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The Power of Training Dogs with Markers
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Ed,
Very informative web site (A level). Although I did catch a typo which you may want to address.
I have a 7 month old mini long hair male doxie. He is very submissive and is doing very well overall. I been using TRAIN YOUR DOG THE POSITIVE WAY DVD and wanted to go a little further. My main concern is off leash fun. I do take him off leash (in parks and such) and he pretty much follows me everywhere but sometimes he is slow to come to me when called or just stops and looks at me when I ask him to come. He is also average on the leash however is making strides as he would not even walk on the leash a month ago. Not a puller. He just stops walking sometimes. I have to lure him with a treat and lots of encouragement and that usually gets the ball rolling and once the ball is rolling he is very good with loose leash walking until the cycle repeats itself. Ok, that is my background aside from the fact that I am a first time dog owner.
Do you think for someone like me your basic DVD would be recommended or do you have another suggestion?
What are your thoughts.
Thank You.
-Corey
Ed's Comments:
If you only found one typo I am amazed :-) I am a much better dog trainer than speller. I do have an employee working her way through the web site though.
I would recommend my Basic Dog Obedience DVD
I believe and use in motivational training - you can read or listen to my podcast on training with markers
I have a page on pod casts that you may find interesting Listen to the one on my philosophy of dog training.
In this article you will find the mistake and foolishness of those who promote motivational training without corrections. Its just stupid.
You may also want to reads the article I wrote titled the THEORY OF CORRECTIONS IN DOG TRIANING.
Good luck with your dog.
Hi,
I just ordered the Basic dog training DVD. Our Rottweiler pup is 6 months old we have had him since 12 weeks. We just finished group obedience classes. He learned a little and does follow me around the house and obey some commands " when he wants to." However I don't feel we are developing that bond I had with our last Rott. My wife and I were my old dog's world. He never took his eyes off of us. He always knew where we were and he followed us everywhere. I want to develop that with my new pup. My question is do I stop all formal commands, sit, down, stay and just begin marker training? He already works for his meals. "Long sit stays" works for going out, stuff like that and is crated. Would the transition be to just stop everything we already know and begin with teaching him "Yes" + treat? The DVD won't arrive for at least 5 more days and I want to get started. Sorry for the long email I just wanted to give a little background.
Thank you for your time and great web page
-Joe
ANSWER:
I am a little concerned about how much obedience you have put into this pup - or I should say expect from the pup. What jumps out is LONG SITS - the longest I would expect a 6 month old pup to hold a sit is 4 or 5 seconds - no longer.
To get long sits requires corrections and young pups should not be getting corrections for not sitting and staying.
I would recommend that you start marker training today. No corrections are involved here. You won't go wrong if you do this. Wait until the DVD gets there and really study it. This is not a one watch program - you made a good decision.
After watching the quality of information in this DVD you may want to consider my DVD titled BUILDING DRIVE and FOCUS.The work in this DVD when done correctly is the best I have seen for building a bond with a dog and owner.
I frequent your site often and own several DVD's--thank you for providing such excellent resources!
I just finished the "Your Puppy 8 weeks to 8 months" and listening to the pod cast on marker training.
When teaching a new behavior, when do you suggest is best to "name" that behavior and give it a command word? For example, when teaching a "sit", are you saying sit before the dog knows the associated motion, as you guide it into position with food? Or, are you waiting until the pup anticipates the sit and starts to offer it reliably and THEN say "sit"?
Or, do you use a marker word, and if so in combination with the command word?I know this must seem like a ridiculously simple concept, but everyone seems to have a different approach to when to introduce the command word.
Do you think it matters? If so, what's the most effective way to teach the dog to associate the behavior with the command word?
Many thanks in advance for your time!
Sincerely,
Deb
Answer:
When teaching a new behavior, I use more of a gesture at first. No command.
I do the gesture (such as lift my hand over the dog's nose for sit) when he sits, YES and reward. When he is doing this consistently, then I add the word. SIT, gesture, YES and reward. Fairly soon the dog starts to offer the behavior when I say the word and I can phase out the gesture.If the dog gets "stuck" I can add the gesture back in to help the dog be successful.
Does this answer your question?
I have a large male German Shel. He is not afraid of a gun shot, thunder, or most any sound but he hates a clicker. I can't get him use to it because if I use it he avoids me and I am afraid it will damage our trust bond, so I don't use it. He needs to get use to it though. What do you think?
Roz
Answer:
Use a word instead, like yes.
Cindy
Hi Cindy,
I have a five year old German Shepherd. In competition he sniffs I can not break him from this. Outside the ring he's good. At practice I use a e-collar which I seldom have to nick him but he knows the park. I have been taking him on different walks. Have any hot tips?
Thanks,
Dave
Answer:
This can be a tough problem, because sniffing is an immediately reinforcing behavior. Even if he gets a correction it may be worth it to him because the act of sniffing is so important to a lot of dogs.
I would teach him something to do INSTEAD of sniffing, like give you eye contact. If his eyes are up and looking at you, it will be much harder to put his nose down on the ground to sniff.
I would teach this using markers this way if he goes to sniff, you can redirect him to a positive behavior and then reward with food and/or toys. I think it may take a while to retrain, but I think this is the best way to try to solve the issue at hand.
Good luck!
Cindy
Hi Cindy,
I have a question for you.
I am reviewing the marker training and am lacking when it comes to breaking down the exercises.
I understand the concept but am not clear on how to do it. I get it on some things but am clueless on others. Also, the concept of not giving a command until the dog knows the exercise is beyond my understanding at the moment but I am working on it.
I am so impressed with your sit in front with the 13 week old pup and on some of the DVDs there are pictures of you with a perfect heel sit with a young pup.
I would appreciate it if you could tell me how to break it down into small steps.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Also, thanks for the tip on the odor for the dog's run. The washing and raking has finally gotten it done.Thanks
Patricia
Answer:
It’s really not possible for me to train you via email on this. I’m sorry but it’s too detailed and there are too many variables.
Do you have any of our clicker related books? This one is excellent.
We are also in the process of producing a marker training video that picks up where the article leaves off. If you are receiving our monthly newsletter then you will be notified when it’s being released. We will announce it in the newsletter.
Sorry I’m not more help on this matter, but actually the most important part of marker training is OUR learning curve. It is simply but not easy, that’s for sure. It’s a constant learning process but the journey is a lot of fun and you can’t really hurt anything by trying new things if you are using markers.
Cindy
Dear Ed,
How do you deal with an unpredictable dog than can nicely perform obedience exercises such as send away with jump over hurdle, make weave poles without assistance, quick down on the table 30M from his handler and the next few minutes just runs away without saying 'good bye!' ?This is the case of my friend's G.S (1yr old). She was trained together with a labrador and one day she suddenly reacted strangely by running away. Usually she is quite scared of Rottweilers and it seems that she took the labrador for one.
To summarize, she is always reacting unpredictably. Like for instance, usually she was undisturbed by children with rollers and one day she reacted differently and was quite affected by those and just like another example where she is usually undisturbed by a couple of stray dogs and one day she suddenly decided to chase them which of course never happened before and during training sessions. We tried to reproduce the same situation using a long leash this time but she knows that she is not free and does not react to provocations. What must I do to solve that instability problem? Please reply as soon as possible as this is very dangerous. Last time she crossed a road chasing stray dogs and we thought it was over, fortunately it wasn't. So we can't trust her when it comes to obeying and it happens just like that with no particular signs or events.
Thank you for your kind consideration,
Lilia
Answer:
I would have to say first that a one year old dog doing all of those exercises off leash seems to be rushing the dog a lot in training. I’m not saying that this is the case with your friends dog, but in order to get the kind of control and precision required to work all those exercises at a distance there needs to be either a lot of time spent training or pressure put on the dog. A one year old dog is not ready to do all of those things over and over, off leash and with the distractions of other dogs in my experience.
I would say that the dog is reacting to the amount of stress she’s feeling during training, and she doesn’t know how to communicate this so she leaves.
The easy thing is to keep this dog on a line and do not allow this behavior to continue happening. I would be using marker training and making things really fun for her. Also, if she is not spayed she may be having some hormonal fluctuation and in some females it can cause erratic behavior. Here is the article on Markers
http://leerburg.com/markers.htm I would back up the training and work
on building the basics, because if the dog won’t stay with the handler then all the other exercises don’t mean much.I don’t know what the goals are with this dog, but she’s young and there
is plenty of time to work off leash later. When dogs react differently
off leash than they do on leash, then it means you have “trained” the dog to know the leash controls her, not the handler.Cindy
Hi, Ed and Cindy!
I've been enjoying your newsletter for a while, and I've got a pretty minor training issue I'm hoping you might be able to help with. My dog (papillon, 2 years) is not very toy motivated, and I've been trying to teach him to fetch as a game to get him some more exercise. He will chase a toy and pick it up, but the second I say his name to get his attention to call him back, he will drop the toy and run back to me, because he would much rather be with me than play with a toy. We get a great game of chase going, but I can't seem to get him to understand he is supposed to bring toy to me. He is very well trained. I can get him to "come" or "down" no matter what he's doing or what the distraction is. I just can't seem to communicate the concept of bringing the toy to me, since the moment I try to get his attention, he drops it and runs to me. I know if I can let him know what I want him to do and associate it with a command, he will do it.
Thanks for any ideas you might have!
-Kris
Answer:
Hi Kris,
Have you done any marker training with him?
I am actually training the retrieve to one of my own dogs right now, and I start by teaching him to hold the item first. Once he will hold it, then I ask him to walk with me holding it, then come front while holding it. Whenever he does as I ask, then he gets a YES (or click if you are using a clicker) and then gets some really great food like chicken or steak.
Once he will hold and come front with a variety of items (I use remote from the TV, can opener, pvc pipe, shoes, etc..) then start placing it on the ground and have him pick it up. Try starting close (like a foot away) and have him come straight to you with the item. I think the whole “throw, run, pick up, turn around and return” is an advanced skill that needs to be worked up to.
I hope this makes sense! I’m working through this also, so let me know how you are doing. :-)
Cindy
Hi,
I've just finished reading the new page on marker training, wow, what a clear description! Thanks for all the great resources on the website and forum.
I wanted to ask you a question, and hope you'll have the time to answer it.
About 5 years ago, I adopted a 4 year old bull terrier. He had almost no training, and I had to start from scratch. I did marker training with him with food and a clicker, which he loved. A couple of years ago we moved into using toy rewards in training (using info on your forum!). That gave him a great recall & even allowed us to do a few obedience competitions. He's not perfect, but he's much better than he was, and far better behaved than most dogs I've met.
Anyway, since then I've become engaged to a lovely man who has a background in dog training. My fiancee is very against using food rewards in training. He thinks that giving a dog food rewards will encourage it to become obsessed by food. He says a food trained dog will beg for food, and will steal and snatch food from peoples hands since it is used to taking food from the hand.
In truth, my dog is very interested in food. He doesn't have bad manners - he doesn't steal food if I tell him to leave it alone, and he won't snatch food from peoples hands unless they offer it to him.
But if there are people eating in the room he will stare at them, and won't leave them alone until I tell him to go away. And if anyone goes into the kitchen, my dog makes tracks to go see what they are
doing in there! I never considered this interest in food to be a
problem, but it really annoys my fiancee.Is my dog obsessed with food because I have marker trained him? How can I teach him better food manners without quitting marker training - or do you think I should stop marker training? My fiancee thinks it would be best just to feed him in his bowl at meal times, and not use food for training at all.
I am hoping you could clear this up for us, since it's been a source of a few arguments at our house!
Thanks heaps,
Rachel
Answer:
Some dogs are food obsessed, marker trained or not. Personally, I think NOT training with food is a mistake. I want my dogs to make a positive association with the training process so I use things that hold high value to them (food, toys, praise, playing with me) If I don't use food I am missing out on a valuable training tool. I don't let dogs just snatch food or beg for food, as it's not part of the training process.
I use markers and food for all the beginning positions like sit, down, stand, heel and front and this makes my dog more able to think clearly and get a concrete reward for a new skill. I use toys much later after the initial learning has been established for each exercise. My particular dogs are toy & food driven but it's never been anything I consider a negative.
I think that people who think training with food makes the dog reliant on the food or obsessed with the food are probably using it as a lure or a bribe, instead of as a reward. There is a big difference! I don't dangle food out in front of my dog and then try to teach him something. The food is always hidden in a pocket or bait pouch and I don't get it out until the dog has correctly done the behavior and I have marked it with YES (or a
click) Many old school trainers also think training with food means the dog isn't really "obeying". These are the people who say "I want the dog to work for ME, and not for the food" I find this way of thinking to be opposite of mine! :) These are usually (not always, but usually) people that use corrections or physical manipulation to teach their dogs. Marker trained dogs are problem solvers and love learning, dogs trained in other ways tend to have a 'wait and see" attitude because they are afraid of making a mistake. I'm not saying this is the case with your fiancé, but it’s a pretty common thing that I encounter every day.I will say that I don't let my dogs stare at or follow people around my house, whether they have food or not so this has never been an issue for me.
My dogs know the rules and abide by them.My dogs have beds they lay on or they go to their crates if I am having lots of people over. They tend to be focused on me, not the food.
Cindy
Hi Cindy,
I'm in love with the Leerburg website, DVDs, and products, but I do have a question. My 6 month old GSD pup knows basic commands (sit, down, etc) and will perform them anywhere, even the public park. I only give the command once, but even if we are inside the house with zero distraction, she often takes up to 5 seconds before complying. What can I do to get her to understand that when I give a command, she should perform it instantly? I know in one of the videos Ed says to give the dog a chance to think before correcting it, and she does obey eventually, but I want to work on commands becoming an immediate response. Any advise would be appreciated!
Thanks so much,
Lesley
Answer:
I would NOT add corrections to a 6 month old puppy.
I’ve had great results with training all my dogs with markers. Once they understand the “game” they comply very quickly and with a wonderful attitude.
Read the article titled Training With Markers.
I hope this helps!
Cindy
Hello,
Just wanted to say thanks....
I sent you an email many months ago on some behavioral problems my 2 year old jack russell had, I purchased your basic dog obedience and training a competition heeling dog DVDs and they worked like magic...he obeys each and every command and I have a lot more control over him when dealt with distractions (especially a jack russell).
The only thing that kind of remained from the behavioral issue was at times he would sneak and sit/lie down on our sofa, but when I would turn and look at him or come in to the room and notice him he would let out a growl and snarl, but when I would give the command OFF! he always obeys and comes off and automatically sits on the floor (but still lightly growling in the process). He knows he can't sit on the sofa because we would say no anytime he was ready to hop on it and off when he was already on it. The same happens when he gets caught jumping on the kitchen chair to investigate what is left on the table... but always obeys the command OFF!
Also when he is in the crate and you come near him he growls but always obeys the command COME!! but still with a light growl as he is coming out. Although his head and ears are always down with his tail slightly wagging as he is lightly growling. Same thing kind of happens when we check him for fleas, a growl starts but when we say NO! he stops. Just wanted to get your opinion on this or suggestion of another DVD etc. This is 98% better than where it used to be. He wouldn't stop growling/snarling..stand his ground almost as if wanting to challenge me and never listen to any commands. I reinforced everything with your DVDs and he listens to every command but just a little stuck with the above.
I want to ask you if the harnesses you sell are good for my jack russell and if so which one do you recommend..I would be interested in purchasing.
Also..which other DVDs/products you have, would you suggest...(for a jack russell) your personal protection or tracking DVDs..look very interesting. Do you think a jack russell would be decent at personal protection? I know they're small but they never seem to back away from anything.
Any info would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you,
Evan
Answer:
Maybe you can try some marker training with him to make things like obeying commands a bit less stressful. I think he’s growling because he’s feeling a bit uncomfortable. It sounds like you have done a good job re-establishing yourself as his leader but he’s a little bit uneasy with the new structure.
Read the article titled Training With Markers. I would use markers and reinforce things like grooming and anything you can think of. Try to catch him being GOOD and then mark and reward with a favorite treat, something really special. If he starts to growl I would use a quiet NO, not too harsh and then if he stops and is quiet I would say YES and give him a reward. Believe it or not I have a horse that always has her ears back and she always looks ticked off. She doesn’t get aggressive with me, but she’s kind of pissy (for lack of a better term) I decided to start using marker training with her and would reward every time she looked “happy” with ears forward and a nice expression. I didn’t know if it would help or work, but I thought I had nothing to lose. Several sessions later and she is always making eye contact with me and has ears forward and a happy face. I don’t know if animals are like people in this way, but I know it’s hard to feel bad when I am smiling. :-)
As far as harnesses, I would suggest one of our adjustable nylon harnesses or the Sensation harness (if you want the harness for walking with him).
Here are the dvds I recommend for tracking and personal protection. I think JRT would be great for personal protection, a friend of mine had a great little dog (he just passed away last year) that thought he was a big dog when it came to protection work. She actually showed him in Schutzhund competitions. :-)
* Building Drive & Focus with Bernard Flinks
* The First Steps of Bite Training
I hope this helps!
Cindy
Hi Cindy,
I train dogs, mostly rehabilitating troubled dogs in animal shelters to help them to be adopted and not live a life in a shelter or be put down. I also have been training my second pit bull rescue. I've been using force training for years (Koehler-type training). I've had much success with this training, however, due to your info. I've become more open-minded.
I've poo-poo'd marker training for the same obvious reasons Ed previously had (positive-only blah blah). Now I'm embarking on this new adventure. My rescue has not done well with my training and since she has high prey and food drive, I'm hoping marker/e-collar is the right choice for her.
Basically, since I've already done so much training with her, I don't want to make any mistakes moving forward with marker training. I've watched the Basic DVD and have the e-collar DVD to watch next. With all of the above said, my question is simply... I've started marking eye contact, but I'm unclear about when to switch from YES to the command.
How do I know when to transition?Thanks,
Kathy
Answer:
Have you re-read the marker article? Ed has been adding to it every day.
As for adding a command, we recommend adding a command when the dog is performing the desired behavior at least 80% of the time. It helps if you also have a signal for the dog, in case they don’t “get” the command right away.
A good example is to teach the dog first to look at your face by touching the side of your face then mark, reward. When they do this correctly 8 out of 10 times, you say your chosen command like “LOOK,” wait a split second then use your signal, the dog complies and then mark and reward. Very soon the dog will begin to respond only to the word but you always have the signal as a back up if they get stuck.
Just remember-command, signal, mark, reward…. Once the dog is doing this 80% of the time then you can try leaving out the signal and see if he understands the verbal cue. I like this system because I always have a way to help the dog (by using the signal) later on when I add distractions.
Cindy
Hi,
I want to thank you and Cindy for all the work you have put into the web site. It is incredible; lots of expert information available to anyone looking to better their relationship with their animals.
I will be purchasing another DVD, #219D The Power of Training Dogs with Markers, and I would like to ask you what accessories I should purchase. I need to train my 4 GSD's in a non-confrontational way. I am hoping to further bond with my pack and make training fun and interesting.
Thank you for all of your expertise,
Janine
Answer:
Thanks for the kind words.
One of the beauties of marker training is that it doesn’t require a lot of training gear. I would recommend one of our bait bags. We personally use the snap open kind.
Depending on what you have for lines- you may want to get one of the light weight 20 foot lines.
Good luck on your work - this DVD will change the way you look at dog training for the rest of your life. Not sure of you looked at the streaming video yet.
Kind Regards,
Ed Frawley
Thank you so much for all that you do. I have learned a lot from your web site and videos while preparing for and working with our new Aussie puppy (8 weeks old). We have had her for 1 1/2 weeks and she has been doing well. She is submissive in the crate, housetraining is going very well, and we have started a little obedience work. Here's my question: The dog seems to be about midway (maybe a little soft) on the scale of soft to hard. We live in a suburban neighborhood on a 2 acre corner lot. I had developed a routine of walking her (always on leash) down our long driveway and then along the curb/street edge surrounding our yard. The walk has hills but she never seemed to become overly tired during the exercise. Cars and/or construction vehicles drive along the road occasionally but it is not a busy road in the least. All of a sudden, with no precipitating incident that I can recall at all, she will no longer walk to the end of the driveway. She literally lays down and drags her claws if I try to take her to the end of the driveway for our walk. She shakes and pulls backward. She seems to be terrified of the road. I have tried to jerk the collar with varying levels of force and she still resists. I have reversed the direction of our routine and she seems to fear the road from other starting points as well. Her bathroom spot is near our house so she hasn't had potty issues as a result, but it is very difficult to exercise her when she won't walk more than 50 feet down our driveway. I have tried picking her up and carrying her out to the road but she still resists all along our route. I'm guessing that the cars/trucks on the road must scare her but that will not change and I can't alter our walking path b/c I don't want to venture too far from our home (small children at home). I would really appreciate any suggestions you may have. She otherwise is, so far, an obedient, willing to please dog.
Thank you,
Ashley
Answer:
This is a really common issue with puppies of this age, it’s been covered on the website.
I would also recommend training this puppy with markers, to reward positive behaviors like walking forward on the leash. Read the article titled Training With Markers. We also just finished our DVD The Power of Training with Markers. You can read about it at this link. This DVD will be ready for shipment in November 2008.
I hope this helps.
Cindy
A question which probably does not interest many but here goes.... I have a great GS who was trained to be a guard dog (not by me). I am disabled and my service dog died so this dog needs to change hats. He is doing well with people interactions but he has on occasion barked at a patient, my medical pt. So: how do I correct this behavior without destroying his protective nature? And an additional question, he is very smart and is bored with reg. obedience - my impression - he is near perfect. So some to work on but since I do not have the time to engage in schutzhund, agility or such are there some neat training I can do with him. I have almost found him a new home because I felt like I was not providing enough stimulation like ...."Teach Your Dog 20 Tricks" Joking but serious. I thank you for your consideration. And I am a regular reader of your newsletter.
Thanks,
Ellen & Seamus
Answer:
In all seriousness, I think teaching dogs tricks (or anything else) is a great way to give them mental exercise. I spend a lot of time in winter teaching my dogs fun things to do just to keep them interested in learning.
Read the article titled Training With Markers.
We also sell some great books about clicker/trick training.
Cindy
I have a 12 month old German Shepherded that I can’t get him to jump (into the back of the truck or even over things) the vet says nothing wrong with his hips so I’m at a loss. I have tried to use toys and food and this work with the rest of his training. He is very smart and does everything that I ask of BUT just won’t jump. Any help you can give would be great.
Thanks for your support,
Jeremy
Answer:
Have you had x-rays done on your dog’s hips? If you haven’t, I would do that first. Unless there have been x-rays taken, there is no way to know whether there is a problem or not.
If you have had x-rays done and everything looks normal then I would suggest teaching the dog to jump something very small (like a few inches) so he understands what you want. You gradually increase the height as the dog gains coordination and confidence. I would teach this with markers. Read the article titled Training With Markers. I also highly recommend our DVD The Power of Training with Markers.
With all that said, at 12 months old your dog is still growing so I would limit jumping until he’s physically mature.
Cindy
Hi,
I have a 4-year-old GSD who I adopted 2 years ago. He has been trained in advanced obedience, and is well-mannered when I am present. In the last year I have had a baby, and am now pregnant with my second. I admit I haven't been able to take him all over the place like I used to, and now he mainly goes on jogs and walks, and gets to play fetch 2-4 times a day. It never seems like it is enough though. He always seems deprived, and in the house he will spend a half hour whining off and on out of boredom and chewing on himself (even though he has kongs and other toys to chew on)...he does eventually go to sleep. I work with his obedience every other day during my daughter's nap and play with him a lot. He never seems satisfied enough though. He has recently started chasing up and down the fence and barking at people, dogs, cats (that aren't mine), squirrels, and trucks. He never used to do this before I had my child (when I had more time to spend with him and take him places). He only does it when I am not there or I am in the house. If I am outside with him he will ignore everything and put his attention solely on me. I can leave him in the house unattended and he is fine, not destructive or anything. If I hear him barking outside, I will go out there and call him and he will come away from whatever he was barking at every time. It seems to me that the barking and chasing is because he is bored. Also, he has a demanding side of him, and if I go outside and just sit in my chair, he will pace and whine and get frustrated that I am not playing ball with him. I simply ignore him, and he will eventually go scout the yard for things to chase, or run around and stare at me to try and get my attention. Why can't he just relax when I am relaxing and deal with it? Even when I do play with him for a while, and then go sit down, he still gets anxious and paces because I am not playing with him. Why does he do this? If I tell him to go lay down he will, but he always seems so put out about it...kind of annoying. Any suggestions for the nuisance behavior and for helping him feel more fulfilled? I feel like I do quite a bit for him, but it never seems like it is enough for some reason.
Thank you!
~ Kellie
Answer:
It sounds to me like your dog is not getting enough mental or physical exercise. Dogs like this can become neurotic is they are not getting their needs met and it's our responsibility to provide a safe and healthy outlet for them.
I know how busy it gets being a mom, but you have to make the time for exercising the dog's body. A tired dog is a good dog. I have found that using the Chuck It for my very high energy dogs will tire them out much more quickly than just a walk or throwing a ball by hand. I can throw it much farther with the Chuck It.
I would also stimulate his mind in new ways. Marker training is a great way to work with your dog, and it doesn't require fancy equipment or a lot of room. Giving the dog a task or trick to learn challenges him, and mental exercise is a great way to tire out a dog as well. Read the article titled Training With Markers.
I highly recommend our DVD The Power of Training with Markers. You can teach your dog to do tricks and interact with you in a healthy way, instead of whining and pacing. This dvd goes over the foundation to marker training and explains the concept behind it. We also carry a couple of books that are great, Getting Started: Clicker Training for Dogs and The Everything Dog Training and Tricks Book.
For the barking outside, I would recommend a no bark collar. You can find information on No Bark Collars on the web site. I use them in the kennel every day.
Cindy
Hi,
I have a 4 month old (on Nov 1st) boxer puppy, Judah, who has just completed puppy kindergarten and is about to begin beginner obedience at my local dog training facility. He’s doing exceptionally well in his general behavior as well as obedience, however in reading through some of your articles, you speak about a dog working obedience with drive instead of compulsion. You defined working with compulsion as a dog who appears to at best tolerate obedience training. I see so many dogs who are like that and Judah is becoming that way as well. He does really well, he’s a quick learner and is very responsive to my verbal commands, but he just doesn’t seem to enjoy it. I haven’t done an extensive amount of work with him yet as he’s still a baby, I keep sessions very short and end them with play, but as we progress in obedience I need to work harder with him and I don’t want it to become something he hates.
I have read through quite a few of your articles and as you have so many different training videos…
First question:
I have a pretty good handle on establishing leadership and basic obedience training, aside from how to make this fun for him instead of drudgery. Is ‘Building Drive and Focus in Working Dogs’ a good video for me to start with, or is that more suited for folks who have a dog headed for police dog training?
Second question:
I would like to learn the proper way to train Judah for personal protection, but in order to do that, would I have to put him through full fledged protection training? I’m sorry for my ignorance here, I don’t really need an attack dog, but I would like to know the best way to teach him how to protect me and protect the home, if I ever needed him to. Is this something I can do on my own with him?
Thanks,
Jaime
Answer:
I would recommend you work with Judah with markers.
You will see my young dog in a lot of the trailer for our new video The Power of Training Dogs with Markers. I think if you start using this system, you will see your puppy’s enthusiasm really increase. I won’t ever train a dog without this system.
I think Drive and Focus is great if you want to build prey drive in your dog, and if you do plan on protection work I would definitely recommend it.
We have a Q&A section on personal protection training, and protection training pups.
Here are the videos we recommend for Personal Protection:
* Raising a Working Puppy
* Building Drive & Focus with Bernard Flinks
* The First Steps of Bite Training
* The First Steps of Defense
* Training Personal Protection Dogs
* Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive DogsIt’s not really possible to do all the training for a protection dog on your own, there will come a time that you would need to work with a trainer. You can do a lot of the preliminary work yourself though, and that is actually better and less stressful for the dog. They learn the mechanics and techniques with you, and then when the dog is mature (usually 18-30 months old) you can work with a decoy/trainer.
I hope this helps.
Cindy
Thanks for putting this video [The Power of Training Dogs with Markers] out. I am waiting patiently and I am rejuvenated in my training aspirations. I have trained my GS in obedience and achieved a CD title in AKC. I now want to try Marker training and move up the ladder in AKC obedience. I trained my GS with high praise and yank and crank. I am really excited about trying this method.
My question is, will this video explain how to retrain an already trained dog? Will it give me the skills to break down new commands that I will face in the next step of AKC obedience trials?
Thanks,
Mike
Answer:
This video breaks down the marker system for the PERSON so that you can use the techniques to train your dog. Retraining a dog with this method is really no different than training a new dog. It’s all started with fun and food and once they realize that they are a partner in the training (as opposed to a recipient) you will see them really enjoy and start trying to problem solve.
We will be doing more videos in the future that will show training steps for more exercises, but having a good understanding the foundation techniques is the key to being a successful marker trainer.
I hope this helps!
Cindy
Hello Cindy,
I just received the Marker Training video yesterday and I noticed how similar it is to Balabanov's training style. I'm new to all of these different training styles and to dog training in general. Kind of confusing actually with everything out there now.... Leerburg, Balabanov, Ellis, Dildei, etc. Can your training methods work with Balabanov's methods? Am I just keying in on the overall concept and not the specifics of how to use markers for your training methods vs. Balabanov's methods? I'm asking this question because I like a lot of the ways that the Leerburg videos train dogs and I like a lot of the ways that Balabanov trains dogs. I just don't know if they would work together if I mix and match different parts of the training methods or if I'm missing some important detail for each that would make it impossible to do that. I tried to a search on the web board, but I couldn't find too many threads by you or Ed Frawley on Balabanov.
Thanks,
Courtney
Answer:
Hi Courtney,
The reason you find it similar is because marker training (or operant conditioning) is a very simple way to train dogs, and while every trainer can put their own little twist on it by using different words or rewards the concept is scientific and quite simple in theory. If you try to change the principles too much, you destroy the whole beauty of the system. I have found that ALL marker trainers who apply the concepts correctly actually have very similar styles.
So to answer your questions, it’s a great idea to take the ideas that you like and that work for you and your dog and use them even if it’s one thing from Michael Ellis and two things from Ivan, and a couple things from us and so on... That’s how you create your own style and that’s when you can really call yourself a 'trainer.'
I hope this has helped.
Cindy
Dear Cindy,
I have written with concerns about my daughter's dog previously and you have always been very helpful, so I am coming to you again. This dog was the runt of his litter. He is smart, sensitive, very attached to my daughter and has more a Border Collie than a Lab personality.
His fear of walking on ramps and over metal disappeared after observing another dog walking on the ramp. Following your suggestions, we've seen substantial progress in his overcoming his fears of strangers. But in the past three weeks, he seems to be developing a new fear when traveling in the car. The first occurrence was when my daughter was driving on the highway and came to a bridge, (they had been on this highway and bridge many times previously without incident). Suddenly, the dog jumped into her lap and seemed quite frightened. She had to pull over in order to get him back into the back so she could resume driving. Since then, we have observed him getting down on the floor and visibly trembling when coming to that spot and increasingly this behavior seems to be generalizing to other bridges, other highways. We don't know whether the original fear was triggered by a scent, sight, sound, light falling through the structure of the bridge, the car speed or what. He seems to be OK in town or on quiet country roads, (at least, so far), but we are concerned that his fear will generalize to increasing car situations.
My questions are, 1) is there a way to get to the root cause of the fear? 2) how common is this behavior in dogs? 3) how do we help him overcome it? I know, from your past counsel that the worst thing to do is to console or comfort him when he is in his fear state. We live in a beautiful rural area of the Pacific Northwest and we like to take the dogs out to rivers, beaches and woods as often as we can. We don't want anxieties of car travel to interfere with this dog's enjoyment of his outings.
We'd appreciate any advise you can give.
Thanks,
Marilyn
Answer:
I don't know that it's possible or even really that helpful to get to the root cause of this particular fear. You need to address the fear, and how it came to be may never be discovered. I'll be honest and say that I would not let any dog ride loose in my vehicle. This is a safety issue, for the driver and the dog as well as for any other vehicle on the road. I have a friend who was in a pretty severe accident when her dog jumped onto her lap while driving. Airbags deployed, car totaled, it was quite a scare for all of us.
I would start out fixing this issue by getting a crate for the vehicle.
This would serve two purposes. 1) it will give the dog a safe and secure place to travel where he didn't have to feel worried and 2) it will keep him contained so he can't jump around and cause problems in the car.If can't fit a crate in the vehicle then at the very minimum I would get one of those seat belt harnesses for him and attach it so he can get on the floor of the car if he feels safer there.
If this dog likes food, I would use marker training to mark and reward GOOD behavior in the car, at first avoiding the bridge or areas that you know are going to make him nervous. Make sure he completely understands the game away from the vehicle first. You'll mark/reward just being in the car, then mark/reward driving in the car, then mark /reward driving on the road where the bridge is, and eventually mark driving under the bridge. This will create a positive association with something that used to scare him.
We just completed a DVD on The Power of Training Dogs with Markers.Keep in mind that you need to make very small steps in working through something like this, and it will take two people. One to drive and one to mark/reward the dog.
I hope this helps.
Cindy
Your Q&A’s are extremely interesting and helpful.
We have a three year-old male neutered white GSD named “Trigger.” He can be a bit fear-based dominant and aggressive (I have your DVD). We are working on this aspect of his personality and making good progress.
We would appreciate your advice on one small issue. Our bedroom is a duplex. There is an “open” staircase from the first floor where we have our home office and the second floor where the bed is located.
By open staircase, I mean the steps are wood, but there are no risers behind them. When Trigger was about a year old he was going up the stairs and on the second step he slipped and hurt himself (not badly). Ever since then, when he comes to the second step, he gets very agitated and goes back and forth until he works up enough courage to charge up the stairs. He has no problem going down the stairs. He also does this on other stairs that do have risers, but to a much lesser extent. Is there some way we could help him with this phobia?
P.S. We have your marker training DVD on order.
Thank you,
Joel
Answer:
I would use marker training to get him through his fear. Start by reading the article, if you haven’t already done so. then when you get the dog understanding what the marker means, you can use it to get him up one step, then two, etc…. Take it really slow, slower than he wants to go and it will build his confidence.
I’m glad you have the video on its way, it is what I would have suggested. I’d make sure to use REALLY high value food rewards, something your dog really loves and doesn’t get regularly (like steak or chicken)
Cindy
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