Progress on Azlan, the power starting young.

bridey_01

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#1
Just want to say how proud I am of my baby collie, Azlan. He knows sit, down, stand and stay on voice cues only, and to target. He can weave between my legs and spin in circles when I make the signal. He presents his two front paws for clipping and lifts his back ones when I ask. He'll open his mouth so I can check his teeth, bring items of food to me before he eats them (mainly dead lizards and frogs!). He comes immediatly when he's called, even if it's away from other dogs/food or even swimming!
He never whines, will be settled in his crate for hours, NEVER bites (even when I encourage him to!) and sits politely for petting. He has perfect attention outside and is just learning to heel, at fifteen weeks old!
Talk about the power of positive training. I'm still waiting for a problem to crop up. I just can't stress how important it is to start young! My kelpie is a billion times smarter than Azzy, but she takes longer to learn because it is still somewhat a foreign experience to her, wherease with Azlan training is just his job, and boy does he want to get paid!
 

Doberluv

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#2
Wow Bridey! Can I ship Lyric to you for a vacation? He needs a vacation anyhow.

Kudos to you. You are doing fantastically with little Azlan. Do you have an pictures? I'd love to see some, especially one where he's offering you his foot for clipping. Too cute.

When I have to dremel Lyric's nails, he goes along with it because he likes the treats and because I just am matter of fact....you need to get your nails done. LOL. But he still doesn't like it and looks very dejected and "why do we have to do this?" How can I make him like that dremel any better? It's actually kind of a miserable appliance, vibrating, noisy. I'm very careful not to let it be in one spot more than about 2 or 3 seconds, then onto the next nail but he still thinks the whole thing really sucks.
 

bridey_01

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#3
My kelpie is the same Doberluv, and I use clippers! With Azlan he is just a very strange little dog and I must credit alot of his training to his odd temperament. He isn't perplexed by ANYTHING and I'm almost certain that he has such a high pain tolerance I could kick him and he wouldn't feel it. He has such a long coat I have to brush it about once a day, and I used to be very gentle because I wanted grooming to be a happy thing for him, but now I just pull it through all of his knots, roll him onto his belly and brush out all the dirt and grass etc. I can feel the hair pulling but he just lays there happily. He doesnt chew AT ALL, maybe because he doesn't even feel those teeth coming through!
My kelpie was HUGELY against nail clipping when I got her, but now she will present her feet ALMOST happily, lol. What I did was, I got a dog that was already conditioned to nail clipping by one of my trainer friends and went into a puppy pen with that dog and a pair of clippers, then closed the door. I made the HUGEST fuss over this dog as I did it's nails. I gave it treats, I patted it, the whole time talking to it in the happiest, highest voice I could manage. Anyone walking passed would have thought I was a squirrel on speed, lol. Anyway, I had May banging at the door wanting to come in but I continuously refused. So, we put the other dog away and May came barging into the pen wanting some treats and attention. I asked her to shake, then moved the clippers near her feet. If she pulled away my attention just dissapeared, so everytime she came to initiate she would only get the treats and happy voice if she let me do her nails.
But May is an extremely jealous dog and that was just the best way to get her to accept the clippers "Hey, give me the attention Mummy, I can be even better than that other dog!"
With the dremel you could try using a little Pavlov with the classical conditioning. Put the dremel on, feed Lyric, maybe for about a week. I did this with the vacuum cleaner for May.
 
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#4
Bridey, if I were a mean person I'd ship you a couple of Fila grrrrrls for a couple of weeks. But I like you too well for that.

There's more than one reason you just don't see these Monsters in Obedience, lol!
 

Doberluv

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Anyone walking passed would have thought I was a squirrel on speed, lol.
ROFLOL!!!

I was a squirrel on speed too. I started this conditioning when I first got Lyric, at 9 weeks of age. He's now two. I sat on the floor with monzerella cheese and my happy, squeeky, party voice. I turned on the dremel first and gave treats and praise when the dogs would come close to it. Anyhow....long story short (for once) I gradually got so we could do the nails...one nail, stop, treat, wooo hooo, party hats and then the next nail.

When I take it out of the cupboard, the Chi's are dancing around all excited to get their pedicures and treats. My smallest Chi is totally fine with it...jumps into my lap...wants to be first. Jose is close to that OK with it. LOL. But Lyric walks off into the adjacent room, glaring at me over his shoulder when I bring out the Dremel. We've been doing this once a week or once every two weeks since he was a nine week old pup. The Chi's started when they were older....didn't use to use a Dremel until Lyric. Sometimes he will look so pitiful and he'll put his chin on my forearm and press it down so I can't move. He's pretending to be lovie, but he's really trying to prevent my arm from working. LOL. (same as he use to do when I was typing, until I fixed that) LOL.
 
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Sometimes he will look so pitiful and he'll put his chin on my forearm and press it down so I can't move. He's pretending to be lovie, but he's really trying to prevent my arm from working. LOL. (same as he use to do when I was typing, until I fixed that) LOL.
{GROANS] Ah, the dreaded chin-on-the-arm defense . . .

So, how did you stop Lyric from pulling that one on you when you're trying to type?
 

Doberluv

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#7
I have a swivel chair at my computer desk. LOL. But when I'm dremelling, I can't swivel away and ignore him. I have to keep my eyes on the road.

So, you get the 50 lb head on you when you're trying to do something too?
 

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