Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This morning I tried Countryhound's idea with the cushions and he had it mastered and was bored in 3 minutes flat.. It's a wonderful idea but I guess not everything will work for every dog. To see how he reacted I brought him to gate out of the yard into the park. He gets tons of exercise every day with the other dogs but he's getting more and more anxious to go for a walk and bolts off or pulls on his leash as soon as the gate is nearby. Obviously I don't want to take him for a walk yet and reinforce the pulling, however this anxiousness is going to be counterproductive when we do finally get out that gate and I'm afraid it might really delay our ever getting there. We're both getting bored of the yard and we both want to get out into the park where there are hiking trails and such but we have a ton of work to do yet on the pulling. Any more ideas on how to make 1 acre of grass with a small pond and a few trees more interesting would be greatly appreciated. I think if the yard was more interesting he wouldn't be quite as anxious to go for a walk.

And how many things can I teach him at once? I want to teach him a proper retrieve, to sniff things out and bring them, a few more variations on target training, the "leave-it" command as Jessie explained, names for all sorts of different toys and objects, and numerous other things. When all that is mastered, I'll have to start thinking up other things to keep his mind active and busy. He is honestly the most human dog I've ever met in my life and with the number of dog adaptations to human behaviours he displays I know it's not going to be easy to keep him busy and contented, but how many things can he learn at once? Eventually many of these exercises can be combined into one but until then how should I go about this? Repeated short sessions every day with one thing until he's mastered it, and then move on? Or short sessions to train a few different things every day, then move on to the rest later? Or one short session of each thing every day? Or a few short sessions daily, rotating the exercises so he only does one certain exercise every other day? We have tons of work to do and I know he's up to it I just can't decide how much will overwhelm and frustrate him, and how much will stimulate his mind without going overboard..

Any suggestions and ideas are very welcome

Ok, there are a ton of questions in this post. I'll appologise now if I don't address them all.

Loose-leash walking: you need to tire your dog out physically and mentally. You can try a head halter so pulling is virtually impossible outside the gate. Inside the gate, you can work on an excercise called "Choose to heel." With that, you casually walk around the yard and EVERY time your dog is in heel position he gets a verbal reward (or click if you use clicker training) and a food treat. Dogs easily learn the position that gets them the rewards this way. Don't reprimand if he starts to leave. It's no big deal. Reward him coming back to you and coming to the right place and just ignore all other responses. There comes a certain point where your dog chooses NOT to leave this position because it's so rewarding to be in heel position. THEN you can try larger distractions and possibly going beyond the gate with a leash on (leash is a security device only, not intended to control the dog in this excercise. Tie it to your waist if you have to- don't use it to guide or steer your dog.)

As for how much you can teach a dog at once. That really is a tough question to answer. My older dog can handle working on MANY different things at once and not get confused or frustrated. My younger dog prefers to "Keep it simple." Short periods of time (about 5 minutes) working on one thing and if he gets it right the first time, we don't repeat it. IF he's not getting it, I break it down a bit further and go from there. The moment I see confusion or frustration, we have to stop. He's not great at working things down to the point of being absolutely precise on a behavior. He's a 'Big picture" dog. My older dog is very precise and if she doesn't do it EXACTLY correct, I can continue to shape it until I get the prescision I want. She's then quite consistent and doesn't require much as a reminder to how I want something.

So, for your dog, you need to figure out what works for your team. Your own boredom level and/or excitement with training will be percieved by your dog. Some dogs mirror their owner's enthusiasm. Others dread it. Only you know your dog. Try out different ways. They "tell" you what works and what doesn't. A good owner is always "listening" to them.
-----
Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

Sorry for the long posts, I start thinking and rambling and then have problems picking out the important parts to narrow it down

Thank you.. we've been doing the "choose to heel" method for a couple of weeks and it seems to be working well. We tried the halti but after months of trying to adjust him to it, and even having a behaviourist help, he still tries to chew it off and goes completely mental. He'll let me put it on no problem but as soon as it's on he can get pretty nasty and will start crying and biting at anyone who goes near him. This is after two months of daily gradual exercises such as put it on for 1 second, treat, take it off.. gradually increasing the time.. We never got past about 3 minutes. Anyway, the halti doesn't go well with Kaiser. Strangely enough however we recently acquired a muzzle for him to make trips to the vet, etc. easier (never know where there will be children, and he won't tolerate them) and he can wear it for 15 minutes after a week of training without so much as batting an eye..

I guess for the walking we'll just keep working in the yard and gradually move up to the gate. Then start working still in the yard with the gate open, then within the yard and a few feet on the other side of the gate, etc.. I want to do this slowly enough that I'll never need some sort of anti-pulling device, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and try to get more excited about it Maybe if I break it up every couple of minutes with a little game or something that would help..

As for working on all sorts of things at once, he seems to take it very well so far.. I guess I'll just have to watch closely for signs of frustration so that I know when to stop..

Thanks again for your suggestions

yes, listening is the best way to determine what works/motivates your dog.

you might check out some agility sites/you can build your own obstacles with pvc pipe or even the dance for dogs, search/rescue almost anything & everything dogs do & get some ideas to adapt to your own yard,to 'find' toys that you've hidden.

I know that you are anxious to walk, but I don't feel that is going to work out for a while. All the fun/team building/trust that you can do now, without even going to the 'issues' places.

I hear stories on other posts from rescue folks that have spent years on trust/fear issues with maybe puppy-mill dogs that have had almost no human contact. No mis-treatments like Kaiser has experienced, just half a life-time with no affection/toys/ mental stimulation at all.

Maybe the key to your happiness/ contentment is to consider Kaiser your special needs child & not hope for that jogging partner. I'm just thinking outloud & wishing someone had a real answer/method for you both.

I used to do obedience trials/train group classes/conformation, but I have a phobia about driving in traffic in large cities/freeways etc. I ache to take Haiku (Shiba) to some obed or agility cos to me she is just the 'perfect' performance dog. At her agility classes, the first time she tried all the obstacles, the trainer was impressed that she was so brave. She is one that is always focussed on my face. But we just have fun by ourselves in our own backyard.

Hope you take this in the manner intended, only that you/Kaiser/Matt' can relax & have fun.

Hehe, no offense taken Kaiser most certainly is my special needs child - as long as he's around I doubt I'll ever have space in my life for another dog.. I just really want to teach him this because if he's always so incredibly anxious to get out and explore the world - I can't stand the thought of keeping him confined for the rest of his life. Not to mention that once I move back home, there's no yard, so walking is his main source of exercise. He's brilliant, and I know for a fact that he can do it; what I don't know is how long it will take to get there. Besides that I think it would help a little with some of his issues. As it is he is beginning to hide behind me when we come across someone he would normally attack. That's a great sign because it means that he trusts me to protect him from those that may have hurt him in his past. I think if I can teach him to pay more attention to me while were walking, and continue to 'ask' me before he does anything unusual, walks won't be so nerve racking. Even if he can't be my jogging buddy, it would still be great to stop dreading vet trips and such. I hate taking him to the vet because there are sometimes children or other people he decides he won't tolerate. If I can keep his attention on me while we're there, we won't have nearly as many problems..

Does that make any sense at all? I know he can do it (maybe not reliably, but it will help anyway), I just don't know when it will be..

It takes as long or longer for a dog to "unlearn" an undesired behavior and "substitute" in a desired behavior. YOu are well on the right path.

There's a product called "The Easy Walk Harness." I have not tried it on my dog yet. I have heard WONDERFUL things about it. It's made by the same company as the Gentle Leader- trust me when I say I know the kind of dog that doesn't adapt well to a head halter. I had a trainer tell me "All dogs get used to it" and tried to prove it to me with Kita (my 'special needs girl'). Kita has come a LONG way over the years, but she too has issues with other dogs. Kita stood with her dew claws hooked in the nose loop of the Gentle Leader for 1.5 hours before the trainer gave up on her and told us to go home. There was nothing good to "click and treat" in that long of a time. Today, I am able to get it on her head and get her to walk, but she HATES it and is actually a bit more reactive without it.
-----
Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

It's definitely going to take a lot of patience, and that's not exactly my forte, but I think we can pull it off.

I too can walk Kaiser on the halti but he really hates it and if we stop or pause for even a second he's tearing at it again. Even aside from that, he seems to have unusual amounts of power in his neck and chest and can actually pull nearly as hard as he can on a flat nylon collar. We've also tried the easy walk harness. My dad's dog has one and it did miracles for her. Kaiser is the same size so we tried it (he has zero problem with body harnesses, he accepts them just like a collar) and he can pull just as hard in that as well.

So after spending bundles of money trying out every walking implement on the market, including a small device that attaches to the leash, and lets out an unpleasant sound when there's tension, we decided to go the old fashioned way and train it out.. It will take a lot longer of course but I think it will be worth it...

>>
>>There's a product called "The Easy Walk Harness."

=============

This is what I use for our GSD. I think that there are three companies that make front clip harnesses now -- link below for the company where I bought ours.

Before we got our GSD, he was on a choke collar, prong collar and e-collar, and after trying for so long with a regular collar and the gentle leader, and realizing that I couldn't break his cycle of resistance (he even resists if I try to move his head/neck with my hands when he lies down), I had to try something different. Ultimately I would still like to transition to a regular buckle collar, but this harness gives me control, and is teaching him to read signals without too much of a fight.

http://www.softouchconcepts.com/index.html

I'll have to keep that in mind, I bookmarked the site.. For now I think we're going to keep trying with the regular collar though.. He doesn't fight me if I try to move him somewhere, even if I have both hands on either side of his head directing his vision (which I don't do often, by the way ) he'll just sit and take it.. With him it seems to be more excitement than anything.. It's not as if he doesn't want to go where I want him to, he just wants to get there faster than I want to..

And I really want to do it through training, without spending any more money on devices I won't use. I've changed a few of his habits but this one is more clearly defined. I know it's kind of stupid but I feel if I can teach him this it will be like a prominent team success and with all the disappointment we've had, we could really use it