What you just might need!

Thursday 28 March 2013

A few more tricks.

Now that you have the hang of training feel free to try yet another trick.
To have the dog lay down, have him sit first.
Once he is sitting, place the treat near his nose and then draw your hand down towards the floor and then once he is lying down, state the command "Lie Down"

Once he can do this by command include a hand command.  You could simply point to the ground and say down instead of lie down.  There is no correct gesture and it is up to you to use one that will work for you.  If you are training a herding dog or a bird dog, I recommend you find books or sites that will teach you all the whistles and gestures that get the dog to work best in that situation.

This site is more designed for the urban dweller who has a small to medium sized dog that is not about to be shown or used for anything other than a family pet.

Once the dog can lie down you can use the same action with the treat and place the treat near his/her nose and draw the treat towards you and say "Crawl".  as he crawls towards you reward him.  Increase your distance from the dog and continue the process.

Rolling over is quite simple after the dog is trained to lie down.

Place the treat near him and say roll over and move the treat in a circular motion.  You may have to roll him over manually the first few times before he/she catches on.

Remember that these tricks are done individually over a period of weeks.  Take your time.  Do not confuse the dog with too many tricks in a day.  Patience, persistence, praise and love is all you need to succeed.

Sunday 17 March 2013

Sitting in 2 steps.

I have mentioned using a treat for reward.  A compliment a pat on the head can work as well.  The objective is simply achieved without hitting, rubbing the nose in it, kicking or any other form of cruelty.towards an animal.
You have to get in sync with your canine buddy if you are to master the dogs behavior.  Besides dogs having differences based upon what they were bred to do, each dog within a a specific breed, has its own personality.
Chevy our youngest, cannot catch a treat if his life depended on it and as quick as it hits the floor it's gone and he would go without.
To ensure equality, we recognize this weakness, and specifically hand him his treat.  We call his name and say "Chevy, this one is for you."
The rest of the dogs know that this one treat is his and do not attempt to take from my hand.

Now as I stated in other blogs, Chevy has a habit of hoarding, and from this we found that we could give him the mail or newspaper and he would proudly bring it into the house for us. None of the other dogs are interested in doing this and we have elected not to train them to do so.
This is simply "Chevy's domain, and is a way to compensate for his lack of ability to catch things in his mouth.

If you wish to train your dog to bring in the mail, determine the size of your dog and whether or not he/she can handle the task.
Chevy cannot handle the full paper as it is too big for him so we use an insert instead.
He sometimes tries to tear the mail so we ensure that he only gets junk mail and bills that are "past due" because we would not want him to tear up a check or something that was important.

All training is based on a couple of principles.  Is the dog prone towards the feat, do you have the time and patience to work the dog, and finally repetition.

To get the dog to sit requires a few treats and repetition.  Start by placing your hand on back by his tail and simply and firmly say "Sit" and push down on his back until he sits.
When he/she accomplishes this, reward him/her with a simple statement of "Good Boy or Girl".
Repeat without rewarding the dog with the treat but only with the "Good dog" statement.
Do this a few times and finish it with the treat.
Do this for a few tries during the day and then reward him/her with the treat.
Once you no longer need to place your hand on his/her back and he/she responds to the command "Sit" you are halfway done.
Now that you have a free hand, you can use it to use a hand gesture that the dog will relate to as the "Sit" command.   I hold my hand up over my head for the sit command because if I am out in a field or across a busy street I want them to be able to see the command from a distance and sit until it is either safe for them to cross the street or me to cross over to them.
Take your time.  Be patient.  Do not try to confuse the dog by training them with too much information.
Master one trick a week or even longer.  It will depend on the dog.  Some love treats and can do multiples in a matter of seconds while others take longer. My dogs automatically sit, put out their paw and will sit pretty(beg) in a matter of seconds if they think there is a reward in form of a treat.
All dogs want to please their master.  Keep that in mind when a pup is overexcited.  It is not that they are bad, but rather so excited to please you.