Dog Training

Dog Training (Full Version)

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LotusSong -> Dog Training (8/21/2006 6:55:08 PM)
I have two dogs I have trained as my assistance dogs. They function as a third hand or my legs for me at times. I decided to teach both of them to take my empty water bottles and put it in a blue net hamper I use for my recyclables when I'm done. I had three training sessions with them today. The first one was just them trying to figure out what I wanted. The second one was my yellow lab wanting to get in on the act. My smaller dog is just a lively little beagle/dachshund mutt. He has a mannerism that I learned meant he was tired, confused and just needed to have a break. He lets me know this by laying down and licking the inside of his front leg. Snickers is the faster learner so I had the lab lay and watch while I introduced Snickers to the idea of get the bottle, come here, hold it over the hamper.. and drop it. It takes a series of 4 commands that I taught them and linked together. Snickers got frustrated after about 5 minutes (lessons only last a few minutes then I have them rest). Later this afternoon, Snickers went to the bin and pawed at it. He wanted to play whatever demented game this was to be :) I brought it over and took out 4 empty plastic bottles and put them in the center of the room. Snickers ran over and got a bottle.. brought it to me.. and sometimes he’d drop it in the hamper.. and sometimes not. This dog thinks. You can see the wheels turning! He grabs the bottle.. runs to my couch.. goes over and up down the backside where I couldn’t see him then he comes round to me without the bottle and lays down. I said “Snickers, where ‘s the bottle?” He runs over.. gets the bottle from behind the couch, runs to the hamper and JUMPS IN WITH THE BOTTLE and wouldn’t come out! I couldn’t stop laughing! He knew I wanted SOMETHING in the hamper.. just now how much of what. The two dogs remind me of George and Lenny in “Of Mice and Men”.

captiveplatypus -> RE: Dog Training (8/21/2006 7:29:10 PM)
Ahahaha that's cute. What a good dog! [sm=lol.gif]

Daddy4UdderSlut -> RE: Dog Training (8/21/2006 7:36:50 PM)
You're making me jealous - I could use a furry beast running with a wet nose running around here and making mischief... [:)]

LotusSong -> RE: Dog Training (8/21/2006 8:03:01 PM)
I've got no idea what's on hismind now. He pushed the hamper on it's side.. went INSIDE..took an empty water bottle and brought it to me. and curled up in the chair with me. Is this dog domming me? :)

Daddy4UdderSlut -> RE: Dog Training (8/21/2006 8:10:01 PM)
lol I dunno - but one thing that surprised me, from Stanley Coren's "How to Speak Dog"... is that putting your arm around the dog, in dog-speak, is a dominance gesture. Only a subordinate dog will let a dominant dog put his paw over him like that.

popeye1250 -> RE: Dog Training (8/21/2006 9:30:12 PM)
Lotus, now they're all confused! Get a big sling shot.

LotusSong -> RE: Dog Training (8/21/2006 9:41:29 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: popeye1250 Lotus, now they're all confused! Get a big sling shot. I think it was his way of saying "Ok now.. let's see how YOU like it.. this timeYOU guess what I want!" I use clicker traning and it really speeds things along. You first teach them the clcker sound means a treat . Then when they learn what you want you click at the exact time they do the behaviour. Then you just keep reinforcing it. Tomorrow should be fun :) Hubby gets a tad peeved if I'm clicking away training while he's watching TV :)

MisPandora -> RE: Dog Training (8/21/2006 11:03:35 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LotusSong I use clicker traning and it really speeds things along. You first teach them the clcker sound means a treat . Then when they learn what you want you click at the exact time they do the behaviour. Then you just keep reinforcing it. I've found the same thing can be accomplished with a prey-driven animal with a toy/towel roll or even simple praise. My Malinois that I donated to US Customs as a detector dog was voice trained dutch & german, and hand commanded, and was never was bribed to perform his duties with food or conditioned to respond to his stomach. From the moment he came home at 6 weeks of age, even going in his crate, eating, everything, was "Gute Hunde!" or "Sehr Gut!" Mosz is a very content dog and loved to make me happy by tirelessly doing what was asked of him, and continues to do the same for his handler down at the Customs Port in Laredo, TX. Many emergency service dog trainers advise against using bait because you want the dog working on their sympathetic nervous system, not on the parasympathetic system that is cued up when you feed an animal. You also don't want stuff in the guts of working service K9s when they're on a job for fear of twist colic. That's not a real concern for folks that have small dogs or who aren't doing emergency response, but it's an alternative training method to consider.

LotusSong -> RE: Dog Training (8/22/2006 5:20:31 AM)
Yup.. a whole different method. This little guy will do things he knows I use on his own without a treat. When I am getting my moring started and I settle iinmy chair for the moringnews, hwe nakes sure I have my cellphone, my tv remote, my ceiling fan remote, then he settles in along side me in my chair. I attended a traing program for asistance dogs for the handicpped. I was the one of the two hearing ones there! So I learned how to do hand coimmands as well as voice. The cliciker and treas are for initial training. When he has "got it" and performs as he should, I tell him "I owe you one" and will give him something special for a treat at the end of the day :)

LotusSong -> RE: Dog Training (8/22/2006 8:13:55 AM)
darn.. it was like 4 am when I typed the above post. Sorry about alll the typos :(

LaTigresse -> RE: Dog Training (8/22/2006 8:43:52 AM)
Aren't dogs just the very best! I just got all mushy and started missing my furry babies. I used to have a dog that could come to work with me she was so well behaved, her name and picture are still on our website in the employee list. I miss her so much.

foxglove716 -> RE: Dog Training (8/22/2006 9:03:32 AM)
hmm, this question might have gone over in the Ask a Master/Mistress forum, since training a dog is not unlike training a sub, and in some cases the dogs are even smarter than the humans.

LotusSong -> RE: Dog Training (8/22/2006 9:22:32 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: foxglove716 hmm, this question might have gone over in the Ask a Master/Mistress forum, since training a dog is not unlike training a sub, and in some cases the dogs are even smarter than the humans. Good point :) I have always thought the way you can judge a dominant is by the way we treat our dogs :) I think I have always done may training with the premise that you "never beat a good dog". (I'm anticipating a spin off into sub training for a bit here so no problem :)

LotusSong -> RE: Dog Training (8/22/2006 10:21:57 AM)
WHY DOGS DON'T LIVE LONGER THAN PEOPLE Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker and they were hoping for a miracle. I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family there were no miracles left for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home. As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for the four-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience. The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, "I know why." Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation. He said, "People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?" The four-year-old continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long." Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply, Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God

LaTigresse -> RE: Dog Training (8/22/2006 12:29:09 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LotusSong Good point :) I have always thought the way you can judge a dominant is by the way we treat our dogs :) I think I have always done my training with the premise that you "never beat a good dog". (I'm anticipating a spin off into sub training for a bit here so no problem :) In that case, I will make some sub/slave verrrrrryyyyyyyy happy some day. My dogs are spoiled ROTTEN! One is more than likely stretched across my bed with the cat right now while the other is either cruising the house looking for trouble (she is still young and I wish I could show a video of her discovering toads the other evening, I laughed soooo hard) or on the leather sofa napping. Which reminds me I need to stop at the grocery store to get more yogurt to mix in their dinner. Did I mention that they are spoiled?

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