When I had my first dog, a hyper, mad Collie cross called Dottie Lottie, I did everything wrong. I had lived with dogs all my life, but had never had to train one myself and I'd never really had a dog with a "brain" before. Lottie taught me so much, far more than I'll write about here, but the one thing she taught me most of all, was to avoid the dog Anticipating, as much as possible. For example. I only ever put her lead on when we were going for a walk. I only ever took her for a walk when I was going to let her off lead for a run and games. I only ever took her in the car when we were going either to the vet or for a really exciting walk (to the beach, to the stables, etc). This resulted in a dog who at the first sign of a lead, bounced and spun and bounced and barked and spun and spun and generally got herself into a right state, leaving me virtually having to rugby tackle her just to clip the lead on. Once she'd dragged me out of the door, she would pull like a steam train the WHOLE time; choking and gagging and still pulling, regardless of check chains, slip leads, face harnesses (yep she even pulled hard in them). And when we were in the car, it got worse. She would spin and yip and whine and bark until within a few minutes her excitement level was so great, she would invariably throw up the contents of her stomach, before starting again. ??? Yep, she was in many ways a NIGHTMARE to live with. I know her breeding didn't help (Collie energy and intelligence crossed with all the stubbornness of a Terrier was NOT a good combination for a first time dog, I can tell you), but I wasn't helping AT ALL. Of course, by the time I'd worked out where I had gone wrong, it was too late to change her ways and all her life she pulled like a train and got over excited when she anticipated a run. But I've never made the same mistakes again. So why am I writing about a nutty Collie here on a Lab forum? Because I can see so many newbies going down the same path as I did. That's why. OK Labs might not have the energy and brains of a Collie, but with a good dose of Anticipation you still get many of the same problems. The dog who pulls all the way to the park. The dog who gets over excited in the car. The dog who bounces about as you're trying to put it's lead on, etc, etc. So please, if your dog is doing anything like that, take a long hard look at WHY it is anticipating something exciting (or scary, if it's thinking about going to the Vets). See what you can do to stop it anticipating these things. Put your dog's lead on and DON'T take it for a walk a few times a day. Take it for a walk but DON'T take it for a free run every time. Put it in the car and just drive around the block, so there is nothing exciting or scary about the journey's end. It's just like Gundog training really. You don't want the dog thinking every retrieve is for him/her, so you sit them up to watch and only let them have the occasional retrieve, otherwise you end up with a dog with no steadiness at all, getting over excited and bombing about after everything which falls from the sky. So if you want a nice steady, easy to live with pet dog, you have to think much the same way and try as much as possible to stop it constantly anticipating things, as apart from them anticipating a reward for being good/obedient, most other anticipation is a negative thing which can turn a blank canvas puppy into hard work dog.
Re: Anticipation. A good thing or a bad thing. ;D ;D ;D How I laughed when I got home from our morning walk and read this ;D Riley is nearly two and we still have a spin of excitement when the lead gets picked up. We've tried to be firm and it only goes over his head when he's sat down(even if the tail is a blur). Then he started getting up and heading out the door as soon as the lead was on so then we had to start taking it back off until he sat down and waited to be told to move.....I guess my point is the excitement and anticipation moved along the chain of activities and we had to insist on calm at each stage before we moved on. It's a work in progress and there are always new things popping up to catch us out, I never really realised training your dog is never ending until we got one. I don't mean that to sound negative we're having fun training (with the odd hiccup). He's our first dog, I imagine once you've had a few you probably do some things I'd consider training without even thinking about it as that's just the right way to treat your dog.
Re: Anticipation. A good thing or a bad thing. I wouldn't like to say the bulk of it was Never Ending, but for at least that first two years it's an ongoing project, and even after that you often find yourself slipping a bit, then have to tweak things here and there. And it never hurts to practise the little things you don't use very often, once in a while, even when the dogs are well into maturity. A well trained dog is a happy dog. They are pretty simple creatures really. They like to know where they stands and know what's expected of them, but if allowed to start thinking too much for themselves, they sometimes exhibit the behaviours we don't want them to. Then we should look at the reasons why they are acting like that and ask ourselves if it's something we've allowed or even created, because most often, it is. It's good you're having fun when training, keep at it. I love training my dogs now, it creates a good bond and partnership with them, I think. I just wish there had been forums and easy access to good trainers when I started out, as back then it was just Barbara Woodhouse on TV shouting "SIT!!!" and yanking the dog on a check chain, so I had to learn the hard way, by making a million mistakes and then living with the consequences. That's not to say I still don't make mistakes, because I do, even 10 dogs further down the line, it's just that I'm quicker to spot them now and quicker to look at what I've done wrong 8) .
Re: Anticipation. A good thing or a bad thing. Can you come and live with us for a few years? My main worry about getting a dog was training her wrong and ruining her. Most of the time I feel like I have done just that.
Re: Anticipation. A good thing or a bad thing. I had my own dog when I was eight years old there had always been dogs on the farm, but this was my very own . I am now 65 years young and have owned many dogs over the years but am happy to admit that I am still learning . Sam still makes me think and question and realise that many of the " minor faults " of my dogs over the past years have been of my own making and not something intrigently wrong with them, just that I maybe gave tthe wrong signals, or encouraged ( albeit ) unwanted behaviour . I love the fact that I am and can still learn , things were so very different when I had my first dog all those years ago, thankfully the changes are mainly for the better and help is readily at hand these days from forums like this one .
Re: Anticipation. A good thing or a bad thing. [quote author=kateincornwall link=topic=1493.msg10355#msg10355 date=1368103930] have owned many dogs over the years but am happy to admit that I am still learning . [/quote] Oh gosh yes. I Live to Learn and Love to Learn too. I still buy books about dog behaviour/training and scour websites of various trainers for various tips and hints. I still experiment and tweak training techniques to suit me and the dogs. I'm an avid reader, not only of books but of the dogs themselves. I love just watching them and trying to read what they are "saying" to each other when they are interacting. Some of the best techniques I use have been taught to me by my own dogs, just from watching how they handle different situations. As I said, Lottie taught me so much and I'll be forever indebted to her, because as much as she was bonkers, she was also very forgiving of my mistakes and didn't love me any less because of them. I went from her to a large Deerhound Lurcher, who offered me the chance to learn everything from the other end of the spectrum to Lottie, as she was driven to hunt and chase, but was as laid back and lazy as they come in every other way. Between both of those dogs, I learnt more than I could ever imagine and from them my love of training and studying behaviour grew and I still haven't had enough of either 30 odd years down the line ;D .
Re: Anticipation. A good thing or a bad thing. Like Jade I worry about training Charlie incorrectly and I know I have in some areas, but it can't be too bad as he is the sweetest, most loyal, crazy about our children and everyone that visits, has good manners etc. etc. . Charlie is a rescue dog Labrador x Pointer and an absconder to boot so I am really on a learning curve with him and I read lots of books like Jules on dog training/behaviour and of course get lots of help from everyone on this forum thank goodness. I do find however, that I struggle a bit with overload and feel that I am failing him if I don't take on all types of training. I recently felt I had to strip his training back in order to progress with the things that really are important and will keep Charlie safe and that's RECALL, RECALL and RECALL. Don't know what I would do without Pippa's Total Recall even though it is taking months, but hopefully the whistle will mean something to Charlie and he will come charging back to me ;D I train obedience etc. in between daily. I suppose we must keep in mind that we are all human and not professional dog trainers and we all do our best by our dogs, and yes we make mistakes, who doesn't. Helen x
