Quote: Brian Sheppard

Hi Bob
Thanks for the info i will get right on it.

Cheers

Thank you, Bob!

(Bob taught me back-chaining the retrieve, Brian, in the olden days. )

You really want to get underway with marker training, IMO (my strong opinion). Do you want DVD recommendations or articles to read or help with loading your marker?

Hi Connie,
All help is really appreciated.

I had a chat with the dog behaviourist a OB class today, i will let you know what he said in a little while, to see what you guys think. But first i will take him out for his walk.

Thanks
Brian

Ok i was told by my trainer last week i had to speak with the behaviourist about his aggression: i.e. snapping when my son tried to get something off him he shouldn't have under the table, curling his lip when i moved him away from my daughters hamster, biting my girlfriend when she got hold of his collar when he was chasing his tail, But mainly because he went for a kid who was walking past scuffing his feet very slowly when he was in a sit at training. I know he shouldn't have gone for him, but he was watching him with his collie eye and then made his lunge. The first 3 situations could have been avoided and are now sorted, so i was mainly only concerned about the kid at training.

Ok, so here was his advice:

1. He said he is anxious, as he backs away from strange people and is distracted very easily by noises people etc.
2. Need to relax him more. Some plugin things etc.
3. Only dry food and moist food can be used for training.
4. Put his food out and if not eaten straight away, remove until next feeding time.
5. Only give commands that will 100% work, therefore dog never fails.
6. Treat when he does something you want, but never punish.

What do you guys think?

Cheers
Brian

I agree he's probably right about most of it.

Not sure what he meant by only use dry and moist food though. I use what works for the dog. High value meat and cheese in new situations to a mixed bag of kibble/meat/cheese/etc for everyday training.

Don't give commands until you're sure that the dog knows them, ie, train, increase distractions gradually, don't expect too much too soon.

As far as never punish, well, I always set my dogs up for success. I read their body language and use what I'm seeing to help avoid issues (ie, I see the dog is getting worked up, I move it away from the situation and calm it down/refocus it before it can escalate further). But when something happens that needs correcting (curling a lip at me would fall under this category) I quickly correct and move on - I probably would have grabbed his collar picked his front feet up off the ground and said "what the heck do you think you're doing?!?!" and it would have happened so quick that he'd have been like OOPS!! and then it would be over. Not everyone can react like that, but I can so I do with my dogs. I've only done it 3 or 4 times in 10 years with dogs, but it worked.

After that I would have tried to keep him out of that situation in the future to try and avoid more issues like that (he's overly obsessed with it so he needs to be kept away from it or stopped before he gets so worked up)

-The more a dog sees you as his pack leader, the less anxious he is. He needs a strong leader and no doubt about his pack position. NILIF again.

-What are plugin things?

-I urge that you learn something about marker training. #3 may work for some very food-driven dogs .... yours, you have mentioned, is not. Rewards, almost by definition, are things the dog wants very much. I have never heard anyone say that and would love to hear the rationale. Needless to say, I disagree thoroughly. The reward is based on your individual dog's "currency."

-Yes. You're not free-feeding, are you?

- #5 is over-simplified, but you do teach and thoroughly proof (for distraction, for venue, for distance) before even thinking about correcting for non-compliance. The recall, for example: If you cannot reinforce it (long line) and you have any doubt at all about compliance, do not call. Every time the dog ignores it, he learns that it's optional. The recall is crucial, and deserves your best planning and efforts in training it.

-The last one ..... complicated. Are we talking about commands or what? (See #5.)

JMO!




eta
I was typing while Mara was posting, so there's overlap.


Edited by Connie Sutherland (09/23/2012 03:40 PM)
Edit reason: eta

I will add that the dog should probably be crated while your eating. "Under the table" at this point in your training is way to much for the dog. He should NOT be under the table or anywhere near it for now.
Chasing his tail can become an obsessive compulsion and at that excitement level grabbing him by the collar is more then he can handle.
What stimulates the tail chasing? Look at any stimulation to him as a distraction to him. He's not ready for small distractions much less something very stimulating to him. Is it something that can be avoided, at least for the time being till he's under better voice control?

Hi All

Hi Connie follow the link and for the plugins, i think they are supposed to give off somekind of scent like the dogs mum, which helps them to be calm.

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/adaptil-dog-appeasing-pheromone-diffuser-by-ceva-23153

I'm not free feeding, did use treats for training, but now using a toy. May get his kong or a bone a night though. Will also throw a couple of treats in his crate when he goes in, but thats about it.

With regards to his food. He said put his food down and if not eat remove straight away, if he does eat it all, keep reducing until you get to a point that he is eating it all and then reduce a little further, which will be made up through the day with his training. He eats Harringtons and i mix a little wet food in as he likes that. He said to only give him dry food and use things like hot dogs, cornbeef, sausages etc for training. But i would like to keep his food as it is, because it took us a little time to find a combination of what he would eat, so don't really want to mess with that to much, he is fed twice a day.

Hi Bob,
Its the coffee table in the corner he gets under, because its low down, its not when we are eating, i think it was a sock or something that he pinched at the time. Also i will try to monitor why and when he chases his tail. Cheers

BTW here is a clip of plugging tug, out, and a little training, am i doing this correctly. This is a short clip of what i have been doing with him.

http://youtu.be/GKRJY8KuD3o

Many Thanks
Brian

I don't know anything about the tug business, so I shouldn't really be commenting at all!

Just wanted to say that your dog looks to me like his is SUPER smart and that there is absolutely no end to the things that you could train him to do once you open up the lines of communication between him and yourself. He is absolutely focused on you in that video. He is concentrating.

He's going to be terrific!

Thanks betty

I think its me that needs to learn, more than the dog. Lol
My friend said to me, that you should never get a dog thats more inteligent than yourself. A little cheeky but he may have a point. Lol

I was thinking of buying one of the dvd's.

I was looking at the power of playing tug with your dog: As i feel that just after a few days his focus seems to be improving already. or should i get the power of training dogs with markers.

Thanks
Brian