I just finished watching Michael Ellis' Advanced Concepts in Motivation DVD and I now see how I have made mistakes with training my dog. I have no variable duration in my reward event, if fact there is not reward event just a pez dispenser. I also do not mark the behavior correctly because I do not have any time delay between my marker (Yes) or correction (No) words before the reward and/or correction.

I have a six year old Doberman that is an introverted, special sensitived, food motivated, high prey drive (but not toys - chases wildlife), not possessive, and reactive dog. He wants to work for me, but because I trained with corrections too earlier in his training, he worries about being wrong and will shutdown when he is unsure of the right behavior I am asking him to perform for me. If I have his favorite food treat, he will perform anything I ask perfectly.

Can I retrain him to become an active motivated dog at this point in his life? If yes, where do I restart my retraining to covert him to become an active motivated Dog?

 Quote: Lori Starling

Can I retrain him to become an active motivated dog at this point in his life? If yes, where do I restart my retraining to covert him to become an active motivated Dog?

Sure you can! Do you have the other ME video's as well, or is this the first one you have watched? I'm just wondering if you really understand the concepts behind marker training. Leerburg has some very good videos that go into great detail about it.

I would go back to basics with your dog, working on engagement and simple obedience. Use a lot of high-value food rewards since he's food motivated. Susan Garrett, a highly successful international agility trainer and competitor has a great saying: Work=Play=Work. Every training session should be short, upbeat, and a give food reward for every repetition right now.

Eventually he will start to associate training with fun and he'll want to actively engage you, instead of associating training with stress. It'll take a while, but it most definitely is possible.

Alot what Tabatha said, I'll just add that going back to basics removes distractions and corrections. What your looking for is the behavior shaping aspect, you want him to figure things out on his own. No corrections for wrong answers or he wont try.

Food rewards are great for the marker training route, just make sure your marker training methods are spot on and you shouldn't have any problems in that respect.

Michael Ellis' DVD Advanced Concepts in Motivation is my first ME training DVD of my soon library of his DVDs. One on my friends has the Focus Heeling DVD which hooked me on the training methods prompted by ME & Leerburg. I really really want to attend ME’s 2 week Obedience training course, but it is not feasible with me living in the southeast.

With Christmas coming up, I will ask for the following DVDs.
The Power of Training Dogs with Markers
The Power of Training Dogs with Food
Basic Dog Obedience

Would this be the best DVD to start back to basics and teach me to train for motivational event rewards?

Thank you for your all responses.

I believe becoming a good trainer is an ongoing, life-long learning experience. It is natural to make mistakes. I'm sure even the best trainers, including ME, will admit to making plenty of mistakes along the way. The important thing is that we learn from these mistakes and find a better way to train.

I don't believe you have done anything to your dog that can't be overcome with time and patience. Just start now, doing things with the new methods you are learning (marker training), go back to the basics, and I believe you will see positive results.

Of the videos you mentioned, I don't have Basic Dog Obedience, so I'll have to let someone else speak for that one, but I have Power of Training Dogs With Markers and Power of Training Dogs With Food, and I believe these will provide you with a solid foundation in marker training. There is some overlap between the two, but I honestly recommend getting both of them. Though IMO you should watch Markers first, then Food.

I don't have the new Motivation DVD, but I plan on treating myself to that one as the budget allows!

Good luck, Lori, and I hope you'll let us know how it goes.

" .... I have Power of Training Dogs With Markers and Power of Training Dogs With Food, and I believe these will provide you with a solid foundation in marker training. There is some overlap between the two, but I honestly recommend getting both of them. Though IMO you should watch Markers first, then Food."

I agree. In this situation, I absolutely agree with these two to start, in the order given (219 and then 220).

You'll LOVE marker training! And so will your dog!

Good for you, Lori, for deciding to make this change!

In addition to what has been said you might consider changing the commands that have been associated with corrections and/or taught incorrectly. It might be easier to switch completely to a different language than to come up with a different word in each separate case

Hi Lori! I just wanted to jump in and say that ME's Power of Training with Markers is 25% off with the On Demand video right now (meaning you watch it on your computer and can do so for a year. I beleive you also get a coupon that allows you to buy the video for very little more than you have already paid. Maybe 5 or 10 dollars)
On Demand is a great way to go, no waiting for it in the mail and you can watch it anywhere there is a computer with internet I'd say it's definitely worth the $26 to buy it "On Demand" There are so many great things in these videos!

Oh, yes, good catch!!!!

http://leerburg.com/flix/

I want to thank everyone for their help! I think it is a great idea to start over my training with new commands so he will associate my new training methods with fun & stress free motivational events!

Not that I was a fully indoctrinated into the “Yank & Crank” old school training, but I do realized I started correcting too soon in my training with him. My female responded well to my type of training, but now I understand that she was a hard dog that loved to fight (play hard with me) with a lot of drive.

Although my male is also a Doberman, he is a softer dog that is more of a player which I have tried to convert him into a fighter. It has taken him six years to start shutting down on me and I could not figure out why. The more I tried to get him to play tug & ruff house with me, the less engaged he became. My female could just see me pick up my training bag that had the tugs in it, and she was pumped up.

After watching ME’s DVD, I realized I was trying to convert my introverted, non- possessive,space sensitive, food motivated, player, reactive boy into my other extroverted, toy motivated, fighter, possessive, active female.

Today I will start training to his temperament and not to what my preconceived picture of what I thought his temperament should be.