Does anybody have training tips?

[steppy104]

well, you've seen blue...what tricks can blue do? SIT....


i thought i got him to lay down, but he was only laying down because he was tired of wondering how to get that dang treat out of my hand. he will NOT lay down on comand. and frankly, i'm gettin frusterated at how hard it is to show him what to do. i will not give him the treat, if he lays down out of tiredness, or if i have to push him down....

to make frusterating matters worse, Sadie is doing nothing but getting in the way. i'm trying to tell the puppy to sit and lie down, and here comes sadie, gettin RIGHT in the puppies way layin down, showing me how good and smart she is....too bad i wasn't asking it of her.

I remember when we taught sadie, we only showed her a few times what to do, and she never forgot it. she would do and learn anything to get that treat. BLUE on the otherhand won't even lay down for it.



HOW DO I GET THIS IDIOT TO DO SOMETHING!?

 

[Fiddlesticks]

I would suggest that if you have to push puppy down the first couple times give him the treat. Dogs dont speak english so he has no idea what you are asking of him. If you force him down while saying down or lay down whatever and give him the treat and praise him. Eventually he will get the messege that laying down gets him treats. Now if after the tenth or twentieth time he still needs to be pushed then you may need to try a different approach. But it is to be expected that the first few times you'll have to show him what you want him to do. hth

 

[steppy104]

more patience...fun stuff. lol....

i'm not a very patient person, expecially when i'm expecting him to live up to the same standards as Sadie...but there is a very obvious intelligence difference. aw well...i'll try and be more patient with him.

he sleeps to much!

lazy mutt....

thanks for that tip....any more?

 

[SPLiSH]

Try waiting until he naturally lies down, like to rest. Then say, "down" or whatever and give him the treat and pat him. Make sure you say it firmly so he gets the message but kindly. If you yell at him he is very unlikely to want to please you. Do this over and over, (such fun! ), and eventually he will do it.

Good luck!

 

[lady_tanksalot]

how are you asking him to do it?

get him in the sit position and show him the treat as you say down, take your hand down to the grown slightly in front of him, he should naturally go to the down position to get it. (apologies if this is how you are doing it)

no two dogs are the same, my oldest who is a cross breed is very inteligent but my cocker spaniel is a real no brainer.

might be a good idea to put sadie away in another room while your training blue, he is still young and like all youngsters easily distracted

 

[steppy104]

ya, yesterday we tried putting sadie outside while trying to train him. it helped not having her in Blues way...

get him in the sit position and show him the treat as you say down, take your hand down to the grown slightly in front of him, he should naturally go to the down position to get it. (apologies if this is how you are doing it)

thats exactly how i do it. but instead of laying down, he goes after the treat while sitting. and when i tell him "no", he just sits there and stares at my hand. this is the part that drives sadie crazie....she lays down, and starts crying cuz we keep saying "down" and she IS down. lol.

as for waiting till he lies down, i'd be praisin him all day long if i do it that way. lol. i want him to know that he needs to do it on command. not when he feels like it.

 

[MAM]

definitely work with him in another room, door closed, so the other dog won't be a distraction.
what worked to teach my dog to lay down was first, don't use the word down for any other thing (like getting off a person or off furniture), this will confuse the dog. only use "down" for laying down, use "off" for other things.
now my dog was like yours, could sit great, but when you did the hold the treat down in front and move it out thing, she'd lower her head, but the butt would go up. so our trainer suggested sitting next to the dog with your legs bent, like a bridge. have the dog sit right next to the arch under your knees. hold the treat from the other side of your legs so the dog is forced to lay down to get under your knees to get to the treat. took us a few weeks of this, but it worked. we could then move to "settle" and eventually a sort of "roll over"

 

[steppy104]

hmm....i don't know what settle is.........

i forgot how we taught sadie to "stay". she does it just fine with no problem....but if i tell him "stay" or "no" while he's following me around the house, he looks at me funny, then continues....resulting in me chasing him down the halls. lol.

 

[steppy104]

ha! he's laying down! i think that yesterday he didn't feel like doing it, or he couldn't focus...he did get some shot from the vet, which i think knocked him out of it.

today i told him to lay 3 times, each time he did it, and each time i got my finger further and further from the floor. the only problem is that on the 3rd try, he took the treat and started playing with it....biting it into a couple pieces and spitting it back out, and making frusterated growls at it. i guess i'll have to get a more motivating treat!

 

[MAM]

"settle" was something our trainer taught, great for calming an active dog, useful when theres company and such. basically, you get them to lay down, and then you move the treat to their side (near their hip), to get them to lay more relaxed. from there you can tell them to stay. our dog didnt' really care for "settle" but oh well. glad to hear you got him to lay down on command

 

[lady_tanksalot]

what treats do you give him?

i used to give mine bits of sausage and he'd do anything for that but my other dog wouldn't do anything unless it was for doggie chocs.

either way i only ever gave them tiny pieces, 1/4 of a doggie choc or thin slice of sausage, otherwise after about two or three treats they'd be full and lose interest.

 

[steppy104]

i'm using the cheapest brand of little doggy treats i could find at pet supplies plus.



WOW....i never realised how ferocious Sadie could play! we let them back in the house about 30 minutes ago and they JUST NOW decided to stop playing. Sadie's really tired now. can't blame her! she's been snarling, growling, biting, pushing at blue since they came in! i almost didn't think they were playing at first, cuz sadies growls sounded like her mean growls....since she has been a grouch all day, and has been finding every reason to snap at blue! well, things are calm again....and they are both sleeping. lol.

 

[Never2Bknown]

If think you're dogs bad, you should see MINE!!! He ate half a pound of chocolate (Which is poisonous for dogs) and spent the night in his cage puking his guts out. And do you know the first thing he did when he got out the next morning? He finds MORE chocolate on table and eats that!!! For some strange reason, I did not feel sorry for him when he started puking again...

 

[livelife]

Keep your chin up! When there's a will, there's a way. We had a very hyper-active dog and managed to train her. If we can do it, you can too. A good time to work with your dog is when he's hungry. He'll be more willing to do whatever is needed to get that treat. So work with him before you feed him his breakfast or supper.

Another thing we had to do in order to maintain her attention is make really smelly treats. This is a homemade cookie recipe that's simple, inexpensive and soft so they're easy to cut into small bits.

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp garlic powder
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cub shredded cheese (I used old cheddar...nice & strong & stinky)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk

In a large mixing bown, combine flour and garlic powder, gradually stir in veg. oil, cheese, egg and milk. Kead dough on floured surface for 3-4 mins. Roll dough to approx ½" thickness. Cut out into any shape you want (I just run a knife and make a bunch of rectangular cookies...I'm too lazy to bother with a cookie cutter or anything fancy. The dog doesn't appreciate the extra work anyway.). Place on a lightly great baking sheet and bake 25 mins at 400. Since these are soft and contain alot of moisture, they will mould after a bit, so I freeze some and just defrost them as needed.

Next, when your dog does something right, use a sound that tells him so quickly without using "good boy". I click my tongue (or you can use "great" or whatnot, as long as it isn't the word they hear all the time anyway). They hear "good" all the time, such as when they're doing nothing at all and we lavish praise and attention on them because we love them so much. ;o) Mam has great advice on the pup. If the other dog is a distraction, remove him from the room while you work.

You've already gotten great advice on the "down" command, so here's what we did for "stay". Get the dog to sit or down, give the "stay" command and back up 2 steps. Quickly click your tongue and give the treat for staying (*before* he gets up and tries to follow). Repeat, in small steps until you can cross the room, turn your back and walk away, etc...

Another great one, is to say "down", "stay", stand directly in front of your dog and start waving your arms, legs and eventually jump up and down. It teaches them to stay no matter what else exciting is going on around them.

The key is to do it in baby steps. Break whatever command you want them to learn into 3 or 4 steps. (such as "stay" move 2 paces away, then 5 paces away, then 7, then 10, then leave the room, etc...) They'll quickly progress and grasp a bit better exactly what it is want from them. Whenever they fail to do it correctly, turn your back on them for a few seconds. This will let them know that you're not pleased and is a method more effective than any yelling or frustration can ever be.

Last bit of advice I can offer is never give a treat without making your dog work for it. And teach your children this also. If they want to give the dog a treat, make the dog sit for it or lay down or whatever. It reinforces the training.

Good luck!

 

[steppy104]

i am the "children". lol.

thanks for all that advice! and i think we actually have everything that you listed there! the only thing that i'm not sure about (cuz i'm not the cook...i don't use that stuff) is the flour....but i'm pretty sure we have it. i know we have everything else....i'll try n make it some time and it all sounds edible....maybe i'll try it my self! lol....thanks again