Dog Advice needed

[carol]

OK, perhaps she is over-stimulated with all those toys. I know she only gets 1/3 of those at a time, but even that might be too many at once...making her think that since she has all those toys, everything else in the house is her toys as well.

I was a trainer for a few years until I got tired of the people side of the business. A lot of owners wanted me to just "fix" the dog when it really was the owners LOL.

I would agree with the too many toys. That is a HUGE variety of toys and it makes it very hard for her to figure out what his hers what isn't. I'd limit it to just a few toys and then work on teaching her everything else is off limits. It's easier to teach her that a few special things are OK and everything else isn't, than to try and teach her everything that would not be OK to chew. Then it's your duty not to let her have the run of the house unless you have time to watch her to instruct her what is not chewable.

I'd also teach her a "place" command. For my last dog she had a bed or a blanket in each room that was hers. When on the "place" command, she had to stay there until I gave her a "release" command. Which if I may get side tracked for a moment... a huge problem with a lot of trainers is that they don't teach a "release" command. So if you say "sit" how long is the sit? Same with "down", "heel", or "place". The dog should learn it has to perform the duty until given the "release" command. It makes communication so much more clear.

So when you are busy in the home and can't watch her every second, put her in her "place"... she can sit, stand, or down as long as she is on that bed or blanket and she has to stay there until you say otherwise. (She can even have a chew toy there). I would put her in whatever room you are spending the most time in, and if you move to a different room for an extended period, bring her to the "place" in that room. Of course as a pup you will have to work into extended periods of time just like everything else, slowly add curve balls like leaving the room and reward her with a good exercise/play session after.

I really prefer using "place" instead of a crate whenever possible because it gives the dog something to do mentally. They know they are there because it's their job, not because they are locked in, which most intelligent dogs handle that better than a crate, it also strengthens your training relationship. It's not as easy at the beginning but it pays off. It's a great solid command to have. We had it so well down with our dog that we could even use it outdoors, and if I ever needed to get control without asking for a "come" I could say "place" and she'd find the nearest blanket. As she got older, "place" was her happy spot and she'd often put herself there even when she was off command. It was fun sometimes to see her wake up and try and remember if I asked her to stay there or if was her idea.

Anyhoo, ya.... I've been missing having a pooch a LOT lately and my feet are too tired to do what I should be doing right now. So there is my book.

 

[MysticExotics]

Great advice Carol, thank you for posting that!

 

[dogsNdragons]

Try taking all but one toy away and she can only have that when you tell her it is okay to have it. Recondition her to think that she can mouth NOTHING without your approval first. You can rotate her toys daily, even allowing her to choose which toy she gets to have. When she tries to chew on something, still take it away, but instead of giving her the appropriate toy, have her sit or lay down and stay for a couple of minutes, then have her come and get the toy from you (or her toy box). It will take lots of work but will be worth it in the end.

Awesome!
Sometimes doing the "exchange" creates a behavior chain where the dog thinks the point is to grab something so mom with give a treat. I have had this happen a few times with different dogs.
To break this chain:

1 - see Susan's suggestion above

2 - you can also ignore her but only if she gets something harmless like paper or tissues. The fun stops if it doesn't get mom's attention. This worked for one of my Whippets that stole tissue to get my attention

3 - Work on your recalls and if she grabs something that could harm her, do a recall. I have been doing this with Flare, and she usually drops the item or will bring it with her.

4 - Give her interactive food toys to keep her occupied.

Of course, if you cannot supervise her, she should be crated or tied to your person (I do this with a multiple dog household and just don't let the others play with the tied dog).

You can also teach a "place" which is a mat, throw rug or bed that you teach the dog to stay on until released. Here are some vids to demonstrate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B684J6MLENo&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qXExY1BBIA&feature=related
Here's a good one... Coonhound
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAkgBVsr7-g&feature=related
Besides the "place" word you also need a release word (all done, OK, be free, etc) and only let the dog leave the place with the release word. If she gets off the place, just say oops and get her back on. The yorkie video doesn't show this.
I know these are only snippets, but your trainer should be able to help you with this. Good luck.

 

[dogsNdragons]

Carol - great minds think alike

 

[vetusvates]

Great posts people, ladies. Thank you. I love to learn. Brutus has a "place" in every room, and also knows "release". But neither he nor I knew there were real, official words for it all.
At my mom's, sometimes he gets sick of the hyper westie...and just retreats back to his place.
He even had a place in the room in the hotel at Daytona.

 

[carol]

Carol - great minds think alike

All hail "place" and "release". LOL. If you do get to the point where they do find comfort in their "place" and put themselves there and then suddenly forget if they are on command or not, it's better to say the "release" word even if they were off duty. It's better to say it than for them to think they may have gotten away with something.

 

[ceduke]

"Place" is SUPER useful!

 

[desertanimal]

I never thought of that, that having many things that are ok to chew on might make it harder for them to learn what is and isn't ok to chew. That makes sense. Good to remember if I ever get a puppy!

 

[Susan]

I was thinking of how to word the equivalent of sending a child to a "time out" and not have that be the crate (I still think using a crate properly is a must for all dogs as it is the place for a dog to go so it won't be bothered by small children, a new puppy or whatever may be distressing it). Thanks Carol for the proper doggy "time out" explanation!

 

[Nanci]

Your dog toys are so pretty! This is The Disemboweler's collection of parts. She is not satisfied until all stuffing has been removed and she has performed a squeekerectomy. So she has a few skins, a wing, some tentacles, a leg...Oh- lots of these are "chew-proof!" And it takes her minutes to make the first incision, and then just an hour or so to remove all the stuffing. But once the animal is reduced to an empty shell, she'll keep that and not reduce it further for many months. You can see which rubber bones are indestructible. I'm so lucky she doesn't chew bedding.

I saw a pretty cool video on Leerberg about duration training with a 12 week poodle pup. The person was clicker training, and rewarding for duration. So cute.

 

[Hypancistrus]

So we're going to try removing most of the toys (we're so gonna need a bigger box....) and teaching her that she can't chew ANYTHING without our permission. Perhaps this will also help with her barking at the other dogs when they have a chew... if she learns that the chews are actually OURS, not not hers, she won't feel compelled to bark at the others when they are chewing.

With regards to the place command, our trainer will be teaching that command as part of this basic obedience class we have both pups enrolled in. (We've been snowed out the past two class periods, so while we have had the initial dog-free class, we have not had any subsequent classes). Katie does know sit, but she does not know down and I am having a really tough time teaching down to her. I taught Patch to do down on the stairs, by lowering it to the stair underneath where he was sitting, but Katie is way too big for that and when I try to do it on flat ground, she won't lay down.

 

[dogsNdragons]

Nanci - all my dogs' toys look like that too :rofl:

Hey, forgot about the Leeberg site. Good info there.

I do use my crate for a timeout but I also highly reinforce the crate too. My pups who are still crated also are feed in their crates and given cookie for going into their crates on cue. For a timeout, I take the pup by the collar and walk to the crate and put her in. I do not say anything. This has worked for trying to take stuff off the coffee table and barking at the other dogs when they have a toy she wants.

Good luck and let us know how the class turns out.

 

[Hypancistrus]

Good luck and let us know how the class turns out.

We're hoping it will go well. The next class is CGC obedience, and we really would like all three of our dogs to be CGC certified so they can become therapy dogs and go to visit patients at Tara's nursing home. Riley, the oldest, is going to be 4 in March and has been through two or three basic obedience classes of varying types to deal with several specific issues. I am hoping to eventually do CGC with him, too, but right now we're focused on the pups in that aspect.

I did, however, ask Tara to get me some agility equipment for Valentine's Day (very romantic, I know, but I wanted it for Christmas and due to several other "emergencies" cropping up, we were fresh out of funds!) and I'm hoping to do an agility course with Riley this summer.

We just got the jump yesterday, and we've been having a good time running the dogs back and forth over the jumps smallest level. My puppy kindergarten teacher for Riley taught us to teach an "emergency recall word," one that you only use in dire emergency. He had us say "Touch," and hold out our hand with a treat in between our fingers, and to never do it w/o a treat. To this day, Riley will respond instantly to that, no matter what he is doing or where we are, and so we've been teaching the pups to do it. Tara sits at one end of the living room and I sit in the dining room with the jump between us and we practice. The dogs are having a grand time, and they're tired afterwards!

 

[Em Wright]

Lots of excellent advice! I've been absorbing it all that's for sure.

Lauren... the way I taught my Blue Heeler to "Down" when she was a puppy is I playfully pushed her down while saying "down". It was the only command she was having trouble with (She would pee on command, but she couldn't figure out down until I actually pushed her onto the ground while saying the word.), but after doing it a couple times she caught on.

Eddy (the heeler) has always had a "place" command. When she's bad or gets hyper she gets sent to her room.... which is usually the nearest chair or table that she goes and lays down underneath until she's called out.

Sometimes I think the smartest dogs are the ones who make you think they're stupid. Our Siberian Husky acts really dumb sometimes, but I know he's extremely intelligent. He likes to look out the window and he figured out that if the curtain is in the way he can grab it with his mouth, move it back and then get between it and the window to see outside. This is also the dog who was afraid of the power windows in the car and who wet himself when a tall friend of ours came to visit. :laugh:

Good luck with your dog guys, she's so cute! I love her floppy ears.

 

[Nanci]

I find "down" difficult to train. Bella is resistant to "down" when she is on a hard surface. I initially lured her down with a treat, and worked on duration by stepping on her leash so it was not comfortable to go back to sit, but she had no pressure if she remained down. And then a treat after released. Now she'll offer both sit and down when I'm getting her dinner ready. I used to require her to sit and "wait" _after_ she had followed me to get her bowl out ot the laundry room, then I went to wait while I filled the bowl, now wait while I am getting the bowl. The bowl is around two corners from where she waits. I have tried to trick her into breaking the sit or down by shaking the bowl, making a setting down noise with it, even setting it on the counter and doing something else before placing the bowl, but she is on to me now and won't break the sit until I say "okay." Then in addition to her dinner, she gets super-praise as she goes past me!

I am using a pretty sloppy command for "place," "golaydown!!!" but I am positive she knows it means go to her bed, and differentiates ti completely from down.

Here's a pretty cool article I saw the other day in NYT about dog vocabulary.

 

[Hypancistrus]

Turns out the basset hound is very easy to push over into a "down" position in our bed, so that's where we're working. Ha! :rofl:

 

[Em Wright]

:laugh: That's excellent I hope it works for you!!!

(It's the short, stubby legs!)

 

[Hypancistrus]

We started doing the clicker training about two weeks ago with Patch and Katie. It is AMAZING how fast Patch can pick things up with that-- he is really a VERY smart dog. I taught him "gimme paw" this week and he is doing it now for a click!

 

[dogsNdragons]

Hey, agility equipment makes the best present no matter what the occasion:grin01:

I love clicker training (operant conditioning) and have had great success with all my dogs. I am even working with my birds on tricks. So far I have taught my Hahns Macaw wave, dance and nod yes. I need to start working with my new rescue, a Red Headed Amazon.

Agility training is a great way to tire out the pups

 

[MegF.]

Simple: Exercise. Lack of exercise is the number one reason why dogs become destructive. Lack of burning off excess energy leads to the dog's desire to do it some other way. Chewing is it. A dog that age is also going through teething and chewing relieves some of the discomfort. More excercise and keeping her restrained with either a crate or leash all the time to prevent her being able to get into things unattended is the easiest way to prevent the behavior. Dogs are not "crafty". They are honest and straightforward. Their behaviors are easily predicted if you understand dog behavior...your dog is acting like a dog! You are thinking like a human and expecting her to as well. As a trainer, I get a lot of people complaining about "sneaky or crafty" dogs doing things they don't like. Your dog is following dog instinct. Make sure she has plenty of safe toys to chew like Kongs, nylabones or ropes so that she can satisfy the chewing instinct. If she takes something innapropriate, tell her no, remove the object from her mouth and give her an accepted toy. Praise her when she takes it. She'll learn that only certain items are for her and leave others alone. Until you are certain she is reliable, make sure she is not left loose unattended. None of the dogs I foster are allowed full rein in my home until they earn it, and they are never allowed in all parts of the house unless invited. They learn to respect those boundaries and so respect me.