Orca-man

Hey yall.
Its seems charlie just has the hardest time ever keeping attention. Motly while outside walking around. Any advice on getting your pup to pay attention? Both at home and outside.
She also pulls her leash and wont keep pace. She constantly tries to walk ahead of me. I try constantly to get her attention to keep pace. She just doesnt want to listen.

red426

I would also like help with this issue. I figured it had something to do with dominance but not sure of effective way to correct. Vet suggested a choke collar so reluctantly I bought one and its not helping any and seems cruel so I have stopped using.

Odin`s_BlueDragon

I personally don't like choke chains. I use a prong collar for training and for walks but it doesn't work out well if u have a soft dog. They also make nylon martingale collars that function the same way. This is what they taught in Odin's basic obed class. Bring a bag of treats on ur walk hold the leash in ur right hand, have the dog on ur left side and treat with ur left hand when ur dog walks in the right position. Once they get the idea then u can use the collar to correct when they don't respond to a command. Training collars of any kind wont work unless the dog understands what u mean by it. U can't just yank on it and expect the dog to know what u want them to do.

Hope that helps a lil. Im sure others will have more input too, since im still learning as well

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EckoMac

The choke collar would need to be a the top of the neck, and used as short corrections. It's not meant to choke them out until the stop pulling. If used properly it is a handy tool and not cruel at all. Same with prong collars.
Harnesses are for pulling, so if that is initially what you were using, that's the outcome you will get.
Try the choker again. Keep it at the top of the neck and use a short quick tug to the side to correct. Don't forget the treats that Odin mentioned too. Always reward good behavior.
How's her peeing in the house going?

Orca-man

Her Random Peeing pretty much stopped. Maybe the UTI cleared up?
I think I might have developed a technique for her leash pulling that seems to work pretty nice. If yall could give insight, think its a decent way of training?
When I take her for a walk. I make her sit, then I take a few steps and say "come on"
I usually keep her on the right, holding the leash in my left. And as we walk. anytime Charlie walks past me, I stop and just step on foot in front of her, stopping her. After a few seconds, she will stop trying to walk past my foot, ad relax. Then I continue the walk. its been working pretty well. she has been keeping pace and walking right beside me.
Her biggest problem now is Attention. Its hard to get her to aknowlege me. it usually takes me several tries calling her name. most of the time me having to raise my voice.
Any advice on getting her to pay more alert attention?

ames

work on it inside without distractions first, like 10-20 minutes at a time. Then when she masters LOOK inside take it outside and keep training, then try a park where things are going by and she will have more distractions. I use LOOK when I want my boy to look at my eyes and listen to what I want him to do next or just watch me.

Started by holding bit of cheese or a hot dog up between my eyes as I said LOOK and he would follow the treat and when his eyes met mine I say YES and gave him the cheese. yes is my word for good boy cause I call him a good boy ALL the time lol. Once he gets it with your eyes move the treat away from your head until he realizes its the eye contact you are wanting not him looking at the treat. When she gets that you can create more distance between you and ask her to look. I use OK when we are walking and hit a cross street. I make him LOOK at me, I have him sit, then tell him OK when its safe to cross the street. I do that randomly all the time walking not just on the corner so if a off leash dog sneaks up, he isn't suspicious of me doing it randomly while I try to see where the ankle biter is going....

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"There are two temptations to which people fall prey with dogs. The first is to think that biology counts for everything. The second is to think it counts for nothing"
- Tom Junod

“When you KNOW better you DO better.”
― Maya Angelou

jerseypeach

I don't use chokes or prong collars, I just use buckle collars, mainly because most of my guys are TDI and when you go for visits they cannot be on any kind of training collars just a buckle collar. So I train solely on a buckle collar. If I were to use a training collar it would be a martingale.

I would do as Ames said, get you pup going with the Look command or watch me...I use a special treat like a hot dog something that they don't get all the time. I hold the hotdog close to my eyes and say watch me...when he makes eye contact..say "yes" and treat...do this until you can just say watch me without the treat being up by your eyes, once he has mastered that then start adding distractions, when a distraction happens say WATCH me or LOOk and when he does YES, treat...

Orca-man

Hey thanks aton Ames! I really appreciate the advice and help. I'm gunna follow that advice thoroughly. So yall think its best to use simple one and two word commands when addressing a dog?

ames

That's what I do while training. My boy is clever and knows the words when I just speak regular, like a human too lol. Gets me in trouble when I say laser or treadmill or find it and not talking to him. I have to alter my speaking. I started spelling and the stinker caught onto that too lol. I am sure Your girl will catch on as well! lol just remember to try and say YES with reward as soon as eye contact in met to help her catch on. Oh I also grab a stick or two of string cheese for walks. Really good portioned out and stays in the wrapper so its not on my hand or pocket. Lol. Good luck can't wait to hear how it goes for you!!

__________________
"There are two temptations to which people fall prey with dogs. The first is to think that biology counts for everything. The second is to think it counts for nothing"
- Tom Junod

“When you KNOW better you DO better.”
― Maya Angelou

ThaLadyPit

Yes. While it may seem that they (dogs) understand full sentences when we talk to them, it's based more off our facial expressions and tone of voice when we're addressing them.

Simple one or two word commands are perfect, and you should keep in mind also that before giving the command and expecting them to know and understand it, you need to show them what it is you want from them when using that command.

Example, when teaching sit, you'll need to gently push their butt onto the ground and give the command "SIT", and then praise them. It usually helps to use a treat of high value (a piece of cheese or chicken or roast beef or liver), something they don't get on a regular basis to entice them to respond quicker.

My two have such a high food drive, that I can use pieces of their every day kibble and have great results.

Here's an example of how I teach Sit/Down with my dogs...

Unfortunately, I didn't get the first attempt at teaching her these commands b/c the camera man was busy yelling at children, lol. But this is right after I put her in a sit and then pulled her front legs out from under and gently pushed down on her shoulders giving the down command.

The most important thing in training, aside from being consistent and vigilant with it, is to ALWAYS make a big fuss when they do what it is you're wanting them to do. Some may call this positive reinforcement/positive training; this just reinforces that little thing in their brain that makes them so eager to please us. Use your dog's desire to please you to your advantage. Notice how happy Ices is when I tell her she's done a good job? Let your dog celebrate the fact they've done something right, instead of scolding them for doing it wrong.

Keep in mind, you also need patience, especially with a young pup. If you get frustrated, your dog will sense that, and will not respond as well to you. I admittedly have waited a little later than I normally would to train Ices. She's almost 10 months old, and I'm just now teaching her obedience. I have honestly let her just be a puppy til now. Since we're going to attempt to do our first show at Nationals in October, I feel that she needs to know some basic obedience, even if she's not stellar at it, so that's why we're training now.

Just for fun, here's my mutt boy, Roller doing down this past winter...
Again, I just used pieces of their every day kibble, but both my dogs are overly-eager to please, and I use that to my advantage to get what I want out of them.

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"In this breed, there's no such thing as an expert! The day someone says they're an expert, they need to walk away from the dogs, because someone's going to get hurt. You should be learning something new every day." John Maynard-Circle M Kennels