Although my two are litter mates, they are quite different in some ways. When it's bedtime or time to go to work i tell them it's time to get in their bed and Jack happily jumps up and crashes in his crate, Barney however will lay anywhere but, and i often have to carry him (15kg!!) to the crate entrance, he happily goes in then, but until then does that toddler trick if having bendy legs that won't stand up lol, chancing his luck that he might get to sleep on the sofa instead... The last thing i do before i leave for work in the morning is straighten my hair, over the weekend i noticed that when i straightened my hair, Jack got up and went in his crate and went to sleep!! Today he has done the same thing, and is snoring his head off in there now, even though my son is at home and not working until later. I wish he could training his brother, who, just for a change is sprawled out on the sofa ;D Does anyone else'dog/s do things like this?
Re: Self training puppy Well, Obi goes and lies on our bed whenever I start cleaning the duck pen (because he knows he will get no attention while this is happening and that I will be going to work shortly after). Your Jack is a good boy Barney sounds a little cheekier ;D
Re: Self training puppy Now that sounds familiar! We too have a pup of the toddler who lies down and goes rigid when it's time to get off the sofa! Little madam. Same little madam who's stolen strawberries off the board while my back was turned.
Re: Self training puppy How interesting that Jack and Barney are so different. Sounds like an argument for nature over nurture!
Re: Self training puppy [quote author=Looby Lou link=topic=7860.msg110208#msg110208 date=1410935539] The last thing i do before i leave for work in the morning is straighten my hair, over the weekend i noticed that when i straightened my hair, Jack got up and went in his crate and went to sleep!! [/quote] These sort of "circumstantial" cues are really quite powerful. Being aware of them, is very useful. If you are aware of them you can use them very effectively. So if you sitting in a certain chair means "I'm working, go to sleep" and you are consistent with that (eg you don't sometimes pat the dog or give him a treat but it always means "nothing here for you"), you can get a dog to settle, for example. To the extent that I have heard some people argue that actually, dogs generalise much, much, better than we think. What happens is that there are "irrelevant" cues in the environment when we train (which we are not aware of, but the dog very much is) and this is why we need to "proof" behaviour. The argument goes that by modifying these irrelevant cues - turning the kitchen chairs upside down for example - then we'd need to do a lot less proofing. Anyway, interesting, I thought.
Re: Self training puppy Tatze takes careful note of which shoes I put on and goes to her crate/the door accordingly. When they are playing in the garden I whistle them to come in, but I only have to pick up the whistle and they are there! Putting my glasses away always has them on their feet - it means 'Mum is on the move'
