Training, how often?

[JoanneF]

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I'm allowed to get down about it though

Of course you are - sorry I didn't mean to sound critical. It just takes time, lots of it. Think in terms of months, not weeks.

 

[doggie1]

Of course you are - sorry I didn't mean to sound critical. It just takes time, lots of it. Think in terms of months, not weeks.

It's OK, I could have taken him on his walk, I have weathered bad times with him and then we've continued to have a lovely walk, sometimes, it just gets to you. He's lovely in the house and we've been bonding well over the last month, that took a while, we could have such a good life together if he'd sort his brain out.

 

[JudyN]

I know the feeling, Doggie1 - when Jasper was young sometimes OH would come home from work, ask me how he'd been and I'd burst into tears It'll get so much better - if you can avoid the triggers as much as humanely possible.

Sometimes it helps if you can be a little more accepting of how your dog is - appreciate the good bits of the walk and just accept that when things do go wrong, then he's going to kick off and it's no big deal. Sometimes it can be better to have more walks but make them shorter, which increases the chance of having the occasional great walk

At one point I was trying to deal with the issue that if J found something edible, like a dead rabbit, on a walk, he would guard it intensely. Training involved rabbit skins... But after a bad day I just thought sod it, it's not as if I could ever train him with a real live dead bunny, and decided to stop worrying about him and start enjoying him. It did help - and we do now have a management strategy for the bunny situation so I don't panic if it crops up.

 

[doggie1]

I know the feeling, Doggie1 - when Jasper was young sometimes OH would come home from work, ask me how he'd been and I'd burst into tears It'll get so much better - if you can avoid the triggers as much as humanely possible.

Sometimes it helps if you can be a little more accepting of how your dog is - appreciate the good bits of the walk and just accept that when things do go wrong, then he's going to kick off and it's no big deal. Sometimes it can be better to have more walks but make them shorter, which increases the chance of having the occasional great walk

At one point I was trying to deal with the issue that if J found something edible, like a dead rabbit, on a walk, he would guard it intensely. Training involved rabbit skins... But after a bad day I just thought sod it, it's not as if I could ever train him with a real live dead bunny, and decided to stop worrying about him and start enjoying him. It did help - and we do now have a management strategy for the bunny situation so I don't panic if it crops up.

Thanks, normally I'm very patient with him and carry on, but I'd just had enough this morning. Anyway, I've just been for a run and the course is clear, so I'm going on 'morning walk' mark 2. I hope he remembers that he was brought back, that's how I stopped him from going nuts on his lead at the start of a walk. He used to jump around and bite the lead, this could go on for 10 mins into the walk. He never does it now. Yay

 

[JudyN]

Sometimes you need a good rant! Jasper would jump up and mouthe my upper arms - he once did this halfway across a busy road we were crossing

 

[doggie1]

I've just taken him for a walk and there was a dog in his trigger zone as we came up the bank, and he didn't bark. He looked and thought about it, by then I was saying 'find it' and giving him sausage and he went for the sausage and didn't bark. Yay.

 

[arealhuman]

I know exactly how you feel about it @doggie1, we had a few days like that too We've just been out on a walk with one of my wife's friends and her dog (young collie/beagle cross, lovely looking) to see how our dog would respond. We let my wife approach her friend and her dog and pet it, so that our dog could see. Then we slowly approached, and Jimmy whined and barked a bit, but after they had a sniff around he was fine and we were able to spend about an hour walking with them, sometimes side-by-side, without any fuss at all (Jimmy was always on the lead, the other dog wasn't). However, another dog passed us at one point and Jimmy did bark and jump around, so I'm trying to show how unpredictable it all is. I do hope things will improve for you and I'm sure they will as you've made good progress so far, I know how disappointing it is when there's a setback.

 

[Violet Turner]

Take him on a walk, let him burn his energy! please @doggie1 ?

 

[doggie1]

Take him on a walk, let him burn his energy! please @doggie1 ?

He's been on two walks since I posted the morning.

 

[Violet Turner]

He's been on two walks since I posted the morning.

Okay, has he stopped with the above behaviour?

 

[doggie1]

Okay, has he stopped with the above behaviour?

He gets two 50 minute walks every day minimum, sometimes one is longer. It is going to take more than a day to curb him of that.

 

[Violet Turner]

He gets two 50 minute walks every day minimum, sometimes one is longer. It is going to take more than a day to curb him of that.

Have you not tried doing the 'watch me' cue with your dog?

 

[doggie1]

Have you not tried doing the 'watch me' cue with your dog?

I do everything with him and he's great when there is no stimuli, as soon as he sees dog and to a lesser extent picks up a scent, I don't exist. It takes time for all of this to become second nature to him. We've had him for five months and I only feel like we've bonded with him this last month or so.

 

[JudyN]

You're doing just fine, doggie1 As you of course know, if he's too close to the trigger for toys, sausage and 'find it' to work, then things like 'watch' certainly aren't. This isn't about reinforcing responses to cues, it's about (very) gradually changing your dog's feelings about the triggers. It's nothing to do with suppressing an unwanted behaviour but all about the dog not feeling the need to do it.

 

[doggie1]

I know the feeling, Doggie1 - when Jasper was young sometimes OH would come home from work, ask me how he'd been and I'd burst into tears It'll get so much better - if you can avoid the triggers as much as humanely possible.

Sometimes it helps if you can be a little more accepting of how your dog is - appreciate the good bits of the walk and just accept that when things do go wrong, then he's going to kick off and it's no big deal. Sometimes it can be better to have more walks but make them shorter, which increases the chance of having the occasional great walk

At one point I was trying to deal with the issue that if J found something edible, like a dead rabbit, on a walk, he would guard it intensely. Training involved rabbit skins... But after a bad day I just thought sod it, it's not as if I could ever train him with a real live dead bunny, and decided to stop worrying about him and start enjoying him. It did help - and we do now have a management strategy for the bunny situation so I don't panic if it crops up.

I do enjoy him, but his bark is so loud and he is so frantic when he gets going. His trainer gave me some pointers which I use and she giving me some more at the weekend when we go to group and socialisation. I know what you mean about bursting into tears, when he started pulling badly I used to feel like that, the Halti is great, I feel I have full control of him when he pulls. I don't use it all the time, as he can't be off lead I put him on his Flexi lead so he can run around.

 

[doggie1]

Frequent short training sessions. Using gentle positive methods. I have found that Sight Hounds get bored eaisly, when we had Border Collies they would repeat one exercise time after time, but Folly will do it once sometimes twice but thats it. So its a case of one thing then a different one etc. Her recall is good, except if she sees a rabbit or squirrel, then she is off like a shot. Fortunately Rabbits go underground and Squirrels go up trees both after a short chase. I call it ocupational deafness.

If Eddi chased a rabbit down a burrow, he'd just go down after it!

 

[doggie1]

You're doing just fine, doggie1 As you of course know, if he's too close to the trigger for toys, sausage and 'find it' to work, then things like 'watch' certainly aren't. This isn't about reinforcing responses to cues, it's about (very) gradually changing your dog's feelings about the triggers. It's nothing to do with suppressing an unwanted behaviour but all about the dog not feeling the need to do it.

Thanks Judy.You are right, I hope we can do it.

 

[doggie1]

I had to cut this morning's walk a bit short, we pass a Husky and it was in the garden and the gates were open. I retreated quickly in case it wasn't tethered, I didn't want that problem. I'll make it up to him later.

I think this is a good thing, in the distance as we were coming back, two dog walkerswere talking to each other, going the opposite way -I wish I could talk to to other dog walkers. I decided to let him get a bit closer whilst plying him with sausage - good thing I took extra with me. I let him get to the edge of his trigger point when he whimpers after he has noticed them for a minute or two. I then took him down the bank and over the road. One guy started walking towards us but on top of the bank with not one but two dogs (can you believe it?) They just kept coming towards us and I had nowhere to go. I kept saying 'find it' and tossing the sausage in front of him. He stopped barking whist he ate the sausage. They were quite close and it's the first time he's done that. He didn't when they were directly opposite. He started his usual tirade of baking and twirling. I held him and firmly told him to 'stop' and he did. I did this twice. Now they had gone a bit further away by then, but progress or not?

 

[JoanneF]

Sounds promising Just one word of caution, some dogs when aroused redirect their reaction on to the closest thing - if you are that thing it could be you, so just be careful not to put yourself at risk.

 

[JudyN]

If he does stop when asked, make sure you give him a huge jackpot treat as a reward because that really is quite impressive - he's showing self-control and it's not a skill that comes naturally.