May 13, 2011
My dog goes wild when I praise him. How can I calm him down?
Full Question:
I have just purchased your obedience video and only have one question. How did you get the dog in the video to be so calm? My dog turns one this month. Is a lot of this age? When completing an exercise any praise makes my dog go wild - as you say in your video she stops thinking. Does this mean I should immediately move on to the next exercise if she is bored? When she does go wild I use a number 7 correction. In the video you had a level seven correction which you had thought some people may think you were too hard. No way. Any less than that and my dog is king. One good correction and she chills out for a little while. Also with a sit and stay my dog will not allow me to go behind her back without her moving to see me. Is this a good trait or should it be stopped? She is not for competition. Thank you for your time.Brent
Birmingham, AL
Ed's Answer:
Levels of "praise" can be a strong distraction for some dogs. If that is the case with a dog then the praise should be very calm and soothing not ecstatic and exciting. If you remember I said in the video that you can praise to the point of distraction. When this happens you have done too much.
When the praise is calm after the "sit" and the dog still gets hectic, the handler needs to remain calm and just pick the dogs front feet off the ground with the use of the leash and calmly say "NO." If the dog continues to get wild it may require a correction to get it to "sit" again. At this point there is no praise. The handler should continue to calmly repeat the command "Sit" (we are not at the stage where you only give one command and expect it to be followed - that’s much later). A very important point about this process is to not get mad or sound upset.
Once the dog finally stops throwing a fit then it is calmly praised by soothingly stroking its head to show it that everything is OK, and you still love him.
Your question about the "down" is an extension of the first problem. Your dog needs to get it's act together on the sit before you worry about training a second command. When you can sit the dog and move away from it, stand for a minute and then back to it you can move on in training.
If the dog moves when you go behind it - then it needs a correction. The easiest way is a second leash and handler. I assume that you are using a "prong" collar. The second handler has a long line and is in front of the dog. When you move back and away the dog should get a level 10 correction when it moves. You then come back and calmly praise the dog. Start with one step back, then two steps back. Step back and then come back to praise. At one year of age the dog should be able to handle the stress of this work.
When the praise is calm after the "sit" and the dog still gets hectic, the handler needs to remain calm and just pick the dogs front feet off the ground with the use of the leash and calmly say "NO." If the dog continues to get wild it may require a correction to get it to "sit" again. At this point there is no praise. The handler should continue to calmly repeat the command "Sit" (we are not at the stage where you only give one command and expect it to be followed - that’s much later). A very important point about this process is to not get mad or sound upset.
Once the dog finally stops throwing a fit then it is calmly praised by soothingly stroking its head to show it that everything is OK, and you still love him.
Your question about the "down" is an extension of the first problem. Your dog needs to get it's act together on the sit before you worry about training a second command. When you can sit the dog and move away from it, stand for a minute and then back to it you can move on in training.
If the dog moves when you go behind it - then it needs a correction. The easiest way is a second leash and handler. I assume that you are using a "prong" collar. The second handler has a long line and is in front of the dog. When you move back and away the dog should get a level 10 correction when it moves. You then come back and calmly praise the dog. Start with one step back, then two steps back. Step back and then come back to praise. At one year of age the dog should be able to handle the stress of this work.
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