General training/ behaviour tips - FAQ

SorrentoWife · by **SorrentoWife** » Fri Apr 08, 2022 10:35 pm

To cover areas such as:
- Diet & Nutrition
- Toys (kongs etc)
- Home alone dogs
- Exercise
- Seperation Anxiety
- Outside vs Inside
- Breeding

SorrentoWife · by **SorrentoWife** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 8:13 pm

TRAINING: After we got our dog we got a trainer up to help us to train him as we hadn't a clue. He only knew the sit command and even at that he didn't always do it.
We did 4 sessions with her and found them excellent. Got him to obey basic commands and also gave us the tools to do more with him ourselves. Week 1 covered the principles of training, sit, look and lie down. Next week was loose lead walking and stay. Week 3 covered more lead walking and leave it command. Then the final week dealt with recall and go to bed command. Since then we've taught him 'paw', 'high five', 'roll over' and 'touch' and find it a great way to work his brain and make him think. Definately great for calming him down and getting him focused.

With our dog the biggest punishment we can give him is to ignore him - he HATES being ignored. So anytime he was misbehaving (barking for attention, pulling at things, jumping against the door and so on) we had to stand up and leave the room. So the message he got for doing those behaviours was that we paid him no attention and it was amazing how quick he improved with them!

TOYS: He loves squeaky toys but we can't get him any soft toys as he demolishes them to get the squeak out! So its plastic all the way! Don't go for cheap toys as we've found he can chew them and take bits off which can be dangerous. We have a good few toys for him and change them regularly so he doesn't get bored with them. We also have a 'special' squeaky bone which we use only when we're training him (he loves the toy and cuts down on the amount of treats we need to use). Ask in your petshop which toys are most suitable for your breed/ size of dog.

happyfamily · by **happyfamily** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 8:24 pm

Can I use this thread to ask a question? We got our dog when he was approx 2 years old (rescue dog). He's now approx 3 years old and we'd like to train him a little better (especially to return to us on command-very unpredicatable if he's attention is on something different like a cat!). Can you train a dog at this age? Also he's very nervous as he ws badly treated before and when i correct him and use an "angry" tone and tell him he's bold he seems to get really really upset and his tail goes between his legs and he goes away and hides and won't come near me for days. Literally days. It makes it very difficult to correct him because it upsets me so much to see him scared of me. He honestly looks at me like i'm about to hit him or something. I do't shout at him or anything-I just use a firm tone and say "bold" or "bad dog" or "no". Any help training a nervous heap???

SorrentoWife · by **SorrentoWife** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 8:34 pm

Trainer told us you can train a dog anytime, just might take longer with older dogs as you have to unteach the bad habits and then reinforce the new behaviour. Buddy was 15 months when we started training him. the lady also did some work with a lady who works with me as her dog was a problem on the lead. He's 8 and once they were consistent and persistent with the training it began to pay off.
not sure best way to approach training a nervous dog. Just did a quick google search and some of these might be helpful.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2291752_train-rescue-dog.html
http://www.edubook.com/how-to-train-a-rescue-dog/14345/
http://www.ehow.com/how_5093003_train-nervous-dog.html
http://trainyourdogblog.blogspot.com/20 ... -them.html

I'm sure some of the more experienced dog owners here will have better advice.

happyfamily · by **happyfamily** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 8:39 pm

Thanks SorrentoWife. I've searched the internet but never found much help. I don't know if he's actually scared of me when i scold him or if he's actually putting it on to get sympathy from me?? He's clever so he might just be putting on an act but I don't think so. After a year he's so much better than when we first got him but this seems to be a crux.

SorrentoWife · by **SorrentoWife** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 8:41 pm

With regard to recall we were told to take a high value treat (like chicken or steak etc) and bring it with us. As soon as we called him and he came back he got a treat. We also played Hide and Seek with him in the house first to get him to come to us when he heard his name. He loves playing it and gets so excited when he finds one of us! :o0

Then once we'd played Hide and Seek a bit and he recognised us calling his name meant he needed to come to us we brought him to Punchestown to a quiet part and let him off the lead and played more hide and seek games rewarding him with treats when he came to us.
the trainer said if dog runs off after something its important to stay roughly in the same spot as they will follow their trail back to you. Also if you're standing still and call dog back when they are chasing something you look boring to them so they think 'whats so exciting about going back there' so we call him and then walk in opposite direction so he chases after us instead! Helps that he's a total chicken sh!t and its afraid of being left on his own that as soon as we start walking he's back like a shot!
It takes a lot of time but we had a big result the other day (months down the line). We were out walking in Punchestown and he spotted a bird and was gone. I said 'Buddy, come back here' and he turned straightaway and came back! :o)ll

happyfamily · by **happyfamily** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 8:52 pm

SorrentoWife wrote: Also if you're standing still and call dog back when they are chasing something you look boring to them so they think 'whats so exciting about going back there' so we call him and then walk in opposite direction so he chases after us instead! Helps that he's a total chicken sh!t and its afraid of being left on his own that as soon as we start walking he's back like a shot!

Thats a great idea! Our guy would freak out too if he thought we were leaving him!

SorrentoWife · by **SorrentoWife** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 8:57 pm

Just make sure he knows you are calling him to come to you and when he comes back reward him so he knows its a good thing to come back to you. Even when we're at home every now and then I'd say to him to come over to me, again just reinforcing the command 'come here'.
I saw on its me or the dog programme (I was addicted to it getting tips after we got him! :-8

) the walk away thing too so automatically the dog wants to chase as its instinct with them. Its kind of all about turning things into games so the dog wants to work with you and is in turn learning commands.

AngelButterfly · by **AngelButterfly** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 9:14 pm

Absolutely brilliant tips. We've trained our dog in the basics, got a trainer out, so he'll sit/leave food/high five etc... but h2b has always wanted to let him off the lead but I'm petrified that he'll run off! Might try some of these tips, especially the hide and seek with him after the wedding when we've more time to train him and keep it up. That's the one thing we've found with our guy, if he's trained to do something (like sit & wait before eating) then we have to do it continuously for a few weeks/months and it becomes second nature but if he gets any kind of break then it's back to square one!

by **Veruca-Salt** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 9:24 pm

Brilliant, thank you Sorrento Wife :thnk

Littlebo · by **Littlebo** » Sun Apr 10, 2022 11:49 pm

Sorrento Wife , Thank you, they are great tips!

I think I am going to have to get a trainer in as I am afraid ours are not trained on recall at all! They completely ignore us if they feel like it, which is why I can never let them off in a field for a run as I couldn't trust them.

They are very clever and are trained in some things but not enough and to be honest I want to be able to stimulate them more.

Happy Family your poor dog and well done to you for being so loving and patient. He really does sound like he had a very bad experience before he was so lucky to get you. I am afraid I have very little knowledge on this and so hopefully some of the more experienced FF will help you.

I have a slightly nervous JRT but nothing compared to you.

by **ShutterBug** » Mon Apr 11, 2022 10:33 am

SW - had just posted about teaching recall. Some great tips there! We really need to work on it. I found that when I was training him he does it for me. But once there is a distraction he was gone. Also at training class they had long leads so your dog was never "off-lead" so eventually he'd come back but thats useless in reality if he gets out - as he did on my mam at the weekend and she had terrible trouble getting him back. Lots of homework for us! Only thing is he doesnt seem to mind being left on his own. But the going in the other direction does work with him.

SorrentoWife · by **SorrentoWife** » Tue Apr 12, 2022 7:51 pm

At home randomly we'd call him to us as well, again just to reinforce when he hears 'Buddy, come here' he automatically comes. And its def improving! Tonight he was at counter eyeing up the tea towel and when ~I saw him jump for it I called him and he came straight over. Before he would have totally ignored me and took the opportunity to grab the towel! Its persistence and constant practice of the same thing over and over again.
Def try the hide and seek game too. You need to make sure he's responding to you at home before you try it outside.

by **pupsalove** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 8:48 pm

[quote="happyfamily"]Thanks SorrentoWife. I've searched the internet but never found much help. I don't know if he's actually scared of me when i scold him or if he's actually putting it on to get sympathy from me?? He's clever so he might just be putting on an act but I don't think so. After a year he's so much better than when we first got him but this seems to be a crux.[/quote]

Just to comment on this. Dogs don't behave like that, they're not that calculated. For instance you hear people say "he knows better, he's only doing that to annoy me". This is untrue, dogs don't think like that.

Your dog is obviously nervous because of how he was treated previously. We too have a rescue and she is scared of men, loud noises etc. If you need to discipline your dog, do as they others have recommended and say no, then take the dog away from whatever it is and put him in another room with the door closed for a moment or two. The worst thing you can do to punish a dog is to put him away from you. Dogs are INTENSELY social and their favourite thing is to be with you so by putting them away from you, you are teaching them a lesson. But make it short, don't leave them away for more than say 1-2 minutes. When you let him back in, give him loads of hugs and cuddles and make a big fuss. This shows him you still love him. Bear in mind that this will take a long time. Rescues because of their histories take longer with these sorts of things because they don't have the built in confidence that other dogs have. So they don't automatically know that you won't hit them or punish them, they have to come around to trusting you not to do that to them.

Would heartily recommend a book called The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary New Way to Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Domestic Dogs by Jean Donaldson for any owner who is interested in how dogs think and why they do what they do. Its also very enlightening for those of us who have nervous rescue dogs.

SorrentoWife · by **SorrentoWife** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 8:58 pm

[b]Separation Anxiety[/b]just a note on our experience with separation anxiety. We reckon our dog had a touch of this after we got him. He would go mad if left alone, scratch the door, howl and bark endlessly. We read up on net and asked trainer and she said we needed to ignore the howling/scratching the door at night etc as if we gave into him the message he'd get was that was how to get us back down to him. It was probably 3 or 4 weeks before the crying at night stopped. As the time went on it got less but didn't stop totally for about a month.
He'd also get stressed when he thought we were going to leave to we were advised to desensitise him to that so he didn't associate us leaving with him howling and form that habit. So at night about 20 mins before we were going to bed one or both of us would leave the room, stay outside for a few seconds (gradually extend the time) and then come back in, sit back down and carry on watching tv, reading etc. We'd take car keys sometimes too. If anyone looked in the window they would have thought we were both gone cracked! But it paid off and now he hardly notices if we leave or will stay when we tell him. Its all about consistency and giving the dog a clear message. We also got 'Dr Petals' separation anxiety drops (rescue remedy for dogs and found it great. They have a range of drops for different issues)

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