Arborist wrote: I think my first area to correction is to train one dog at a time. My Welsh terrier is very eager to please and learns easily, (male 5 year old) My other terrier is a Lakeland (4 year old female)
My training get sidetracked when they are walked together, and the competition begins. Is there a teqnuqie to get these dogs to work as a unit, and not as adversaries? It sure would make my life easier!
Thank you for your comments and suggestions, they are appreciated.
Best,
Arborist
They need to learn the behaviors separately first, before you can ever expect them to give you the behavior in the face of the added distraction of each other.
Work with each one separately until the "calm" walk, heeling, or whatever your goal is, is good and solid. Then work each one separately on their stays. This might take weeks, could take months. It won't come overnight.
Once the dogs are reliable separately, have a friend or relative take one dog on leash, and you take the other. The spray bottle that Rockhill mentioned will come in handy here, too . If they get too wild in the presence of each other, a little squirt and a firm command to leave each other alone ( I use "Leave It" ).... some vinegar mixed with water in the squirt bottle makes it even more unpleasant.
Samantha (the poster)
Tim, spouse and driver of the Corgi-Bus
Beth, Buddy, and Pippin - Pembroke Welsh Corgis
1988 Bounder Ford 460
Deb and Ed M wrote: In defense of the e-collar in these situations:
My dogs are well-trained. The Cattle Dog has a bomb-proof recall that most Obedience competitors would drool over - I can call him off a "squirrel-chase".
Deb
That is truly a life-saving skill.
A recall is so fundamental to a dog. It's like a child learning their ABC's. I know of one dog training club that teaches an entire public service class called "Come When Called" It is that important for any dog, anywhere. That's why it is considered to be an entry-level skill for competition obedience.
With my 4-year-old competition dog, I never question if he is going to come when called. That's a given, be it in the competition ring, or out of the back yard away from the neighbor's cat.
If only the rest of the exercises were that easy to train!
That is truly a life-saving skill.
A recall is so fundamental to a dog. It's like a child learning their ABC's.
I SO agree - especially after seeing the dead Sheltie that had escaped its owner while being brought to the groomer and had run into the street...a solid recall would have saved that dog's life :-(
I have always been able to call my dog off doing something wrong - but I can't supervise them every single minute. THAT'S why I used an e-collar: to teach my dogs that chasing cars is just a bad idea, whether Mom says no or not.....LOL!
Divide and conquer is definitely the way to start. E-collars can have a place in such a problem, but not if they are doing it on-leash or when directly supervised (that is, ignoring verbal commands), that needs to be about training.
"Come" is so very important, indeed a real life-saver. The problem I have with the "my dog is never off the leash" attitude is exactly the issue with the "escaped" dog running into the street and being hit. A dog that behaves that way when it "gets loose" is a dog that has been always restrained, and clearly never trained in how to behave when not restrained. People think they're keeping their dog safe, but they're really setting the dog and themselves up for tragedy by not training off-leash. You can have a beautifully behaved dog in the house, but if that dog is going to run from you or not listen the day you slip and lose the leash, what you've got is a disaster waiting to happen.
Another command I really like is "stay." Especially with a "down" in front of it. Oh, a good down-stay is worth the weight of the Incredible Hulk in rubies! Properly done, stay is the ultimate pack leader reinforcement tool, and it is an "off switch" for the dog. It will teach a spastic, over-energized dog HOW to be calm, and you can use it to create and reward that calm. It is easy to teach, and easy to practice in a lot of situations, you need only only persistence and adherence to a few basic principles.
Another way to settle a hyper dog is walking. This seems counter-intuitive, because you'd think the dog would get more tired and settled by running. However, I've found that a good "Dog Whisperer" style walk... at your side or behind you (at heel is great for this), no stopping or sniffing except possibly a couple of breaks YOU declare in advance... and no really they DON'T need to pee every ten feet, that's called marking... you set the pace, no looking around, no messing around, we're walking, is quite tiring to even a very fit and high energy dog. The mental discipline will wear a dog to a nub. Once you get a little practice at it, you should be able to manage the both of them that way, and keep them moving forward. Or you can separate them and get lots of exercise yourself.
* This post was
edited 10/04/08 11:30am by Code2High *
susan
What I want to know is, when are they going to start selling Comfort Zone for HUMANS????? 'Cause some days...
Some great suggestions!! By no means am I an expert, but having our 2nd. and 3rd terriers, have become "somewhat" used to the terrier temperament!!
Our 9 year old Irish has never been off lease, even after taking her through progressive levels of obedience classes, including off-lease work. Even then, the trainers/instructors ALWAYS recommended and said we should keep them on-lease when around traffic. The down/stay command is excellent to use in those situations.
Our 3 year old Lakeland didn't get as much training as the Irish, as we were still traveling after we surcomed to pure emotion when we got him from the terrier breeder that we have gotten all of our terriers from! I would never trust him off lease and know that we are back in the house, I will be working him a lot on the recall off leash.
I still get somewhat uneasy when we find ourselves having to walk them along a busy road, even when on sidewalks. Neither one seems to pay any attention to it unless a large, noisy truck rumbles by and then the noise gets their attention!
Work them by themselves a lot first, then walk them together.
Good luck
Ron & Carolyn
Sadie the Irish Terrier
Happy the Lakeland Terrier
From sailing yacht to land yacht
KE7BZC
M/V Lothlorien GO HUSKIES
Thanks for all the tips. If I dismiss yours it's not my fault, it's just that I know these dogs by their nature. A super soaker seems reasonable except that both dogs are nuts about water.
You could turn a fire hose on the Lakeland and she would go after the source. The more water pressure the better is her motto! Same with the Welch, except he's not as fanatical as the Lakeland.
I've had the pleasure of obedience training a Weimaraner, his need to fulfill your commands and directions was almost embarrassing and a non challenge.
On the other hand a terrier has this brain thing that is almost akin to a human trying to decide on who to vote for. Example; should I listen to what my pack leader wants or do I have to think about it a little more? Anyone who has had the pleasure of being part of a terrier pack knows of this breeds particular feature, if not, you soon will.
I get training separately, the sit, down, and stay commands being the best solution. I've also looked into e-collars that have a praise tone as well as the stop tone and electrocution mode when you really mean it. I promise I will do my best and report back any successes with whatever method I try. Unless I prevail, the next post may well be from my dogs.
Thanks again for the support,
Arborist
"If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves." - Lane Kirkland
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