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cynthiarose
COLORADO
MH
Posts:135
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| 07/18/2012 7:40 AM |
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Hi! After the past two weeks of working more with Havoc I have a few training questions.
We’ve been working on the off-leash thing a lot and there has been a lot of improvement. Yesterday we decided to have another try at a dog park (this one much smaller than the last so if he decided not to listen he could easily be retrieved). My question is what is a reasonable expectation for his recall at almost 6mo? There were a few times when we did have to repeat the command a couple of times, but eventually he came back. There were only 2 occasions when he just looked at us and darted the other direction- this was a HUGE improvement over our first attempt at the park.
Second question is what is a good way to train a dog to follow a command from a distance? We use WAIT with Havoc as our key word to stop where he is, and well, wait for us to get to him, or until it’s ok for him to move. We’ve tried to add the SIT command after the WAIT and he comes running back to sit right in front of us.
Third question is how do I stop the jumping on people? I have tried every tip I could find online and he still jumps. I’ve thrown a knee up when he’s jumped at me and he’s been knocked on his butt a few times as a result. I’ve put my hands out and tried NO, or given his Wait command. I’ve turned and completely ignored him. I’ve caught him and pretty much pushed him back down. I’m open to more suggestions. I know it will take time, we’re going on two months since this habit started and nothing we’ve done has seemed to help it stop.
Last question is how do I get him to get in the dang car on his own? I have a tiny car and getting him in has turned into this dramatic ordeal and results in me just lifting him up. He likes the car- so it’s not dramatic in that he’s scared to be in the car… He just won’t jump in…. he tries to climb the side of the seat/car. Mind you he flies onto my bed which is raised a little over 3ft off the ground, and onto the couch and the chairs with no problems what-so-ever. We’ve tried going to the other side and calling him in and he just stands with his front two paws on the seat and looks at us. When he decides to get in it’s a slow dramatic climb onto the seat.
Sorry for the super long post :-/ |
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smatulewicz
Michigan
MH
Posts:1216
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| 07/18/2012 9:25 AM |
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Hi Cynthiarose. I guess my first small bit of advice is seriously NOT to expect too much at his age at a dog park. Let that be a place he can explore and play. At this point in time, other dogs and smells and people are MUCH more interesting than following commands he hears everyday from people he sees all the time  Start small with that much distraction. If you go and there are no dogs present, then work some commands.
I know it's easier said than done, but really try NOT to repeat your recall. If you call once and he doesn't appear to even be thinking about coming, go and get him. Generally (in Bella's case anyway) once he sees you headed his way he'll get what the inevitable is. We did get to where we add a "NOW" at after a couple of seconds and Bella knows the Now is the final option for her to come on her own lol. Otherwise, he's learning that he can ignore the first call, maybe even the second, before he has to come. If you call him away from something super fun to him, be waiting to provide him with a treat. I still treat Bella here and there outside of a training session for recall because I want her to always know recall is worth it.
I know it might seem scary, but do you have any dog friendly trails in the woods? I think he is still young enough to want to be close to you and at minimal know you are nearby. This is how I started off leash trust with Bella. Dog parks are great (well they can be) but they are overstimulating and very distracting for a pup in training. In the woods, he will follow his nose, but also realize you are the only ones with him. It also helped as a puppy to have another dog there that we knew stayed with its owners. Our Vizsla nephew dog worked perfect. He ranges out enough to explore up ahead but checks in. This is exactly what we wanted from Bella. Now I don't think twice about having her off leash just about anywhere.
For following a command at a distance, just with anything start small (inside, leading to outside, leading to outside with distraction...). If I put Bella in a sit/stay across the yard and then walked to another corner of the yard and gave another command...she thought she needed to be right in front of me to do it (that's where they learned it right, plus, how will she get a reward if there is one if she is so far away...all good doggie reasoning lol). So I worked with her increasing the distance each time. If she ran forward, I quietly put her back in the spot and gave the command again. As with anything with these dogs, she got it fast. Though, I will say...since we have not yet trained a Whoa from afar, if I tell her to wait in the woods...she runs back to me because that is easier for her than waiting with so many temptations.
Jumping... good luck  J/k. This is still an ongoing battle with Bella at 10 months, but she is getting much better. She doesn't dare jump on us unless we give her the signal we will allow it (which we really shouldn't do if we dont want her jumping at all, but my husband adores it and I couldn't keep him from doing it, so at least we attempt to differentiate when it is allowed and when not). The thing that has worked best for our friends and family (and the occasional random dog person who knows better than to pet and praise her when she does it) is putting the hands out at the dog's nose level in a "stop" motion. I used to yell out when she was off lead "no jump" as she would approach someone, but I noticed it started to make her think she couldn't approach people so I stopped doing that. Instead, now I call her back when I see someone approaching and once I am close enough to them to explain she's a pup and she may jump, if they are ok (and now prepared) I give her the "go meet" command. At home, my friends all give Bella the sit command, and once she does (a full sit, no wagging bum coming off the floor) they will bend down at her level and pet her. The problem is they want to get to face level. I'm convinced this is another reason Bella doesn't jump on children. She can already kiss their face whenever she wants.
He may prefer you lifting him and putting him in the car. Our command is "load up". We say it once the door is already open and waiting. She used to put her front half up and then look back because I think she liked the attention. But, once she got a running start and jumped in on her own (I have a Cross-over sized Vehicle) she realized that was much more fun. Try opening the door, and putting him in a sit a little ways back. One of you stand by the open door to direct him there should he attempt to run some place else. Give your command and let him go. Maybe the running start is all he needs to build up to it on his own. If he does it. Throw him a party and the rest should be downhill from there. |
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cynthiarose
COLORADO
MH
Posts:135
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| 07/18/2012 10:02 AM |
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Thanks for the input. We've been working with Havoc a lot at home and in the grandparents back yard with out the leash and with distractions. Unfortunately the leash laws here prevent me from doing anything off-leash unless I drive about an hour out of town which just isn't feasible during the week. We did go camping again last weekend and did some remote hiking and kept his leash on, but dropped it and he didn't wander far (we don't have a check cord yet- but will soon), and when he did wander his recall was pretty good. The dog parks at least allow us to let him off-leash completely and he gets plenty of play time. We didn't work the recall too much while there was a large number of dogs, but once the numbers dwiddled down and he started sniffing around on his own we would randomly call him back and then he'd get a treat when he came. If he didn't come the first time I tried to wait about 30 seconds before I would call again to maybe make it seem like a new call.... maybe I'll wait longer going forward. I was super excited though when a couple of families showed up at the same time with 5 dogs total and their dogs got way out of hand very quickly and started getting aggressive- Havoc and another small pup that were investigating got caught in the middle of the scuffle and when we called him, he came without hesitation. I saw that as a good sign. Thankfully those dogs left after about 10 minutes.
Our other reason for wanting to go to dog parks is to meet other owners that have well trained dogs so we can have another dog as an example for Havoc. Right now all he has is a 15 year old Dachshund that is less than amused by him. While she's very well trained, "grandma" doesn't take Penelope out of the yard.
The training from afar is completely new to us, and we just started trying it, so I wasn't even sure where to begin exactly. I'll try what you suggested and see if it helps.
I'll have to just keep at the jumping thing. It's really kind of crazy. If we put our arms out in a stop motion he thinks we're asking for a High Five. Grandma taught him that- it also messed up our WAIT signal which was a hand out in front. So we're working on something new with him.
We use, or are trying to use, the load up command as well. Mike actually tried to have Havoc chase him into the car the other day. We've tried using a toy and treats as well and have him chase those into the car after he's all excited about them. He runs to the door and then puts the breaks on. Any time that he even climbs in by himself we get excited about it. I'll just give it more time. Just seemed awkward that he shows no hesitation jumping on anything else but the car seat. |
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cynthiarose
COLORADO
MH
Posts:135
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| 07/18/2012 10:08 AM |
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| Oh this sparked another question. The dog park we visited yesterday has a very small agility course at one end. 3 jumps at random heights, a (wide) dog walk, a teeter and a tunnel. There are also "weave poles" although they aren't flexible like the ones I've seen in competitions. They're just pvc pipe stuck in the ground. We aren't planning on really competing in agility at this point, but since the equipment is there, I'm interested in teaching him to use it. I was told to wait until about 8 months to start doing any agility... does that sound about right? |
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DLord
Holly Springs, NC
MH
Posts:89
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| 07/18/2012 10:40 AM |
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cynthiarose, the high five thing just made me lol - I can just picture it  .
I had enrolled Zoe in obedience classes at Petsmart when she was about 6 months old and the trainer incorporated a lot of agility in with the obedience and Zoe absolutely loved it. And let me say after that one hour class every week that was one pooped pup! |
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smatulewicz
Michigan
MH
Posts:1216
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| 07/18/2012 11:34 AM |
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I think it sounds like you guys are doing great work with him. I didn't mean to suggest not to take him to the dog park. I just meant they are a difficult place to attempt to train at that age until he is better in smaller distractions, or to even expect too much in the way of obeying commands because he is so stimulated by other things. Ours is a bit different though, since we live in an outdoorsy minded community we have endless amounts of trails that are off lead friendly. As a result, I think our dog park becomes where those with untrained dogs go. Dogs that don't do well on or off leash. I stopped taking Bella for a while because during those peak training months she was learning all of her bad behavior there. People there would also let her jump all over them and then tell me "there's no rules at the dog park, she can jump". I got tired of the stink eye for attempting to have a well trained dog lol.
I honestly wouldn't recall at all if you don't intend to enforce it on the first call. There are some commands I will resort to saying twice at this point in time, but recall is not one of them. I'm not sure if this would help at all, but I incorporated a hand signal with recall for out in the woods and other distractions, as she honestly at no fault of her own is not listening sometimes. I do an over exaggerated pat at my side. She often responds to it better than the call alone when distracted.
Have you tried putting on a leash and going in the car and having him follow after, and then going all the way through and having him unload and then doing it over and over again? So basically you would lead and go into the car, at a fast pace so he doesn't think about stopping (I can picture the putting on the breaks though lol).
I think introducing him to the equipment is fine. You're not going to have him flying through it at full speed like he would in an event , but just socializing him with it is a great option to have. |
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cynthiarose
COLORADO
MH
Posts:135
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| 07/18/2012 12:33 PM |
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We haven't yet attempted to have us follow through the car only because the car is so small it's hard for us to get through the back seat easily. Probably would be hilarious to watch though. Maybe I can talk Mike into it and get it on camera lol.
Last night was only our second attempt at a dog park. I knew I didn't want to go back to the HUGE one because there was a lot of chaos there and dogs roaming with no owners in site. The smaller one worked out a lot better last night until the group of dogs showed up all at once. When they left it was calm for the most part and the owners that stayed seemed to be in control of their dogs |
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