ruthless Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 The only time Chopper and Angel are around other dogs is at obedience training [i take them to separate classes]. Chopper takes about 10-15 mins to settle down and pay attention to me. He will scream sometimes, which is great fun, no, really! Angel, takes about 45 mins to "get it", and by then the class is almost over! [Today I almost gave her to Myszka cause she was shitting me so much! [Yeah, I know she works great for you, it's just that you've got better treats!]] I only get so frustrated cause I know that she knows all the things I'm asking her to do, it's just that at class she's completely distracted by EVERYTHING!! Other dogs, birds, the trainer with the great treats, other dogs, birds, birds, birds... :D So, yeah, does anyone else have the same problem? How do you work on it? [it's been suggested that Angel doesn't find me interesting enough, but I find that hard to believe so I'm looking for other suggestions ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rastus_froggy Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Bloody staffies!! Maybe you could try some of Susan Garrett methods, she has a lot of ways to work on being the centre of your dogs attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 Tell me more?!!! Never heard of her, should I just google? OT... how was your walk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsD Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 [it's been suggested that Angel doesn't find me interesting enough, but I find that hard to believe so I'm looking for other suggestions ] Sorry ruthless, but I agree - you're not interesting enough :D . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 Aw screw you... it's hard enough to take from someone who knows me... Stinkin sensitivity If only you weren't in Brisbane... I'd set Angel on you!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoL Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 It could be that they're not looking at you as leader yet. Try this ... it worked on Sunny ... Take a treat (one of Myskas!) and make sure dog is fully aware of treat. Move it to the side a fraction. As soon as dog looks at you in teh eye click and treat. Do it again, a little bit longer wait and a little bit further out each time until dog knows not to look at the treat but to 'ask permission' from you and also concentrate on you instead. Stack them before feeding and make them wait. Do not let them feed until they've looked at you for permission. HOpe this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keshwar Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 [Yeah, I know she works great for you, it's just that you've got better treats!] I think you might have summed up your problem with this sentence. I see this a lot in the classes I teach. I tend to have really tasty treats and can get most dogs to focus on me quite easily. :D When the handler complains about their dog not focusing it is usually b/c they have really boring motivators or aren't rewarding enough. What are treats are you using? Do your dogs like them and will they work for them? Are they bored with them? When I first started training Faxon I had to really work on finding the right motivator for him. I tried food, a variety of toys, verbal praise, pats, games, etc, etc. All of these worked for short periods of time. Fortunately he worked out working for food was pretty good. It just had to be good food. I use cubed chicken sandwich meat, roast chicken, pieces of sausage, cubed pieces of cheese, cabanosi, and various combinations of these. HTH Bear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joelle Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 I use cubed chicken sandwich meat, roast chicken, pieces of sausage, cubed pieces of cheese, cabanosi, and various combinations of these. My dog wasnt focussed for 2 sessions, trainer said she just wasnt hungry and I should not feed her all day before training (the day before she means, training is 8 am) I had given her the morning feed but skipped the evening one. I tried different treats that she doesnt normally have and it worked fantastic. I can even give her both meals the day before, although I give the evening one earlier and less of it. vary your treats, so she is intrigued and interested as to what she is getting next Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 It could be that they're not looking at you as leader yet.Try this ... it worked on Sunny ... Take a treat (one of Myskas!) and make sure dog is fully aware of treat. Move it to the side a fraction. As soon as dog looks at you in teh eye click and treat. Do it again, a little bit longer wait and a little bit further out each time until dog knows not to look at the treat but to 'ask permission' from you and also concentrate on you instead. Stack them before feeding and make them wait. Do not let them feed until they've looked at you for permission. HOpe this helps I've been doing the "look at me" thing with the clicker, I guess I just need to do more of it! They all drop and look at me at feeding time already, that's one area I have no problems in! The whole leadership thing has been suggested before, but I don't know where I'm going wrong, I do all the text book stuff. Maybe I need to look into that a bit more. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 [Yeah, I know she works great for you, it's just that you've got better treats!] I think you might have summed up your problem with this sentence. I see this a lot in the classes I teach. I tend to have really tasty treats and can get most dogs to focus on me quite easily. When the handler complains about their dog not focusing it is usually b/c they have really boring motivators or aren't rewarding enough. What are treats are you using? Do your dogs like them and will they work for them? Are they bored with them? When I first started training Faxon I had to really work on finding the right motivator for him. I tried food, a variety of toys, verbal praise, pats, games, etc, etc. All of these worked for short periods of time. Fortunately he worked out working for food was pretty good. It just had to be good food. I use cubed chicken sandwich meat, roast chicken, pieces of sausage, cubed pieces of cheese, cabanosi, and various combinations of these. HTH Bear. She doesn't really have better treats, she was using cabanossi, which I had last week. This week I had liver treats, still not too interested. I've been giving her breakfast before going to training, so I'm going to cut that out and see if we have any improvement. I'll try those treats you suggested too. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 Bloody staffies!! Maybe you could try some of Susan Garrett methods, she has a lot of ways to work on being the centre of your dogs attention. Is this the book? http://www.clickerdogs.com/rufflove.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staranais Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Yes, I've had that problem! The only difference is my staffy would fling himself at other dogs with the intention of trying to fight, bully or intimidate them instead of the intention of playing nicely. What I did was: 1) Switched to more compelling rewards (in our case, toys are much more compelling than food. K9 Force's training in drive protocol is a good one for learning to use toys effectively. Or if your dogs are chow hounds, don't feed them before obedience training, and bring really super food treats with you.) 2) Did not ever let him interact with other dogs during class, even between exercises (taught him that class time was for working, not for playing.) 3) Did not ever take him closer to other dogs than he could handle (preferably now, I leave him in the car or tied up a distance away until it's actually time to work him, so he doesn't get bored and go looking for mischief with the other dogs. During exercises, we don't work near other dogs unless we are trying to proof the exercise. If he can't easily focus on me, displaying relaxed body language, then I figure we're way too close to the other dogs.) 4) Eventually, proofing all of his obedience exercises by correcting him (I don't suggest you give that a whirl except under the guidance of your instructor, I'd hate to see that backfire on you somehow, by confusing your dog or making him dog aggressive or something. But adding corrections really helped us, after doing a lot of positive groundwork.) You mileage may vary, but this worked pretty well for us. Though we're definately not perfect yet he's a lot better than he was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenb Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 [it's been suggested that Angel doesn't find me interesting enough, but I find that hard to believe so I'm looking for other suggestions ] I have a staff bitch which has the same sort of temperment. To get her ready for a training session I do a couple of minutes of jogging with her and throw in a lot of sudden turns and about turns. It also takes the edge off her exuberence. I basically put aside my obedience ambitions for a while and concentrated on jumpers and agility. This has improved her focus considerably and I will probably trial in obedience with her next year. I don't use food rewards too much because she tends to switch off if I run out or forget to take some with me. She loves a good rough praise up at the end of an exercise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 The screaming sounds like a protest, my puppy is currently in his rak & shape period and tantrums are common right now and yes he does scream from time to time, being firm with him and never letting him win a protest is how we're moving forward. You may need to take her for a run if she's old enough to exercise like that prior to class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staranais Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 The screaming sounds like a protest, Perhaps you're right, just wanted to add that my staffy sometimes screams with pure excitement. Nothing to do with rebellion, he's just so psyched up that he can't control himself, and makes the strangest yodelling whines. Apparently it's not that uncommon with staffies, they can be a fairly vocal breed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tiggy Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Have you taught her the 'name game' to get her attention? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Definately don't feed before class! Try different treats, my dog couldn't give a stuff about chicken and all the lovely tastey things in the beginning but I discovered that he looveeed the cat's kibble! Now he is used to treats anything is fine. Have you tried a toy?? Doggy starts looking at the birdies...mummy gets out rope toy and plays like a crazy thing! Mmmm mummy is more interesting than the birdies! You need to make enough of a fuss and be really excited though. Make a total fool of yourself in other words! Lots of smooching helps too. Anytime I am not doing an exercise I am patting and rubbing pups belly. This has all slightly back fired now that I am trying to send him away to do things. He doesn't want to leave mummy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Yes, I nearly adopted Angel yesterday - well I was nearly forced to adopt her Poor ruthless got frustrated yesterday, no need, its not helping you or her. She is lovely dog and you just need to be something a lot more interesting, instead of being that thing at the end of the lead that occasionally feeds her And she did everything for me, I guess this was frustrating for you. Be a clown - she loves this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted July 8, 2007 Author Share Posted July 8, 2007 It's not in my nature! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted July 8, 2007 Author Share Posted July 8, 2007 Have you taught her the 'name game' to get her attention? No, what is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now