I have a 10 mo. female Doberman and have had her since she's been 8 weeks old. We have been doing fairly well with obedience, and she really wants to please and learns and gets bored quickly. In an effort to become a better trainer, I purchased Mr. Frawley's Basic Obedience DVDs, and was astounded to realize that many of things I've done (like obedience classes, choke collar, too long training sessions) have been totally wrong. However, Brandi is responding very well to our new training techniques, and our much shorter sessions. The prong collar has made walks easier on me, and she resonds well to corrections.

I have two questions. The first pertaining to getting her into the car to take walks in other neighborhoods and parks. She doesn't like the car, never has, and I am using Mr. Frawley's suggestion on gingersnaps. I always try to entice her to jump into the car with the "UP" command and a piece of hotdog. She does it after about a minute and a half/two minutes of encouraging and I praise her like crazy. She gets treats during the ride. So today I tried a small correction on the prong collar when I could not encourage her to jump into the car. She just laid down, and I thought I must have over corrected her. But then I asked her to sit, and she did, and she readily accepted a treat. So I tried a prong correction again, and she just laid down again. I felt bad because I know this refusal to obey is totally fear based, and the only reason may be the 3 hour drive home when we picked her up. I will also note that she hesitantly (3 seconds), but timely, jumps into the car AFTER our walks. It's the initial morning UP commands that seems to be her biggest fear, even though we go in the car at least once a week, sometimes twice, ever since we've gotten her. At least she no longer drools... Can you please address whether or not there should be a correction for a fear based hesitation or refusal to obey a command or a better way to address this?

The second question has everything to do with socializing her. All of the Doberman research I did before we got her, and every breeder I spoke to, emphasized the importance of socializing her with people, places, and other animals. I live in a development full of children, and have found that many adults react with fear or obvious anxiety upon seeing/meeting our pup because she is a Doberman. She doesn't jump on them or growl. Yet their children are so open to the introduction. So we have always encouraged our pup to allow stranger petting as a way to socialize her to all different types of folks, and also as a way to introduce our neighbors to her. I personally want my neighbors to feel comfortable around her, and the children enjoy playing with her under my total supervision. During the heeling portion of the Obedience DVDs, Mr. Frawley states that he doesn't allow anyone to pet his dogs because they are not part of the pack. Does this also have to do with dogs that are being trained for protection? I am not training my pup for protection, and I actually want her to be friendly to folks unless there is a reason to be otherwise. She is cautious around new people, and a little aloof to most folks, but is the classic loving, velcro dog Dobermans have been described as. Can you please elaborate on socializing if this dog is going to be a loving member of our family and not a working dog?

Thanks, Mr. Frawley, for the detailed, easy to understand obedience cds! My dog really loves learning, and I want to be an excellent trainer, but realize I have a lot to learn.

Thanks so much!

Kim

I cant answer your questions, but I too am very curious about part two of your post. I would like to know more about not letting anyone pet or play with your dog, even if it is going to be a working dog. Does this include my wife and kids, or are we just talking about strangers, what about my father or inlaws. I am sure you can see where I am confused as well.

Regarding question 1, I would feed your dog in your car. If she does not jump into the car within the first minute of your prompt, skip that meal entirely. Try again at the next mealtime, and keep on until she REALLY wants to get in the car. Feed your dog in the car with the engine off for a while, then start the engine while the dog is feeding, then get her to jump in the car while its running, then move the car back and forth while she's eating, etc. Raise the bar every time. She'll eventually reduce the drooling. If she's 10 mos. and still drooling profusely, I doubt she'll stop altogether.

For question 2, for my money I would socialize the HECK out of the dog. I would take her everywhere, have her be petted by normal people in a normal way, specially by kids, I would have the vet plus assistants pet her, I would socialize her with other dogs, animals, and so on. If you plan on starting the socialization part just now, I have some news for you...you're about 9 months late...but better late than never. The easy socialization stops somewhere around 6 months of age. From then on it's possibly more desensitization. Take it slow and gradual if you see avoidance or aggression.

You want a dog whose reactions you are well aware of and that is easy to live with, right?

Hi, I just wanted to add a bit to the first question you had about the car. Feeding in the car is a good idea, because for the dog to be able to eat it must not be scared and must be secure with the surrounding, so just like crate training it could work to feed her in there.

But the steps to get in there i think would be starting first will ALL the doors open and the car turned off. It makes the car not look so enclosed and scary. Start slow, you can even use conditioning training if you want. If she shows ANY interest from the outside of the car...like looking at it, smelling it, making a move towards the car then praise and treat. Try and work it up to getting her to just put a paw up on the seat, or trunk or wherever you have her. Oh...that brings up a question, where is that she is in the car? You could try beginning with the floor in the front seat, it is more open and there is less "turbulence" when driving so it's more calming. Anyway, back to what I was saying, praise and treat for the feet up, then gradually working up to her getting in. Maybe she jumps out right away again but the timing is important to praise and treat while she's IN the car, not on her way out. You get the idea....also with the food bowl in the car, if she shows interest in wanting to get to it then praise, etc. Use some REALLY good treats, if hotdogs are so-so then try something else, cooked chicken or something to make it extra special.

Then once this part is ok then you can maybe start closing some doors. Turning the engine on for a minute or two then turning it off again and going back inside. Patience is key, but also remember to do it in a matter-of-fact way. Don't start acting all weird around the car trying to get her in. By "weird" I mean you're not doing that everytime you get in the car, touching it, talking funny trying to encourage her in, so when you do she just sees her pack leader acting funny and of course has doubts about getting in the thing that makes you act this way.

And finally, what is it that you do when you get to the other neighborhoods? Is it something the dog really likes? If you can find a place where she can run loose (without the chance of getting attacked by other dogs like at a dog park), but if you can find something that she REALLY likes, and keep going there for awhile each time then she will hopefully start to associate the car, with the ride to the fun place! And then she'll be so excited to go that you can't keep her out. Ok, that might not be completely the case, but use your imagination and go slow in the training to help her feel safe and not pressured, and also make it fun any way you can. So with that said, in my opinion I don't think you should be correcting yet. You didn't say that she had been jumping into the car on command for awhile and then suddenly stopped listening to your command. So that makes me think that she has never been completely comfortable with it and hasn't really picked up on the command and treats yet, and especially with her attitude towards it I think it's better to be all positive and slow in teaching now, and later when she's comfortable with the car or at least goes in on command even if she doesn't like it 100% then you can correct for the unwanted behavior/not listening.

But good luck!

Thank you for all the suggestions. I will definitely begin feeding in the car. She's never liked the car, and never did jump in enthusiastically. The first car entrance of the day is the tough one, but after we've visited where ever we went, she does get in the car. We like to go to other places to walk on leash, and we do try to get her a vanilla ice cream cone on most trips out. She loves ice cream! I've tried to make it fun. She only drooled the first couple of months, but I can tell from her body language and the way she holds her ears that the car is not an enjoyment. This is the first dog that hasn't loved the car.

We have worked on socializing since day one. We invite everyone to pet her if they show any interest in her at all. My question arose because I was watching Mr. Frawley Basic Obedience tape, and in the Heeling section, he stated that he doesn't allow a stranger to pet his dogs when he is out in public because they are not part of the dog's pack and they have no reason to pet your dog. I didn't know if that's his philosphy because he raises/trains protection dogs or if that's his general feeling. I want my girl well socialized, and we take advantage of our daily walks as a way to socialize. I just wanted more clarification on his point view to see if there's a reason that would apply to our situation. For now, we'll continue with our socialization as I think it's an important part of Brandi's training and well-being.

Kim