TrainingTag Archives

Teaching the Tug

Do you teach your dogs to tug? Or do you think that tugging can exacerbate aggressive behavior and dominance?

Personally, I don’t think tugging, with the right rules, makes a dog more aggressive or dominant. I want my dogs to tug because it’s a great fun game that gives the dogs an outlet for their predatory instincts. Of course tug should have rules… including a nice solid OUT for when you are done. Not that Chase has one of those. In fact, he has a rotten OUT and I have to often stick my fingers in his mouth to get him to drop the toy. Ah the fun of rescue dogs and their issues.

Tatum doesn’t really tug, so I got her a Tug-It from Clean Run. She is a goof because she will chomp on it with her rear teeth (it is mesh so the food leaks out) and then she’ll lick it with her tongue. But we are working on that tugging behavior.

I don’t know if she’ll ever really be a good tugger, or if I’ll be able to use tugging as a reinforcer in training. But that’s okay… food works for her in training too. But tugging would be fun, so we are working on that. Maybe I need to time our progress with some Suunto watches and see if I can see how long it takes her to get food out of the Tug It!

What do you think of tugging with your dog?

Cynthia

February 5, 2009

Training

5 comments

Games, Training

How To Create A Brat

Tatum Mat

For some reason Tatum just touched my heart as soon as she came into our home and I couldn’t let her go. That was just over a year now.

I’m a strong leader of my dog pack. The dogs stay in line, listen to me, do as I say, and respect me as leader. Even the pit bull we fostered for a week respected me. She was a great dog and I didn’t let her get away with any crap. I treated her with love and respect too and got the same in return.

With my collies, though, I tend to spoil them. Levi used to be the worst, but now Tatum is. And I just thought I would make a funny post of the things I have done with her that have caused her to think a bit too highly of herself!

So don’t do these things… because they are things I’ve done to create a spoiled girl!

Whenever you are sitting on the couch, and your dog stares at you because she wants a spot, don’t make room for her! You will create a dog that will whine and carry on until she gets a spot on the couch! (Actually Levi does this but Tatum is getting closer.)
Don’t give her a treat whenever you are eating or whenever she asks for it!
Don’t take her everywhere with you or she’ll never learn how to be comfortable when she’s alone.
Don’t dress her in pink sweaters and matching pink collars… ooo wait, Tatum has these!
Don’t baby her when touching her feet and she hates it. Be firm, put her on a grooming table, and be firm with her feet. She’ll be fine!

So yes, Tatum is spoiled! But she’s a good girl and she is learning. And with her, it was necessary to raise her confidence. She was a very frightened girl when she came to live with us. I had everyone give her treats so she reached the point where she wasn’t as afraid of people. I grab her collor and walk with her because she was so very collar shy.

Dogs are great to train, I am fascinated by each dog and how individual they are when they learn. It’s just a good thing that Tatum is not a pit bull or a large forceful breed. She’s a collie, and while she does have her overindulgences, I know her limits and mine and what I can let her get away with and what I cannot let her get away with.

She’s still my baby girl and I’ll spoil her for her whole life!

Cynthia

January 18, 2009

Tatum, Training

8 comments

Tatum, Training

Calm Down, Muffit.

Muffit in the Snow

Yesterday Muffit and I went to our obedience instructor and had a private lesson. Muffit is such a sweet boy, but he doesn’t know how to calm himself down. He’s like a kangaroo on a pogo stick, he comes out of his crate bouncing and sitting and downing and bouncing and twirling like a crazy dog.

In order to get this boy to do any sort of dog sports, he needs to calm down enough to think instead of throwing himself around without any thought. And so now I have some good exercises to do with him, and I’m looking forward to see his progression.

The first exercise is to have him lie on his mat, and just hold his chin in my hand. He’s so reactive that a click or a word of praise brings his drive up. So when he’s still, a treat is silently slipped into his mouth. When we were doing this it was working great and he was already catching on! And I will intersperse this with shorts bursts of play with him, to teach him he can be high, then he can come down again and be still. So he can think in a high state, and also to get that high state, maybe, to not be quite so frantically high.

Next we will work on him coming out of the crate. I will have to lure him out slowly, and have him sit. Because when he comes out he’s a bundle of energy bouncing all over the place. So we will work on control coming out of the crate. As well as restraint staying in the crate with the door open.

Lastly we’ll work on going to a target plate to get a treat, then coming back to me and sitting in a calm way, maybe with some more chin holding.

I think Muffit will be staying home from trials and practices for a while as we work on these things. He can still go to the dog park… he’s a great dog park dog. He runs out some energy, stays in shape, and he doesn’t get over the top. Okay on the walk into the park he barks quite a bit, but once he’s off leash he’s great.

Muffit might start learning agility before flyball, even. It might be more calm for him. I just don’t think, at this point, he’ll be able to really focus or do any sort of dog sports until he calms down. And he’s such a dear. Sometime soon, hopefully, he’ll be able to go on some Vegas vacations with me, to do agility or flyball or something else. And… I guess I haven’t decided if I should take him to flyball tournaments or not. UGH it’s too hard to leave him home!

Muffit, Socialization, Training

Why Do Dogs Escape Their Yards?

I was watching It’s Me or the Dog on Animal Planet the other day… there was a pit mix named Cashmere who would regularly escape the people’s yard by digging under the fence. Victoria Stilwell said that one of the reasons Cashmere was prone to digging out of the yard was most likely because she wanted to experience the wide world out there.

After Flyball Practice

She was, also, probably bored as she didn’t get enough exercise or mental or physical stimulation or maybe even enough linear motion. Which I completely agree with. My dogs get a lot of physical exercise since I bring them to dog sports practice… though Lucy and Angel don’t come with as much as they used to, they are older and are content laying on the couch and going for walks around the block with my husband.

But I was wondering what you might think of dogs, and how much they want, or need, to experience the world outside the home.

I think it’s an important part of a dog’s life to get outside of their yard and home and see the world. Not only for exercise and mental stimulation, but also for socialization so the dogs get used to other people and other dogs, as well as other animals and environmental scenery. I do, however, have the goal of competing with my dogs in dog sports, and so it’s imperative for my dogs to be able to be stress free and confident in any type of situation.

But what about for a house dog? I’m sure it depends on the dog… but still, I think it would benefit all dogs to get out into the world. Even for those dogs not participating in dog sports. But a run in the park is invaluable and enriches a dog’s life. I know I wouldn’t want to stay home in my box of a house, and box of a yard, all my life. And I wouldn’t want my dogs to either!

I have never had a dog that was prone to escaping. Maybe some will escape no matter how much exercise they get… or how much mental stimulation? I am just wondering. I like to think I give my dogs enough to do that they won’t want to escape. Or so I hope!

Muffit at Flyball

Muffit in a Basket

Well, as you might know, I go back and forth about bringing Muffit with to flyball practice or not. Sometimes I think he just has to go, to get over his frantic reactions to the other dogs. And sometimes I think I should just leave him home and work on him more slowly with other dogs.

Well, I’m not really all that good at working slowly with a dog… I don’t have that much patience, unfortunately. And so he doesn’t get worked in the control unleashed manner like, probably, I should. But I still don’t really get it, and the book wasn’t an easy read for me. So we are just going along with my regular trainer, taking her advice, and working as we can.

Muffit and Sundance

I do, however, think he is getting a little bit better at flyball practice. Finally my obedience instructor gave me the word I was looking for, about how Muffit acts at tournaments as opposed to practice. White Noise. There is so much going on at a tournament, so many dogs and activity, that it all turns into white noise and he just deals with it. When we go to flyball practice, it’s very concentrated in one area. The flyball practice area. And that’s what he focuses on and he has a hard time focusing on anything else.

I am doing some work with him on his gentle leader, which I think helps. Rewarding him for looking at me and paying attention to me. I think this is just going to be a long slow road and Muffit is not going to be quickly fixed anytime soon. I’m very glad he’s not being aggressive towards dogs. He just wants to meet them and say hi.. to the point where he will hardly even look at me.

At the dog park, however, is he great. He loves to run off leash and play with other dogs and he acts exactly like a normal socialized dog. It’s just when he’s on a leash and he sees another dog when he gets frantic. And wanting him to focus on a job, or on me, that he has trouble doing. He keeps me active, for sure, so I don’t need a appetite suppressant pill, my adrenaline keeps me from eating!

I’ve been meeting my captain at practice a half hour early and we work Muffit while it’s still quiet. And he’s doing so good! His box turn is nice and high and consistent. And we are starting to put the ball in now too. He kinda doesn’t understand that the ball is pushing out at him, but when it does, he gets excited and goes and grabs it. He does like balls, although not as much as other dogs or just being with me. But it’s a start. He has a ton of potential. I just hope with time his frantic-ness will calm down and he’ll realize that playing flyball is fun, too. Even more so than obsessing about other dogs. And I’ll work with him, reward him for looking at me, and keep bringing him to practice and tournaments, and see if, over time, he relaxes more!

Flyball, Muffit, Training

Ah These Sassy Girls

Tatum Snuggled In

Well, I am learning, yet again, all about dog training all over again! At least it sure seems like it. I didn’t really know how to train Lucy, I will admit. Lucy was a sweet young girl, when she was young. However, she was, first and foremost, a girl. And unlike my sweet goofy dorky boys, Lucy had spunk and sass and I was at a loss.

And now I have another girl I’m learning how to train. Tatum may have started out as a shy and fearful rescue collie girl. But now, she is smart and sassy and no longer afraid. Sometimes she will revert back to acting like she is afraid. And perhaps she is somewhat afraid when I need to get her and she skitters off. And Skitter is the best word I can find for it. She goes into a trot and her tail goes down and she won’t come to any human. Chasing after her is not something I want to do, though then I wouldn’t have to get any Anoretix to help me to lose weight.

Tatum is a bossy girl!

I’m 95% sure that is from her living in a hoarders yard and the only way people could catch her was to chase her into a corner. But now she is not hurt. I have worked very hard over the last year to build up her confidence and give her a great sense of herself. Well, I may have swung the pendulum a bit too far! LOL… though I don’t know if that’s possible, because I love having confident dogs. I want my dogs to be confident and sure of themselves and know they are going to be treated well. I want them to trust me, too.

I have been working a little bit with Tatum around agility equipment. And I’m finding that sassy girl come out. I want to be firm with her. She needs to be able to handle firm humans, not just ones that are molly-coddling her with treats. Because in the agility ring, and the obedience ring, stuff happens. She really has to come with me. With or without treats. Of course I encourage her with treats, but I’m fading the lure. I have lured her for a year and now it’s time to fade those so she knows she can come with me without them. However, she has a lot of spunk now and she’s asserting herself. Which I love! And I have no idea how to deal with! LOL. So with the help of my trainer I am learning.

I was a bit afraid that Tatum would shut down on me and stop working all together. Last Friday we were out on the agility equipment, and she didn’t shut down. Anyway.. here is the story.

In the agility yard Tatum seems to want to go off and do her own thing, unless I have a treat in her nose. And in a trial, no treat will be in her nose. And so we are working on fading out the treats. We have two jumps set up, and she is on a sit before the first jump. Next, she has to do a paw touch to my hand, then she gets a click and treat, and then she goes over the jump to a treat on a target. Next she goes over the next jump, me calling the jump, and then she comes to me and sits before she gets another treat.

She looks so sweet asleep.

The reason I am doing this is because Tatum will tend to disconnect from me and go skittering off. Or she’ll just go hopping off for fun if she sees something more interesting. And yes, even though I use super good treats, she still can get distracted and disconnect. And I really need to work on her staying connected to me while we work. And really she needs to connect to me, not just to the treats.

Tatum is very smart and she’s a good girl. And I woud never have figured this stuff out on my own. I’m so thankful for my trainer. I didn’t know how to train Lucy, and that’s why we never got very far in obedience or agility. Now i have more resources and with Tatum I am determined to go much further!

After we did the jump work with her, we thought we’d see how she did on the tunnel. Well.. this bratty little girl goes cruising into the tunnel as happy as a clam, and doesn’t come out the other end! LOL she peeked out and looked at us like she was going ‘na na na naaaa…’ I laughed so hard I almost fell over. I know, I shouldn’t laugh ’cause it’s a reward, but I couldn’t help myself. She is such a brat! So we gave up on the tunnel and we went to the teeter.

She did great on the teeter. Strangely enough, she has no fear of contacts. We’ve done them before and she just goes right over and down, A-Frame and all. She doesn’t quite tip the teeter on her own, and she’s too square and fragile to slam it down (I’d be afraid it hurt her), so my trainer told me to leash her up to do the teeter. That way we can stay connected again. At the beginning, she sat and did the paw touch, then went over the teeter in a controlled manner, then at the bottom she got another treat and a release.

And since it’s difficult, a lot of the time, to keep the dog connected and engaged between the obstacles (it’s the silence between the notes that make the music) i kept her engaged with me as we walked back around the teeter and we did the same thing again.

Don’t think this training stuff is my idea… LOL I cannot take credit! My trainer is amazing and has great ideas. I wish I could have such ideas. And hopefully with this great foundation work Tatum will come along in her training nicely. And I’m going to start doing the paw touch and the treat in flyball too. Because her speed and her running isn’t the issue at this point. It’s the connection she has with me. And since she never really bonded with a human when she was a puppy, we have to let her know it’s a good thing to bond, and stay connected, to me.

And I know she is bonded to me, when she rubs her head in my hip on the couch at night and I scritch her neck and her ears. I’m still not completely sure what kind of relationship we have, because of her past, and she’s different that my other dogs, both rescued and not. So I am learning. And I love learning how to teach her and work with her and communicate with her. It’s an amazing process!

Sorry this is such a long post.. but I want to record our progress so I can look back in a year and see how far we have come! I have such a rotten memory! LOL

Agility, Tatum, Training

Always on Cue, Only on Cue

Okay so this part of clicker training has escaped me from the first day I started clicker training. yeah I know I’m a dork sometimes. It’s really hard for me to learn out of a book. I love to read, I love to learn about dog behavior and clicker training and how it works… there’s just a lot of it that I have to have someone answer my questions directly or else I get lost.

It’s the same with my work. I can’t learn programming out of a book. Oh.. I can learn a fair amount, but to really know it, I really have to work in a class or with a teacher.

So today during our chat discussion for my Cyber Agility course, our instructor, Helix, explained what I have been missing for years. So don’t laugh just listen. LOL

My dogs are great at offering behaviors. The offer all over the place and I’ve never understood how to get them to stop offering and only do the thing on cue! So she said… are you ready for the revelation? Wait for it….

Stop clicking the offered behavior! LOL yup, simple as that. Only click when you give the cue for the behavior, not the offering of it. Okay so see, maybe I’m just a dork, and never got that before. But now I get it and I’m excited about trying it! Though I feel kinda mean about not clicking, but Helix also said it’s just giving the dog information by not clicking. There’s no need to feel mean!

Today we went to the dog park too, and I lost Tatum for about 20 minutes. Ugh.. she is a dork. The picture above is when we just got there. I wish I could take all six dogs but I can’t handle that many just on my own, especially when I have to keep a close eye on Tatum. Not that I did good at it anyway. Someone found her, called home from her tag, and my husband gave her my cell phone number and she called my cell and she told me where my brat girl was. LOL. She even got stuck in the stream and a nice gentleman pulled her out. That Tatum… she is a brat! I love her! Fortunately I didn’t get any Plantar Fasciitis on the walk.. lol, my feet are good an healthy! And my sprained ankle hardly hurts at all anymore.

Clicker, Tatum, Training

A Tatum Training Session

Well… I’ve been working with Tatum some. Not as much as I should, I know… but what the heck. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have a big training day. The advantage to having six dogs is that if I am only supposed to work a dog for five to fifteen minutes each, and I’m in training mode, I just switch to another dog!

So anyway, Tatum is a pretty stubborn and sassy girl. All my training career (not sure if I can call it a career since I make no money.. I just spend money!) I have had trouble fading the treats. Lucy is a prime example, she would not work unless I had treats in my pocket. It seems Tatum is becomming the same way. With Lucy, we had to put the bag away, and the when she did what I asked, we ran to the bag for treats. And then randomizing when she gets the treats.

Tatum, it seems, may think that the treat, or the lure, is part of the exercise. Like a treat in her nose and a hand going up is part of the sit. She does know the verbal, she will, occasionally, sit for just the verbal, but not usually. And, unfortunately, I don’t really know how to effectively clicker train and fade the treats at the same time.

So this is something we are working on. And, my trainer found out that collie girls can be stubborn brats! LOL but we already knew that. I love Tatum’s sass and that’s one of the reasons I couldnt’ resist keeping her. She has a major attitude and is really full of herself.

In training her on Saturday I’d walk her around the room then tell her to sit… and she didn’t. If I didn’t lure her into it or show her the treats. So i walked away and let her stand in the middle of the room until she did something. Well, she stood for probably five to eight minutes. Not moving, just standing, with this mad look on her face. Finally she laid down and when she did, she got a click and a treat.

Oh boy this girl is going to be a challenge. I did expect that, though. I never did know how to train Lucy, my older collie girl. Levi is such a pleaser… the boys are usually such dorks and goofy and just want to please and will do anything. Chase is more like a collie girl but he’s still a boy and has his boy ways. Tatum… she is going to be a steep learning curve for me.

So no more luring with her, I have to put the bag of treats away, then when she does what I ask… one command at a time, like we work on sit for one week, then I’ll go and get the treats.

I don’t want to make her afraid or freak her out or anything, she does have that bad past she came from living at a hoarder’s house. But she hasn’t cowered or stopped taking treats for months. I really think she’s not afraid anymore, she’s just being sassy! So we’ll see how obedience goes with this sassy girl of mine!