Tiger found a dead duck today at the dog park. He would NOT listen when I told him to drop it, but hah, then again, when does he ever? I feel like a laughing stock at the dog park and that I may be giving myself a 'pass' that hes a family dog and I am being undermined (which I am). I tried running away to have him chase me. Nope. I tried telling him firmly, that just made him hold the duck harder with his teeth. I tried being nice. NOTHING WORKED. He just kept trotting off with it as if it was a toy he had found. I saw someone in a car passing by and looking. I just felt awful, I felt like crying. I felt disrespected and most of all I felt like it would be my fault had he decided to eat the duck. It sure looked like he did from far away. I finally decided to get into my car and act like I was driving off, only I just re-parked. I went to the other side, he got very scared, forgot about the duck and I let him in the gate. I went on the other side, got a baggie, picked up the dead duck and examined it to see that although it looked like he was clenching on the duck's body, there were no teeth marks or blood on the body. I then threw it away. After that, a couple came in and tiger wanted to play with their small dog, but he could not so he was trying to push the gate towards the end knowing that it was an opening. He was unsuccessful so he goes straight ot hte muddy ditch to find things. Funny that, prior to this, the couple was impressed saying that Tiger is a good dog because when I tell him to SIT, he sits right away...yeah...you have no idea. Many people think tiger is well behaved..at first. His unwilling to drop things is sheer stubbornness. I have tried treat training since he was very little only to find that he would 'drop it' ONLY when he could smell the treat (even if it was behind my back), or would not if he decided he didn't like the treat. Yes, labs can outsmart their owners as I am sure you all know. I does ignore commands even but not all the time. When he was younger I thought this was due to short attention span/distracted but now I know he was just trying to get away with not having to listen to me. Help? I am almost at my wits end.
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... Heavens, no need to be at your wits end ;D Some dogs give things up easily and some not. A dead duck must have been such a prize for Tiger, he was only doing what comes naturally. My dog has had a very, very dead rabbit and would not give it to me, so he had to come in the car with me and it!! No need to stress and take no notice of others looking at you, I bet if one of their dogs had picked it up, they same would have happened.
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... I too feel your pain. Lilly "caught" a young bird (I think a woodpigeon) and played "stay away" with it for ages. The only thing I could do was to ignore her and let her think I wasn't interested, carried on walking to the end of our route, then turned and came back. This dog of mine, who never retrieves or carries anything, carried the dratted thing 3/4 mile back to our front door, dropped it on command and thought no more about it. Job done. They seem to remember at the most awkward time what they are genetically programmed to do :
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... I've been in this position with dead seagulls numerous times and yes it's frustrating but really not the end of the world. A couple of suggestions (though I'm in the UK so don't really know what dog parks are like) : Try taking toys out with you, ones you don't let Tiger have at home, and play games with him. The more you can become the centre of excitement the more easily he'll recall and obey you. I take a rucksack with a rope toy for tuggy games, a soft toy tied to a long cord for chasing and a couple of dummies for retrieving and I've found this helps keep Molly's attention on me. He may be more willing to give things up for a game (though probably not a duck ) If you think it's going to be difficult put Tiger on a trailing long line so if he grabs something and runs off you can get hold of him. Obviously you want him to play with other dogs, but perhaps after a short play, get him to play with you instead. I can't remember if you've been to any training classes but they might give you the support you need.
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... I have had to learn.... the hard way.... just how embarrassing it is when your dog ignores you. He is not disrespecting you, he really is just being a dog. And yes, you feel a complete idiot, you feel the world is laughing at you, you feel everyone is thinking what a badly trained dog you have and it is all your fault and what a useless owner you are and being critical of you. And you just want to scream and you feel so STUPID and the dog doesn't care, he just doesn't care.... Oh yes really, I do feel your pain. (It happened to me again just this afternoon.) But I am beginning.... slowly... to develop a thicker skin. My puppy is my responsibility and I want to train him to behave appropriately so that he is safe and polite in company... but in the meantime I can't help what other people think of me or of him. I care more about Pongo than I do about other people's opinions. I have to keep reminding myself of this. So, don't let other people's reactions drive you to your wits end. Tiger really loves you.... you are his 'mom' as your forum name says, so hang in there and you will get there with him. And what other people think doesn't matter, it really doesn't. Right - now I just have to give this same lecture to myself! Every day...
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... Oh you poor thing. How horribly frustrating!!!! As Stacia said a dead duck would've been such a prize - it would be like us finding a hundred thousand dollars in our letterbox. I don't know any dog that would've give up such a thing willingly. So don't feel that your training has let you down or that Tiger does not respect you. It's not that at all. It's just that a dead duck would've been like winning the lottery. I promise you - the scenario would've been the same for me and most people on this forum!! But you outsmarted him - so well done for that! You found something he wanted more than the duck - not to be left alone - and you used that to get the result you wanted. That was smart and it worked. Just ignore people who might laugh or stare. I guarantee that you know more than 99.99% of them!!
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... Oh dear, I hear your frustration. I was in a similar spot last week when Simba found a freshly made ham sandwich in a plastic bag on the side of the trail. He had it in his mouth before I even knew what it was and the standoff began. I had my hand on the part that was sticking out and he had his teeth firmly clenched on the rest. I really wouldn't have cared too much about the dratted thing except for the plastic bag, I really didn't want him ingesting that, yet I knew that because he knew I didn't want him to have it and therefore it was a "forbidden" treat he would wolf it down plastic bag and all if I let go. This is a leftover behaviour from his first home, he came wired to very quickly eat any "treat" he found before someone took it away. We had a bit of a tug of war, at this point ketchup and cheese and drooly ham slime are pouring down my fingers, no amount of waving treats under his nose (with my free hand) will work. "Leave it" may as well have been "Take it". Finally sheer physics took over and the thing pulled apart, he scarfed his half and I, feeling slightly ridiculous, mad, and amused all at once dropped the rest of the mess in the nearest garbage. Don't despair. One piece of advice that Pippa gives often goes through my head: if something goes wrong and the dog doesn't respond as you want, look at it as an opportunity to analyze the whole scenario, and look at what you need to work on training-wise to ensure that, eventually, your dog will behave better the next time. Although, I do agree with the others, there are certain things you may never be able to train your dog to "not" do, like give back a dead duck or a lovely ham sandwich, for that matter. Not a lab, anyway. :
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... Oh yes been there, on our walk a few years ago, thankfully deserted so no one saw it, Hattie found a Deer leg off she went eating the damn thing and wouldn't let go of it, as I got near to snatch it off her she ran off throwing it in the air having a great game, as I got nearer to the village there was no way I could wak through with everyone looking at her with a leg in her mouth, I tricked her with a pretend treat she quickly dropped the leg I grabbed it like a flash threw it over the hedge and off we went, low and behold the next day she ran to the exact spot grabbed the leg and I had to go through the whole thing again : So from that I learned I had to have a good "leave it" which I now have and I always carry jackpot treats People can be so judgemental, but I wonder could they have got their dog to drop the Duck. Don't beat yourself up. xxx
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... Well, I hope it's doing the trick for TigersMom, this thread is certainly cheering ME up!! ;D ;D
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... I'm sorry, but I just had to laugh at the image of the dog and the duck! It can be infuriating when they just ignore you when you KNOW they know what you're asking them to do. My Daisy seems to have trained me to give her treats whenever she finds a dead rodent in the field. She grabs it, looks at me, I yell at her to "leave it", she spits it out (usually), then trots over for treat. Then she goes back and repeats the process with the same dead rodent! I think she thinks I'm rewarding her for finding dead things...
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... Oh dear ... but it does have its funny side too! My two will usually walk through our local lakes ignoring the (live) ducks and geese, though Wispa sometimes can't resist just nudging one from the bank into the water to see the splash! The scraps of left-over bread discarded on the ground are another matter, though. 'Leave it' suddenly becomes a foreign language and two labs turn into two hoovers! Instead of admiring to view I find myself staring at the path trying to spot bits of bread before they do ...
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... Hahaha! Funny! One man at the park noticed i use hand signals without my really realizing it, to train tiger. I think that's why he listens with other commands....except drop it. He ate a chicken bone today . A man at the convenient store told me I'm too soft with him and told me that he is an animal and that I need to act like him.
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... The man at the convenience store has no idea what he is talking about. You are doing it right - using positive training methods to teach Tiger. Granca, I know what you mean - all my walks are now mostly devoted to scanning the ground for Labrador-attracting scraps.... Fortunately the human eye is usually faster than the doggie nose
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... [quote author=Oberon link=topic=8767.msg124727#msg124727 date=1416256716] Fortunately the human eye is usually faster than the doggie nose [/quote] Oh no! Another failure by me. Need new glasses! Charlie is at least 80% of the time faster than I am!
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... Not the end of the world, think dogs like embarrassing us, they have no concept of it so don't do things deliberately. I can remember late Benny jumped my MIL's fence and came back with a very freshly dead fancy chicken, now that was something we had to apologise for, little bogger was a terrier and killing was his nature so it became a normal part of life burying poor dead creatures :'(
Re: I may never take Tiger to the dog park again... So funny that you all mention that. I thought I was the only odd one for scanning the ground constantly. Lol I think I may get OCD about it, too, eventually.
