basic training

falcor has finally mastered the sit n down ....after 3 days (helps that he loves his treats lol)

whats usually next ....want to look like ive been busy teaching him for when he goes to OB classes in aug

get him to stay walk back one pace then walk back and praise ...gradually increase the number of paces and pause before going back ...if he moves put him back on the spot again ..if you can do this the trainer will be really impressed with you

ok cool il give that a go ..thankyou

you can do this sit stay or down stay

Don't stress about him going down and staying yet.
If you want to teach the basic stay/wait command do it with his meals. Tell him sit hook you finger in his collar and say stay/wait. Now put down his kibble and say stay/wait the whole time clearly. Hold him in a sit for about 5seconds and release saying "eat" or whatever command you choose.
Slowly increase the time in 5 sec intervals till you're up to about 30seconds. Now start over without holding him. Go back to letting him sit and wait 5 sec before giving the command to eat.
You can do it with treats as well. Put the treat on the floor while telling him to wait like above.

thanks for that i wil give it a go, would do him good if nothing else ,,hes goes mad as soon as he hears me get his food out the cupboard ,strange having a dog that loves there food ....with indy n kisha they only eat when they hungry i do there food n take it to them n half the time they wont bugde off the sofa lol ....il let u know how we get on anyway ...

Also, since you are doing sit, and down, do not forget STAND!!!

It is very useful for grooming and checking him over which you should be doing to get him used to being handled and not trying to run off or mouth you or anything naughty...

I forgot it and it is difficult for Neo to stand now, He just sits so easily because it is the first trick I taught him!!!

Now I have to lure him into stand and tell him stay, otherwise he will just sit again...

Or he is just lazy!!!! hahaha

I did exactly the same thing with Sylar - come, sit and down was the first thing I learned to the point where now come naturally ends up with him sitting.

Our puppy training woman explained the stand thing and we actually had to use it the other night when he had a poop malfunction which resulted in a little grassy clump failing to leave the dog.

With all his bumming around trying to get it off he ended up with some on his fur and back leg. So we made him stand while using a baby wipe to clean him up.

woo wrote:thanks for that i wil give it a go, would do him good if nothing else ,,hes goes mad as soon as he hears me get his food out the cupboard ,strange having a dog that loves there food ....with indy n kisha they only eat when they hungry i do there food n take it to them n half the time they wont bugde off the sofa lol ....il let u know how we get on anyway ...

Let us know please. When he understands the concept of stay - I'll give you tips on getting him to stay in one spot and you leaving him.

Can anyone help me with "down" as in lie down. I've tried like a bear
and he just doesn't get it. Tried it from "sit" by trailing the treat
along the ground away from his nose and 1 time in 5 he'll do it and
I'll think "yay! cracked it" then the next 4 times he pounces

thanku for ya tips i will definatly try this he does the sit n down to easy now as soon as i show him the treat he sits n before say down hes already gone down ,,he loves his food think he knows he gets it quiker if he does what he knows i gonna ask him to do hahah im gonna try the stay tomorrow bet that gonna take forever he dont like waiting haha

with down i just got him to sit then i put me hand flat on the floor with the treat under it n said down ,,he automatically layed down to try n try n get the treat which i then gave him n said to him good down ...god knows what me neighbours think lol

I had trouble with down (or drop, as we do it). I would put the treat flat on the floor with my hand over it, try and lure her down from the sit position... every possibly concievable way of getting her to drop was tried literally 100's of times. With no success. If sitting, she would just stand up and try and nose around under my hand - if standing she would just do the same. I tried to wait until she naturally laid down to give the command and then treat her, but at that stage she didn't lay down too often!

So I ended up breaking the number one rule of not physically putting them in position. When I had her sitting I would move my hand with treat down to the floor (which wouldn't get her to drop) and then I just gently pushed her front legs out from under her with my other hand while saying 'drop' and then once she was in position a 'good drop!' and treat.

This worked, and after about 15 minutes I didn't have to touch her at all, she would just drop! After about a week I had it down to just pointing to the ground, and now after about 5 weeks its working as just a voice command (with a few point reminders here and there).

Please solidly try not using the physical methods first! It was a very last resort for us x

If you want to teach your pup to down - don't move the treat away from them move it toward the front feet, even inbetween the legs. Most times the pup will go down on it's side - that's fine - just praise and treat. As soon as they get what to do they will drop down to get a treat.

To get you pup to stand - get your pup sitting ( I usually do sit, down, sit, stand so that they also learn to sit from the down) then move the treat slightly away from them at the level of their nose. As you move the treat say "name" stand and the moment the bums off the ground treat and praise.

A non-physical way of training the down position -
You need to sit on the ground and have the dog on your side, for example... Then make a little bridge with your leg, and show him the treat under your leg... The point being to make him crawl under your outstretched leg to reach for the treat... As soon as his belly hits the ground, GOOD, treat!!!

Neo also tries to perform tricks before you tell him what you want him to do... That is a good thing though, as it shows that the dog is thinking... and a thinking dog can learn anything you can teach him!!!

That's pure bloody genius! I'd never have thought of that!

The interwebz is full of information if you know how to look for it... You just have to sift through the **** and take in the good stuff!!!

(read EVERYTHING!!! I am almost at the end of the internet, I think there is a prize for finishing it!!!)

LOL!!!

My google-fu is strong but, unfortunately for you, it was your video that inspired this new obsession of mine so I'm going to keep pestering you for info as my first resort, before falling back on the intertubes.

Congratulations - you've got yourself a cyber-stalker

HAHA... You are too funny dude!!! I like you!!!

Please feel free to ask any questions... I do not have all the answers, but I might have suggestions based on what worked for me...

What works for me, and my dog, might not work for you or yours, but it may be worth a try, and worst case scenario you will end up with a few suggestions that you can pick from based on your personal knowledge of your dog...

And you are not considered a stalker if you tell me your intentions and if I am willing, both of those boxes have been checked, so I will refrain from contacting the authorities!!!

For now!!!! LOL!!

Oxide wrote:( I usually do sit, down, sit, stand so that they also learn to sit from the down)

Also do not forget to do DOWN from STAND, without having to go through SIT every time... Because if you do SIT then DOWN every time, then eventually the dog may go into DOWN automatically after every SIT...

Mix it up, keep him thinking... And keep it FUN!!! My new thing is saying the commands as quietly and calmly as possible, so the dog does not feel like it is compulsion training, where he HAS to do it... Make it fun, so he WANTS to do it.

I got into a bad habit of saying commands VERY strongly, and I do not want to HAVE to say things loudly or sternly...

I am also guilty of snapping my fingers as a correction, and he responds beautifully, but I was given the advice to phase this out for times where I might have gloves on or carrying something and therefore cannot snap my fingers...

I am going back to ONLY verbal commands, or ONLY hand signals, not both at the same time... That is like telling him twice!!! Just something to think about...

Neo - these are puppies starting out so one thing at a time - lol

Also if you're seriously thinking of doing obedience with him you have to stop him doing tricks before you give a command. He will get penalised severely for anticipating a command. He has to say calm and focused on you but be ready for anything you say.

I'd always thought of the hand signals as like stabilising wheels on a kids bike. Use the gestures until he learns the harder to take in verbal component and then when he's got the voice the gesture is no longer needed.

This was the way I trained my previous dogs. Now I'm bringing up Sylar I'm kind of veering more toward the hand signals as being somehow "cooler" than voice commands even though, strictly speaking, the voice is the harder part.

I dream of doing all those "commando" fist in the air things and Sylar invading an enemy training camp or laying explosive charges or something.

Yeah, I know, I really ought to think about growing up sometime before I'm 60.

Noted. I thought it would be good for the trainer to know what will come next so they can sort it out in their heads...

At this point then, I would remind that for a new trick, example, DOWN, try to get him to do the action many times successfully (using the treat as lure if you have to), and treat him each time BEFORE actually introducing the command DOWN.

Also noted on the anticipation of commands.

I get carried away sometimes, sorry... But I push my dog to learn even from young, and it may be good to have more ideas than he is ready for, so if one is not working out, you can switch to another to avoid doggie frustration...

Peace.

Oxide wrote:Neo - these are puppies starting out so one thing at a time - lol

Also if you're seriously thinking of doing obedience with him you have to stop him doing tricks before you give a command. He will get penalised severely for anticipating a command. He has to say calm and focused on you but be ready for anything you say.

I totally get what you're saying and, trust me I'm sticking with the basics until he's tight as hell but I find it helps to know the kind of things he's going to be progressing to so that I don't do anything to begin with which will hinder me later on. For instance - the attention thing. I didn't concentrate much on looking at me to begin with which resulted in him coming and sitting brilliantly but only when he happened to look at me. Saying his name was doing nowt so I have to go right back to name - "lookitme" and hold his attention.

He is staying while I walk about 20-30 feet away now so I'm just going to keep building on this, attention and reinforcing come and sit for at least another couple of weeks but all the while I'll be dreaming of high fives and backflips

Neo wrote:A non-physical way of training the down position -
You need to sit on the ground and have the dog on your side, for example... Then make a little bridge with your leg, and show him the treat under your leg... The point being to make him crawl under your outstretched leg to reach for the treat... As soon as his belly hits the ground, GOOD, treat!!!

Absolutely brilliant! After that first training session with the physical method I have never had to touch her again, BUT the whole time I was scared that I would have to, and I'm 99% sure that this would have worked (while the one percent tells me that she just would of walked around me, on top of me etc to get to the other side!).

If only I was Cher, and I could turn back time.

well when we first got our 2 the very first thing was recall, mischief was and still is like a robot, you call her name and she will come and sit by yu

P3nt I use a lot of hand signals and few voice commands as the voice can carry signs of frustration, anger or plain will you bloody well do what I'm trying to teach you to do . The hand signals and the whistle I use for recall always sound and look the same. I also click my fingers and they will all stop dead and look at me

just updating on how falcor is doin training wise

he can sit ,
down ,
wait ,
leave (most of the time)
stay (we still trying with this but he stays enough for me to take 3 steps back now)
n he gives both paws (that came natrualy , i never asked him to do it )
so i think hes doin ok.....

watts1974 wrote:P3nt I use a lot of hand signals and few voice commands as the voice can carry signs of frustration, anger or plain will you bloody well do what I'm trying to teach you to do . The hand signals and the whistle I use for recall always sound and look the same. I also click my fingers and they will all stop dead and look at me

I used to work my shepherd with finger snaps. I'd snap and point somewhere and she'd go there or snap and point at my feet and she'd come to heel. Compared to GSD, tho, my staff seems a whole hell of a lot more willful My GSD came out the womb giving me it's undivided attention. That damn dog used to stare at me so much I'd get paranoid.

Maybe it's time and rose coloured specs (haven't had a dog in years) but there you go. Also I used to be satisfied with making the dog come, go somewhere and stop doing bad stuff but now that I'm reading all about training on teh internets I have much higher expectations. Poor Sylar is now carrying the can for that particular development

Look out Mick Martin!

I use hand signals alot too. I also snap and point and he does anything I expect him to by doing that...

However, I am trying to get out of that for a few reasons... So all my commands are being trained now with minimal hand signals, once he understands the command.

1. In the park if he is distracted by a dog, animal, ball, whatever, he will not be looking at your hand signals, I guarantee you that.
2. In winter if you have gloves on, snapping fingers is impossible.
3. I do not want to have to get up off my couch to go point to the dog's bean bag, for example, to get him to go there... I just want to tell him what I want him to do or where I want him to go.
4. If you have your hands full by carrying a box or loads of doggie toys, hehehe, that is probably the time that you want good control over your dog, and at that time, you will be unable to instruct properly with hand signals as your hands are occupied...

Verbal commands are where it is at. It will not come easily, of course, and what was said about your voice carrying frustration etc... Well, if you think that it is only the dog that needs training then you need to reassess the situation. You are BOTH training, and you need to train the frustration out of your body and out of your voice too!!! Remember training is supposed to be fun!!! And so is time spent with your dog... If you are frustrated because he is not doing what he is told then he has not been trained that command fully and you need to go back a few steps to reinforce what you THINK he knows...

If you then said well it is only if he is distracted, then you need to do training with distractions ON LEAD so that you have 100% control of your dog until he can be trusted to do what you tell him, when you tell him.

Tell him what to do, don't lure him into it with your hands... Luring is such that the dog does not REALLY understand or think about what he is doing... He is just folowing your lead... Make him think!!

I did, sit, then drop, then stand. Once Tyson had mastered those i introduced the stay or wait with ea of them so the stay command never got boring. Stay can be just sooo boring for a pup. Go falcor! Well done to you both.

thanx tracyp

even tho hes hard work sometimes ,,training him is fun n he does enjoy it (even if it is just because of the treats lol)