is this a bad trainging method?Question:okay. so i was walking Buster the other day. and he was a bit pully because he hadn't been for a run that day. so i was walking along in the rain. and this dog started barking at him through the fence. i was on the other side of the road but buster started pulling a fair bit, not as hard as he can but i had to hold on pretty tight. so usually at this stage i sit him down and make him look at my face, to connect with my eyes before we keep going. now i know he gets embarressed easily and likes to act very macho indeed when out of the yard. so this tiem i figured i would see how he would react to actually having to do a bit of a trick in fornt of a dog. just to see if he would calm down. so i put him in the sit position. and i made him drop, simply because its a less aggressive stance and it really took him down a notch. once i let him up he walked really well at heal ignoring the dog. then another one started up, same thing. but this time as he lay down he let our this piercing whine of frustration. and when i let him up he healed really well the whole way home. so do you think this is okay to work at? could it improve his embarressment/focus issues or will it just make him even madder at other dogs? thought i should check before i carry it through continueously, but as a split second trainging idea and just a test run. it worked out well. Answer: I say if it works, go with it.....but what do I know? LOL Answer: ditto. It worked, so go for it..... make sure to give him a good boy when he downs, so he doesn't lose confidence. :) Answer: Sounds like you're doing fine. Don't forget to bring a reward along for the walk as well, so when he does drop or sit, or give good focus in the midst of a barking dog you can reward it once and a while. That will really bring his attention up. Answer: are you sure its okay to use intimidation as a way to train? Answer: not sure where you're finding intimidation in that scenerio, but working your dog on ob around other distractions, especially other dogs is a great way to improve your overall relationship with the dog. Not sure the OP is really using the correct terminology and is quite understanding in what his dog is actually thinking, but the OP is not doing anything wrong, I would just be sure to include more praise and some rewards for correct behavior while on the street. Answer: okay :) i thought staring in the eye and making them look at you was intimidation. Answer: okay :) i thought staring in the eye and making them look at you was intimidation. Nah, it's just attention. Eye contact is a good thing Answer: ohhh, see i didnt know! learn something new everyday Answer: it can be intimidation, not something you want to do to every dog, but as its owner and handler dogs give us attention all the time. It can be intimidation, but it can also be a good thing. In this case its a good thing. Dog training is easy, but confusing, just when you find out something means one thing, you find out it means something else too:D Answer: well, i know if i stare Ruckus in the eye like that he would fall apart. he is one of the dogs you couldnt do that too. Answer: yeah i suppose its different dog to dog. i get buster to do it because i can see that when he looks at me, he just sorta clicks back to reality a bit more. i use it to make him relise that i'm still there and what he is doing is not on. i just wanted to check incase this would do more harm then good. and he gets plenty of praise. i nearly always forget treats until i'm about a block and a half away form my house, which is stupid because when i DO remember them, they works great, except in cases where he is really stressed like when a dog is going off at him through the fence, a lot of the time then he will just spit them out. Answer: Gus does the whole trying to shoot past dogs in gardens.. But he does it for good reason, a dog once broke out and bit him on the butt, quite badly actually and before he knew what was happening the dog had run off again. Poor boy.. So rather than make him stressed out I just let him quickly (but to heel) walk past and then we carry on. Sounds to me though Buster is just trying to assert his dominance and you are doing the correct thing M_Rose. You are (or should LOL) be the one in control at the end of the day. Answer: awesome. well it worked so i guess its not a bad thing. god he tried to be good though, once i'm confident he's desensitized to a dog i work up to letting him walk off leash past its yard. but it takes months till i'm happy he can do it. then we get to the yeard, i tell him "heel" and he walks REALLY fast past its yeard trying not to look. the other day i was actually walking him and mac home from dropping my sister at the bus stop. this little red heeler/staffy came bolting out of its yard at as barking. i thought "oh no, i'm gonna have a dog fight on my hands in a second" i roared at it to get home but it didn't. it got right up to us and buster just kinda snapped at its face, it turned tail and just went back inside. i know it would be lovley for it no to have happened. but it was just another example of buster actually behaving pretty well. if there is a dog charging him agressivley, i don't expect him to just take a beating. but at the same time, he didn't maul it. he just put it back in its box and sent it home, thank god that was all that happened though. i'm a lot more wary of that house now. he surprised me though. when it was coming at ihim, he wasn't lunging and snarling and snapping. he was just standing there looking at it like "omg, you stupid dog you know if you come over here like that i'm going to have to bite you". then after, he just walked home nice and easy. i underestimate him too often i think Answer: I think what you are doing is a great idea. But, you have to remember, that our dogs do not get embarrassed and don't have the ability to feel macho. That is all in our minds. Answer: well, i know if i stare Ruckus in the eye like that he would fall apart. he is one of the dogs you couldnt do that too.__________________ I would not stare down a dog who was uncomfortable with it or a dog who I didn't know that might have a problem about that. Usually, our own dogs, when they trust us come to see that we aren't being aggressive toward them (as is the way it sometimes is with dog to dog interactions). When you reward your dog when he does make eye contact with you...and you make it a good thing (treats, praise) he comes to find out that it's actually a great thing to look at you. then you attach a cue word, like "watch" or use his name everytime he looks at your eyes. See the difference? If you make eye to eye contact and something bad happens...he gets scolded or something, then his natural "thoughts" about eye contact are confirmed....that it means aggression. My dogs think it's great to gaze into my eyes. LOL. Answer: My dogs know both kinds of eye contact. If I give them a hard stare, particularly with certain stiff upright body language, they know what I mean. My dogs are also trained to enjoy and to solicit eye contact from me for training purposes. This is completely different eye contact, and dogs who are trained for this in a positive manner enjoy making eye contact with the handler. Here's one example. She is looking me straight in the eye. :D http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a22/RedyreRotties/AKCCDleg1situp.jpg Answer: I'm trying to get this straight. So, you're having your dog lie down when you see a dog coming and then get him to look at you? That's fine. I have a dog reactive dog too. He's much better than he use to be. I try to let him have some focus on me but at the same time, also be aware that another dog is there. He has to learn that he can still see a dog but it's better to keep his cool. So, I use to have him sit or down and look at me. Now, we've gotten to the stage where he can look at another dog and if I keep feeding him little treats before he gets too alert and praise him...it keeps him from "going off his head." I don't even have to do that every time but if he starts stiffening up too much, I try to intercept before he really tenses up and tell diffuse his attention on the dog just a little bit. If he does go off, I just keep hold of the leash and tell him, "Nah" not too harshly, but enough that he knows that that is not a great way to act and turn him away or block him with my body. I don't want to be too loud or scary with my "nah-h-h" because it can back fire on me. He can start associating other dogs with a rotten time. "Oh no...a dog. That means Mom is going to scold me. Dogs suck!" LOL. See? There are indeed side effects to harsh punishment that because of how dogs process stuff can cause more problems than you have in the first place. So, I think it sounds like you're doing great. Desensatizing like this takes time, but he'll get so other dogs are no big deal. |
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