safneo Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 He did really well yesterday Billy. Another trick I was told was to teach was 'hide' - stand behind my legs. That can help if you are stuck in a tight place with no where to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReikiAnge Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Another trick I was told was to teach was 'hide' - stand behind my legs. That can help if you are stuck in a tight place with no where to go. This would be a good one to teach Max - how did you do it and how do you convince a dog that wants to be at the end of the lead barking, to hide behind you? (sorry Billy for hi-jacking your thread). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redditchlady Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Sparks was great yesterday Billy. He doesn't like Dallies, well all the spots confuse most dogs. When he growled a little at Ozzy, well Ozzy was right by you clipped to the picnic bench! Ozzy was taller than Sparky. I mean, let's face it who wants a donkey in their face. But give Sparks his due, once he told Ozzy off it was all finished. I really wouldn't worry hun. Sparks was a credit to you like Billy and Malc. You need to relax a little more, and I hope you don't mind me saying that. Stop panicking, and please come down for the next walk. That is an order Kazz xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyMalc Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 This would be a good one to teach Max - how did you do it and how do you convince a dog that wants to be at the end of the lead barking, to hide behind you? (sorry Billy for hi-jacking your thread). You're not Ange, you're asking what I wanted to ask! Sparks was great yesterday Billy. He doesn't like Dallies, well all the spots confuse most dogs. When he growled a little at Ozzy, well Ozzy was right by you clipped to the picnic bench! Ozzy was taller than Sparky. I mean, let's face it who wants a donkey in their face. But give Sparks his due, once he told Ozzy off it was all finished. I really wouldn't worry hun. Sparks was a credit to you like Billy and Malc. You need to relax a little more, and I hope you don't mind me saying that. Stop panicking, and please come down for the next walk. That is an order Kazz xx Cheers Kazz! We will come on the next walk, don't you worry! It's on these walks were they're mostly on their best behaviour (it's only Corinne who appears to be able to bring out the very worst of etiquete in Mal! ). Sparky is definitely making progress, and tbh I'm not too fussed about him having 'handbags' with another dog every now and then - you can't like everyone you meet can you? BUT he does it a lot more when it's just us and he has a go at dogs who appear to be minding their own business, if that business appears to be something he doesn't like such as playing (the cheek of it! ). As for having a go at people: that we will have to get under control, simply because if he meets the wrong person, they might well decide that Sparky frightened them or (doG forbid their child!) and report him, which means he might only be able to come on walks on a lead with a muzzle on! Quite funny that you're saying that I need to stop panicking and chill out, because I never saw myself as particularly worried Just want to make sure that Sparks is safe. Ozzy is absolutely gorgeous btw, and I hope that one day he will be confident enough round people so I can give him a cuddle (Korky and Snoopy had a fuss btw, I'm not forgetting them! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redditchlady Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thanks Billy. I am sure you will get there with Sparks it all takes time. Kazz xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khanu Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 This would be a good one to teach Max - how did you do it and how do you convince a dog that wants to be at the end of the lead barking, to hide behind you? (sorry Billy for hi-jacking your thread). You need to teach the hide separately and not try to use it in that kind of situation until it is well learned. I would teach it by luring the dog behind you and feeding in position. You need to make sure that the dogs head is in line with the middle of your back - no peeking round the side of you etc. If I was using lure & reward style, I would lure the dog behind then feed in position, whilst the dog is moving in to the position you give the cue, then reward. Repeat ad infinitem until the behaviour is learned, remember you need to fade the food in your hand as quickly as possible but keeping the arm movement is probably a good idea until your dog is confident and then you can gradually fade that and just have the cue word. IF clicker training it, I would either free shape it then add the cue once behaviour is fluent. Or I may target lure the dog until it gets the idea, then fade the target as the behaviour becomes more confident and fluent. Click and treat once dog is in position and feed in the position to reinforce it. I wouldn't add the cue until the behaviour is well learned, (although the arm lure will act as a cue anyway), then say verbal cue, give arm cue, then C&T when in position. Be aware though that many dogs who are scared/nervous of the object/person/dog will NOT be happy about being asked to hide. That's why the sit and look at me thing doesn't always work very well either. If you are scared of something and are being asked to completely ignore it even though you know it's there (and in many cases getting closer) you would probably find it pretty difficult to not look at it. The "look at that!" game takes the conflict out of those sorts of situations. It gives the dog the chance to look at the scary thing (in isolation also as you make the dog aware that it is possible to not have to deal with everything all at once) and be rewarded for it. It's ok to look and keep and eye on it, that's fine, and eventually the dog also learns that it's not so scary afterall - the key with that though is to keep subthreshold, it's not going to work if scarey thing is too close for the dog to just look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safneo Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 You need to teach the hide separately and not try to use it in that kind of situation until it is well learned. I would teach it by luring the dog behind you and feeding in position. You need to make sure that the dogs head is in line with the middle of your back - no peeking round the side of you etc. If I was using lure & reward style, I would lure the dog behind then feed in position, whilst the dog is moving in to the position you give the cue, then reward. Repeat ad infinitem until the behaviour is learned, remember you need to fade the food in your hand as quickly as possible but keeping the arm movement is probably a good idea until your dog is confident and then you can gradually fade that and just have the cue word. Thats how I taught Neo though he is still not perfect at it, and it is a struggle for him to go do it when there is a nasty orrible dog that wants to eat him. I might also try the 'look at that' game. Is that in CU? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackmagic Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 There are some CU videos on youtube including " Yoshi Plays Look at That" http://www.youtube.com/results?search=rela...6_TE&page=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safneo Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Fab links Blackmagic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReikiAnge Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thanks Kelly, will read through that a few times and have a think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyMalc Posted March 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Quick little update on Mr Sparkily: I know I might be jinxing things but he's doing fab! :biggrin: We're doing the "look at that" thing from 'Control Unleashed', and whether I'm doing it right or wrong, Sparks seems a lot happier looking at something that catches his attention, and then looking at me for a treat, than anything else we've tried. His recall still is absolutely fab, and I have to send him away sometimes - just pointing in the direction I want him to go and tell him "okay" - in order to practise instant recall on a whistle; there isn't much to recall when the dog in question's already at your feet, is there! This afternoon he was about to charge off towards a dog when I called him, and he turned around pretty much instantly! There's no way I want him to make do with less walks, because that's the only exercise he has, but he spends more time on lead, interacting with me, and that seems to help. His body language has also changed: his whole body used to be extremely tense and he always seemed on 'red alert'. He's now a lot more relaxed and the look in his eyes has changed; he's a lot calmer than before. We're booked in for a Ttouch session next week Saturday, and one of these days I definitely want to make a start teaching him to go on his mat All in all, I'm very much aware that we've still got a long way to go, but we're moving forward for sure! Best of all, I'm finally having the feeling that Sparks is settling in, he's spending most evenings in the living room with us, rather than hidden in the hallway by the door - although he will still retire on to the bed, given half a chance! It's taken a few months but it looks like Sparky's finally thinking that he's come home :wub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safneo Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 That is good news! Thanks for the update Billy. It does sound like Sparky is finally home. And I have just started reading the book too so may give it a shot with Neo too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyMalc Posted March 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 The book is fab, Andrea - absolutely love it! Lotsa love to Neo! :wub: Like I said, I'm very aware that we're not there yet by a long shot, so watch this space for more trials and tribulations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReikiAnge Posted April 4, 2009 Report Share Posted April 4, 2009 Sounds as though you're making good progress Billy Hope the TTouch session goes/went well today I may have to buy a copy of Control Unleashed at some point, it sounds good, though I still have a few behavioural type books I bought a while back and haven't got through yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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