Balance Training with Fearful Dog Video

[JoeLacy]

Please take a look at something for me and give me your opinions.

YouTube - New Camcorder Text zi8

Since I've had Jax this has been a delicate balancing act. Notice when I give Jax the Stay command at about 37-41 seconds into this. His ears go back and he get's that "fear" look in his eye, head down. You can see it in his eyes.

I know I've said before this is a very sensitive dog and I have to be very careful in training not to be overbearing. You can see why in this video. ( I just bought a new video camera and was testing it out!)

Yes, Jax broke his stay, (I actually left the room where he could not see me) but that's not what this is about. I wanted to show even though I'm quiet, training Jax is tricky as not to further make him fearful.

How do I balance that?

[OutlineACDs]

Work more one on one. Put one dog in the crate and work the other, then switch out. When I do this I keep the other dog where they can see me and periodically drop treats in the crate for being quiet/good. You can work up to leaving the crate door open, so it's more of a "stay" or "wait" behavior. Then you can work one dog while the other waits patiently in the crate with the door open.

Use more rewards. In the learning process the dogs need lots of rewards. When the behavior is new or stressful the dog needs a reward EVERY time, and jackpot an excellent, fast, immediate, or especially good response. Make a big deal out of it. When your dog is more comfortable you can then become a slot machine instead of a treat dispenser. By that I mean, keep the dog guessing. One trick, one reward, then three tricks one reward, four tricks one reward, one trick, jackpot. Remember, anytime you change up the exercise, going to a new place, asking for longer duration, moving farther away, be prepared to reward more.

Keep your voice up. This seems to be a big thing men forget, your voices are deep and low, make special effort to speak a little higher, a little softer.

[lizzybeth727]

I think he's confused.

First of all, you did not reward either dog for doing the behaviors until the end of the session. You don't have to reward with a treat every time, but sensitive dogs (and most dogs, for that matter) NEED some feedback when they've done good. You could praise, pet, act excited, etc. if you don't want to use food or toys, but he needs to know when he's done the right behavior.

Second, you cued each behavior twice. Jax knows to do the behavior on the first cue, and he responded accordingly; but again, he got no feedback except the fact that you repeated the cue. THis seems to be frustrating to him (plus you're teaching Peyton not to respond until the second cue, but that's a separate topic). This problem would probably be solved if you simply spend more time training one dog at a time.

And third, the stay was a little sloppy, on your part, which makes it confusing to Jax. You cued stay (twice), and then left the room. Jax got up and followed, which I'm assuming you didn't see; since you didn't see it, you couldn't correct him, so he rewarded himself for breaking the stay. This tells me that he still doesn't really understand the concept of stay, and that you've progressed your training too fast.

Also with the stay: When I work on stay, I teach the dogs that there is a clear beginning (when I cue stay) and a clear end (when I release with my release word... it appears that you're using OK so we'll stick with that). Between the beginning ("stay") and release ("ok"), the dog should not move; I can give them treats as long as they don't move from their position, and if they do move I immediately take them back to the spot that they were in in the beginning, and recue the stay. In the video, though, you started the stay with the cue; when you came back in the room and both dogs were sitting, you gave them treats, but you gave Jax the treat in such a way that he had to move to get it; you basically lured him to turn his body around. You also praised them excitedly, which is likely to make them excited and break the stay (and in fact, Peyton did). At this point, remember, you had not released the dogs so they should have been staying. You finally did release the dogs, but only after Peyton had already released herself.

So this is Jax's view of that stay session: Dad says "stay" and leaves the room; I can follow Dad as long as I stay out of his sight, and sit back down before he sees me. As soon as he shows me the treat I can get it, and then we go play.

[JoeLacy]

Ok, I fixed the problem. It was my hand gestures. This dog has been hit by humans. If I pull my hand back closer to my chest he stays and does not go in fear mode. I can't be too animated with my hands. That's the fix.

What's interesting, is he's a lap dog, all over me. I can rub and pet him anywhere, but that open hand in his face strike fear for some reason. I won't do that again.

Btw, this wasn't meant as a training video session or anything even remotely close to it. I was just testing my camera.

[lizzybeth727]

Originally Posted by JoeLacy

Btw, this wasn't meant as a training video session or anything even remotely close to it. I was just testing my camera.

Any time you and your dog are together there's training going on. Sometimes you're training him, sometimes he's training you.