Advice please

[slleipnir]

Yeah, Zeke loves everyone and anybody. He's a great little guy. And I guess it's my problem too, cause I say Zeke would never pick a fight or whatever...but I'm more worried about him getting in a dogs face that IS aggressive...cause he really likes to get in dogs faces lol. So he wouldn't....but he would cause it. lol. -___- I hope my new training methods will work. I think the park is a good place to do it, cause A LOT of dogs walk by the place I take him (it is a baseball field, but it's fenced in)

[CathyBogart]

Didn't mean to jump to any conclusions, if I come off as pissy it's prolly cause I have three midterms in the next two days, sorry. DBF says I've been grouchy this weekend but I can't tell.

I taught Star to come in a fenced in tennis court, using lots of treats as bribes, but she was never interested in other dogs to begin with (I think that's her coyote blood). Wilbur....well, he's either smart as a whip with zero desire to please or really stupid. I think it's the first. I haven't been able to teach him to SIT, let alone to come when he's called. -_-

[Dixieland Dancer]

The most fundamental part of any training is solid attention work. In teaching attention you are teaching the dog that nothing is as valuable as you are. Attention starts with the dog sitting in front of you and something enticing in your hand. Extend your hand with the treat all the way out. Immediately when the dog glances your way instead of looking at the treat, you give it to him and give a "YES" or if you do clicker training a "click" (I'm a big advocate of clicker training). It has to be at the exact second the dog looks at you instead of the treat. Be patient if the dog stares at the treat. Eventually he will glance at you. Keep repeating this until the dog understands looking at you gets him the treat.

Then start to increase the time the dog looks at you to a couple seconds instead of just a glance. If he looks back at the treat give a "oops" sound and break out of the position then start over. It is important to break out of the position and say "oops" so the dog understands something wasn't right. He'll figure it out eventually that he was the cause of the treat going away for that second.

You must be very repeatitive at three seconds and be consistent in getting the dog to do it correctly at least 20 out of 15 times before increasing the time by a few more seconds. Your goal is at least 30 seconds of attention on you instead of the treat. When you get to 30 seconds you are ready to start all over again in heel position and introduce distractions on purpose.

Once the behavior is shaped I put a verbal command on watching me. I never give a verbal command to behavior until I believe the dog understands it. I use the words "watch mamma" and point to my eyes.

This is a starting point. Let me know how it goes and I'll supply more information when your ready to move forward. I don't want to overwhelm you with too much info at once. Eventually, you will get to the point of working on recalls but for now, you need to establish solid attention work. In other words you need to learn to crawl before you can walk or run.

[slleipnir]

I'm just bumping this, will reply later

[poofy]

The most fundamental part of any training is solid attention work. In teaching attention you are teaching the dog that nothing is as valuable as you are. Attention starts with the dog sitting in front of you and something enticing in your hand. Extend your hand with the treat all the way out. Immediately when the dog glances your way instead of looking at the treat, you give it to him and give a "YES" or if you do clicker training a "click" (I'm a big advocate of clicker training). It has to be at the exact second the dog looks at you instead of the treat. Be patient if the dog stares at the treat. Eventually he will glance at you. Keep repeating this until the dog understands looking at you gets him the treat.

Then start to increase the time the dog looks at you to a couple seconds instead of just a glance. If he looks back at the treat give a "oops" sound and break out of the position then start over. It is important to break out of the position and say "oops" so the dog understands something wasn't right. He'll figure it out eventually that he was the cause of the treat going away for that second.

You must be very repeatitive at three seconds and be consistent in getting the dog to do it correctly at least 20 out of 15 times before increasing the time by a few more seconds. Your goal is at least 30 seconds of attention on you instead of the treat. When you get to 30 seconds you are ready to start all over again in heel position and introduce distractions on purpose.

Once the behavior is shaped I put a verbal command on watching me. I never give a verbal command to behavior until I believe the dog understands it. I use the words "watch mamma" and point to my eyes.

This is a starting point. Let me know how it goes and I'll supply more information when your ready to move forward. I don't want to overwhelm you with too much info at once. Eventually, you will get to the point of working on recalls but for now, you need to establish solid attention work. In other words you need to learn to crawl before you can walk or run.

I really got a lot of info from this, and am i missing your post or have you been gone for a while??

[Dixieland Dancer]

I really got a lot of info from this, and am i missing your post or have you been gone for a while??

Thanks! I've been very busy and haven't posted much. I do drop in from time to time as time permits and sometimes I'm able to post and others I spend the time catching up on posts. There are so many anymore it is hard to keep up!

SLLEIPNIR: I guess one thing I should stress is that until you have a solid attention established, it is best not to work on a recall. While it is possible to do recall without attention, it is like putting the cart before the horse. Things work better when they are in their proper order. Having a solid attention with Zeke will help establish a solid recall (your ultimate goal) when it is time. Be patient... it will come! Until then, you should not let Zeke off lead at the dog park because he may encounter an aggressive dog.

When you are ready to move forward (if you try it this suggested way) let me know. I'll give you the next steps.

[captain]

That helps me so much too!!!!!

Thanks so much

[slleipnir]

Thanks for the info.

When you say "don't let him off leash at the dog park" does this mean don't let me off leash AT ALL? I do not take him to the dog park. I don't care for it, personally. I take him to the human park () and let him off leash in a baseball diamond (fenced in) with no other dogs (unless I find out the dog is friendly and allowed to play, then sometimes he will play with the dog) I find he NEEDS to run off leash because he needs the exersice. I simply cannot walk long enough, or fast enough for what he needs. He is a runner, and I believe he needs it. So, assuming there are no dogs in with him, would it ruin everything to let him run??

That being said...I did some focus work with him. He was looking around at everything, and I tried saying "Watch me" and holding a treat in front of him. I said "Yeeesss!" when he gave eye contact. He got a little confused at first, wondering what I wanted him to do, and he started to bark. I had to point to my eyes for him to get it.

I had him on leash as we were leaving, and this big saint bernard came. I tried to do the watch me thing again, but he wouldn't even turn his head to me until the dog past. I let them sniff, should I not let him go to the dog at all?? Anyway, the dog left, and he kept looking at it, but I could get a quick look in the eyes and praise. I literally think he is deaf when he sees dogs!! I'll keep working. Will he really learn to focus on me? I know when I work Josie, if she knows treats are involved, and lets say we're heeling, she won't take her eyes off me. Even walking, she looks right at my eyes. A trainer told me once that that is really good...to bad she is only like that if I had food lol