Teaching 'Heel', 'Stand' and 'Get that outta your mouth Now!'

[Dekka]

When you are training..treat very often (toy where ever your dog loves) many people don't reward enough in the early stages. I say you are ready to start reducing your rate of reinforcement (how often you reward) when you would bet a morgage/rent payment that the dog will do what you ask. The trick is to never have the reward visible. I often cut up bits of meat or cheese and leave it on the counter. Then go to my living room and do a bunch of things my dogs already know..then say YAY when I am done and go to the kitchen and reward. If I am training something new I might feed my dog his/her whole dinner in the space of one 3 min training session (a few bits at a time).

The way I look at it with my dogs..I want them to do certain things. Like come when they are called, leave food, etc etc. (oh and BTW yes you can have a separate command which means you won't get that treat on the floor if you want) And in return they expect rewards to happen every now and then. It becomes like gambling (and we know how addictive that is with humans) the dog never knows which time the behaviour will be rewarded.

 

[boxerdog44]

malteese

Yes focus first , throwing treats down etc drives the focus away from you,I do not feed from a bowl all food comes from me for eye contact You do not need to socialize with other dogs also drives the focus away .should be able to keep focus on you . your more fun .Attention attension !!the rest will come later , Group obediance , at young age to long , focus is not gained and is stressful

 

[ihartgonzo]

About the leave it command you've already taught... that sounds a lot like a "wait", to me. I would start using a "wait" command, when you want him to wait to eat something, and release him with a "take it" or whatnot. I also use "Wait" to indicate a "Stay" that is going to be re-called or released informally. "Stay" means STAY, and don't move until you're formally released (a formal release, to me, is when I am back in the heeling position with them, and I give them their release command).

For my dogs, "Leave it" simply means IGNORE, and COME. If you want to continue using "Leave it" to have Matisse wait for his food, you can use basically whatever verbal command you want, just as long as you make it clear to him that those words mean IGNORE and COME, and as long as him obeying that command always results in lots & lots of rewarding.

Hmm you would need a very big space to have 30 dogs in a class. But really if you do the math, unless you have many teachers, you are paying a lot for very little individual attention.

The space that the classes take place at is a large section of a city park. So, it is big. There are 6 "steps", ranging from basic commands to advanced off-leash. Each step has a class, with up to 3 seperate steps going on at once in different areas. Each step has a head trainer, and 2 or more assistants, and I have never felt ignored or lost in the class. Everyone asks questions openly, plus there is time before and after class for a Q & A, and the trainers have tons of knowledge and experience. They also get to know everyone and their dogs by name. I'm lucky to have them nearby, they really, really know their stuff.

I am not saying EVERY trainer can handle large classes, but I do feel that it's totally possible. (My trainers= http://www.4pawsu.com)

 

[corgipower]

If i use 'leave it' for when i don't want Matisse to touch the plate of food EVER, and also as how we use it now (drop a treat beside him, say leave it, make him wait for a minute, then say ok so he can take it), won't he be confused?

What I do is I drop a piece of food on the ground and when the dog looks away from it he gets a treat out of my hand. So he gets something for leaving it. I never allow a dog to pick up something they were told to leave. They need to look away from it to be rewarded ~ hovering and staring without touching isn't a leave it. A clicker can be very useful for this because you can mark the looking away much more precisely - in early stages you usually only get a moment where they look away.

 

[milos_mommy]

So my 1st question is: How do i go about training 'heel?'
[NOTE-Matisse is very food orientated]

Forget the food. I mean, use it as a reward, not as a lure. Do you clicker train? It's quite useful.

Okay, heel was the hardest thing for me to train until i came to Chaz and got this WONDERFUL advice.

But Matisse on a leash. I suppose you could start in the backyard, but we started on our regular walking route. Start walking. Keep the leash just long enough so he can walk next to you on a slack lead (obviously don't start with it so his head is right by your leg. He can moves around a little, you'll prefect it later. I'd keep it so his nose can go even to your leg with slack, and his butt can go even with your leg slack). Since he's small, try wrapping it around your hand.

As SOON as he makes the leash tight (by running ahead of you or lagging behind), stop walking. He'll probably look at you like "hey, why'd ya stop.". Ignore this. He'll then probably come back to you, making the leash slack.

As soon as it gets slack again, start walking. If he tightens it, stop again. After a while, making a clicking or tsk tsk type sound when he starts to get too far ahead. If he doesn't return to your side after you make that noise, stop. He'll catch on quick.



My 2nd question is: How do i train him to 'stand' and get him to stay standing aswell? I haven't taught him that either because again, i didn't think he'd need to know it or if i would have a use for it really.

Honestly, not a clue. I never taught this. Never found it necessary. My guess is, when he's sitting, on his own, you could get up and step back. He'll probably stand up in order to follow you. Then click/treat.



Also, I'm not sure what commands i should use for getting Matisse to drop objects or not go near them at all.
You see, i have taught him 'leave it' and a release 'ok' for when i drop a treat and make him wait before i say ok and he can eat it. And he always gets to eat the treat in the end, after waiting for a while. (This was just to teach him patience and for trick purposes).

'leave it' should work for objects, not just a treat. i'd use the same command, but practice with things aside from treats.
for dropping something, i'd say 'drop' or 'give' or 'can i see it?'



But what should i say in these 3 scenarios--
1- He is interested in an object, for example, a plate of food he isn't allowed, and i want him to go away from it.
- 'leave it' but if 'leave it' makes him ignore it and not go away, i'd teach him to go to his bed or crate on command. Milo knows 'out of the kitchen' but he's not a terrible beggar anyway, so it's not a big issue for us. if you want to learn to teach him to go to his crate or bed, i'd do a search on target training.

2. Getting him to drop a toy for me after fetching it. - 'drop' or 'give' or whatever you choose.
3. Getting him to drop something he shouldn't have in his mouth, for example, my homework... - also use 'drop' or 'give'. Just make sure when he gives you something you're not giving back, replace it with a toy or treat.

For the first i thought a simple 'no!' would suffice. Not leave it, because he might think after waiting a few minutes he can have it. - i don't think so. if you don't say "ok" he shouldn't think it's alright. if you do really want a different command, try 'that's mine' or 'not yours'.

I was thinking of simpy saying 'drop it' to get him to drop a toy, rather than confusing him by saying 'leave it' seeing as the toy is already in his mouth. - good idea.

But for the 3rd scenario, I'm not sure. You see, I don't want him thinking 'oh I'm not gonna drop this payslip because Melissa will take it from me, muhaha' when i say 'no!'
So, any ideas? would 'drop it' fit? - yes, as long as you replace it with something!


What commands do you use for these situations? Milo's commands: "leave it" for a treat or something i want him to leave alone. "That's mine" for something that he shouldn't have (underwear, paperwork, cat toys). "I'll throw it!" for a toy. "Walk Nice" for heeling (i was going to use walk nice for simply not pulling and heel for formal heeling, but he formally heels no matter what sooo).

 

[lizzybeth727]

I'm not sure if this has been answered (don't really understand where the OP's questions end and the answers begin in some of the above posts), but you asked about leave it.

When I tell my dog "leave it" she knows she's never going to get to grab it. It's just that simple. If I want to give it to her, I pick it up and give it to her from my hand. If I want her to eat it I let her have it without saying Leave it. Leave it, for my dog, also means that she should either turn and walk away, or look up at me. That way you have no "grey" areas with your dog hovering over the object, or still being fixated on it after getting a reward.

 

[adojrts]

I'm not sure if this has been answered (don't really understand where the OP's questions end and the answers begin in some of the above posts), but you asked about leave it.

When I tell my dog "leave it" she knows she's never going to get to grab it. It's just that simple. If I want to give it to her, I pick it up and give it to her from my hand. If I want her to eat it I let her have it without saying Leave it. Leave it, for my dog, also means that she should either turn and walk away, or look up at me. That way you have no "grey" areas with your dog hovering over the object, or still being fixated on it after getting a reward.

Absolutey agree, leave it means leave it, no exceptions.

A few years ago, I was with some students giving a agility demo at a Cattlemans BBQ, after the demo we joined the huge lines to get our food. I left Petie in sit in the open box of the truck with the tail gate down, untied, uncrated.
When I came back, I realized that I had left my drink, so I put the plate of beef on the tail gate, told my dog to 'leave it' and walked away. I had to go a distance and couldn't see my dog. Near my truck was a Fire Truck and booth with a couple of Fireman fund raising. When I came back these guys were amazed that my dog never took the food, especially that beef and according to them, he never even dipped his head towards it but watched where I had gone. That plate was less than two feet from Petie. His reward?
He got to share my meal from my hand. Petie's a Jrt and he was and has only ever been trained with a clicker and Positive methods, no corrections.
But if I don't say 'leave it', its a free for all lol.