I'm starting this training thread seperate from my general training thread, because it's a completely different challenge for me. I'm hoping that it solves a few issues with Shamas, who's reactive around other dogs, and territorial of his front yard. He also dislikes the mailman for some reason that I can only imagine is connected to his previous home. Look at that has been a challenge, as when Shamas gets reactive, I have had trouble getting his attention, and have not until now found a treat of a high enough value to regain his attention. I have it, as of today: chicken breasts. so training starts out in the front yard, at quiet times of the day. with cars as his first "trigger" He's not triggered by cars, but they do gain his attention enough to cause him to look away, and back at me, which nets him a reward. If a person walks down the street, we'll reward that too. As for dogs....I think we'll still put him in the house or beat a hasty retreat down the street away from the dog if it's coming too fast to get in the house. before it gets within his 50-75 foot threshold. I don't currently use a clicker, as my reaction time is too slow. I say "good" and treat him. And I fist the chicken, so he doesn't nip me in his enthusiasm....this also forces him to pay more attention, and work for the chicken....bringing more of his focus my way. Today's success was that he only gave a little noise when the neighbour pulled into his driveway and got out of his car, then returned focus onto me and his chicken. Normally he barks and kicks up a fuss at them coming home, as their driveway is only about 20 feet from our front door. I'm planning to work with him while the other neighbours are outside too- the ones across the street and 3 doors down. He doesn't much like them being outside, but has calmed a little the last couple of days while I fed him cat kibbles. So I guess those would count as a training treat for this purpose too. When we have the outside issues working, I'll work on the cats in the house. He wants to chase the younger two. they don't often leave their room when he's home, but when they do, he whines and sometimes chases, and I call him to me. He comes back but is agitated and complaining. I'd like to see him learn to ignore them. Helen is defensive and hisses at him, due to his poor behavior, but I beieve she'd calm down if he did.....and she misses the attention that she was used to before we got him. Luckily she lives in a bedroom, and still gets to hang out with people..and I go in and pet her during the school day when her kids are gone.
That sounds like a really good start to your LAT training. I would be pleased, well done Shama and Shama's mum xx
So we're definitely going to have to nail LAT/LAM at home before trying it out on the sidewak lol. I couldn't even get him to look at me, sitting in the parking lot near the laundromat. But that's because he doesn't like busy roads, and was watching the cars go by. At corners, he was too busy trying to turn around and pull me home. We're better off just keeping a steady pace until he nails it here at the house. Once he gets it into his head that the walk's over, he's hard to manage, and goes reactive. I'll just rely on the front clip harness until the training takes hold.
For these things to work, you really need your dog to be in the "pre-worry" stage. Once they've hit that point where they're concerned about something, it's unlikely to work at best and, at worst, your dog will start to associate the game with unpleasant experiences.
that's what I thought. I didn't push the issue. He was sitting quietly, so I gave him treats for that much, and we moved on. I got to put his baggie in the garbage, which was my reason for going over there. Once Shamas reaches the low worry stage, I only use "Look at Me" because that's the best I hope for, and if I can get his attention, we can treat and move onwards. For actual reactivity, or fear, it's "let's go, let's go" and a fast trot retreat out of the area.
We had a really great session yesterday! We were out front, and Tiko's (next door neighbour)door opened..shamas went off of course..he always does....but it was just the younger man, and he saw me gather up Shamas to take him in the house, and said "No, dont do that, he's got just as much right to be here as I do" so I sent my daughter in for treats, and we started LAM. About 10 minutes later, tiko came out, but Shamas was already playing, so it only took a minute to get him settled as Tiko walked down the street the other way. When Tiko came back, I fast-fed Shamas, and after a few minutes, Shamas was calmly taking treats while Tiko sat in the man's arms watching him only about 15 feet away. We shortened the distance to 10 feet without issue, and then he moved it back to 15 after Tiko came to the fence that's around his porch to sniff and Shamas got a little leery. The whole thing cost about 4 cups of kibble, and it was the best 4 cups of kibble we've ever spent Today, we were walking, and a regular on the walk was coming on the other side of the street- so I sat Shamas, had my son stand between him and the road, and fed him treats as quickly as he could take them. No LAM...just treats. He stayed relatively calm, only a slight increase in breathing rate and no barking. Good boy.
Shamas didn't react to a dog coming out of it's house across the street today. And he's learning to randomly "check in" for treats...which has the side benefit of reducing his pulling on the walk
Shamas May be ready to take the LAM to the next level? LAT is still iffy, but LAM is now steady when foot traffic is on the street, even on our side of the street. I'll continue to focus on foot traffic, and use LAM when sitting at Barb's....she's the lady down the street, and we often sit at her driveway. She has cats, and a dog in her house who occasionally barks. Shamas is fairly relaxed there. Today we saw a dog on the walk. Hubby warned me of his approach and I assessed the owner and dog. While large and fluffy, both owner and dog were completely calm, so I treated Shamas and made to give them a decent space. Shamas had other plans-he wanted to meet and greet, and asked to go over. The owner was agreeable, and we explained that Shamas was a rescue who was being socialised. The interaction was positive and only given about 30 seconds, followed by treats. We did not take our normal route afterwards....instead we decided to keep his stress low by avoiding the street crossing and turning home to reinforce the positivity of this meeting. Oh-and when we came inside after our training session, he didn't go after midnight, who was in the livingroom and made a dash for the safe room......he went straight for his toy instead
Shamas met a Retreiver puppy near the park yesterday. We'd decided to change his route, as he's formed a habit of stopping at the same spot, and acting scared, even if he's calm. So we went the opposite way out of the house, and around by the park. Given my recent realisation that I'm a tad dog-reactive, I've been bringing along my teen son, and I hand him the lead if I tense up. When I saw the off-leash puppy across the street, and felt Shamas start heavy-breathing..I called him over, LAM and gave him chicken from a distance of 75 feet. Than I started up-talking in an excited voice. "it's a puppy! LAM do you see the PUPPY? LAM What a cute puppy!LAM etc etc" and fed him chicken as I watched the tenseness in his body relax and his tail start to go..then his wag went to his whole body and he wanted to meet it. I wouldn't have tried this with a hyper puppy, but this one was maybe 4 months and had already mastered "sit, stay and wait" from an owner who was mildly distracted with a cell phone. She was waiting patiently across the street for our go-ahead, and not rushing us at all. She let Shamas come to her, and has excellent manners. Shamas was in turn preaised profusely for his calm(ish) approach....low head, (submissive low, not aggresive) slight crouch, came in at the side, circled her and plenty of wagging.
I'm really happy with this phase of training! My son has joined in too- for those times/places where my own reactivity gets in the way of calm handling. I'm reactive to small dogs, due to their unpredictable nature, which I frankly blame on owners who don't train but merely manage them. We've had a lot of issues with chihuahas and terrier types and I tense up every time I see them. so does Shamas. but I don't know which of us tenses up first.....that's where having another handler comes in. I DO know that even with LAM, his threshold is a good 100 feet or more, where he can meet a large breed dog about 25% of the time and ignore it 50% of the time...he'll lunge 90% of the time with small breeds
We were surprised by a Jack Russell today, who stood poised to attack and then ran across the lane barking at us, Rourke was on the lead, so I told the Jack Russell to GO BACK and walked towards it, it tried again and again I shouted at it and it worked, it went away!
Thanks to this training, Shamas' reactions are moving more to the barrier frustration than aggression range now. He''s friendly to puppies, females and outright friendly dogs, and defensive towards males. Small dogs are still a threshold of close to a block. There are a couple of large breed dogs moving in two doors down soon. I'm told they are dog- friendly. The older one is female, and the younger is a male. That will be the one to watch. Hopefully Shamas gets along with them. When we see dogs at Tim hortons, I no longer have to keep him to the other side of the fence, as he looks to me for treats. Instead, he's showing interest in the dogs without aggression. Tail is starting to wag, hackles down. I still don't take him over to meet them, but I don't fear his reaction if they were to come our way anymore. One young dog came over to try and say "hello" the other day, and he was friendly, but when it barked, he just went "nope, me and my Cardboard are going this way!" and we left lol My son has started to bring him out a paper coffee tray, which he has termed "a cardboard", and Shamas is now so well known for his Cardboard that people ask where it is if we give him anything else lol! It interferes with his LAT a little, but he's so focused on his Cardboard being returned home safely that his only reaction to stressors is to speed up and get by. He also stopped pulling on the way home, and trots along happily with his new job. we start classes soon. I'm just trying to decide which route i will take. beginner classes at Petsmart are 125 for 6 weeks. Theres a private trainer who will see him for 100, plus 50 for each session after. The trainer is off training dogs for a movie, and won't be back until September. But that's getting close to when he'll need vetting, and I'll probably need the money going into savings by then, so I'll probaly put him in Petsmart classes to start. I've really focused on his outdoor training, and only taught him VERY basic stuff....so a beginner class would be helpful.
