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Post by Aussienot on Sept 22, 2006 20:05:34 GMT -5
Leave it
The way I train 'Leave it' involves a bit of doggy zen - give up what you first wanted and a better thing will follow.
A helper person kneels down and holds out on a flat hand a low value food treat or toy. The helper must be alert to make sure the dog can't grab the treat. The handler leads the dog towards the item, and as soon as the dog shows interest in the item the handler says 'leave it', and uses a food lure to turn the dog's nose away from the leave it item. The dog is rewarded with the treat or toy as he is walking away.
With repetition, the dog will turn away as soon as he hears 'leave it', as he never gets the thing that first caught his attention, and he knows that a better thing always follows the leave it command.
Leave it can also be taugh with corrections. A strong leash pop that turns the dog away from the item will drive the same point home in a negative reinforcement way. With puppies I would always use the positive way.
Leave it should be said in a low gutteral voice indicating displeasure.
Once the dog is responding reliably to Leave it, the command can be generalised to 'Leave it' for items lying on the ground, for items being sniffed, items being carried, preventing your dog rolling in smelly stuff, and to prevent urine marking on landscape plants.
Initially leave it is taught on lead, but should be moved to off lead as soon as it is reliably stable on lead.
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Post by Am on Sept 23, 2006 1:28:11 GMT -5
Leave it can also be taugh with corrections. A strong leash pop that turns the dog away from the item will drive the same point home in a negative reinforcement way. With puppies I would always use the positive way. The way I taught my SBT "leave it" was using punishment I guess, but nothing like a leash pop. I just said "leave it" when I put an item down on the ground, and growled at him if he went to approach the item. At first he normally paused to think about that a bit, then went to approach it again, so I'd growl at him again and physically lead him away from the item. Followed by lots of affection and praise when he left it alone. He got it quickly enough. I generalised it by putting different things out and telling him "leave it!", then pretended to be watching TV or on the computer, or left the room but watched him from round the corner, so he realised things still needed to be left alone even if I'd apparently lost interest in them or left. I've since heard of the doggy zen way and might try it with my next dog, especially if she's a puppy when I get her. This method worked pretty well for this dog, though.
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Post by Richard on Sept 23, 2006 2:06:05 GMT -5
For the biting and chewing, we would say sternly, "no bite" if Rocky locked onto our hands/fingers and always redirect as others said to a proper chew toy. We had a selection that we rotated through and always had within arms length. The key is as others noted, redirection. As long as it was made clear what he could and couldn't chew we hoped to not have any surprises - well he did manage to chew down 1 rollerblade shoe (plastic) but that was about it.
Another technique we used was to have some clean dishtowels (that were out of circulation) soaked in water and frozen that we used when Rocky would start the jaws routine to give him a little relief from the teething problems. He would always be closely supervised during this time.
The "leave it" command is the commonly used term around here. It can cover from Rocky looking at another dog to nosing around the garbage can. It's just applying timing with the correction and the word and eventually he knew what it meant when we said it. With inflections in our voices, he also knew when we meant business.
Come/Heel/walk on a leash was done in puppy training class and practiced through work at home, daily walks (short ones) around our complex where we lived. We used the similar if not same techniques that Loey/Nicki/Ann noted. As Rocky got older, we continued into a 3 level dog training OB program that led us into the basics of SAR for a while.
We started the "sit" training early too. We'd have Rocky sit before he'd eat and went from there. The only time we didn't have him sit was when we were heading outside for a potty break...usually that was an Express Trip!!
We worked more on the near/far-downs/stays & off leash heels when Rocky was closer to a year once we got into the higher levels of OB training.
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Post by sibemom on Sept 23, 2006 9:35:42 GMT -5
Leave it: I do something similar with what was already posted but when i start training it we are in the house no leash. I hold a food itme or something the puppy values and set them up to take it from me, and then I say LEAVE IT if they continue to try and take it I take my right index finger and give them a tap light tap on the nose, and say AH AH, or now I like SHHHHH. We do this over and over and over untill puppy understands then we go outside with the leash on and work on Leave it to other distractions. I like to do it with food or a toy first because I have kids and the worst thing in my mind that could ever happen would be for my dogs to grap something out of a childs hand and accidently bite them. When on leash a nice firm tug on the collar works really well while giving the verbal comand. Stay or Wait: This is something I work on early also because I wll NOT have a dog bolt the door. Once they know Sit this comes right after and of course you have to judge it by the age of the pupppy for how long you can make them stay. Leash in place I put them in a sit and then with my hand like a stop sign brining it down and in front of their face I say STAY, at first I do this at my side, because we work on it at the door to begin with, if the puppy bolts I put them back into position I DO NOT REPEAT THE COMMAND, I just reposition them, and I only make them hold for maybe like 10 seconds to start. Then I Praise them and get all happy. Again we repeat this over and over and lengthen the time I make them hold the position. From there we work on me putting them in a sit stay and me placing myself directly in front of them, and then we work on distance, time length etc.... YOU KNOW I DID NOT KNOW HOW HARD THIS WAS GOING TO BE TO DESCRIBE MY METHODS I think I becamee so automatic with what I do that I never really break it down step by step. I think I better make myself notes DOWNS: To me this is the hardest thing to teach them because it is a submissive position. I teach this after they know SIT, and STAY. I put them in a sit and then I physicaly put them gently in the down and say DOWN. Of course you get YO YO DOG but this is how I start. I do this over and over and over, untill I see that the puppy understands and is relating the body position to the verbal command. Then I work on at my side SIT, and then while pointing my finger at the ground DOWN, and we work on this over and over. I do not reapeat the command ONE TIME ONLY DO ISSUE IT. If puppy does not comply I place them in the position. There was only one time I had to use treats with a dog to draw them forward and into the down because usually this works not only for my own but for the other dogs I have worked with. Then of course praise them up one side and down the other. With an older pup I will use a leash motivation by issuing the verbal command and giving a slight collar tug, but only after I have done the above and the pup knows what I am asking of them. Then we work on down stays same method as the sit stays. You know the more I write about how I do things the more I am seeing that The only behaviors I give praise/reward/treat are for the ones that I teach them I am seeing that NO I do not praise them for stopping a bad behavior I stop the behavior and redirect Interesting
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Post by Nicole on Sept 23, 2006 10:06:35 GMT -5
You know the more I write about how I do things the more I am seeing that The only behaviors I give praise/reward/treat are for the ones that I teach them I am seeing that NO I do not praise them for stopping a bad behavior I stop the behavior and redirect Interesting I think that praising for the correct behavior, even a behavior that ceases or a behavior that doesn't occur reinforces what you want. I always praise for a stopped behavior. Bark, enough, dog stops, praise I let Sunny sit at the front door to look at the world. If a large male passes and he does not make a peep, he gets praised. I look for this specifically to praise and reinforce that a calm response from him is what is good. This has been very successful. Like with the no bite. I praise when he chews on the toy because that is what he should chew on. If he comes to me and doesn't bite, I praise also. It helps to make things more black and white and gives a good balance. That is my opinion anyway. ;D I do this in the learning phase. I don't praise him now for not biting or not going in the garbage. i do this while we are working on a behavior. Once it is extinguished then we move on.
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Post by sibemom on Sept 23, 2006 10:17:11 GMT -5
I agree with you Nicki I guess I was never really aware of the fact that I did not do it that way See I am teaching myself new tricks I don't even know why I do that way Certain things are like second nature to me and maybe because it always worked and I never had to modify it I think that is why. If something is working you know the old saying "If it aint broke don't fix it" so because it always worked that way I just never really thought about it. I can tell you though I will be more aware of trying it the other way just in case it would not work, and no I AM NOT GETTING ANY NEW DOGS IN THE NEAR FUTURE . I think to that when I say STOP something because the dogs I have now are very good about STOPPING I just let it be, but I can see by re enforcing that with a positive would maybe speed things along, like I do with my kids ;D This is good for me to do a study of MY OWN BEHAVIORS ;D
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Post by willow on Sept 23, 2006 11:44:03 GMT -5
Well, CESAR SAYS you only give love when the dog is in a calm state of mind, so praising when the dog stops a behavior would be appropriate I would think, because praise/love I assume means the same thing to a dog.
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