Training advice

[tomjelfs]

Hi Sophie

Thanks again. We have a crate and it is now only used for Time Outs. He sleeps in the Kitchen now in his bed and has got used to that pretty quickly. We went back to basics, I keep him on the lead when I get to work and he is tethered most of the day, when he isn't I play a game where I hide a tennis ball in the workshop and send him off to find it. Nicola has kept up with taking him to puppy classes on a Friday night and has been using some of the new training techniques at home in the mornings. He get's a good amount of exercise now and generally settles in the evening, but still has the mad spells.

We recently sorted out our back garden out so we now have a lawn that he can charge around on, he hasn't been out on it yet but will soon, god knows how long he will take to ruin it!!

We've taken to only going to the local meadow for any free walks as he kept finding fox poo to roll in up near the golf course. This means that he is on the lead a lot but when he isn't he is generally under control with a tennis ball or two.

It's amazing with a dog just how many times you think you've got him to where you want him and then he changes. I think a lot of the mental naughty when I last posted was due to him not having enough exercise as was bandaged up after splitting a pad, luckily that's healed up pretty quick.

I've ordered Total Recall by Pippa Mattinson so the next phase of training will begin when that arrives. I keep forgetting how powerful doing new training is, but sometimes it's so hard to find new advice especially with a dog that is not so motivated by food.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Tom and Nicola

 

[minh]

puppy training online

http://www.dogtrainingcoursesonline.com/

 

[tomjelfs]

Buddy Pupdate, Age: 11 months

So since I last posted things have taken a turn for the fantastic, I've been training his recall with the help of Total Recall by Pippa Mattinson and that has been going really well, he's consequently started being more motivated by treats. Nicola started taking him to training every Friday but that didn't start well, he was the unruly one in the class, and so a few weeks ago I started going with her thinking "can't be that bad" sure enough he was pretty good. In the few weeks I've gone to the classes with her and have done a lot of the exercises with him he's now been promoted to the bigger dogs class and the lady is really impressed with him.

Honestly in the last few weeks it's seemed like all the hard work has payed off, he's become a more relaxed dog at home and he's bonding with us more. Out on walks I can get him to come back to my side, walk to heel and lie him down while I walk away. There's times I feel like Cesar OneManAndHisDog Barbara Woodhouse Bloody Milan.

I can only assume he will go backwards at some point but I get the feeling getting him to go forward again will be not such hard work.

The only major problem we have at the moment is at work when a customer comes in, he knows he can jump the counter gate!!! The work continues.

Tom

 

[gypsysmum]

Sound like you may be getting there. This is still a very difficult age so well done for persevering with him.

Remember to vary the motivation. I use things like the rind of our lamb chops, pork crackling from the Sunday roast etc. Has worked wonders for my new rescue! I give five pieces of the chosen reward, if he comes back from a difficult recall, one after the other. If it is an easy recall he may get one piece or, if he has been having a lot of rewards, he my just get a big fuss. This keeps him guessing about whether I am going to "pay out" or not and whether it is going to be a jackpot reward or not.

For ordinary training I use ordinary treats but for recall I do try to find something extra special. Mine also needs something special for heelwork as, like most dogs, he finds it hard work!