Quote: jerry ferguson

Anyway your right about were i train him he does bark when we go by but i can understand that.I don't want to take his drive of his excitement away from him. But if i'm at a light someone or dog is walking by on the sidewalk he goes off. I can eat at a restaurant and when i drive by he remembers and there is about 6 of them small town here and he starts barking when i go by. And here is the weird part!!! (When i pull up or down on the turning indicator to make a turn he starts barking).

He sounds like a nice dog Jerry. An adolescent knucklehead who "loves life" I have zero experience working with Police dogs so this suggestion could be completely assinine. Anyone feel free to jump all over it, if it is. But I have worked with several dogs who shared this behavior. I used marker training to reinforce the behavior I wanted in the car and was able to reduce the crazies almost completely and those few remaining outbursts, I was able to correct verbally.

My dogs were in a large wire kennel that took up the whole back of my SUV. I just tossed small bits of liver treats and it was near impossible to miss the crate. This could be a problem for you if the area your dog is in is not easily accessible as you are driving.

Anyway I used the word "nice" as my marker and when the dog would be riding quietly and calmly(sitting, lying down) I would say nice and toss back a liver treat, he'd usually have to stand to find it which was good because as soon as he laid back down I could reinforce again. It is especially important to mark as soon as he stops barking.

From what you said about your dog, I think he would "get it" in no time. He has already made associations with things he enjoys, the training field, firehouse, restaurants and I have a theory. I believe he barks when you turn on the indicator because he is anticipating you parking. You probably use your blinker everytime you pull into a parking space and that equals good times to him. SMART DOG.
The link below will take you to an article which is more detailed.
http://leerburg.com/markers.htm
Goodluck.

Jerry… you may have hot a large portion of your problem on the head when you brought up the training location issues. I’ve had guys tell me that every time they turn onto “XYZ Street” their dog goes crazy in the car. Why? Because the dog knows XYZ Street is where they always do aggression training. I’m sure after a few trips, the dogs catalog the smells of the area and know exactly where they are. Breaking up your training locations may help a great deal.

If you are going to use the e-collar to correct the barking, make sure you use it in the context of a “quiet” command. The correction has to come from not obeying your command to be quiet, you don’t want a punishment for arbitrary barking. This could cause HUGE problems with everything from your aggression training to your building search.

Sheila
Thank you for you infor. And you are right about turning in and stopping.Other guys tell me they can't believe how he remembers everything and he is only 1 1/2 years old. But i can see how he is starting to get like his father. More reserve and alittle less friendly to people he doesen't know. And i didn't want that. But in the next 6 months we'll see how he gets set in his ways.I will look into the marker site.
Thank you
Jerry

Hi Matt
You are completely right. I don't want him to shut down. So i'm going to start training him in other areas just for alittle while.In these areas i always change his training. Bite work one day then tracking two days later in the same area. And i keep changing places.I'll take your infor. and use that to. I'll let you know what happens.
thank again
Jerry