dog training
- Thread starter abui1806
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What do you want to know? We done it with our bull terrier once a week from her being a pup, best thing we did was socialise her from a pup, she's great with other dogs and people.
My only tip would be go as frequently as possible and take treats with you.
I'm talking about training classes btw.
My only tip would be go as frequently as possible and take treats with you.
I'm talking about training classes btw.
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Do it daily, preferably before the the morning/evening meals.
Use treats and reward the dog when it performs the trick or makes some progress towards it.
Start with the basics - sit, shake, down, up, wait, bark - and expand once the dog has mastered them. To teach it sit, just push its bottom until it is in position and then offer the reward. To shake, grab his paw and then reward. Most breeds learn quickly, some are slower (beagles...).
Look up youtube videos for tutorials, there are tones on the subject.
Use treats and reward the dog when it performs the trick or makes some progress towards it.
Start with the basics - sit, shake, down, up, wait, bark - and expand once the dog has mastered them. To teach it sit, just push its bottom until it is in position and then offer the reward. To shake, grab his paw and then reward. Most breeds learn quickly, some are slower (beagles...).
Look up youtube videos for tutorials, there are tones on the subject.
My 2p, if it's worth anything comes from a lot of research I did to train our dog.
It's just rinse and repeat in it's simplest terms, but the key is that you use one single word only (so down, not lay down) and you try to use it when they do something naturally, then reinforce it with a treat.
For example if you say sit, the dog will not know what it means as it doesnt understand English. However if your dog is staring at you with a treat in your hand and you raise it above their head and they automatically go into a sitting position to stare upwards, and you say sit, they receive the treat.
They will eventually put 2 and 2 together. My dog would learn this way very quickly and would do the action after 10 or 20 times of the process.
Did the same with lay down, treat by the face and held on the floor, dog goes into a down position to sniff your hand. Rinse and repeat.
Drop is the most important one I think as I couldn't believe the amount of stuff I kept having to take off her. Again have a treat, give her a toy she loves, keep repeating the command until she randomly drops it and praise.
It's just rinse and repeat in it's simplest terms, but the key is that you use one single word only (so down, not lay down) and you try to use it when they do something naturally, then reinforce it with a treat.
For example if you say sit, the dog will not know what it means as it doesnt understand English. However if your dog is staring at you with a treat in your hand and you raise it above their head and they automatically go into a sitting position to stare upwards, and you say sit, they receive the treat.
They will eventually put 2 and 2 together. My dog would learn this way very quickly and would do the action after 10 or 20 times of the process.
Did the same with lay down, treat by the face and held on the floor, dog goes into a down position to sniff your hand. Rinse and repeat.
Drop is the most important one I think as I couldn't believe the amount of stuff I kept having to take off her. Again have a treat, give her a toy she loves, keep repeating the command until she randomly drops it and praise.
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Deleted member 651465
Deleted member 651465
Have a look on YouTube for Zak George. Some good tips on there 
My Collie was a nightmare as a puppy, especially in classes.. Everything was more interesting to him than what I was trying to do and he loves people so was always trying to harass everyone else. Treats worked to a degree but he was very easily distracted and got bored
He's settled down a bit now he's 18 months but I've been taking him for one on one training recently as he's started being aggressive to un-neutered males. The trainer thinks I had him neutered too early (14 months) and this has caused problems. The vet was trying to get me to neuter him a lot earlier than that though!
Doing an impression of a well trained dog in the office today:
He's settled down a bit now he's 18 months but I've been taking him for one on one training recently as he's started being aggressive to un-neutered males. The trainer thinks I had him neutered too early (14 months) and this has caused problems. The vet was trying to get me to neuter him a lot earlier than that though!
Doing an impression of a well trained dog in the office today:
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You need to be a lot more specific, such as stating training for what purpose? What breed of dog? Age? Living situation, as in a working dog, a house pet, lives in the town or country? I have lived with and bred livestock guarding breeds for more years than I care to remember, currently have nine dogs, and am happy to help if I can. If you are into YouTube there's an American channel by Leerburger, and he now sells DVD's. A lot of his stuff is personal protection which I strongly suggest you ignore in the UK, but he also has EXCELLENT information on basic training.
If it's just a general family pet and you live in a low disease risk area I personally take puppies out into every conceivable situation long before their inoculations have kicked in. The earlier they are socialised and experience lots of different people, sights and sounds the better, but there is an element of risk to their health. I would be loath to do this in an inner city area.
Thanks for the tip I'm thinking about taking training classes too. My pup is quite shy I guess so it would be great to train her to be friendlier
Soldato
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Dog training is more about teaching *you* how to work with your dog.
For this reason, you need a trainer that you are happy with, that you have faith and confidence in, and that proves (as in demonstrates) their method is the right one for you and your dog.
Dog training requires consistency - Body language is as much of an instruction as words too and many newbies say one thing but their movements say another. Confusion is a big factor and a decent trainer will identify these conflicts and help resolve them.
Classic one is telling a dog to Come, while running after it - The dog might see that as chasing, hunting or playing and as long as you go after, it will lead the way. But if you turn around and walk off, it will come after you.
Similarly when a dog is bad and you tell it to Come, a lot of people then scold the dog - Why the HELL would any poor puppy EVER want to Come to you again, when that's what it gets....? For example.
Dogs can't talk Human, so on behalf of your dog - When you give them an instruction, you have to ask yourself their question - "What's in it for me?".
Reward-based training is far more effective. There are several good authors, although my favourite at the minute is still Gwen Bailey. She has several books, but also does YouTubes.
Ignore anything to do with Jan Fennell as well. BIG time!!
Her whole career is built on how she magically discovered what was in fact a decades old dog-training method that "nobody else had realised" (apart from everyone who trained dogs before and had long since abandoned it as a flawed way of thinking), gave it a French name - Amichien, meaning 'Friend-Dog' - And then set about marketing it with the backing of her childhood hero, Monty Roberts the original Horse Whisperer... It's pure coincidence that Jan's "remarkable discovery" about dogs is so similar to Monty's older, longer-established and industry-proven horse training methods, as is the pure coincidence that her DOG books devote whole chapters to how wonderful this HORSE trainer is and how she's always adored him and how great it is that he endorses her stuff...
This "remarkable discovery" came to her one day, as she realised what she'd been doing wrong all this time, which had previously meant her dog apparently jumping up and putting her kid through the patio window!!
In her own book, she boasts about how well she can control her dogs, how they respect her as Pack Leader, how they hang on her every command... yet in later pages admits she can no longer take them out by herself...
She finishes by saying that her method works for every dog and if yours doesn't do what you say, you're not doing her method right. Her method is Rank Reduction, ie putting the dog down beneath you. Had we done what she suggested, our already petrified rescue Collie would be an absolute wreck.
She is so far up her own backside, you'd think she's a colorectal surgeon!!
For this reason, you need a trainer that you are happy with, that you have faith and confidence in, and that proves (as in demonstrates) their method is the right one for you and your dog.
Dog training requires consistency - Body language is as much of an instruction as words too and many newbies say one thing but their movements say another. Confusion is a big factor and a decent trainer will identify these conflicts and help resolve them.
Classic one is telling a dog to Come, while running after it - The dog might see that as chasing, hunting or playing and as long as you go after, it will lead the way. But if you turn around and walk off, it will come after you.
Similarly when a dog is bad and you tell it to Come, a lot of people then scold the dog - Why the HELL would any poor puppy EVER want to Come to you again, when that's what it gets....? For example.
Dogs can't talk Human, so on behalf of your dog - When you give them an instruction, you have to ask yourself their question - "What's in it for me?".
Reward-based training is far more effective. There are several good authors, although my favourite at the minute is still Gwen Bailey. She has several books, but also does YouTubes.
Ignore anything to do with Jan Fennell as well. BIG time!!
Her whole career is built on how she magically discovered what was in fact a decades old dog-training method that "nobody else had realised" (apart from everyone who trained dogs before and had long since abandoned it as a flawed way of thinking), gave it a French name - Amichien, meaning 'Friend-Dog' - And then set about marketing it with the backing of her childhood hero, Monty Roberts the original Horse Whisperer... It's pure coincidence that Jan's "remarkable discovery" about dogs is so similar to Monty's older, longer-established and industry-proven horse training methods, as is the pure coincidence that her DOG books devote whole chapters to how wonderful this HORSE trainer is and how she's always adored him and how great it is that he endorses her stuff...
This "remarkable discovery" came to her one day, as she realised what she'd been doing wrong all this time, which had previously meant her dog apparently jumping up and putting her kid through the patio window!!
In her own book, she boasts about how well she can control her dogs, how they respect her as Pack Leader, how they hang on her every command... yet in later pages admits she can no longer take them out by herself...
She finishes by saying that her method works for every dog and if yours doesn't do what you say, you're not doing her method right. Her method is Rank Reduction, ie putting the dog down beneath you. Had we done what she suggested, our already petrified rescue Collie would be an absolute wreck.
She is so far up her own backside, you'd think she's a colorectal surgeon!!
We've got a 12wk old Golden retriever at the moment, so are in the midst of training.
Firstly, find some good puppy classes near you, and be prepared to go weekly for months - you can't do anything in 3 classes. Assuming they're competent the biggest advantage of this, is they can watch what you're doing and critique you - as someone has said above it's as much training you as it is the dog.
One thing I've always found to work is to praise good behaviour, but don't scold or punish them for something they did more than 5 seconds ago as they won't remember what they're being scolded for.
i.e. if the pup poops on your carpet and you walk in 5 mins later and scream at it, it won't know what you're screaming for.
Firstly, find some good puppy classes near you, and be prepared to go weekly for months - you can't do anything in 3 classes. Assuming they're competent the biggest advantage of this, is they can watch what you're doing and critique you - as someone has said above it's as much training you as it is the dog.
One thing I've always found to work is to praise good behaviour, but don't scold or punish them for something they did more than 5 seconds ago as they won't remember what they're being scolded for.
i.e. if the pup poops on your carpet and you walk in 5 mins later and scream at it, it won't know what you're screaming for.
Soldato
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These are great as supplementary material, but the greatest benefits from dog classes can't be had digitally:YouTube has loads of tutorials for general training and tricks.
- The dogs will LOVE it!!
- Your trainer will give you feedback and guidance based on observation of your and your dog's individual behaviours.
- They will also be able to point out where you may be going wrong.
- The dogs will LOVE it!!
- It gives your dog ESSENTIAL interaction and socialisation with other people and other dogs.
- It teaches your dog the same lessons in unfamiliar environments, both in the classroom and when you later take them for the outside activities. If they only do training at home, they often only behave themselves at home.
- The dogs will LOVE it!!
- You get to make new friends (it's easier when you mostly make smalltalk with people's dogs, than having to connect with them directly) and get useful info/contacts/tips on products and all that.
- Many classes will do Kennel Club Good Citizen schemes, which include tests by official KC examiners.
- The dogs will LOVE it!!
Deleted member 651465
Deleted member 651465
I've started taking our Pug to training classes. Definitely something you want to do as they get to mix with others and learn the basics.
The class we go to is not puppy-only (although these are available) and she loves it. Costs £1.50 per class and a £3 annual membership but well worth it IMO. The kennel club website should be able to point you to your nearest class.
http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/training/
The class we go to is not puppy-only (although these are available) and she loves it. Costs £1.50 per class and a £3 annual membership but well worth it IMO. The kennel club website should be able to point you to your nearest class.
http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/training/