I feel like i've been posting a lot here recently but feel so depressed with my dog. Ziggy is nearly 5 months old and we've has him since he was 2 months old. I feel like our puppy training classes and general training is getting nowhere! we went to the vets today and he wouldn't sit, constantly pulled me (hes already quite big and find it hard to control him) Jumped up on people and jumped up on a dog that was injured (didn't go down well with the owner) If we are at home he will sit if i ask but i feel he doesn't really listen at all. Maybe if he knows i have a treat but i can't have a treat forever!!! He also has started randomly weeing sometimes. Not all the time, he is usually very good and hadn't had any accidents but in the last 10 days he has had 5.... He has also started barking and growling at people who come in our house?!!! I just dont know what to do.
I do sympathise, my dog used to be awful in the vet's - just awful. But just yesterday, as he stood quietly on a loose lead in a busy waiting room full of people, dogs and cats, the vet who has known him since he was a puppy told me that I'd done a great job turning 'that loveable hooligan into a well behaved dog'. I did feel like saying 'Oi! He wasn't that bad!' but the truth is he was that bad. He used to go through the waiting room like a Chocolate Furry Tornado, leaving a trail of bruised people and dogs in his wake, and sighing receptionists picking up the stands of leaflets that he'd sent flying.... You need to take all the different issues you have, decide which ones you are going to tackle, and then write a plan and implement it. It doesn't have to be long or elaborate, but you just need a structured approach. Some dogs seem to be able to learn something in the kitchen, and then are able to repeat that when out and about without too much trouble. Other dogs have a great deal more trouble with this - for various reasons, including that they are more excitable, easily distracted, or even aren't as good at distinguishing a cue from a given situation. All training needs to be 'proofed' which means getting in to work in lots of different locations and circumstances. The process of 'proofing' training for excitable and easily distracted dogs can be long, difficult and rather painful - but it can be done, you just have to work through the process carefully and slowly. The first thing to work on is getting your dog's attention. You need him to be able to pay attention to you when in the vet's office, even before you can ask him to sit. You need him to be listening to you before you can even tell him to heel, and so on. So this is the first thing to work on. In the meantime, for situations like going to the Vet's you need to work out your management strategy, how you are going to cope with a dog that won't be able to think straight when you get there.
thank you so much for your response. Most times when he looks at me, i will reward him for him paying attention to me. In situations outside i don'y know how to get him to look at me. I can say anything to him and it's like im invisible. It was shameful today and made me not want to take him out anywhere. I was thinking maybe of getting a trainer to come and give me some tips.
You can have a treat as long as you need to though. Coco can be a nightmare at the vets if there's anyone else in the waiting room - which is usual. We don't go often. I always take a treat bag full of cheese cubes. Always. I take treats (usually roast beef) whenever we go for a walk. Always. I don't need to bribe him much any more, but will never miss an opportunity to reward for something good he might do. He is nearly 2 and a half now, we have had him for a year. I'm in no hurry to do away with the treats.
Yes, getting your dog's attention outside - if they are the kind of dog that finds that difficult - can be tricky. How you do it, depends on where you are, and the level of distractions. But outside, you need to reward ALL attention on you. Never don't reward it for a dog that finds it difficult. So, for example, if your excitable and easily distracted dog is off lead you should have a clicker with you and any attention you get you should click and treat - and make sure you have amazing treats. You do this the whole walk. All the time. Don't let up. And you do it every walk, every single walk until your excitable, distracted dog is stuck to you like glue. Then you can ease up, and let him start sniffing round, doing his thing. If your excitable, easily distracted dog is flailing around on the end of his lead as you get to the bottom of your driveway, just wait. Just stop and wait. Even if that takes 15 minutes. Eventually, he'll look at you, if only to wonder 'what on earth' then click and treat. He might then immediately go to dash ahead. Don't move, wait. Click and treat when he looks again. And keep doing that until what he does when he gets the treat is look at you again. Then toss the treat slightly, then get a game going where he looks at you, you drop a treat. Then, when he is completely focussed on you, tell him heel, and take one step. Then you might have to go back to the beginning again....so go back to the beginning. Whatever it takes.... This excitable dog shouldn't get to get out of the car without doing six hand touches for cheese, then six more when he gets out, then 5 circuits of the car park at heel before he gets to sniff...you get the idea. Everything he gets follows him paying attention to you. Sit in the kitchen in the evening and train calm behaviours, and attention getting behaviours. Train an attention getting noise until the cows come home etc. It sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but it does work. You can try a book - 'when pigs fly, training success with impossible dogs' if you like, it's a good book. A bit old fashioned now, so you might want to also take in a few more up to date books, but it's basically sound.
The other thing to remember is that you're always teaching your dog something. We've just been on a short family walk. 2 adults, 1 4-year old and two dogs. I stuffed some treats in my pocket and my husband said "are we walking or training?". I managed not to say "I'm always training!" or "I've spent the last week working on loose lead walking and recall. I'm not chucking all that away for a walk in the sun!" My spaniel is two and I still take rewards with me pretty much every time I go out It's worth the effort, you've had great advice further up, hang in there!
Some incredibly helpful and encouraging replies here. Needed too for my small chocolate tornado in the vet's waiting room Good luck fevermaps, a lot of hard work ahead for you and Ziggy, but you're not alone, I'll be right here doing the same stuff.
Thank you so much for the responses. It has made me feel much better. Thank you for the advice everyone. I would be lost without this forum. x
I hate going to the vet's with Judy too, she turns into a pulling, dragging, jumping, over-excited nightmare. She was terrible at puppy class too. She's nearly 6 months now and is mostly well-behaved and definitely improving all the time, but so far not at the vet's. She tried to drag the nurse's ponytail band out of her hair out at her 4 month check. Last month she settled eventually but didn't want to be examined. Doesn't sit, lie down, stay or do anything she's supposed to. My first thought is to blame myself for doing something / everything wrong but have learnt to cut myself a bit more slack - she's just a puppy and will do puppy things even if she looks like a big dog. If she's no better at her next visit, I'm going to ask if I can take her into the waiting area more frequently, so that hopefully it becomes normal and boring. I love the name Ziggy btw, that's my cat's name!
With vet's, when my boy was at his worst, and we had to go to the vet a lot (really, we went A LOT) I would have him on a back fastening harness, and a short handle lead of about 12in. I'd walk in, march my dog over to any corner or space that was the furthest away from everyone, and stand still. I'd do nothing but stand still. As soon as my dog did anything that was less than a whirling, mad dervish on some kind of mind altering drugs, I'd give him a treat. Over time, he got more treats, and then he became less of an embarrassment, and now he's very good. If I had to walk through the waiting room with him, I'd ask everyone to get out of my way (nicely, of course) and I'd march him on his harness and short lead with a handful of scrummy treats shoved on his nose into the examination room, then I'd stand on his longer lead (attached to his collar) to stop him jumping up and mugging the vet. As training goes, it was all rather blunt, but there is a limit as to what you can do in small spaces surrounded by other dogs, and stopping them being outrageous (or more outrageous than they are going to be anyway) and giving them treats for any reduction in outrageous behaviour does seem to work - eventually.
Brilliant advice above, and I should follow it with Pongo, too. (I so know that "shameful" feeling. Oh yes.) Just one other thing - if he is unexpectedly weeing indoors you might want to get that checked out with the vet.... possibly a UTI? (And see it as an opportunity to manage the vet situation again - maybe leave him in the car while you check out if the waiting room is clear, or until the vet is ready for you - just find a strategy that works until your training kicks in and he is less likely to be a complete embarrassment? One this is for sure, yours is NOT the first time your vet's receptionist has had to deal with a boisterous labrador!)
I do not believe I have ever taken Charlie anywhere without me having treats. Even if I don't give him a treat, I always have them.
Totally agree. I think I had boiled chicken breast in little ziplock bags shoved in my pockets for at least the first three years of Brogan's life. It just kind of becomes like everything else you take out with you all the time - car keys, house keys, mobile phone, wallet...chicken breast! That's not weird,right?
Nope. I keep a bag of treats in the pockets of both my coats (raincoat and warm coat) and on the kitchen windowsill ready to be grabbed on the way out the door. It's just..... what you do.....
I totally feel your pain. We're having a bad few days with Stanley. He's biting again, jumping up, running riot on his walks *sigh*. This threat has given me the kick up the bum to really start refocusing on his training again. Good luck!
I once heard a really experienced positive reinforcement trainer answer a challenging question from a traditional trainer about what happens if her dog figures out she doesn't have treats. She just said (through gritted teeth) my dog will never, ever, find out I don't have treats.
I also have a dog called Ziggy! He is six years old now, a working Clumber and a field trial award winner. I wouldn't dream of taking him out without treats in my pocket just like I wouldn't go out without a whistle around my neck.
It was shameful today and made me not want to take him out anywhere. I was thinking maybe of getting a trainer to come and give me some tips.[/QUOTE] I don't think you should feel ashamed, 5 months is no age is it, they've so much to learn, and my coming on here you are obviously wanting to get through it positively. Sometimes I feel a bit annoyed with these vet surgeries, up to a point they should know how to deal with excitable/inexperienced animals - it's their profession. (bit of a rant). At my surgery they encourage you take them in to be weighed at anytime without appointment, turns in to a bit of a social, I think the staff like to see them growing up. Does your surgery do any thing like that?
For us, going out without treats is like going out without poo bags. Or like going out without your dog, for that matter.
Maybe he does have a UTI. Not sure. I thought if he had a UTI he would be peeing frequently though? He does big ones just not outside anymore! He will go but i often find him peeing on my rug which he has never done until the last 10 days. Very strange!
