Claw. wrote:Anyway I pretty much become Lexi's trainer, since no one else will and let's just say she's not the brightest button in the box. I've trained her to sit, to come and I'm training her to lie down. But we have two other problems with her, she barks and chases trucks, whether it be the post van, an ordinary van, a lorry if she got the chance, or a jeep with a back she will chase it and she almost got herself killed twice, by almost going under the wheel while they were moving, and being so little the driver has no idea. Also she barks at the window by jumping up on 'the dog chair' and that's just annoying, and today while Millie was sitting on 'the dog chair' nursing her paw, Lexi pretty much jumped on top of her and there was some growling from both of them. Any idea's on what to do?
For the car issue, I'd start desensitizing her if you can, but you may need the guidance of a professional trainer- while I am one, it is best for you to find someone in person to help you. However if you ever get video footage of her behaviour and want to PM it to me I would be more than happy to give some pointers. Basically I'd take her to a parking lot where people aren't going to be coming and going. Somewhere dead with a few new cars/trucks parked. I'd do /tons/ of focus and obedience work with Lexi around the cars, heeling past them, sit stays, ect. I'd also work on a very strong "leave it" command, starting with just teaching her to leave a piece of food in your hand. Place the food in your palm and hold it out to her and say "leave it" in a calm, but firm, level voice. If she goes for the treat just close your hand into a fist. When she backs up to be like "what the heck, what gives?" open your hand again and say "leave it" again. When she finally leaves the treat mark the behaviour and reward. Eventually when she gets good at it, don't mark the behaviour or reward until she looks at you and offers her focus instead of staring at the treat. You can eventually work to having her leave toys, a ball that's been thrown, people, other dogs, food dropped on the ground, and yes, even cars. When walking her somewhere there will be cars you know she's going to chase I would have a back clipping harness and a martingale collar on her and have the leash clipped to both as a safety measure so that if she slips out of one, she isn't loose to go bolting out into the road.
As for the thing with the chair it seems like they were both wanting on it and potentially resource guarding it from one another. This is a good place to start http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theoth ... prevention
catcher. wrote:I should of explained my problem better, it's not like she hears something and immediately runs off, if the training session gets too long she decides she doesn't want to learn anymore and will just ignore me. Tally doesn't even get distracted by something she'll just sit there and do nothing. Because of this our training sessions are just 3-5 mins long, but I'd like to make them 5-10 eventually.
However, I noticed while training 'around' she didn't start to show signs that she was losing interest when she usually does*, so it makes me wonder if she was just bored of the same tricks
Zuke Training treats at the moment, I used to use cheese which she did well with, but then she started to become fat so I stopped. Plus I now realize it probably wasn't really healthy to give her (cause of the dairy)
*When I see the first sign of her losing interest that's when I finish the training session, so usually our training sessions are 3-5 mins, though our last one was around 7 ish mins
If your using the same treats and rewarding frequently, it's completely possible she may be getting bored of the treats. When teaching classes since we have to keep the dog engaged for an hour, I always ask the students bring 3 kinds of treats mixed in a bag, that way the reward is different every time. The dog doesn't know what it will get. I really like the treat brand "My Mighty Wolf" and freeze dried beef liver or bits of chicken are always a hit in the reactive dog class. Or tuna treats (which are easily made by mixing flour, eggs and a tin or two of tuna together then baking for like 15 minutes in the over I'd look into mixing up her treats and keeping your training sessions 5 minutes or under, be super engaging and if you're teaching something boring to her don't dwell on it too long and add in tricks you know she likes every once in a while, use a happy upbeat voice, if she likes toys, stop and have a play break. The more fun you make training, the more she'll look forward to it and you'll be able to extend your sessions. Charlie gets 2 15 minute sessions of training pretty much every day- and he loves it because of a lot of the above things I've done. Hope that makes sense and helps a bit
