bridey_01
08-02-2005, 08:24 AM
I'll be typing up my earlier suggestion about reports on classes, which start tomorrow by the way:) (I'm very excited when I get a new class!)
Also, I thought I might post on some of the dogs I am working on at the moment to help inform people who might have the same problems (and hopefully give people a little faith in positive training done correctly ;) )
not to mention getting some advice from other handlers!
The dog I am working with at the moment is a six year old beagle (maybe a cross, seeing as he is HUGE) and I am dealing with extreme shyness. He is very skittish around strangers to the point where his is on the ground shivering and howling. When I got to the mans house I pretty much ignored JB (the beagle) as I was quite sure even making eye contact would give him a heart attack!
I explained clicker training and positive reinforcement to the man and suggested meeting some strangers (one at a time) who would walk passed nonchalently and toss some food to JB. It took me about twenty minutes to get that poor big doggy to accept me as a friend (lucky he was so foody!) and I realised that he does "warm up" to people eventually. The man also had BIG problems with pulling, he was using a choke chain but it was totally ineffective and he was glad to ditch it.
I taught him two techniques for leash training, the old "Pulling equals no walking" and also a second one which involves spinning around and stomping off in the opposite direction when the lead goes taught. His beagle did well on this, we are working very hard on "head up" behaviours so that JB will watch John instead of spazzing out about trucks going passed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I thought I might post on some of the dogs I am working on at the moment to help inform people who might have the same problems (and hopefully give people a little faith in positive training done correctly ;) )
not to mention getting some advice from other handlers!
The dog I am working with at the moment is a six year old beagle (maybe a cross, seeing as he is HUGE) and I am dealing with extreme shyness. He is very skittish around strangers to the point where his is on the ground shivering and howling. When I got to the mans house I pretty much ignored JB (the beagle) as I was quite sure even making eye contact would give him a heart attack!
I explained clicker training and positive reinforcement to the man and suggested meeting some strangers (one at a time) who would walk passed nonchalently and toss some food to JB. It took me about twenty minutes to get that poor big doggy to accept me as a friend (lucky he was so foody!) and I realised that he does "warm up" to people eventually. The man also had BIG problems with pulling, he was using a choke chain but it was totally ineffective and he was glad to ditch it.
I taught him two techniques for leash training, the old "Pulling equals no walking" and also a second one which involves spinning around and stomping off in the opposite direction when the lead goes taught. His beagle did well on this, we are working very hard on "head up" behaviours so that JB will watch John instead of spazzing out about trucks going passed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.