Quote: Jenny Arntzen

If you are inconsistent with NILIF you will condition your dog to push boundaries to test if he can trust your guidance and instructions. Being consistent with NILIF is a way of life that sets up your dog to be able to understand what you are asking of him, and to know what to expect from you. When you dog can't trust you, he is going to be anxious and stressed, and that is going to bring out pushy behaviour.

Yes. Consistency is not always my strong point, so I need to work on that discipline of myself. In weak moments, I can let him push me around, but if I feel that starting, he's going to his crate. I did to him last night; when I'm not ready to do something, and he's impatient, he can just wait in there.

 Quote: Mara Jessup

I think you should quit analyzing, start training and see what happens. If he evens out into a well mannered responsive dog that doesn't have an inclination to ferociously charge and bark at people then you know it was handler error and that you have a pretty solid dog

Yes. I'm there now.

Training question--focus vs. attempt at domination/manipulation.

Related to the "place" command question, regarding having him to lie in his bed until I'm ready to do something with him, is his staring at me intensely a good thing or a bad thing? (Like, focus, or staring-down?) If you remember, he used to bark and growl, now he knows I'll put outside (and starting now, probably crate), so he makes that little noise so I'll involuntarily look over. He doesn't look aggressive at all, and he gets really happy when I look at him. It really feels attention-seeking, rather than good-focus or domination-stare.

A related question, is it preferred for a dog to be alert and ready at down (like in bed, when they are supposed to be waiting for a while), or relaxed? Should they be watching you, constantly, ready to leap if you give any indication you want them to? (That seems annoying to me, but maybe it's a sign of being obedient, I don't know.) Is that even possible to control, or does it just come with time, as the dog realizes you will go when you're ready?

" Extra sharp cheddar cheese is about all i have left that he cares about. That's why I tried to go to tugging, since he really likes that. But now he's getting picky about which tug-toys are good or not good enough. ... I think he needs to be hungerier; he's probably never hungry, and I need to be more active/interesting, like in the Michael Ellis videos. I realize the toys are kind of complicated to do, but he does enjoy that as a play break after doing a few commands. "


"he's probably never hungry"

Then you are probably overfeeding.


Did you order Power of Training with Food?

You are right; you are not ready to train new commands with toys. Timing is easier to work on with tiny food bits (HV but tiny), and toys are not as easy to reward with when teaching a new command. You need to avoid giving empty markers (markers with no rewards).

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

" Extra sharp cheddar cheese is about all i have left that he cares about. That's why I tried to go to tugging, since he really likes that. But now he's getting picky about which tug-toys are good or not good enough. ... I think he needs to be hungerier; he's probably never hungry, and I need to be more active/interesting, like in the Michael Ellis videos. I realize the toys are kind of complicated to do, but he does enjoy that as a play break after doing a few commands. "


"he's probably never hungry"

Then you are probably overfeeding.


Did you order Power of Training with Food?

You are right; you are not ready to train new commands with toys. Timing is easier to work on with tiny food bits (HV but tiny), and toys are not as easy to reward with when teaching a new command. You need to avoid giving empty markers (markers with no rewards).

I'm trying not to give him any food except during training. I figure it's not the healthiest diet but dogs have lived on a lot worse, and now if I can mange to change to the verbal marker it won't be as much of a problem. He seems to eat a lot less than my other dogs. (I cook for them; one has has to be on a renal diet, and I think their food is way to fattening for Mondo anyway. Being young he's able to digest and absorb properly, and doesn't need all those carbs; the other two have old-age malaborption and muscle-wasting issues.) He doens't much like my cooking anyway, too many vegetables. He's just really spoiled and picky; that happened right awaay. Even canned cat food is not that tempting to him; he'll turn his nose up at that, and branswager, when he knows I'm hiding a vitamin/fish oil in there. He's a surprisingly delicate eater, never wolfing like the other two, but spitting out anything he doesn't like in it. On a walk, forget it, food is completely boring. Human food, pizza, etc. is never boring. I tried using cut-up pizza as treats, but that's not the greatest.)

I already have and watched "Training with Food". It was very good; showing the human trainees vs. Micahel Ellis and Cindy doing it was instructive. Again, I need to know what to do once the dog knows the command and you expect it to stay; for example, "stay" command. Do I click like after a few moments, then get longer and longer? People said my timing was off, but not how it was off. So it's hard when I think I'm doing it like them, but I'm somehow not.

"TWF" said to use bigger treats instead of tiny, I thought. I tried to increase the size and hold them like they do.

I never mark without treating, even if I mark wrong.

There was another piece of advice you gave me, and I was going to tell you I had done it, but I can't remember what it right now. If I don't understand something, I'll ask, but if I forget to mention it, it means I understood and did it, if possible.

Thanks. One of these days I"ll get brave enough to make another video of my training. It works somehow. I could show the down to sit and back and forth, with no sound, lol.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

"You said, "dropping all but the most special treats out of his mouth, so he may have to get a little hungrier". This might also be an indication that you are working your dog too hard and he is stressed."


Do you know that training sessions should be a few minutes max, sessions frequenct rather than lengthy? They should. No one, you OR the dog, should have time to become stressed or frustrated. Every session starts and ends on a high note: something you KNOW he will do and be m/r for.

Oh yea; this is the one. Yes I just do a few minutes at a time. He's not stressed, he likes it. He doesn't want me to stop, and will bug me. (He'd rather play or walk, but next best is training. He likes to have a lot of attention from me, and he'll make me give it, if I let him. He doesn't like to be ignored. He does go very easily into his crate, and just looks out, very still and quiet, big puppy dog eyes, he changes in there for some reason, becomes completely docile the moment he knows it's inevitable, but if he's out and not sleeping, he's watching me all the time, hoping for signs of something fun about to happen. He does like "routine" stuff better than new, of course, sometimes threatenign to bark at me if he doesn't understand, but he doesn't do that much now since I got tougher about it. (Otherwise, he'd be barking at me all the time, trying to boss me around.)

He listens OK when he's not hungry, it's just hard to do marker training right if he's not interested in food.

Sweet. How does Mondo feel about home cooked liver treats. Just liver that's dried in the oven. You can even make it with chicken breast instead...if its too much work, you can buy the dried chicken treats. Logan loves those cheap chicken hotdogs cut up small and I use them to, I can afford them.

Check the SOURCE of any of the chicken ( the meat itself)treats...like the fillet or jerk stuff. Some of the meat originated in China has cause very sick dogs.

^^^Absolutely thanks for posting that! Eek forgot about that!

And avoid the irradiated junk too. There's also some lamb lung treats many dogs go nuts over, I think they're freeze dried and break easy.

Oh one more thing (this may be on the dvd) play with your dog with the treats as if they are toys....makes it more interesting. Throw the treat on the ground, dog chases the food to get it, then call back mark reward, repeat. Fun game. I think its called backchaining...the same thing is used for toys later on.

" I need to know what to do once the dog knows the command and you expect it to stay; for example, "stay" command. "


I don't use "stay" (because a command lasts until it's over), although some do, but I'm not sure why we're talking about duration yet anyway.



What command is now 100% reliable in the house with no distraction?

The reason I've asked this three or four times is in order to introduce proofing for venue, and then distraction, all indoors, before gradual proofing just barely outdoors (garage, porch), etc., etc.

Remember that you have no ob outdoors under distraction. So a goal is to learn how to proof gradually for venue and distraction.