Update on Sam

[fidleyspromise]

Wow, so it's been 1 and a half months since Sam came to live with me.

Everything has gone so much better than we could have hoped. He lies down and watches people, dogs and vehicles going past. We've had a couple of barks but a quick word and he quietens.

He lies with me in the office or if I'm in bed after night shift, lies quietly beside my bed. I do keep all the doors open and he has the run of our small house.

He now knows stay command.

So much for expecting a monster to come through our door my sister has been to visit and her kids are all over him and if he gets fed up, he simply moves away - at which point if the kids go to harass him, have been told off.


Going for walks is our main issue.
1. When the lead is put on - he sits and whines. He will whine all the way through the house and out the house. is there any way to stop the whining? I think it is more excitement than anything especially as until now hes been put out in garden rather than a walk.


2. Other dogs. Howling and up on his hind legs trying to get to them if I stop. I try to keep him beside me and keep walking - he still struggles and tries to go after them. I am going to go out with friends and get him used to seeing other dogs etc. Is there anything else I can do here? He is not easily distracted.

3. Walking to Heel. The first 15 minutes of a walk are a bit of a wrestle. He is so busy trying to go that he pulls like a trooper. I have had mediocre success with when he starts to pull - stop and make him sit. so he's getting nowhere by pulling. He walks beside me, he gets to keep walking. Once out, we jogand also when walking home he keeps to heel.
I've also put a long line on him and had it trailing behind us with him walking beside me gradually building up to off-leash.

So a few minor niggles. Any hints/tips would be appreciated as always

Caz (sorry for the essay)

 

[CorvusCorax]

I'd check out a good GSD/working-breed specific dog club (I meant to send you links, can't remember if I did or not!!!) in your area, these are pretty common things but a trainer would need

I'd also make sure you have a good collar and lead combo, nice leather lead and a half-check chain or a full check (small to medium link, on the right way around and higher up the neck, not lying around the shoulder) so that if you do need to check him, you have the strength advantage, failing that, a headcollar (lift up or to the side, rather than haul backwards)

Most large dogs DO pull at the start of the walk through excitement, maybe play ball with him in the garden for ten minutes before you go out or expend the energy in some way.

For heel - does he know what it means? Dog's wont automatically do this, it has to be incentivised, taught as a command as a behaviour.

You can do lots of directional changes, turning in a circle, walking backwards, etc to stop pulling and encourage him to stay with you.

With my younger dog I am handfeeding from a pocket and when I take him out in the morning he is more likely to stay with me because he wants his chicken!

If he has any sort of ball or play drive, also utilise that.

Be prepared to dole out a lead check if he doesn't listen and then most importantly, back that up with praise/reward when he is paying attention.

Basically you have to enforce - I stay with mum, good stuff happens, I pull, I go nowhere.

The other dog thing is basically an extention of that and again, if you have to use your strength to check him and make him go, wow, what was that? to get his attention, do so at the point of him starting to play up.

Once he has locked on and is already squealing, it is too late.

Reeling him in, keeping him tight to your side, stressing, always keeping him away, will heighten tension but if you get to a good class a trainer should be able to give you a lot of pointers on breaking this behaviour.

 

[Spudlet]

The whining is probably an excitement thing, from his perspective it works too - he whines, you go out of the door, fantastic, we're onto a winner with this one mum

So, if he whines I would remove the lead and go and sit down again, when he's quiet try again, and keep repeating until he gets the idea that if he whines, he gets nowhere. Be aware that it may get worse before he clicks, as in his eyes it will make sense to whine more intensely to try and get the desired effect at first, bit like a person pushing a button that doesn't work! At first you try pressing it harder, and harder, until you're pretty much leaning on it, until eventually if it still doesn't work you give up.

 

[fidleyspromise]

Cave Canem - You did send me a couple of links but they were unable to help me as I'm too far away and they don't know of any in my area. I'm a lot further North and have googled and searched and asked local dog groomers and no-one could point me in the direction of anyone/clubs etc who would be able to help.

Will look in the half-check and full-check collars as our local pet stores have nothing. I had looked for a choke chain and couldn't believe it when I couldn't find one. Will look into a leather lead as well. I'm using a cotton horse one currently.
In the meantime I'll go back to the halti - my shoulder is killing me and I sprained my wrist so it's taking the brunt. What are the best makes of halti? I bought a couple of different ones as they ride up into his eyes.

We've done A LOT of work on heel so he does know it. What sort of chicken do you use? I've tried to use normal treats but he loses interest quickly and is easily distracted. I may look into the toy thing but have struggled to hold dog (without jumping up) and toy to keep his attention.

Spudlet - Thanks This is similar to what we have been doing so good to know its what others would do as well. He doesn't get worse, stays about the same but we'll persevere.


We'll keep going and hopefully get there If anyone can find any sort of dog trainers in the Inverness area, please let me know. I've failed miserably in finding anyone.

 

[CorvusCorax]

1.5 months is nowhere near enough to instill heel in some dogs - heel means heel means heel - not shooting off when he feels like it - you'll need someone on your back, watching *you* to make sure *you* are being consistent - it's all to easy to let the dog charge on sometimes, I've been guilty of it myself, it just undoes any work you have been doing.
Everyone I know works hard to clean up heelwork/forging/pulling - it took me months and months with my boy...how and ever, don't do big long sessions of heelwork, maybe ten steps then 'free' back to ten of 'heel', directional changes etc then build it up as you need it. You can deaden a dog to repetition very easily, keep it fun.

Keep him on your left if you can, his shoulder at your knee, keep the incentive high to get him looking up/paying attention.

Pets at Home no longer sell check chains (but they do slip leads, which can be more severe *sigh*) but Jollyes still do and I think they do half-checks as well.
Sprenger is the best make, you can get those online, the general rule is, the larger the link, the less severe the correction/the less quickly the . Sprenger does a long/large link one which is pretty good and a lot of shep people use them.

Halti is Halti, not sure about other brands but MM had good results with a Gencon headcollar I think?

Just chicken pieces from the supermarket. Get yourself a nice light bodywarmer or jacket with loads of pockets and distribute food from one of them.
Maybe empty his morning or evening feed from a bowl and feed him from your pocket during a walk instead of a boring old bowl to keep him focused.
Don't have the toy in plain sight all the time, there is no incentive...tease him with it. A ball on a rope is great for this (stick it under your armpit ) or let him know it is in your pocket but keep it from him until he is doing something you want.

 

[lexiedhb]

I have a dog reactive dog too.... not a GSD but a strong blighter-

Can really recommed a head collar type affair- I use a gentle leader, for getting focus back to you- where the head goes the body HAS to follow. I have also been training "watch me" so that BEFORE he is squealing at said dog he is watching me- this works really well unless the dog is too close but it has gotten better, and he now ignores dogs at a distance.

Also as Spudlet advised those fridge raider things- they STINK- but work lots better for us that chicken ever did- also cheapy garlic sausage seems to do the trick, when distraction is next to impossible LOL