is the ob he does now..am i putting pressure on him? OH..and when should i start teaching him stay? i think i read not to teach that too early cause it can kill drive?

 Quote: stephanie bishop

... Marker training...you mean like "yes" "ok" and "no"? instead of a clicker?

Clickers are a kind of marker. That is, marker training includes clicker training.

Are you clicker training?



Are you watching Michael Ellis videos and/or free streaming vid? How familiar are you with marker work?

If a clicker works for you, you can use a clicker.
You just need to pick something and be consistent with it.
A lot of people newer to this type of training find the clicker easier because it is consistent, whereas our voice changes when we are excited, or we forget and say "good" where we mean "yes".

Don't use a "negative" marker right now. Toss out the "no" and the "uh uh", etc. If he's in the wrong, just redirect him.

Let him have a period of just being right all of the time, and let him come to know that you will always help him to understand what right is, and help him BE right.

I just want to ask...you had said that your intention, from an earlier post, is to do SchH with this pup...now you say you don't have a club available to you. I guess that I am confused. Where do you expect to train your dog in SchH without the help of a club or knowledgable training people. You can only learn so much from books & the internet. You need someone knowledgable there by your side... 1st hand help with your dog.

Don't know wherein Tx you are...,but there are alot of clubs there. Many people on here are from TX.

You CAN'T train bitework yourself. You really NEED an experienced decoy. You need a traiing field, blinds, jumps, etc etc to train in SchH. You need a decoy & training field & equipement for ring sport. You need a decoy & trainer for helping set up realy life sceneries for personal protection work.

You CAN train your pup to be a nice, social, obedience trained dog from the help here, books, dvds etc.

If you don't have the help needed to train the dog properly in protection work...it would be best not to try to do this at all. Just work on having a nice, social, confidant, well trained family dog....this should be your primary objective.

Everything you do with your pup should be lots of FUN for the pup. Good treats, praise, lots of play with a toy or ball or even a tug if that is his toy of choice, buy would be best to hold off on the tug for now if possible. Just go back to playing with him for a while & do a little short 5-10 ob sessions a couple of times a day.

Don't be in such a rush. Everyone want to rush their pup into being TRAINED dogs. Let him be a puppy. They are pups such a shot time. Keep his life structured. Keep on aschedule as much as possible. Knowing what comes next for a puppy is comfort & makes them secure & happy. Introduce him to new things..,but in a way that is comfortable for him. Let him explore.

Most of all ENJOY your puppy.

 Quote: Anne Jones

You CAN'T train bitework yourself. ...

You CAN train your pup to be a nice, social, obedience trained dog from the help here, books, dvds etc.

If you don't have the help needed to train the dog properly in protection work...it would be best not to try to do this at all. Just work on having a nice, social, confidant, well trained family dog....this should be your primary objective.

Everything you do with your pup should be lots of FUN for the pup. Good treats, praise, lots of play with a toy or ball or even a tug if that is his toy of choice, buy would be best to hold off on the tug for now if possible. Just go back to playing with him for a while & do a little short 5-10 ob sessions a couple of times a day.

.... Let him be a puppy. .... Most of all ENJOY your puppy.

Couldn't possibly have said it better. With no club at present, Anne, you and Aaron have clarified the path.

So back to upbeat marker work. Are you familiar with any of the free video or the instant rentals or purchased Michael Ellis DVDs?

Forgive me if I'm going back way too far, but just to check: Do you know about charging your marker (or "loading" it), and then using it? And teeny food rewards?

Basically, are you well familiarized with marker work (which can't be beat for instilling and building confidence in the dog, and you!) .... ?

A good book to pick up in your reading is "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor.

dont shoot the dog...got it
also i have noticed with my marker training my voice does go up in pitch when i'm excited. i did do a few weeks of studying that before i purchased the pup..so he knows that "yes" means what ever he is doing is what i'm asking him for. i LOVE this meathod of training. but htink that the clicker might be better since i'm getting excited and am not as consistant as i'd like to be.
the only OB we have done is by useing elis's advice with lurring and marking correct possition. But i'll switch to clicker as soon as i can get to petsmart. I was working on saying "good" for him to know what he is doing is the right thing and extending his sit and wait and down and marking with "yes" a few seconds later..but i will stop that all together and make everything a winning game for him.
TALK ABOUT PERFECT TIMING..no more bite work..and i noticed he started teething today (just noticed)
i just got back from a 1 hour walk and NO tail chasing since. yeah!

Edited by Connie Sutherland (04/25/2011 08:09 PM)
Edit reason: slightly changed title as we move forward

Hey Stephanie

This turned out to be an excellent thread!

I just wanted to say that my current dog started tail chasing at around the same age. The first time she did it it was kind of cute, she caught it out of the corner of her eye and was suprised by it, then off she went.

Luckily I followed advice similar to what Aaron told you. It immediately lessened and within a few weeks it completely stopped.

By catching it early and asking here you will be on the right track. Aaron is giving you excellent advice. You guys will be OK.