12 replies to this topic

[inea]

Dog Training part 2.

After dealing with the basic way of behaviour towards a dog in part 1 of the dog training lessons this part 2 deals with a way to teach a dog to obey. The first topic is to learn a dog to approach a person on command. Here are 30 steps to make the dog clear what the dog is expected to do. This lesson deals with a way to let the dog come to and approach the teacher.

Preparation

1. Take a walk with the dog.
The idea of this step is to let the dog do what the dog needs to do. So when the training session starts and is going on the attention of the dog doesn't get disrupted by necessary needs of the dog. The second idea is to let the dog loose some energy. So it is not the purpose to make a very long exhausting walk. The dog teacher and the dog will be too tired to have a nice teaching time.
2. Go to a considerable big grass field. The idea is to have a piece of grass field without distraction for the dog. So in some area around the dog and the teacher there should be no trees, no fence, preferably no other dogs and no humans. A tree will be very interesting for a dog to research, sniff and use for other dog purposes. A fence will be interesting for the dog to run along and to see if there is a hole in the fence to reach the other site. Because for a dog it seems always to be very interesting to reach the other side of a fench. Once a grass field of a considerable size is found and reached step 3 can begin.
3. Use a strap of about 8 to 10 feet. This way the dog can walk around freely within a certain area around the teacher. And the teacher can control the position of the dog with the strap.

Relaxing

4. Let the dog walk around a little bit. Keep the dog tied to the leash.

First part of the exercise

5. Call the dog. A dog, like human people, likes to hear the own name. It seems that for dogs like it is for humans, the sound of the own name is the nicest sound a dog and a human person like to hear. So start with saying the name of the dog. This can be done loud and clear. It is not the intention to shout to the dog though.
6. Use a sort of command tone in the voice. It is not the intention to sound unfriendly. But it is not the intention to sound asking like having a tone of please? too.
7. Make clear that the dog can hear the teacher. It is not the idea that the dog is too far away so the dog can't hear the voice of the teacher.
8. So say the name of the dog and after it say the command. The command used in this training session can be a word like: Come. Suppose the name of the dog is Eswald. The name and the command will be like: Eswald, come!
9. If the dog doesn't come by itself the dog can be helped to come to the teacher. This can be done by slowly and softly pulling the lead till the dog arrives near the teacher. The idea is to say the name of the dog and the command once. After saying the name of the dog and the command, during the waiting to see if the dog obeys, during the softly pulling the strap and till step 10 it is the best not to speak. This way the last words spoken, which will be the name of the dog and the command, are the last things the dog heart. So the dog learns to connect the name of the dog and the command to the action, that follows the name and the command.

Praise the dog

10. Compliment the dog when the dog arrives at the teacher. This is a kind of reward. A way is to touch the head of the dog. A way to compliment the dog is to say: Well done. This can be combined with the name of the dog too. The compliment will be like: Eswald, well done.
11. Make sure the tone of the voice is a bit high when complimenting the dog. This has a nice feeling for the dog.

Relax again

12. If the dog comes to the teacher and after giving a compliment and hug the dog a bit the next part is to give no attention to the dog. So look around, walk a bit around till the dog is disattracted again. Like when the dog walks around sniffing the grass.

Repeat the exercise

13. Say the name of the dog again. Say the same command for the dog to approach the teacher again after the name of the dog.
14. Use always the same command.
15. Use always the same order. Say the name of the dog first in order to get the attention of the dog. This will teach the dog that when the dog hears the name of the dog the dog is supposed to listen.
16. If the dog doesn't come close to the teacher by itself use the lead again. Pull the lead softly but consistent till the dog is near the teacher again.
17. If the dog is near the teacher compliment the dog again.
18. If the dog comes to the teacher by itself after being called the dog can be complimented even more.

The psycology of a dog

A dog likes to get a compliment. For a dog a compliment sounds like a sort of approval for the behaviour of the dog.
Since a dog is used to live in a herd the dog is used to act according to the rules of the leader of the herd and of the rules of the herd. And the dog likes to earn its own place in the herd. So getting a compliment assures the dog about his place and its behaviour in the group. So that can be a reason the dog likes to hear a compliment.

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat (5 times)

19. Do the exercise about at least 5 times.
The idea is that after some time the dog gets the idea the teacher is serious about this. And after doing this exercise a couple of times the dog starts to understand the kind of behaviour that is expected of the dog. The dog starts to understand that obeying the teacher is the nicest thing to do. The results are that the dog gets a reward and gets praised. And the dog gets attention of the teacher. And the dog can continue the fastest with doing what the dog likes to do the most if left alone.

20. If the dog and the teacher like the exercise the routine can be done a bit longer.

5 days in a row

21. Do this same exercise for about 5 days in a row. The idea is that the dog learns to come to the teacher any time the teacher calls his name accompanied with the command to come to the teacher.
22. Do the exercise after the first five times on a regular base. Like every week or 2 to 3 times a month.
The idea is to train the dog regularly. So the dog learns and keeps in mind what is expected from the dog.

Dog cookie

23. Some people use a dog cookie for a reward. This is possible but not necessary. The advantage is that the dog listens faster. The disadvantage is that the dog obeys in order to get a cookie. The dog doesn't obey in order to please the teacher. And the dog doesn't learn to obey in order to get pleased itself by showing an appreciated behaviour.

Punishment by voice

24. If the dog after some repeatings of the exercise doesn't listen and refuses to come it is possible to punish the dog. Like when the dog struggles a lot and fights against the leath. It is possible to approach the dog. This can be a kind of making the dog afraid. The second part is to address the dog in a punishing way. The tone of the teacher needs to be deep. The teacher can say something like the name of the dog, followed by a bad row of words. Possibilities are like: Eswald, bad dog. Or: Eswald, bad done. The idea is to not touch the dog. A finger to point in the air can be used. It is not the idea to hit the dog. It is not the idea to pull the leath very strong neither. The idea is to approach the dog in a soft and strict way. The second idea is to lean over the dog a little bit from a little distance. This is a sort of action to impress the dog. This shows the dog who is the boss in this situation.

Consistency

25. As said before and repeated here, the best results come when the exercise is done a lot of times on a lot of days for a very long time. Repeating the exercise always seems to give a sufficient result.
25. When the dog proves to listen to the teacher lots of times the exercise can be done without the lead.
26. The same routine keeps needed to be done. Wait till the dog is distracted, say the name of the dog with the command, praise the dog when the dog obeys, punish the dog when the dog disobeys.
27. Be consistent. Do the complete exercise till the dog approaches, is rewarded and got distracted again. Don't stop when the dog doesn't listen. Don't accept it when the dog refuses to come to the teacher after being told to come to the teacher.

Reward and pleasure

28. The pleasure of a dog who listens and obeys will be the reward for the teacher.
29. This exercise and the resulsts thereoff will be appreciated very much in a situation, that could lead to some danger for the dog or for a human person, like a child. Suppose the dog runs to a road with a truck riding on it. Or the dog runs enthousiastic to another dog or a child. The relief when the dog stops the running to a dangerous situation or to a situation not appreciated by other people wil be the reward of the many times the exercise is executed.

The most important part

30. All the time and during all the exercises, have fun with the dog.



A picture of a German Shepherd



Another picture of a German Shepherd.

Edited by inea, 02 October 2010 - 09:34 AM.

[inea]

1 more picture of a German Shepherd.

Edit: The browser accidently replied to this topic start by itself. The browser and the topic starter have no clue how to remove a post reply.

Edited by inea, 02 October 2010 - 09:17 AM.

[rpgsearcherz]

Some of this stuff is true but there's a lot that isn't. I'm wondering where you are getting the information from.

On a side note, the word "dog" was mentioned 165 times in your original post... lol.

[sheepdog]

Quote

On a side note, the word "dog" was mentioned 165 times in your original post... lol.

OMG, you actually counted????
Seriously, if you have some spare time, and know anybody in Missouri, could you pass along this letter I wrote....

Missouri Voters, pease do not be fooled by slick advertising and lies from the Humane Society of the US about Proposition B coming up for a vote in November. B is BAD for Missouri. It will be a huge detriment to our economy, and put a lot of honest, hard working people out of work. Not to mention the fact that it is unconstitutional to let the government tell a citizen how much personal property they can own.

While titled the Puppy Mill Cruelty bill, this bill has nothing to do with puppy mills, and will do nothing to regulate them. It is a direct attack on legal, licenced breeders. And though the media is promoting the bill as regulations for large scale breeders, in fact the proposed regulations are for anyone with 10 dogs! Of course, horders, rescues and shelters are exempted from the bill.

Many hobby/show breeders will be affected by this bill. You will not be able to keep your dogs inside your home, unless you have a doggie door that is NEVER locked. You will not be able to leave your dogs safe and secure inside your home at night or when you are away from home, as one of the new regulations call for 24/7 unfettered access to the outdoors. You will not be allowed to crate your dogs under any circumstances.
Over the years, dog breeders have faced many challanges. But this is by far the worst. Please don't think you can sit back and let your fellow breeders do all the work. We all have to pitch in. All of us are going to have to work very hard to make sure this does not pass. Please tell all of your friends, neighbors, relatives, everyone you know to
VOTE NO ON PROP B.

Read the actual rules here.
www.sos.mo.gov/elections/2010petitions/2010-085.asp

To learn more about Prop B, and find out what you can do to help, see these sites.
www.thealliancefortruth.com
www.petbreedersandowners.com

[rpgsearcherz]

sheepdog, on 02 October 2010 - 08:30 PM, said:

OMG, you actually counted????
Seriously, if you have some spare time, and know anybody in Missouri, could you pass along this letter I wrote....

Missouri Voters, pease do not be fooled by slick advertising and lies from the Humane Society of the US about Proposition B coming up for a vote in November. B is BAD for Missouri. It will be a huge detriment to our economy, and put a lot of honest, hard working people out of work. Not to mention the fact that it is unconstitutional to let the government tell a citizen how much personal property they can own.

While titled the Puppy Mill Cruelty bill, this bill has nothing to do with puppy mills, and will do nothing to regulate them. It is a direct attack on legal, licenced breeders. And though the media is promoting the bill as regulations for large scale breeders, in fact the proposed regulations are for anyone with 10 dogs! Of course, horders, rescues and shelters are exempted from the bill.

Many hobby/show breeders will be affected by this bill. You will not be able to keep your dogs inside your home, unless you have a doggie door that is NEVER locked. You will not be able to leave your dogs safe and secure inside your home at night or when you are away from home, as one of the new regulations call for 24/7 unfettered access to the outdoors. You will not be allowed to crate your dogs under any circumstances.
Over the years, dog breeders have faced many challanges. But this is by far the worst. Please don't think you can sit back and let your fellow breeders do all the work. We all have to pitch in. All of us are going to have to work very hard to make sure this does not pass. Please tell all of your friends, neighbors, relatives, everyone you know to
VOTE NO ON PROP B.

Read the actual rules here.
www.sos.mo.gov/elections/2010petitions/2010-085.asp

To learn more about Prop B, and find out what you can do to help, see these sites.
www.thealliancefortruth.com
www.petbreedersandowners.com

I didn't count them, . I pressed ctrl + f (for "find" in Chrome) and it gives a number telling the number of times the query was found.

[Bikerman]

inea, on 02 October 2010 - 08:10 AM, said:

7. Make clear that the dog can hear the teacher. It is not the idea that the dog is too far away so the dog can't hear the voice of the teacher.

Distance recall is important - the dog is going to be at a distance quite often and may also be in a noisy environment. For this reason a whistle is a good idea and training the dog to the whistle is important. Personally I use an old shepherds whistle - a piece of metal you slip under the tongue - but most people prefer to use a more conventional dog whistle.
Gesture is also important. You should train the dog by command and associate a gesture with each command - dogs are very sensitive to body language and position. The actual gestures should be clear and simple. For example, my sit gesture is left arm bent double, hand straight up, moving smartly to a 90 degree angle. Different trainers have their own preferred gestures.

Quote

If the dog after some repeatings of the exercise doesn't listen and refuses to come it is possible to punish the dog. Like when the dog struggles a lot and fights against the leath.

Sharp correction is the preferred method for correcting bad leash behaviour such as jumping up or pulling. A sharp tug on the leash to pull the dog back into position is delivered, along with a verbal correction - I use 'heel' - it needs to be a short word delivered with authority at the same time as the correction.
If the dog continues to pull then do NOT get into a pulling battle with it. Stop, get the dogs attention and wait until it is in a calm submissive state before continuing.

PS - I have 4 dogs, 1 welsh collie, 1 border collie and 2 schipperkes. They are all regular competitors in agility competitions (my wife usually runs them). Maddie (the border collie) will hopefully be running at the Crufts agility demonstration next year.
Agility is a good way to exercise the dogs and practice close control and I recommend joining a club to any dog owner. Don't think that agility competitions are only for border collies - they are the fastest and dominate the national and international teams, but ANY dog can benefit from agility training and competitions. We were told many times that schipperkes are too independant and easily distracted to be good agility dogs. Minnie - our black schip - is now Grade 7 advanced and has walls full of rosettes.

Edited by Bikerman, 03 October 2010 - 04:11 AM.

[sheepdog]

Welsh Collie???? That's a new one on me. I have Welsh Terriers, and Bearded Collies, but I've never even heard of a Welsh Collie! Is that Max in your pictures?

That's good work with your Schipperke. If you were going to do anything in the dog show world with a schipperke, agility would be your best choise without a doubt. Those little guys are just so full of energy. They never stop moving.

rpgsearcherz, on 02 October 2010 - 09:37 PM, said:

I didn't count them, . I pressed ctrl + f (for "find" in Chrome) and it gives a number telling the number of times the query was found.

Well silly me, I should of known there was some sneaky computerized way to do something like that! Being a computer illiterate in a big group of computer whizzes can be pretty tough sometimes. Heck, I don't even know what Chrome is, unless you are talking about car trim and bumpers.

But seriously, if you do know anybody in Mo, please let them know! (yes, I'm getting desperate)

---

Good poll Inea, but unfortunatly, none of the choises would work for me so I didn't vote. My better half might say the one about yelling at them till the listen would fit me though. I need one for "I have more than 20 dogs and they all listen to me." Ok, at least most of the time. See, I am the Alpha *BLEEP* here. (not sure our censors will allow that word, if it gets bleeped, it the word for female dog that rhymes with witch) They all know it's pointless to defy me so they seldom try. No, seriously, they are a pretty well behaved bunch.

Edited by truefusion, 08 October 2010 - 11:00 PM.

[Bikerman]

sheepdog, on 05 October 2010 - 02:43 PM, said:

Welsh Collie???? That's a new one on me. I have Welsh Terriers, and Bearded Collies, but I've never even heard of a Welsh Collie! Is that Max in your pictures?

Yes that's max.
The welsh collie is not so well known. Truth be told we are not certain that Max is one, but he certainly has some welsh collie somewhere back in his line if appearances and behaviour can be trusted.
http://www.welshsheepdogsociety.com/

Quote

That's good work with your Schipperke. If you were going to do anything in the dog show world with a schipperke, agility would be your best choise without a doubt. Those little guys are just so full of energy. They never stop moving.

You got that right. The skip is a big dog in a small body. We have two - Minnie is the pure black. As well as advanced agility she is also a show-dog. She has appeared at Crufts for the last three years and won 2nd in class for the last two years. Last weekend she also qualified for the Crufts agility show, so she will probably be the only dog there who is competing both as an agility dog and a show dog :-)
The new schipperke - Skip - is the cream-coloured variety. We took him in when his owner died. It is early days for him yet (he is still at the stage where he will jump half a round then smell a hot-dog and go tearing-off to investigate).
You probably know that apart from being bundles of energy, the skip is also a complete greedy-guts :-)

Edited by Bikerman, 06 October 2010 - 02:53 PM.

[anwiii]

dog shows are never for the dog, but for the owners who what to take credit for characteristics of a dog they own. it's just wrong. as wrong as "training" a child to be in a beauty contest. i guess bikerman and his wife need the awards for some selfish reason.

[sheepdog]

Quote

can you not be so political? this thread is your forte and you totally discredited it to promote your own political views

NO.
I cannot stop being political. Not about this issue. I don't think you understand, this bill will DESTROY MY LIFE!!! Every thing I have done and worked for for over 30 years would be flushed down the toliet. So just how would you expect me not to be political????

---

Wow, second at Crufts, that is one heck of an accomplishment! And agility and conformation is really amazing too. not something you see very often. That takes one heck of a dog.
(Despite what anwii says. I think he must just be having a bad day)

I guess you learn something every day, didn't even know Skips came in cream color, I've only seen black. My dad had some Skips before he passed away. I worked with them for about a year, and he finally sold them. I always thought they were pretty little dogs, but wound too tight for my tastes. I like a dog that will occasionally stop moving, and actually listen to me. I'm sure training one would be quite a challange.

Thanks for the link. I have a special fasination with rare breeds and like to study them. I will definatly do some reading on that.