Strykers first vet visit. They restarted his shots because nobody can prove that he has had them so he goes back in on the 30th of this month for his second set of shots. He's 10 weeks old today and weighs 11.4 pounds. His muscle, bone hips and elbows all come back really good. He does have tape worms from eating a flea at some point. She said the breeder must of had them since I hadn't had him long enough for him to develop worms yet. So he got a pill he has to take tonight for that and one for heart worm and some other prevention that he takes tomorrow. He is NOT Australian Shepherd but 99.9% lab. Mom was black and dad was chocolate. His under coat has brown to it. They took him in the back room when they gave him a shots and wanted to trim his nails so to keep him distracted they put a little bit of peanut butter on a plate and did a face dive in to it so when they brought him out he had peanut butter all over his face, it was funny. Training wise @ 10 weeks Sit: He has learned this one pretty fast. If I have his attention he will sit on command. Stay: Still needs a bit of improvement but learning quickly Come: Hears it, starts to come, gets distracted and does something else. No (Softly spoken HAHA! NO (Medium tone Yeah, Yeah, I hear ya but still HAHA! NO! (Master is upset Fine, You're no fun, throw tantrum. Potty: Goes to the door, cries and goes outside. 3 days straight no poo mistakes in the house at all. Pee: I swear it flows out of him like a freaking water fountain and where ever he likes, he goes. Those are the main ones at this time. He's still so "new" I don't want to over whelm him with commands.
He's doing really, really well - would love to have seen him covered in peanut butter I think you're right not to overwhelm Stryker with commands. We don't use STAY. Our philosophy is SIT until I say something else, or DOWN until I say something else. One day we will get STAND until I say something else, but Coco wanders around with STAND at the moment. With your COME, try going back a step. Do shorter distances so he doesn't get distracted. Up the value of your rewards and your really cheerful praise.
Great tips, thank you. With the stay command I figured separating the Stay and Sit commands might be a bit confusing to him and I'm sure there will be moments where I want him to stand still without going to a sit or "prone" position. For example when I painted my dog orange on Halloween one year. Sitting made it tough because it distracted from the natural body lines.
Yesterday at the vet he was very hesitant of the veterinarian at first but quickly warmed up to her. She said that she needed me to place him on the counter so she can do her initial exam. Stryker kept trying to climb back in my arms so the vet said, "Stryker, come." The little turd that he is, turn right at her and went to her like it was no big thing. When she brought him back from the back where they give the shots, she placed him on the counter and explained the peanut butter covered puppy that I, at the time, see in front of me. So now it was my turn, "Stryker, Come" I said to him. Stryker looked at me and went back to the vet. Without thinking of the words coming out my mouth I replied, "Your such an ass." Then I quickly apologized because I try not to speak like that around woman. I swear she was going to fall over laughing. I really wish I would of got pictures of him coming back in the room with Peanut butter all over his face.
Ahh dang no edit button. The Vet called today after getting the results back from his stool test. He's got 2 parasites which come from contact of older dogs. The older dogs immune system is stronger and unlikely to become sick from these parasites but can make a puppy sick. I have to go pick up 2 medications tomorrow to treat him. I don't remember the names but will respond once I get the papers from the vet. He'll be on the medication for 12 days.
Started working on the DROP command this morning with a few of his toys and doing so without a single treat. After about 3 reps of me sticking my finger in his mouth to get him to release his toy he started getting the hang of it. We did this for quite awhile, more so than normal just to mix it up a bit. Then we went outside to try it and I mixed in FETCH with it and only a few times I had to use the COME command to get him to bring it back. Each time I used the DROP command he did release it, even in full run a COME command after being told to FETCH. Yesterday was a really bad day. He didn't listen for nothing and it was very frustrating for me but I know there will be days like that. He did chew off the end of my headphones which I put him on timeout for. I did do something I never wanted to do as a punishment as I was very aggravated with him on his day of failure, I put him in his pen for 30 minutes with zero attention from me. I really don't want his pen to be used for punishment but at that point I had enough of the day and I didn't want to reward him for his (and mine) complete training failure. I'm just so amazed at how quickly he's been picking up new commands and implementing them with other commands and very few treats but lots of love and praise.
There are a few things that are kinda "alarm bells" here. Firstly, "without a single treat". This isn't a good thing, honestly. I know people think that their dogs should work for praise alone, but it doesn't work like that. It's been proven that dogs that do work for praise are doing so because praise indicates an absence of punishment. This doesn't build as strong relationships as using positive reinforcement, which means using what the dog finds rewarding to "pay" him for his actions. It doesn't mean bribery, and it doesn't mean being permissive, but it means rewarding him when he's done something right. The word "punishment" sounds scary to us humans, but in the scientific definition, it means something you do to make the dog less likely to do something in the future that he previously enjoyed. Here's the cinch: you can't decide whether something is a punishment or not; only the dog can. If the dog stops doing something because of one of your actions, then that action is defined as a punisher. Putting your finger in his mouth is a very clear example of this. Here is an article which may make it clearer: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/punishment-in-dog-training/ And here is another about the use of treats in dog training: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/training-treats-should-you-use-them/ Next, putting him in a time out for chewing something he shouldn't have. Well, I hate to say it, but you're the one that should have been in timeout. He won't understand that the timeout was anything to do with the chewing, so he got punished without realising what for. Punishers do work, but in order to be effective, you have to be very skilled at communication at exactly the right time, and with no ambiguity, what he is being punished for. Most of us are completely incapable of this. Since dogs take in so much of their environment at all times, he may as well think he was being punished for laying on that rug, or looking a certain way... all those pictures you see of dogs "looking guilty", are actually dogs looking fearful over a consequence they know is going to happen, because their owner has suddenly turned into an irrational being. He was having a nice chew on something; that's what puppies do. Then you come in and tell him off, put him in his pen and ignore him. Why should he know that chewing headphones is a bad thing? 30 minutes? Waaaaay too long as a punishment! After a minute or two, he will have completely forgotten everything he was doing previously, so you're just being mean for ignoring him. Timeouts, again, can be effective, say for a whirling dervish of a biting, over-wrought puppy, but they should be more of a means for letting him settle down and compose himself than being thought of as a punishment. When you say "he didn't listen for nothing" - he's a baby! And, you've said yourself that you're using praise as a motivator without treats. Learning theory states that an animal (including humans) needs to be motivated to work. This means by being given sufficient reward for doing something (again, this doesn't mean bribery, it means payment) or by learning that, if they don't do what is being asked of them, a punishment will follow. Ask yourself, when you go to work, do you do so because you get a pat on the head and a tummy rub? Or because you're given a reward (salary) for it? Slaves were made to work through fear of punishment if they didn't behave. Would you rather do a job for a reward, or for punishment? Of course, being told you're doing a great job makes you feel good, too, but that would amount to zero if you didn't get your pay cheque at the end of the month... Sorry, this has turned into a bit of an essay! I don't mean it to sound nasty, but I hope you read the articles and reconsider the use of rewards in training your dog. Rewards more than just telling him how good he is. Find out what he finds rewarding and use that. Food is easy because it's something every dog needs, so they're programmed to work for it. Play also works, and my two find certain games very rewarding, but progress is slower if you only use games (a nugget of food takes a fraction of a second to give, rather than several seconds of play), so I tend to use things like the chase of a ball as a "jackpot" at the end of a training session.
You make very good valid points and I will have to restructure my training methods so that he doesn't feel that he is being neglected in any way or punished for his good deeds by introducing treats. I bought 2 packs of good small sized training treats when I got him his first bag of puppy food. They are really just sitting there. It's been 10 years since I've had to train a puppy and to be honest, i can hardly recall any training with my previous dog, Dozer. I am grateful for your knowledge and advice and will read those articles. Thank for pointing out my flaws. With Stryker, we both are being trained. Thank you
Definitely! I never trained a dog before W&S. That is, we had family dogs when I was growing up, and I took them to training class, but it never amounted to much more than spending an hour saying, " sit, sit, sit, SIT" to a dog that had no idea what "sit" actually meant! This forum taught me loads (well, rather the lovely people on this forum) and I've studied more myself since. Behavioural science is fascinating and makes complete sense, once we allow ourselves to get past the thought that dogs understand our concept of "good" and "bad". Still, there's always more to learn; my dogs teach me at least as much as I teach them, and that's what makes our journey together so much more exciting and enjoyable
Whoa the reaction time when using treats is so much faster than just giving him his toy to play with. On the other hand, he expecting it already. I took him out to go potty and he would take a few steps then look at me as if I was going to reward him already, which I did not. We are redoing the yard because we had a really bad drought that went through here and killed everything as we weren't allowed to water our grass. So there is a section in the yard that I've always had trouble keeping him out of. That's what I used as a distraction and each time I used "COME" he came running back expecting a treat were as before I would tell him to "Leave it" or "Come" and he would ignore me. Now though he comes running back, gets his treat and doesn't leave my side. He'll sit there just looking at my hand expecting a treat for nothing. Not really sure how to counter that because he's sticking to me like glue and following my hand.
Following your hand isn't a problem because you can use it to your benefit for positioning him. My two know that if I hold my finger and thumb pinched together, they need to follow it, even though there isn't a treat there these days. I started with s treat and moved them round following it, but treated from the other hand. Then faked the treat in my luring hand (that is, I pretended to get one from my bag, but didn't) and again treated from the other hand when they were where I wanted, showing them my luring hand was empty. So they learn that following the hand is rewarding even when there's nothing in it. You need to train a "game over" cue for the end of training sessions. Once you say those words, you don't ask for any more behaviours and don't give any more rewards. He'll learn that there's no point hanging around after you've said those words. It helps if you have a cue to start a training session, too. Mine is "ready to work?". Make sure that when you're recalling him for a treat, he doesn't always know you have one. So you can place a few pots of treats around the house and garden and call him, then give him a treat from one of those pots rather than from a stash on your body. That way, you're avoiding it being a bribe, meaning he only comes to you when he knows you're carrying treats.
He really loves his tennis ball so I've been using that as a distraction which has been helpful. I use "Come" and he returns with the ball after I tell him to "Get it", sits and places the ball in my hand then I switch hands giving treats. I tried the pot method and he hasn't quite figured it out but he's learning so I'm happy how things are turning out. I've used "Come" a few times and gave no reward only to test how well he's learning rather than expecting. Each time he does really well. I've also used the command "Come" while he was in full run to "Get it" (We use that so he'll go fetch the tennis ball) and he's returned with out the ball then I tell him to "Get it" and he'll go fetch it and return it. Oh and another thing I noticed which I am so happy to see is he's getting brave and playing in water that comes out of the spray head. Before he would run and not come near it but if I keep it low he'll play it in. That one hand me worried because I'm always near water and it would surely be a bummer if he didn't like it. He's even playing in puddles, gets a bit dirty but nothing a little more water wont solve. I really do appreciate your help.
Another go around with him working on "Come" and using water as a distraction. Figured I'd snap a picture this time. [/URL]
Some improvements with Stryker since Monday. Been working on recall and more potty training. He's been doing pretty good but yesterday was another one of those, "I'm not going to listen no matter what you offer me," days. Would not "come" to me at all. Would not go in the house at all. Got to the point where I would attempt to pick him up to take him in and he was making a game of chase out of it but I am not about to chase him. It even got to the point where he ran out of the yard and took off down the street. I lost my temper but did not punish him other than a firm "NO" and put him on timeout for 2 minutes instead of 30 minutes like I had done last time he acted a fool. After which I think he got the hint I wasn't happy because he started listening a little better. So far today has been a great day. Every once in awhile I get a little tired and like to take a nap. So after working on his recall command which he listened even with distraction he decided he wanted to take a nap. I took full advantage of this and decided to take one myself. I am a very light sleeper so most times I hear every stinking noise around the house and outside. I had just fallen asleep and I hear a little bit of noise from Stryker. I "peeked" and he was just laying on the floor, on his side, playing with his stuffed puppy. I must of dosed off because I woke up to him sitting in front of me when he decided he wanted to give the loudest puppy (high pitch) bark letting me know he had to go potty. I was so not expecting that, it scared me to the point I jumped up not realizing what the heck it was. I was so proud of him as he's gone a long time without pooing in the house it's the peeing part that we had been trying to break. So I quickly got up, opened the door and he took off like a bat out of (you get the point) and went pee. I had never been so happy to see that little guy go pee until today. Of course he was rewarded.. I gave him a whole treat instead of half of one that I normally give him and lots of "Good boy, potty outside." He's still humping "Humpy" oh and he figured out he can dig. Yesterday he dug a little hole but I kept filling it in. So far today he hasn't tried to dig. Oh and he's learned a new command, "Pow Pow!" He was being a little booger and for some reason I said to him, "You need a good POW right in the kisser" and he took that as it was play time. So now whenever I say, "Pow Pow" he knows it's play time and goes running around playing. I thought that was pretty amusing as he's the one who decided he liked that term for play time.
Oh my where to start. It's been awhile since I posted anything. I was very busy taking care of my father who, after a tough battle, lost his life to cancer. He went peacefully and in his sleep which I couldn't ask for a better way to go. That being said, Stryker has had a lot of interaction with people and we even had my sisters 2 dogs here. Eddie who is the blood brother of my previous dog, Dozer. She also has a weenie dog who wasn't super fond of Stryker but tolerated him. One morning Eddie went trotting pass my brother-in-law and I with Stryker following right beside him with Eddies ear in his little mouth. Eddie was very good with Stryker. Stryker was always nibbling on his ear or lips. There was never any aggression from Eddie as he pretty much let Stryker do whatever. He did one time gave Stryker a "smack" or 2 with his paw. My middle niece taught stryker how to give a high five and a few other little tricks. The best thing of all he has calmed down quite a bit and has lost all his really sharp puppy theeth. He no longer devours his food, he chews it and I can put my hand in his dish as he's eating without any aggression. I'll post a bit more later but he's wanting to go outside right this moment.
