know, I figured the first class would be a barking, growling, lunging fiasco. Abbie (and others) did have some moments of barking, grumbling and high anxiety whining but for the most part she (and all the dogs) did fantastic - learning to trust that the environment was not that scary. Abbie picked up on the relaxation pretty quickly, taking deep breaths, lying all the way down (including her head) and so forth.

One thing that was really great is that we figured out certain triggers, arousal and calming, for each dog. A friend of mine was there with her BM and it became clear that he could only tolerate a few mins of calm before his brain needed something to focus on. So, she would do some calming mat work, then get up and do some tricks with him, rinse, repeat. By the end of the class, he went from tugging on her pant legs and shoes to being calm and content.

Abbie was like that to a lesser extent. She could handle longer sessions of calm mat work, but I still had to take breaks and give her mind something to do.

2 of the dogs (a pit and the BM) had been trained in ScH and both had gone far. It was interesting to listen to the handlers talk about things like force training and the release being very explosive. CU is totally the opposite of that. It'll be cool to watch how these dogs develop with this training method. The pit typically could not work with food rewards because it got too excited. In class, working with passive attention, she was able to keep it calm with food rewards. Very cool.

Has anyone else taken a class like this? I wish these types of classes were more of a norm. Instead all the classes that are usually taught are focused around the basic obedience, not doggy emotions and behaviors. There are so many dogs and handlers out there that would benefit from something like this.

Intermediate bridges

corvus — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:54:23 GMT

Does anyone here use intermediate bridges, or "keep going" signals? Any thoughts on them?

Other dog aggression

gg4000 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:10:48 GMT

How can I ease Nico when other dogs come by?

Finding a trainer

JackieG — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:41:01 GMT

This is a very helpful article and I thought others might find it useful.

http://www.hsmo.org/m_obedience/documents/Handout_Finding_a_trainer_2009_04.pdf

How do I introduce Willow to Tempo properly?

willowchow — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:42:15 GMT

I'm not expecting this to go well. But, I'd love it if anyone has advice on what is the best way to introduce them to see if Willow will tolerate him. So, far, no, but I don't think we've been going about it right at all.

I do not expect them to be friends. The very most I'm hoping for is that they can be out around the house at the same time and tolerate each other.

Any ideas on how to try this?

Thanks!

Lori

Welcoming "Friday"

Golden Tails — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:32:55 GMT

Hey all - it's been so long since I've been on the boards! I've been busy with tons of shelter work! And in the midst of it all, aquired a new family member!

On my way home early one morning, (or late at night, depends on how you look at at) around 3:30 I passed a stray sitting out infront of a bar - just sitting, like it was waiting...

So I debated real quick and decided "if it comes I'll take it, if it runs I'm going home." So I pulled over, opened my door and called "HERE PUPPY PUPPY PUPPY!" And here it came, romping across the street! super friendly, started giving my hand kisses when I reached out to pet it.

So after some work I got the dog in the car, and after some even MORE work I got it in the house.

Sitting in the middle of the living room, in good light I finally got to see what I had brought home - a pure bred wimerainer!
I did the responsible thing scanned her, and placed found ads - for 3 weeks, she was never claimed! I knew I wanted to keep her. She got along with Max, and attempts to play with the cats. Problem is, since she is only about a yr old (if that) shes got tons and tons of energy!

Which is good for Max - it gets him off his big butt [&]

I'm having some trouble training her, I'm not big on clicker training b/c I don't always have the clicker and treats in hand. I need to teach her to not jump. I've done everything I can think of - walking into her, steping on her back feet, palming her in the nose, even went as far as to make evey contact and show my teeth and growl at her. Shes oblivious to all of it.

When it was Max I was traingin he was easy, he cought onto everything real quick.

So I'm getting her into flyball - she needs am outlet and she did well at our first practice.

Does anyone have any traing ideas??? Thanks, and I'll post pictures soon

The resilience of reward-based training

corvus — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:36:51 GMT

After struggling with clicker training Kivi for the last year, I finally got some good advice and then made friends with someone nearby who could come and show me what I should be doing. It made SO much difference. My reinforcement rate was way too low and my training sessions too long and my timing a bit clumsy. Despite all this, having now been set on the right path, it was so heartening to see how quickly Kivi is recovering from my clumsy clicker training. In just a minute he was well on track and he feels to me like an untapped well just waiting for me to figure out how to get the best out of him. It's really exciting. When I messed up with corrections with Penny, I never made up the lost ground. In contrast, Kivi was making huge leaps in just a minute. I don't think I realised until now just how easy it was to fix things after messing up a little with clicker training.

Just had to express that. And a big thanks to Spiritdogs for her advice as well. It really helped!

Hyper dog TOO people friendly! Help!

razujikan — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:29:09 GMT

I have a 10 lb mutt (Pom/Chi/Pug) who is almost 2 years old. Yoji is a great little guy, but I'm having issues with him when I take him out in public. From the time he was a young pup to now, people have been squeaking at him. You know what I mean..."Oh! What a cute little doggy! You are so adorable!" in a high, squeaky voice. He's naturally outgoing and friendly, and this just makes him spontaneously combust! Now, as soon as he sees someone new or old, he hits the end of the leash straining and whining in a desire to run to them and leap into their arms and be lavished with love. Should he be allowed to greet them, after he sits still for a moment, he jumps compulsively. He's a bouncer anyway when excited. I've tried re-directing him, but either the treat isn't fun enough or he just becomes so excited about treats that it defeats the purpose.

He has TONS of energy, but he also is given tons of outlets for it. I jog with him in the mornings at least four days a week, take him hiking on non-jogging days (or sometimes ON jogging days as well), take him swimming sometimes multiple days a weeks in addition to his regular work out, and I've even biked with him semi-regularly. He also has regular play time with my other dogs. He also does agility.

I started him with clicker training, but had issues with it. He was so obsessed with the food reward that I had to phase it out almost immediately (literally, by the second day). Ditto with praise rewards. The clicker alone is a great reward for him, but any praise (food, verbal, clicker) makes him almost overwhelmingly excited, which leads to bouncing. He also started throwing behaviors at me after the first ten minutes of his clicker training and would go through any behavior he could think of (before he had even really learned more than 'down') at light speed. He's REALLY smart. I mean a doggy genius. The problem is curbing his enthusiasm just a little. He only has two speeds: sleep and warp.

On a side note, he does the agility without any reinforcement aside from the fun of the equipment itself now. He got away from me one time and did the entire course by himself (with repeats of his favorite equipment) like a kid at a playground before I could stop him. I cannot praise him. Just saying, "Good," in a normal tone is enough to make him start celebrating. I just tell him what to do. This doesn't work outside of the agility course though.

Also, if anyone has suggestions of how to deal with squeaky people, I'd appreciate it. I've even thought of making him a little t-shirt that says, "Dog In Training: Please Don't Speak to or Touch!" but I doubt it would work.

Training Treats for Picky Pups?

artinhappiness — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:21:52 GMT

I've trained numerous dogs and never run into this problem before. I can't find a good training-sized treat my pup will accept, so I'm coming to you, Oh Internet for suggestions. What works for your picky pup? I've got him on Blue Buffalo puppy for food right now, and I'm beginning to wonder if it tastes better than many of the commercial treats out there. My other dogs were always the biggest fans of the cheapest ones (oddly enough), but while I'm willing to spend what it takes, I'm reluctant to buy a large tub of something expensive that doesn't work.

Least Reinforcing Scenario

corvus — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:58:01 GMT

I just finished reading Zoomility by Grey Stafford, and he introduced the Least Reinforcing Scenario as a way to react to animals when they didn't do what you wanted them to do. You do nothing for 3-5 seconds so as to avoid accidentally reinforcing, at that becomes a signal to your animal to wait calmly for another opportunity to be rewarded.

Does anyone do this with their dogs?

How do i teach Advanced Down - Instant and at Distance

YellowOx — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:40:25 GMT

My dogs "lie down" is reasonable at close quarters, if a little slow and reluctant at times. Some dogs I see crash down as if their lives depended on it. How do I teach mine to lie down much quicker?

And then how do I teach it at a distance - is it just a case of build up distance slowly? What is the best way of rewarding when the dog is longer distances away?

What's with the "snap" trainer on Animal Planet?

nfowler — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:15:59 GMT

That was different. Just curious now--does anybody know about his theories, etc?

pulling, barking, grunting, growling when passing other dogs!

mydog4ever — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:53:35 GMT

uhh so this problem is getting worse and worse. We are still attending weekly traning classes for intermediate training which she does fine at, and may i add does comepletely fine with the other dogs in the room!

But when we are walking she more and more pulls and grunts to get to them.. today there was a little collie comming up behind us on the sidewalk and we tired to keep moving her along, but she just kept pulling behind us and wanting to get to it, and unfortunately the collie was doing the same to her and she ended up backing out of her collar!!! this is the first time it happened, and i am definitly going out to buy a harness tomorrow (the kind that clips int he front to help with pulling) But all she did was run right to the dog and want to play/smell.. but it was obviously scary and VERY wrong for her to behave this way! I'm getting so frustrated because we still try to use treats to get her attention and sometimes avoid passing a dog by going on the other side of the street or something when we some one coming.

I did even try the tiring her out today before our evening walk. We went to the dog park but no one was there so i basically ran laps up and down it and had her following me and we just played around for like 20-30 minutes and she was STILL intent on getting to every dog that was in her sight on our walk, ESPECIALLY if they are barking and pulling for her.

Its apparent i dont' have enough control over her anymore like i used to when she was more fearful of everything. Both my boyfriend and I are consistant and on the same page about the way we do things and walk her so im just not sure what other techniques to try besides to just avoid other dogs on our walks at all costs and just be satisfied that she gets along with the dogs in our life that matter most (my parents dogs when we visit and connecticut, and his parents dogs in north jersey- we can leave her home alone with them both)

Bell training????

stellasmama — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:26:59 GMT

How do I go about training our Stella to ring a bell to go outside. Right now she's doing great with her potty training, except for the fact she doesn't let us know when she HAS to go....we are just bringing her out all of the time.

Is there anyone who's had success with this that can give me tips???

When swimming with your dog

lilys_mum07 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:57:46 GMT

Does anyone swim with their dog(s)? I'd like to start swimming with Lily but she comes too close and claws me. How can I teach her to keep away but at a close distance? It would be nice to actually be able to swim with her. I've tried keeping her at arms length and saying "away" while redirecting her position. I think "away" would be my key word for her to know when she is too close.

Any tips?

What am I doing wrong?

oranges81 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:43:59 GMT

I love the clicker as a marker since my voice isn't fast enough. BUT! I don't think I'm using it right. When I get the clicker out, the dogs just sit and wait for me to tell them a command. I want them to offer behaviors.. So what am I doing wrong?!

They know what it means and I use it when I'm doing LLW but I want to use it for more tricks and stuff.. Help!

The super clicker?

Workingdoglover — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:52:44 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDyrJfIxBEk

Anyone seen this, heard of it, or know where to get it?? It looks great. I did a google search but couldn't really find anything on it.

Training Self Control

CoBuHe — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:47:01 GMT

I stumbled across this video. I thought it was a great learning clip. There is a part towards the end of the video where the dog's owner walks up and the young dog does everything in her power to keep from jumping up. She did really well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHGG5i0eV-c

What training method do you recommend....Why?

tex123 — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:00:38 GMT

I started out with the Koehler (i think thats how its spelled) method years ago with limited sucess, then went through a stage where I would "reason" with the dogs, I don't think they understood. read dozens of training books, finally settled on Natural Dog Training, but it takes so long I have been rethinking Ceasar Milans Pack Dominance (the guy gets quick results) However I am not very comfortable inhibiting drive.

Has any one discovered a "unified" theory of dog training? what method do you use and what are its strengths and weaknesses?

I am speaking more of theory rather than the actual method itself . example: do you like Pack Dominance, Prey Drive, or some combination of the two or something else altogether?