My puppy has learned: Come, Sit, Stay, Shake Paw, and Lie Down She is perfect at following me, but gets too excited and starts pulling at me the whole walk without a leash. (but that can get fixed with the article on the site: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/walk...te.com/walking-your-labrador-on-a-loose-lead/) She is great at following me where I go, as she does not venture far off whenever I have her off a leash, she follows me wherever I go. Right now, I am wondering what is next? Do I try my hand at shock collars to help get her attention whenever I call the "come" command and she is too focused on something to listen? Any more videos that are helpful? I don't want to teach her parlor tricks, but I am honestly at a loss for what to do next. Thanks!
An important one to train is "leave it" so that she doesn't pick up unsavoury things out and about or even around the house. Another would be "drop" or "give" so that she gives up anything that she has taken that you don't want her to have.
Agree leave it followed by come should be enough to have her return - thats what you should aim at with training. Shock collars should only be used as a last resort
Shock collars should NEVER be used! Sounds as if your training is going really well and I would continue to proof your recall where there are distractions - so getting your puppy used to coming away from other dogs, food, rubbish, interesting smells etc.
No. Yes. Why would you want to inflict pain on your dog? Shock collars are illegal in many countries for good reason. They're cruel and completely unnecessary. You say your puppy has learned those cues (we prefer to use "cue' rather than "command"), but she won't have learned them in all situations yet. You need to work on them - the important ones, anyway - in different situations, with increasing distractions and at greater distance. Keep working on all of these things and rewarding them heavily. You think your puppy knows them now, but when she starts getting more independent, she will lose most of what you've taught her (honestly - I didn't believe it, but it happens) and you'll need to go back to basics again. The stronger your history of reinforcement at this stage, the easier that will be. Have you considered what skills you want her to have as an adult? Are you interested in taking up a sport of some sort with her - maybe agility, flyball or gun dog work? All of these need elements of impulse control, and there are a whole host of things you can do around that subject.
Don't dismiss "parlour tricks" - it's all learning practice for the dog, and it engages her mind. Currently, Coco is learning to go around a cone. I don't have any practical use for this (though I may do later), but he's really enjoying learning another skill.
Targeting is another useful one - target a hand, target an object. Either with nose or paw. You can build this up to sending your dog away from you over time. Training a settle. Training a "go to place" (bed, placeboard etc). There's loads to do.
Not to mention all the husbandry stuff - training to trim nails, brush teeth, have ears, eyes and teeth inspected.
OK - last resort = an action that could be end of dog (eg have seen it used on video by a professional to teach a dog to stay away from a deadly snake that may be in its yard/property in an area where such snakes were common). Never as a general training too. Probably should have explained it clearer. They are banned in many states of Australia but not all too (yet we do have those dog containment systems permitted here that also zap the dog if they cross it which seems the same thing). I'd also suggest teaching a dog left (as in turn to the left) and whatever word you want to use for right. Very handy words to have when out walking and you want to direct your dog if allowed ahead of you. Or indeed when teaching a puppy to walk alongside an older dog and you need to turn here and there on a walk
I was talking to person who had their dog trained via shock collar and he explained to me the process. They put it on your hand and make you turn it up until you feel it. I just wanted to give her a little vibration as an attention getter when I call out the come command and she is too focused on a smell. I never plan on using it to actually inflict pain.
It's funny how these people never suggest that people put it round their necks. If you truly wanted an attention-getter, you should train an attention-getting noise. Shock collars work through punishment. If they weren't punishing, they wouldn't work. That's behavioural science. There are far kinder ways. People who use them like to try to justify them, but there is no getting away from the fact they are punishing. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140908083344.htm "These findings indicate that there is no consistent benefit to be gained from e-collar training, but greater welfare concerns compared with positive reward-based training."
I have used a shock collar in the past and I have seen one used on other dogs. Can you get a dog to respond with it? Sure. However, the dog can become "collar wise" and know when they have it on and at times wont obey. Due to that you might as well ingrain what you wont into the dog and not depend on the collar. If you plan to keep it on her all the time it will work all the time. Is it the right thing to do? In my opinion no. My first lab was trained completely without a collar. We trained all the way up to gaining her CGC certificate,but she had trouble with loud noises due to kids shooting fireworks at her while we were away on July 4th (I am definitely responsible for that. Really upset me). I trained with a local trainer here in the sates that trains Police K9's for drug detection as well as bite work. Never did I see any means of force in my two years of training with him nor have I seen it since. There was one time that a dog that had really bad habits come to him for training (5-6 years old) and he did use a pinch collar, but as soon as he got the response he needed from the dog and the dog learned that if I heel next to the owner I can get a treat, the pinch collar never came back out. I'm not an expert by no means but it seems like to me when training 'come' you should probably mix up your rewards and give higher value treats. It is working well for my new lab, Beazley She is 11 weeks old. My thought process is that she never knows when she's gonna get something really good so she might as well come check. We are struggling calling her from food (specially her food dish) and its taking longer than expected. She has a huge food drive so that may be another advantage I have over some when using treats but it is a disadvantage trying to call her from her food dish. Also, I just started incorporating a whistle for sit and come (two days ago) and she is really taking to it well also. She will sit on one whistle blow and come when i blow it in loud repetitious bursts. Maybe this would be the 'attention getter' you need.
