Training sugestions

[Teresa]

It's summer time and as a student, I have some free time now. Apart from taking care of the litter, I wanted to use this free time to improve Pitanga's skills and training. I wanted to go to a dog school, but there aren't any around here. I have never trained a dog further than sit stand come and stay, but clearly this is not enough for Pitanga. I do not like tricks like roll over or play dead, i'd rahter teach her things that make her think and stimulate her mind.
I was wondering if anybody has any sugestions of new things and how to do them, I really feel i'm failing her right now!

[Ilona & Gina]

Hi Teresa,

First I am sure you are not failing Pitanga. You think about what to do with her, and you care. It's a great idea to do some training at home! Dog schools are not always the best, as some dogs are too sensitive for bossy instructors. I took mine four times. They hated it. That was it.

Here are some things I do with Anton & Gina: I let them find treats. I make them sit and stay and hide the stuff. Then I call them. They have a ball and it stimulates them.

You can also do sit and stay and hide behind a tree or a bush. This way you can extend the distance and the time and it is a fun game.

As to tricks: Like you, I always thought tricks were stupid - I taught them anyway, because I ran out of ideas. I guess tricks still stimulate their minds. Now I find that the roll over and the "paw" I taught them are really useful. Rollover is absolutely fantastic when I want to groom them around their bellies. And the "paw" I use to slip their harnesses on.

Speaking of "paw": Great game: Hide a treat in one of your hands. Show both closed hands. Ask "Which one?" They will guess the right hand straight away. It's not basic training, but fun for their noses.

Another one, really useful: Stop-training. Teach them to stop in the middle of a run. Life-saver in the bush (I live in Australia). Start with a long rope. As soon as they move away, say "stop" or another command, whatever you haven't used yet. When they stop, praise them. When they move, bring them exactly to the spot where you said "stop" (or whatever command). The point is that she stops the moment you tell her. On the spot. You can even teach her to stop-sit, even better. I do this with Gina, and she is far as to interrupt her bird chases now. Great success! It takes a while, though.

Another - fun idea: Backyard agility. I build obstacles with chairs and blankets, and they crawl and weave through them. Even through my legs. It's not "useful, but fun and makes them flexible. It's like going to the gym and gives them some exercises apart from running. Or go to a kids' playground, let them crawl through the construction there (I am not enthused about jumping, but it depends on their age).

With the "dead" trick, I fully agree with you. It is a horrible thing to teach a dog. I don't want to see my dog "dead".

Oh yes, here's another one: Put a ball into an old sock, stuff some food treat into it and throw it. Let Pitanga bring the sock and drop it. It is some "discipline" training, absolutely useful.

Heaps of ideas! Here is another one: Throw a ball or a treat, but teach her to stay and not just shoot off. That requires discipline, too and is easier to teach than you may think. Start that with a long rope or even with your arm to stop her from charging at whatever you throw.

Hope that's enough. I am a novice with my two Irish setters, (always had easy to train dogs) - and maybe I make some mistakes with mine, but we all love our training, and my two guys are well behaved, I can take them everywhere and we have lots of fun together.

If you want to try, please let me know how things are going, ok? Maybe we can exchange more ideas?

Enjoy!
-
Ilona

[Teresa]

Hi!
Thanks a lot for your ideas!
Now we have ome new things to do. Of all the things you told me Pitanga just does the stop one. I thaugh her that with the stay command. Stay means stay where you are in whatever position you are. Other than that, we have lots of new ideas to practise!
I also have the easy to train dogs problem, before Pitanga I have cockers (still have one oldie) and they were easier to train because I used food as reward. Pitanga hates food and won't do anything new for food, she just learns if she knows playing is the reward, but that makes it harder sometimes.
Still, I always enjoyed a good challenge, and she is a lot more mature and ready to learn, I just have to use that in my advantage!
As to being well behaved, Pitanga doesn't blindely obey anybody, but she never questions me and she is actually the best behaved dog i ever had. we go do anything anywere with or without a leash and i never had problems, even when we come across with problem dogs!
She has separation ansiety though, but we are also working on that with huge improvements, and I believe that keeping one of her puppies with us will solve the problem completely.

Oh, and please, let's exchange more and more ideias!

[Teresa]

Hi Michelle,
It's not that I under estimate the tricks, I just don't have the patience to teach them to give paws just because I want them to give paws. But You said it yourself, you can use the simple tricks to do something more complex. Giving paws doesn't interest me, but if I can use it as a sarting point to teach how to turn on or of the lights, then I find it pretty useful and original!
That kind of ideas are very interesting and turn simple common tricks very useful and fun to work with.
I really enjoyed the idea of teaching the dog small tasks indoors, I bet your dog feels really useful and has a lot of fun on daily activities!
I'll try some of your ideas with Pitanga as well!
thanks a lot for your reply and new ideas
Teresa