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Post by housemouse on May 15, 2006 9:11:05 GMT -5
About two months ago we adopted an adorable little Cockapoo named Mandy (that means my youngest little guy's porn star name would be Mandy Contento  . She is just the cutest little thing and I really like having her. There is however one small problem. Mandy is not trained at all! The minute the door opens she jets out. I call for her to come and she runs in the opposite direction. She chews on anything she can get her teeth on. Basically, she is not trained and I am not sure how to get her trained. My husband suddenly fancies himself The Dog Whisperer and thinks he has the appropriate action for everything she does, even though this is the first dog he has ever owned. I get daily lectures on the correct way to make this dog behave. It is just not working! I am looking for a good trainer to help me, but any suggestions in the meantime? |
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Post by Dreamfire on May 15, 2006 9:32:29 GMT -5
About two months ago we adopted an adorable little Cockapoo named Mandy (that means my youngest little guy's porn star name would be Mandy Contento . She is just the cutest little thing and I really like having her. There is however one small problem. Mandy is not trained at all! The minute the door opens she jets out. I call for her to come and she runs in the opposite direction. She chews on anything she can get her teeth on. Basically, she is not trained and I am not sure how to get her trained. My husband suddenly fancies himself The Dog Whisperer and thinks he has the appropriate action for everything she does, even though this is the first dog he has ever owned. I get daily lectures on the correct way to make this dog behave. It is just not working! I am looking for a good trainer to help me, but any suggestions in the meantime? Hi, I have two dogs and one is a fullytrained acting dof. Werzel (yes I know it is a weird name) often works with myhusband on live gigs. For example he will stay at the open front door withone command and will not release from that command until I release him. No matter if a dog walks past, someone else calls him or even if I call the other dog out. INfact yesterday he was at the door and my son David tried to get himto come out. He wiggled and winged but would not move until released. Even I was impressed! From our viewpoint training is about enbedding habits in your dog that you can trigger at will. For example if you want Mandy to stay. You need to create a pathway in her brain that connects the word stay to a visual cue and to the action of her sitting still. Some tips to get this done are: 1. Don't try to train her when she is unlikely to do the action you want. Find a situation where she is quite willing to "stay". When she is about to do it, give her the command, verbal and visual and as soon as she does it a treat - food and a verbal pat. "good girl". This can be done by watching and seeing when she is about to do it. Or if you have a situation where she is running out the door - put her lead on. Tell her to sit ( voice and visual cue) - we use a hand palm up for sit - and as soon as you tell her make her do it by pushing her botton down. When she does it reward her. DO this many times in a row, 5 or more and she willget it. Witha young pup they also get bored so I;d say no more than a dozen or so if she can conetrate for that long. DO this several times a day for a few minutes ata time. For Stay. Gether to sit first. and again wit hteh lead on give her the comand V&V and then enforce in it holding her lead so she cannot move. If she stands gently push her bottom down and give her the sit comand. Most dogs love to learn and in fact trained dogs tend to be much happier as are their owners! I always remember than in packs dogs andwolves train their young. They use the physical force needed to make their youngsters do what is needed. And they reward them by sharing food. We are going with their instincts when we train them. I also use a deep growly "Err!" to control my dogs if they start to do something unwelcome. SO if Werzel is walking with me for example and he looks over at someone and I think he's wanting to run over Iwill use the "err!" sound and he knows that is NO. IN fact a good "no" is a good stop command but I found the "Err " came naturally and really works for me. I guess it sounds a bit like a pack leader giviga warning. It is very fast and it has been useful especially in a dangerous situation. Two come to mind, when a child offered him a cooked chicken bone (could have been in his mouth and down his throat faster than I could have grabbed it) and another time when he got bitten by a bigger dog and was about to fight back, which he would never have come out of I expect. Instead he slunk down and came back to my side. Hope this helps. Natascha |
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Post by shmeep on May 15, 2006 9:35:24 GMT -5
My husband really is The Dog Whisperer. I don't know what it is he does, but dogs love and obey him. Unfortunately, we don't have one, but even the cats are eerily prone to do whatever he likes.
As for your dog, have you tried an obedience class? Or even a good book on training dogs? When I lived at home, there were always a couple of poorly-behaved dogs around and no amount of obedience training did a bit of good because my dad always undid anything they learned. Something about my dad has always made dogs go almost completely wild, pulling hard on leashes, barking, jumping, begging, whining...he just spoils them and has no concept of how to be consistent. Sometimes I wonder if that was what my mom had to contend with when she was raising us. I do remember him participating in food fights at the dinner table so I'm guessing we were as bad as the dogs when my dad was around.
Good luck with yours! Sounds like she needs some help.
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Post by bump on May 15, 2006 10:41:58 GMT -5
Sounds like you have your hands full! Back when we got Reggie, our Cocker Spaniel who was named after Elton John, the breeder told us that the way to train them not to run out when you open the door is to put their leash on them before opening the door. When you open the door and they run, you pull back and say "NO!". I think we added "Sit" and/or "Stay" as well.
It sounds harsh, but we only had to do it a couple of times before he learned not to bolt out the door. Once he knew that he had to stay, we would open the door and let him see who was coming if a family member or friend was coming up the walkway. He'd get excited, then we'd say "GO!" and it became a game of greeting whoever had arrived. He'd come right back inside with everyone.
We also took him to obedience classes and that helped a lot. I would also recommend getting some books at the library that deal with dog training. They may have good suggestions.
Re: the chewing, make sure she has lots of toys of her own. When she's caught chewing on what she shouldn't, take it away, say "NO!" and give her an alternative (her toy). Remember to give her lots of praise when she does something good.
Reggie chewed up a few things as a puppy, but got over it with training and age. He also got so good at knowing when he'd done a "no-no" that he would put himself in his bed as a "time out" in advance of us finding whatever he'd done.
Reggie died in 2001 and I still miss him. He was a great dog.
Becky
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Post by dogma on May 15, 2006 11:38:34 GMT -5
all of the recommendations are great,, you just have to find one that works for you,, working with animal rescue,, www.becauseyoucare.org we usually foster about 10 dogs a yr,, and this is what works for us sounds harsh: but crate train: at bed time, when no one is home, and for "nap times",, it is NOT to be used for a punishment,, put toys of theirs in there, this is another carry over from their ancestors, but they like dens, when we had our last puppy, he would be out with us, and the crate door would be open, he would stock it with toys, and go in and lay down and don't go into extensive lectures when you are disciplining,, when you are saying " oh mandy, what am i going to do with you, you are so bad, i could just scream" all mandy hears is blah blah mandy, blah blah blah bad,, blah blah blah pick a few selective words to begin with, and that word along with the tone of your voice will get the message through and definately put the leash on before you open the door, and try to not leave things she shouldn't chew in her reach our one golden , frisco, a rescue, has a thing for q-tips,, i left a box out, and he ate about 100 of them,, he was pooping fuzz for several days good luck,, be patient,, and she will be the love of your life |
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Post by rducasey on May 15, 2006 11:47:53 GMT -5
Oh Mouse, I feel your pain. We got a new dog about 6 months ago when she was 6 months old. A golden retriever and she is a love as well. But so ill mannered and out of control. We have two other labs and she loves driving them crazy as well. Company to the house is a real problem in that she thinks they want her in their laps. It was my husband's idea to get this third dog, so I gave him the ultimatum. "Get this dog under control, or the other two dogs and I are getting our own apartment." (Uh oh, who will take care of us., he thought) Well he hired a personal trainer for her and we just had our first session a week ago. 3 hours! He comes back tomorrow. We are showing a slight improvement but have a long way to go. We did a lot wrong in not setting the limits right away I guess, and are now paying for it. But he said she will turn into "perfect dog". We shall see, I will keep you informed. But good luck to you too. If I can figure how to put a picture in later of Rosie,I will, as she is beautiful but so full of the devil.
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Post by doobrah on May 15, 2006 13:33:17 GMT -5
Mouse, you have my sympathy. I put up with the same problem for 16 years. My English Pointer, Mary, was fine inside, in a fenced-in backyard (providing the fence was 6' tall), on a leash, in the car -- but she was an avowed escape artist who refused to come home if she had the chance to get loose. Here she is snoozin' in her sunbeam (at age 14).  My suggestion is to try obedience classes. Mine was too smart for that. Like yours, she'd run the other way and only food and groveling would get her back (picture me, sitting in the driveway dipping treats into a jar of peanut butter and going "Mmmmm.... oh boy this is good -- Mary want some? Come and get a goodie? Oh .. it's so good!). And she'd eventually warily come near me, grab a goodie and run away, and after about 4 or 5 times over the course of an hour, she'd get close enough that she'd let me grab her. She'd let me get her, but would never come back willingly. I really miss that hard-headed dog. Here, Mary at age 15, checking out her new friend.  |
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. She is just the cutest little thing and I really like having her. There is however one small problem. Mandy is not trained at all! The minute the door opens she jets out. I call for her to come and she runs in the opposite direction. She chews on anything she can get her teeth on. Basically, she is not trained and I am not sure how to get her trained.
