Judy, alot of what you are asking goes back to training in each & every scenario that you can think of. Training is not breed, age, working or showline dog specific. The way you train is geared only to the temperment of the dog. Let your imagination go wild. The more places that you work your dog the more he will be able to tollerate as a distraction. My just turned 5 mo old pup will sitz, platz, come & watch me in the middle of Home Depot on a Saturday am. That is all that I teach my pups ( all & only motovationally) until they are at least 6 months old..then I start a more regemented training...still all motovational. I don't put any corrections on my dogs until they are about a year old. Don't really need it until I am ready to start proofing them. Take Gunner out with you everywhere (which I know that you have said that you do) & pop him out of the car & ask for some obedience. I used to take my female & work her on a patch of grass at the shopping center,at the park, beach, school, park, store, bank, etc... your get the idea. She was doing long downs under heavy distractions ( cats, dogs, kids,ball games, chipmunks, squirrels ect)at 1 1/2 yr old with only a handful of corrections ever needed. You just need to take him out & work him every where you go. The more that they are exposed to & are asked to work under those distractions the better they will learn to ignore the distractions. Just work up to the dogs as distractions over time since that seems to be the hardest for him. Part of that issue is that he has been allowed to play with most of the dogs that he has meet rather then to be taught that yes, they are there, but you need to pay attention to me & keep walking with me..& then he can share what I have the food, toy, etc whatever he likes best. If you want to have him interact with other dogs, don't do it while you are training. Do it seperately, at least for now until he is able to ignore then unless told otherwise. Find what he likes best of everything & use that as his reward. Use that just for the obedience that you do under distraction as a special encouragement. Good luck. Gunner is a nice boy & will come along in time. Just stick with it.

Judy , you're so funny
You know that when I said it was you , I was kidding...not, just kidding
Any way you are doing the right thing, I think it's hard to say because of course we can't see you in training mode but keep it up , you are on the right track!!

And we all expect a video of that perfect dog of yours when he matures!


By the way , the reason he lives at my parents is to protect their property, they've had a peeping Tom come on their property 3 times!, He has'nt been there since my male lives with them.If you look at that photo of him that's at my parents house and their back yard looks like a jungle (in vegas), anyone can hide for days and not be seen! But not anymore , cause old sarge will find ya

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Angelique, you do exactly what my dog/behaviorist/trainer taught me...always raise the bar and put him in a position where he WILL fail so he can be corrected and eventually move to the next level. She always said people make their mistake by not expecting enough from the dog.

I think I'm not sure I agree with this. My theory, and I think the majority of others', is to always set them up to WIN. Constant praise (motivation), not corrections, makes for a much more effective training routine, IMO. And a dog moves to the next level when the trainer feels it is ready to. Too much expectation makes for a very frustrating time for all.

Experts, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Jan,

Sorry, my mistake. I should have taken the time to write a far more clearer statement. But, way to go Jan in keeping me posting in a literate fashion !!

"so he can be corrected" was not meant to mean "so he can receive a correction/pop with the leash". But I can certainly see why you'd take it that way. What I should have said:

My dog's "corrections" while he's under a "raise the bar" scenario is a mild to stern "No,no". That's it. No physical anything. And then we try again. For example, I trained him to stay put when the front door is opened and not run out the door just because it's open and he feels like it. How? Put leash on (not the walking kind, the little 5" thing), opened front door and(with no command) allowed him to do what he had always done in puppyhood, just walk out. Only this time I stopped him with a "No, no" and a very mild tug with a flat collar just as he got past the point which was unacceptable. He's looks at me like, "What? suddenly I can't just go?". That's right! No you can't!

I repeated this scenario maybe 3 or 4 times and he seemed to understand. So I'd do this twice a day, maybe a 1 minute session. He learned quickly. Any "corrections" during this time were nearly all verbal. Once he's at the point where no verbal corrections were needed, I raised the bar with distractions. I.E. have my son walk out the open door and bounce a ball while Gunnar is standing right there inside the door. His first break of that invisible line, he gets a stern "NO, NO". Because now I know he knows the command but is not obeying so he gets a stern response from me. If he disobeys AGAIN in the same session, I'll pop the leash. He is a soft dog and requires very little physical corrections.

If I want him to improve his sit or down w/distractions, I will not ask him to sit in front of another dog for 1 minute. He can't seem to do it yet. So I try to do it for 15 seconds at a clip. I KNOW the little bugger can do that. Once he does this 15 seconds, I say good boy, give him a treat and we keep on going on our merry way .

Lastly, not only is every training session only about 5 minutes, I always end it on a positive note .

 Quote: judy troiano

For example, I trained him to stay put when the front door is opened and not run out the door just because it's open and he feels like it. How? Put leash on (not the walking kind, the little 5" thing), opened front door and(with no command) allowed him to do what he had always done in puppyhood, just walk out. Only this time I stopped him with a "No, no" and a very mild tug with a flat collar just as he got past the point which was unacceptable. He's looks at me like, "What? suddenly I can't just go?". That's right! No you can't!

Did you use a "sit" or "stay" command first? You said he was standing by the door watching while your son was bouncing a ball. Again, only my opinion, but I think I would put him in a sit or down simply because then there is very little to no room for movement, and thus, more chance to place him in a win situation. But, then again, maybe I just feel like picking on you this morning. Sorry if it sounds that way!

I KNOW I am picking on you, because from all of your posts, I don't think there is any question about Gunnar's obedience level. My only reason for commenting is because my boys need a much clearer direction and firmer hand!

 Quote: jan williamson

 Quote: judy troiano

For example, I trained him to stay put when the front door is opened and not run out the door just because it's open and he feels like it. How? Put leash on (not the walking kind, the little 5" thing), opened front door and(with no command) allowed him to do what he had always done in puppyhood, just walk out. Only this time I stopped him with a "No, no" and a very mild tug with a flat collar just as he got past the point which was unacceptable. He's looks at me like, "What? suddenly I can't just go?". That's right! No you can't!

Did you use a "sit" or "stay" command first? You said he was standing by the door watching while your son was bouncing a ball. Again, only my opinion, but I think I would put him in a sit or down simply because then there is very little to no room for movement, and thus, more chance to place him in a win situation. But, then again, maybe I just feel like picking on you this morning. Sorry if it sounds that way!

I KNOW I am picking on you, because from all of your posts, I don't think there is any question about Gunnar's obedience level. My only reason for commenting is because my boys need a much clearer direction and firmer hand!

Well, let me start by saying, "My dog's smarter than your dog. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!" Sorry, I just couldn't resist .

No, I definitely did NOT give him any command; sit, stay, nothing. And I did this for a reason. It's all about safety. Let's say I'm having a party, I'm in the kitchen, basement, library (anywhere but at that front door), and one of the guests says their goodbyes and walks out unaccompanied. If my dog happens to be at the front door at that moment that he/she opens the front door, I wanted my dog to know that the open front door is off limits to him no matter what. I don't want to have to be there giving him a command of sit/stay for him to NOT trot on thru the open door. I wanted him to recognize that an open front door to him means, "I cannot walk thru that door unless Judy says, "OK". If she is not there to say, "OK" I cannot go out this door!"