After starting adolescent classes last week I decided to carry out structured training with Harley every day. This week we have concentrated on; Touch Lead walking Look at me Sit for over 1 min On Monday I started by getting Harley to sit on her mat. I walked I to the hallway the called out 'touch' and held my hand out to my right. She came running out and touched immediately I was really impressed with her. We done this another two times then I changed which hand I used. This threw Harley for a few seconds but did work it out. The reason I need to do either hand is because I can't always move my arms easily. We done another 3 using a mixture of hands and she did it perfect every time. We done 3x10 min sessions of this throughout the day. Tuesday - done 2x10 min sessions of touch in the house - this time I used the kitchen (put her mat in there) and the living room. Brilliant Something spooked Harley in the garden and she was barking and ignored my 'come'. My hubby called out 'touch'....lo and behold she came running and touched his hand result Harley's sit is generally good at home so I made it a bit more difficult by sitting then adding a 'look at me' then started a release cue - carry on. Wednesday - whilst out on our walk I decided to try the touch cue. I attempted twice when we got to the field, got totally ignored so gave up. After 30mins of sniff, play ball, follow me, off lead heel walking, I decided to have one more go.....it worked repeated on two more occasions and worked Later on we went for a short 10 min walk and concentrated on lead walking - she had her cozy dogs harness on as my daughter accidently took her head harness back to uni with her! - so I decided to start from scratch with lead walking on a harness. The method that we were taught - stop when she pulls, wait until lead loosens then treat if they look at you or put the treat in their sight to get their attention if really distracted - well, I stopped, lead went slack, Harley looked at me, I went to treat her but she wasn't interested. She then walked nicely for a few mins then she started pulling again. I stopped, lead went slack then tight again. I stayed still and tried to put a treat in her vision, still not interested. After nearly 5 mins of Harley trying to pull, me standing still, lead going slack then tight as soon as I went to take a step I decided to turn round and go home. Any suggestions?? Treats rarely do it for Harley unless she is at home! Thursday - done 1x10 min 'touch' session at home - really good. Managed to get her attention when barking at some birds in the trees by calling 'touch'. Done 1x5 min lead walk - we got as far as the end of our street (only 7 houses from our to the end!) Hope I've not bored you all too much : Harley is such a calm, placid pup at home (well, unless hubby or daughter are playing rough with her ), but out on walks, on the way to walks etc she is so 'hyper' that getting her to focus on anything is a real struggle. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Re: Harley's training log Yay! Another training log. Love training logs. On the loose lead walking, these things helped me (over and above the "don't move forward while they are pulling" 1) Completely separate from lead walking, train a turn towards me cue. I use a click click with my tongue. Get it really robust - really strong. Spend ages on it. Then introduce a lead and train it again. Then, when on lead, if the dog pulls, click click, and change direction. 2) Moving on from point 1) which I used for a while, train the dog moving to the heel position from any position relative to you. First do this while you are standing still. Shape it with a clicker. Heavily reward that position by your side. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Make that position by your side the best place ever. 3) Get the dog to repeatedly return to the heel position off lead - walk, drop a treat, wait for the dog to catch you up and put itself in a heel position, drop a treat (keep walking). 4) After 2 and 3, when on lead do not move forward until the dog puts itself back by your side. Count to 10. Step forward and reward for a couple of steps at heel. 5) If you are really struggling, be prepared to click and treat almost continuously, every single step, with hot roast chicken.
Re: Harley's training log Thanks Julie I will have a think about how to approach some of these as I don't use a clicker. I am definitely going to try a "towards me" cue as I think this will help. Is there anything you can suggest other than foods treats as she is rarely interested in food when out ???
Re: Harley's training log I use play as my most powerful reward, but you have to build it up over time. It's like Charlie sort of got "hooked" on them. Some harnessed behaviour he already enjoyed (run around) others were completely new to him (tug and chase - whipit). I don't really buy that there is a dog that you can't motivate by food though. It's a balance between the excitement of the environment, the dog's stress level and the value of the food. There is always a combination that works. It's difficult to teach on lead heel without food, so my first strategy was to ramp up the value of the food massively. And to increase the rate of delivery - this was one thing my trainer really impressed on me, the click is for as much as your dog can do without a mistake so if that's one step.... I never "starved" Charlie before training, but I certainly didn't feed him. The otheir thing is walk over the same bit of ground. This is really important. If you can't get your dog walking nicely going round and round on the same bit of ground you can't hope to do better if the ground is changing.
Re: Harley's training log Really interesting to read this log and the discussions about loose lead walking. With Obi as he's so in his nose I am doing exactly as Julie has described......my click and reward rate has gone up massively and I've only made it out of the garden into the road, not even the footpath as that has too much scent and he turns into a ten ton locomotive!! Best of luck
Re: Harley's training log Loose lead walking has to be the most frustrating thing ever! I have a puppy that is highly motivated by food but even she is taking her time to grasp this one. You have my full sympathy Naya. I can't add anything other than what you are doing and what Julie has suggested but I hope Harley gets it
