I have always considered myself a pretty good dog trainer. I have taught my dog many things, jumping hurdles, through hoops, sit, stay, come, lay down, shake, and even bow, but I wanted to try something new and original. Then I thought to myself, I should teach my dog to sword fight! Now my dog Rolly (his real name is Rolintando, a musical term) is a very smart dog. He is a mutt. I first showed him the plastic sword. He isn't the kind of dog that likes to chew on things, so I knew this would be a challenge from the start. He just glared at the sword. I tried to get him to chew on it, now he just despises it. So then it was time for plan B. I bought some rawhide strips, soaked them in water, and wrapped them around the handle of the sword. They were firm when they dried. I gave Rolly the sword and he was thrilled. A few minutes later I looked out the window and the rawhide was all chewed off the sword. I have tried so many things but my dog is being so stubborn. I don't know what to do, please help me. I have tried everything!
Dog Is So Stubborn...I'll admit I need help
- Thread starter scotty_my_puppy
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I am by no means a trainer but I have trained my own two. First thing you must do to get them to do things like you describe is work on the not breaking. The way I did this is in small steps. I gave him a very short hold it and opened his mouth and placed something in there then laid my hand flat on his nose while saying hold. When I noticed he was ready to break I said break. Each time he was given a treat and the time of the hold increased. It takes time and patience but never work your dog too long and do not show frustration. Praise him if he holds 1 second with treats and hugs and tell him how smart he is and guess what he should be holding in no time. Now there are some expert trainers here that may tell you different and you need to listen to them because they know their stuff and I call on them often. This is just how I did it and as you see it worked. He will hold that forever if I made him { or until I walked away lol}
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There are some great training materials out there on shaping a retrieve. Lana Mitchell has a book called (I believe) "The Clicked Retrieve". It sets out the steps to teaching your dog to hold, carry and retrieve items. It's pretty much the same way I teach the retrieve.
Retrieving is not a real natural behavior in all dogs. My shepherd is crazy about it and was from day one. My chows are not so, and in fact Dora has (as far as I can tell) zero retrieve instinct. She will take a bone from my hand, carry it to where she wants to chew on it, and once it's dropped that's where it stays .. *L* .. I did manage to teach her to pick things up but it literally took me years. I didn't want to use any sort of correction - it was not a particularly important behavior - so I just kept working on shaping it until she finally figured out how to do it (and chose to do it).
Basically I took a dumbbell and held it out to one side and as soon as she glanced at it, I marked the behavior (said YES!! or you could click) and then followed that with a yummy treat. I did this a few more times alternating where I held the dumbbell (to the left, right, slightly above, slightly below). Then I practiced this everyday - a couple of sessions if I could fit them in - for a week or more. When she had it figured out that glancing at the dumbbell resulted in a treat, then I held it out and when she glanced at it and back to me for her treat I did nothing. No words, no movements - I just kept looking at the dumbbell. She tried a second glance .. and finally (frustration helps escalate a behavior .. *L*) moved a bit toward it. THAT got the reward marker and treat. From then on she had to move toward it.
We practiced that for awhile, then she had to touch it and we did that for a week or more, then she had to mouth it, then hold it, etc. Each step took at least a week.
We had some glitches along the way but now she will pick things up for me (keys, little bags, toys, etc.) but she still won't retrieve .. *L* .. and I don't care.
With my last chow, I started shaping a retrieve when she was just 8-9 weeks old. She had some interest in toys and I worked from there. She does a very nice retrieve for me now and it's never been forced in any way.
If you can find Lana Mitchell's book I really recommend it. I attended one of her seminars and also took some private lessons from her and I highly recommend her style of retrieve training.
Melanie and the gang in Alaska
Retrieving is not a real natural behavior in all dogs. My shepherd is crazy about it and was from day one. My chows are not so, and in fact Dora has (as far as I can tell) zero retrieve instinct. She will take a bone from my hand, carry it to where she wants to chew on it, and once it's dropped that's where it stays .. *L* .. I did manage to teach her to pick things up but it literally took me years. I didn't want to use any sort of correction - it was not a particularly important behavior - so I just kept working on shaping it until she finally figured out how to do it (and chose to do it).
Basically I took a dumbbell and held it out to one side and as soon as she glanced at it, I marked the behavior (said YES!! or you could click) and then followed that with a yummy treat. I did this a few more times alternating where I held the dumbbell (to the left, right, slightly above, slightly below). Then I practiced this everyday - a couple of sessions if I could fit them in - for a week or more. When she had it figured out that glancing at the dumbbell resulted in a treat, then I held it out and when she glanced at it and back to me for her treat I did nothing. No words, no movements - I just kept looking at the dumbbell. She tried a second glance .. and finally (frustration helps escalate a behavior .. *L*) moved a bit toward it. THAT got the reward marker and treat. From then on she had to move toward it.
We practiced that for awhile, then she had to touch it and we did that for a week or more, then she had to mouth it, then hold it, etc. Each step took at least a week.
We had some glitches along the way but now she will pick things up for me (keys, little bags, toys, etc.) but she still won't retrieve .. *L* .. and I don't care.
With my last chow, I started shaping a retrieve when she was just 8-9 weeks old. She had some interest in toys and I worked from there. She does a very nice retrieve for me now and it's never been forced in any way.
If you can find Lana Mitchell's book I really recommend it. I attended one of her seminars and also took some private lessons from her and I highly recommend her style of retrieve training.
Melanie and the gang in Alaska
Just wanted to add - dogs aren't stubborn, they just don't understand fully what we want from them, or the reward is not enough of a motivation.
I'd say your pup fits into category one. You've been given some great advice here - clicker training is fantastic, simply fantastic for this kind of thing. Good luck!
I'd say your pup fits into category one. You've been given some great advice here - clicker training is fantastic, simply fantastic for this kind of thing. Good luck!
Well someone on here told me about teaching things backwards (back chaining) where you would place an object in your dogs mouth with your other hand strategically placed beneath his mouth so that you could catch it as it was spat back out. Praise and treat for putting it in your hand. You would need to introduce a cue word for the release of the object and terll him to hold. eventually delay the hand out and release word by a fraction of a second. If your dog can wait momentarily, then you can get him to wait progressively longer each time. Which in effect is a hold. I have no idea how you would teach him to sword fight with you though unless you praised like crazy each time he touched your sword with his LMAO I can actually picture this in my minds eye. Good luck!