Dog Training Issues

C

CrazyKell

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Forum Sponsor
I realize this isn't a dog forum, but I know a lot of you have dogs and maybe can help me.

My dog is very stubborn.

We have been through puppy training and intermediate and we are now on our second round of intermediate.

I train her for short stints (10 or 15 minutes at a time) a couple of times a day but it seems to make no difference.

Things she *should* know from her classes:
-sit, sit with duration, stay, down, down with duration, wait, come, relaxed down, relaxed sit, etc.

Things she knows:
- sit (but gets up right after)
- down but only if I'm holding a treat

The one thing I really want to work on is "come". We now live in a house without a fenced yard, and she has "broken free" on several occasions. Last night was 2 streets down, across one major street, and into a townhouse complex away. It's dangerous for her and I need help.

ANY suggestions? Seriously. I'm at my wit's end here.
 
What kind of dog is it?
 
It also depends on the dog as well. If the dog is a stubborn breed like a Boxer or Olde English, training sessions of 15 min may seem too much. These dogs are smart, but get bored easily. Try 5 mins 3 times a day.
 
micco said:
It also depends on the dog as well. If the dog is a stubborn breed like a Boxer or Olde English, training sessions of 15 min may seem too much. These dogs are smart, but get bored easily. Try 5 mins 3 times a day.
Click to expand...

Exactly! My husky got bored of the same tricks and decided not to do them. I had to do new tricks in different environments and keep alternating to keep her mentally stimulated otherwise she didn't care. Repetition isn't the key here. Take a break do some other stuff and try to do the trick another time. Slowly start taking the treats away until it becomes the norm for them.

Try to tire the dog a little with a small walk before doing some of these exercises. Fully energized dog might not listen.
 
Last edited:
She's a French Bulldog x Boston Terrier.

I got the Cesar Milan videos but they're packed away....might have to dig those out.

rsz_dsc020231.jpg
 
^^^ BWaahahaha Yup stubborn. I think all bullies are stubborn.


As stated above, do different tricks at different places for short amount of time.
 
For what it's worth I use an arsenal of treats ranging from cat, to hot dogs, to cheese, to naturals, to beef liver, to chicken liver. I've even gone so far as to cook bacon into crumbles and use that.
 
You can teach the "come" with a long lead, pulling him in after the command etc, but there is a chance that he already knows what you want him to do but he just doesn't care. My dog only comes if he hears enough urgency in my voice to know that I really mean it.

I hear those electronic fences work pretty well to keep the dog on the property if you want that extra piece of mind. I'm cheap though, so I just put him on a long leash so he can't get off the lawn, but still be able to police the property and keep the punk kids away :)
 
I got some help from Brandi (suzuki_girl on gtam) and she was amazing. The difference in our dog after two hours of work is dramatic. She also donated to the silent auction for Lizzard so you are supporting someone that gives back to the community.

Before training
Sit with duration (unless he sees something interesting)
Laydown (begrudgingly)

After 2 hours of training
Sit with duration and distractions
Can put food on his feet and on the floor by his mouth and he wont touch it until you tell him too.
Come (most of the time, not perfect but more than 50%)
Down
Waits by front door and doesn't crowd visitors.

Best money I ever spent on the mutt.

Good luck.
 
You're letting the dog be the boss.
Helped work with a miniature schnauzer that was king of the house and didn't want to listen at all. He was the alpha and had to be knocked down from his perch.
It started when he was about 5 months. At 9 months the owner (a small elderly female relative) couldn't deal with it any longer. She got some pointers from her vet, but they didn't work. I went with, got some more pointers, and put them to use.
When the dog wouldn't listen, I would assert dominance by entering his space and claiming it as my own. Exuded an air of confidence and calm, no nervousness etc. Make him move out of my way. Stare at him in the eyes, never breaking contact - if you flinch, you lose. Force him to look away - that's a sign of submission. On days he was being a serious brat, it would take flipping him on his back and mounting him (Mind out of the gutter everyone), staring at him in the eyes from 12 inches away (enough so he couldn't reach up and snap or bite my nose etc). Sometimes it would take 2-3 minutes, but eventually he would look away. As soon as he did, my relative did the exact same thing - showing her dominance as well.
Took a month of regular work like this before he realized he wasn't the boss and behaved nicely.

Don't take this as gospel - it was suggested by a vet and it worked for us. I'm not saying you should do this or attempt it (in fact I'm sure many people will say it's not right and the wrong thing to do etc etc) - simply relaying what worked for us.
 
To the OP:

Don't hate me here, but the problem may also be you. Dogs can sense emotion. My girlfriend has recently stepped up and begun training with my dog. (Lab Retriever). He would never listen to her, walked away from her (even when she had a treat) and generally didn't care for her. We brought him to a trainer locally in RH and after a few minutes watching he told me the problem is her.

Apparently body posture, and the use of your voice is key. If you sound fustrated, angry, and otherwise not "happy" The dog may not listen to you. Despite the size of your dog, you must realize that he is precisely that.... a dog. Dogs are pack animals and if you're not being a leader, they will take over as such and become the leader. When you train with your dog, your commands must be firm. No questions asked, do what I say. If he/she does what you say, not only reward him with a treat, but happily praise him (rub their belly, pet them and sound so happy like you just won the lottery and talk to them). If he/she doesn't do what you say, ignore him. Dogs hate being ignored, it's punishment.

Also if you're not already doing it, start talking to your dog. Tell him/her about your day like he/she is a real person. This is so the dog learns your pitches and tones of your voice. He/she needs to know the differences of your happy voice and upset voice. That and when you give commands, say it firm and say it confidence. If you don't sound so sure, why should they listen? You need to be a leader.

Lastly; with hold his or her meals. He/She who holds the food is king. You wanna eat? Work for your meals. This worked wonders for my girlfriend. A hungery dog will bend over backwards to please you. Make them do tricks and commands for their food. Feed them their meals like treats (in little handfuls). You need to establish with your dog that you are alpha. Your the top of the food chain, so if he/she doesnt do what you say when you say it, he/she doesn't eat. If you don't have time to break up their meals into little bits because of time or w/e then. Make them do a bunch of tricks and then give them their food bowl. No hungery dog will turn down a meal.

I realize I'm probably going to be flammed to death for this post, but w/e. The above noted tricks worked on my 72lb lab. He now listens to me and my girlfriend without question.
 
No flaming from me. I will fully admit that I must be the problem.

I haven't mentioned everything I do here, but I do the meal thing and she works for them. She never used to, but now that she is being fed with another dog, they both have to work for their meals. It's helped a lot.

She's also tied to me at all times in the house now, so she goes where I go. She can't just bound up stairs if I'm not moving as quickly as her. She can't run around and do whatever she wants, she does what I want to do.

But all good suggestions and I'll see what I can do.
 
+1 on the whole body language thing. That stuff is key. The smarter the dog, the more confident, the more assertive and the more consistent you have to be.

You don't ask the dog to do anything. You tell it to do it...and that dog will know whether or not you mean it.

I'm no dog expert or anything but I've lived with dogs my whole life. I'm not sure where your dog stacks up, but from what I've seen, Huskies are just too damned smart for their own good haha. Just thank the mighty spaghetti monster that you don't own one of those!
 
Flashmonkey said:
I'm not sure where your dog stacks up, but from what I've seen, Huskies are just too damned smart for their own good haha. Just thank the mighty spaghetti monster that you don't own one of those!
Click to expand...

We used to live with 2 Huskies. My dog had to be separated at all times because of an attack by one of the Huskies. Owner is probably the dumbest person I've ever met (my former roommate) and those two Huskies were the same. Never met two dogs of less intelligence in my life. I know it's not all Huskies, but certainly wasn't a glowing recommendation for the breed.

dricked said:
You've used cat? That's awsome I just let my dog try and catch her own cat.
Click to expand...

Cat treats smartass! LOL. I'm not sure whether she'd like cat or not....but I know a little squirrel might get her listening.
 
We too are going through the whole puppy thing. We just got a 3/4 rotti 1/4 boxer puppy ...

We sent her right into obdience class' right away, and caught on fairly quickly. We still are having small issues with house training.
On top of that she was brought into a home with 2 cats ..

You can certainly learn alot by watching " puppy SOS" or " .. something on a leash" .. both on tv and hosted by Brad Pattison.
 
soto said:
My dog only comes if he hears enough urgency in my voice to know that I really mean it.

I hear those electronic fences work pretty well to keep the dog on the property if you want that extra piece of mind. I'm cheap though, so I just put him on a long leash so he can't get off the lawn, but still be able to police the property and keep the punk kids away :)
Click to expand...

Yes, true. Teaching my dogs to come was one of the easiest trick I could teach them. Soon, they understand what is bad and good by just giving them a stare. Yes, they can also detect the tone in your voice, when you give a command mean it. The tone and body reaction should tell them what you want.

Psychology says there there are 2 ways to enforce good behaviour (including humans):
Rewards and punishment.

With rewards, I hope you are NOT rewarding the dog with everything command it has done. This is wrong! When you stop rewarding the dog, the good behaviour will stop immediately. You have to intermittently reward them, do not even reward them by say, every 5 attempts. Make it random, very random. This is how those poor saps get addicted in the casinos, because they do not know when the reward is actually going to come, so this make them trying for the reward. This works with training your children too. Listen up parents with spoiled kidz. Yeh, I did a whole topic on addiction in psychology :rolleyes:

Punishment: This can be a shock collar, I've seen a few of those. If he is doing something wrong, u can scold him and give him a bit of shock. Its a gentle uncomfortable shock I think, I've never used those. Mind u, punishment works best immediately after an undesired action. Not 2 mins after it has performed something wrong.
I've always scolded my dogs, they understand me. You can always tell if an animal understand you by the looks in their eyes. Sometimes I give them a good smack on their romp, they were big animals so they could take it.
I've also deprived food for one dog (a rottie) because he was being bad, he missed one meal while his buddies were getting fed. I think he learned from that. He would go out and not come back, running astray. I told him if he goes out, he is not getting fed. Now, when we open the gate, he doesn't even want to go out anymore, lol. Poor guy, lol, but I love him to death. I can't believed that one work, I didn't think he would have the mental capacity to reason that one out, lol.

Here's a few good tips:
http://www.101-dog-training-tips.com/Dog_Training_Tips/Tips_1_32.shtml
http://www.trainingpuppyinfo.com/rewards.html

Now, that would be $100 for my 1/2hr psychology session :rolleyes:
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom