Teaching a Fearful Dog

[Copiuos]

I forgot to mention that I ordered some Rescue Remedy and used a fast shipping option.

 

[Doberluv]

http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/index.htm

Here's a good bunch of articles. I really like clicker training. See what you think.


I highly recommend reading this: very good!

http://www.dragonflyllama.com/ DOGS/Levels/LevelBehaviours/TL26Zen.html



There are different ways to go about attention training. Here is one way:

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1649&S=0&EVetID=0

Take your time.....don't pressure your dog or yourself. There's no big hurry. Enjoy each other and most of all have fun. All the while, you'll be teaching your dog without even realizing it....teaching him to trust his new family. And that has to be solidly in place before he can really learn because the real learning, the only kind that is worth a dam only happens when it's fun for you and your dog to learn. See what you can glean from those sites and go from there. Let us know if you need more ideas.

 

[Copiuos]

Thank you all for being so helpful. We have been working mostly on "Watch me" because of the way he lowers his head and shakes around me and we are making progress in a couple of ways but we have also encountered a problem. I baked a ham and cut it up into bite sized bits to use as a reward and he LOVES it. I followed the hand feeding suggestion and he will do it for the ham pieces but he has diarrhea. He also follows my hand if it's closed around a piece of ham that leads him towards my face, which is how I've been getting him to make eye contact. I reward him quickly and tell him what he is doing so the ham is very motivational. Is that what's making him sick though?

Also, he has started licking my kids but it's not in a regular puppy kiss kind of way. He licks their arms, legs, hands and feet and he does it for a long time. It sort of reminds me of watching a momma cat give her kitten a bath when he does it. Is that even remotely normal?

 

[otch1]

Hi Copiuos. You'll discourage the excessive licking asap. Use "leave it." If pork/ham doesn't agree with him and he has loose stools, you need to feed chicken, beef or string cheese and decrease the amount you're feeding. Some people accidentally use food rewards enough to equal a meal when training, then feed the normal meals per day, on top of that. Cut it up into very small pieces, using only a small amount during each session. Good luck with this baby.

 

[Doberluv]

I don't think ham is very good for dogs. It's awfully salty. I would use chicken or turkey breast...no seasoning (LOL) and like Otch says, very tiny pieces, just for the taste. I use a little mozerella cheese, but again....too much and my dogs get loose stools. So, you can mix things up. It's not good to use too much, not only because of the worry of getting overweight, but too much meat can throw off the calcium balance...and other things. But if he's really food motivated, for easier skills, you could try some of his kibble that he would have in his meal ration and for really challenging things use some real chicken...keeping in mind that when a higher value treat is used first (in a session) the lower value treat will be of even lower value. So, you might start out with the kibble and then progress to using a few tid bits of fresh meat. Sometimes it ends up that it looks like they're getting ripped off at meal time because you just can't give them too much food. But I think that dogs like to work for their food. It's just sort of "in them."

 

[Copiuos]

*Off to cook a turkey*

I'll give him a little less of that and work on getting him to "Leave it" when he licks like that.