Help... Dyson is now 6 months and doing okay. He'll sit,stay,has stopped jumping at every visitor we get but when he is off lead for his walk and sees another dog - who can be away in the distance - he all of a sudden doesn't hear me, his whistle and just keeps going. Any suggestions before I lose the use of my vocal chords..? :'(
Re: Selective hearing!!!! Riley was exactly like that!! But there is hope You need to "proof" your recall from other dogs and for that you will need some help from someone else and extra dog(s) I found a local trainer who would bring his spaniels out and get them to sit while I recalled Riley away, then they were allowed to wander round and then they were playing with a football. This all worked and then I had to find different dogs and locations, when I walk with my friend we sometimes recall our dogs past each other, this happens in our training class too. You basically need to start by not making it too hard for him and rewarding him massively. Then gradually make it harder, then change location etc. If you don't have it already Pippa's book Total Recall has a bunch of exercises on how you proof the recall around other dogs. One other thing - it's REALLY important to stop him self-rewarding (also known as legging it) Riley spent quite a while in a harness on a long line while we went through proofing. Now I can usually get him under control while the dogs are a distance away and either put him on his lead or reward him by allowing him to play. We working up to staying at heel right past strange dogs - we're getting there
Re: Selective hearing!!!! Hi there, Pippas Total Recall will help you with this,I worked through it religiously and then I hit the practicing recall from other dogs chapter and this posed me a lot of challenges...it still is our weakness as to proof it,you need a lot of practice and I've found this really hard to acheive.Thats the answer...you have to practice around other dogs.i started with my friends dogs and dogs we walk with regularly....some people where kind enough to come to my house ....but it's a big ask and you only get a limited amount of practice,then I took it to the park and practiced really close up to dogs we know with high value rewards( roast chicken)......gradually I increased the distance and reduced the roast chicken to steamed chicken then kibble......I still gamble reward Dexter with an item of food and praise EVERY time he comes back....that's not right but I always have treats on me so I've continued,I'm so delighted he comes back,he deserves a treat!but you are supposed to reduce them.i cannot trust Dexter to be off his lead and see a dog he knows off in the distance .......I'm working on that now by trying to judge the distance I can let him stray before he dashes off,there IS a point he will respond to his whistle ,if I catch it he comes back....so I'm going to try a long line when I can get him out after his post op recovery( he's been neutered) do you think that would be an option for you?im thinking it will give me a measurable distance to work up to but offer me control that I can stamp on the lead if he ignores me....and then I know I have to decrease the distance for a bit or up the rewards.im lucky with dogs he doesn't know....he lies down....it looks great and I look like I'm the best dog trainer ever but it's totally natural behaviour .....it does give me a chance to get to him though and either keep him in a stay or put him on his lead if I think he is going to start his slinky lion crawl towards the strange dog...... I think this is a really hard thing to get because you do need practice around other dogs.I enrolled in another set of obedience lessons,the dogs weren't allowed to socialize but Dexter got good practice listening to me around other dogs ,so although we weren't practising recall he was focussing on me and my directions when he really just wanted to go and play,that might help? I'm doing all of this for the first time so I haven't got a lot of experience to draw on x
Re: Selective hearing!!!! Oh gosh,I was writing at the same time as Barbara,although she's said it all so much clearer...but for once I'm on the right track....feeling happy.com! ;D
Re: Selective hearing!!!! Thankyou for the advise...will ask some friends to bring there dogs( who are quite calm) and hopefully little by little his hearing will improve!!!
Re: Selective hearing!!!! Martha has this problem, not so much with other dogs (when off lead she walks over nicely, sniffs, plays and comes back when called - when on lead she does her best to pull my left arm out of its socket), but if she is out and off lead, when she finds something interesting to sniff she becomes completely deaf. If she lifts her head from whatever she's sniffing the recall signal works and she will come back to me. Any thoughts or suggestions on proofing so that she'll respond to the recall signal even when her nose is buried in something? Thanks
