At home obedience Training

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MavRyder

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I am mostly on my own to do training with my dogs as there are not many classes offered where I live. I take classes, my fourth one, at PetSmart with Ryder. The teacher is really good!! She was certified at a school in Texas so she does not just have PetSmarts certification. The room is very small so it is very awkward if there are more than four people in the class.There is one kennel club in the area where the instructers are volunteers. I took my older dog to a class there last summer and they got very impatient with his barking. Ryder barks alot more than Maverick so I do not want to bring him until he is older.Some questions I have:

1) where do you hold your food when teaching heeling?
2) Ryder barks at me almost the whole time I am training him. In class or at home. Not sure if he likes the sound of his voice or just gets to excited.
3)Are there any books or sites that anyone could recommend?
 
For heeling, I found a great way to get the dog in heel position using food. I put some peanut butter on a wooden spoon and treat by lower the spoon down, letting them get a quick lick and then raising it again. This is helpful for the smaller dogs and allows you to treat them without totaly bending over and losing your stride.

For barking, have you just completely stopped working everytime he started barking and ignored him? Maybe just turn and give him your back everytime he acts up? Then rewared him when he is quiet.
 
Thanks for the feedback. But relevant to your body where are you holding the spoon? I find he is always ahead of me. So that is why I ask.
As far as ignoring him. That would drive my other dog crazy. But Ryder is very independent and shy. So he would not care if I turned my back on him.
 
I hold the treat down low in my left hand to begin with, then I move it up, but how high depends on the dog - with Deska I hold it next to my hip but with Tully I hold my arm down as she is small and I don't want her straining or jumping up. Deska barks when he is excited or bored, with obedience its usually boredom and at dancing its excitement. Either way it means I need to get his focus, usually by changing pace or what we are doing.
 
hmm, I consider myself big user of treats but I do not use lure often unless it is very young puppy or I am teaching something very first time. So while I carry food either in my closed hand or in my pocket it is not visible to the dog and my hand most often at my waist level close to the body. I would caution you " leading by lure" as opposed to rewarding when pup does not see a treat all the time and only gets it after performing correctly.
Now the best way to teach heeling is when you go for walks, put your pup's dinner in your pocket and feed at your pant seam level. Initially you only will be able to do a house distance, then couple, then entire block- before you know your pup will be heeling like a pro. Watch for crooked sits- some puppies do have very sloppy sits. Some sloppy sits could be corrected by giving your reward for the sit slightly off to the side.
 
I am not saying to lure at all. I hold the spoon in my left hand, right hand has the leash. Spoon is not in dogs sight, anymore than your pocket, hand, or your treat bag are in sight. Lower the spoon to treat and bring it right back up. I actually flip the spoon up with my hand so that the spoon is hidden behind my arm. Same thing as treating, just a quicker way to get the treat down to the dogs level. I am tall, and to get down to get into my pocket and then get down to the dogs level in a quick fashion is hard. I find that this is the quickest and most effective way to treat when teaching healing.

I missed that your dog was forging. When teaching a dog to forge the best way is to change your direction when your dog is getting ahead of you. Just make turns either into the dog or to the right. Keep up a good pace, so your dog is always anticipating a turn.
 
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Choose to heel

I learned about this method of teaching off leash heeling in my obedience classes. If you google it, you will find information and perhaps videos of it. Puppies can do it, too !

Arm yourself with treats that will be visible on the floor.

Show the treats to the pup.

Call the pup to heel position, then start walking and throw a treat off to your side, close by where the pup will see it. Continue walking at a steady pace and do not adjust your stride to the pup's.

Mark the pup coming back to you into heel position with a click or "yes" and repeat throwing the treat away from you to pull the pup out of position.

No rewards if the pup comes to you on the right side.

If you remain quiet during the exercise (except for your reward "marker"), your pup is food motivated, and the treats are high enough value, your pup should be focused on the exercise and remain quiet.

I love the exercise as the dog has to think and work; and it can be done at home.
 
danisgoat said:
Sorry....need to make myself clear here.

I am not saying to lure at all. I hold the spoon in my left hand, right hand has the leash. Spoon is not in dogs sight, anymore than your pocket, hand, or your treat bag are in sight. Lower the spoon to treat and bring it right back up. I actually flip the spoon up with my hand so that the spoon is hidden behind my arm. Same thing as treating, just a quicker way to get the treat down to the dogs level. I am tall, and to get down to get into my pocket and then get down to the dogs level in a quick fashion is hard. I find that this is the quickest and most effective way to treat when teaching healing.

I missed that your dog was forging. When teaching a dog to forge the best way is to change your direction when your dog is getting ahead of you. Just make turns either into the dog or to the right. Keep up a good pace, so your dog is always anticipating a turn.
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The spoon is a great idea for treating! I have found that with treating when teaching heel it is so easy to lose your pace or let the dog move out of position - using a spoon would definately hlep with this!

As for actually teaching heel I always teach it off-leash. Take the dog to an area where you feel safel letting him off-leash but where there are minimal distractions - so no other dogs to play with. Then let him run around and play. Click (or mark with a word such as yes!) and treat when he returns to your left side. The idea is to let the dog make the choice to return to your side. At first he may only come to your side for a step or two but as you reinforce this position he will stay for longer and you can increase your criteria for treating (ie he must stay by your left side for 3 steps, then 5 steps, etc). Once the behaviour is being offered consistently you can add the cue (heel!) by saying it every time the dog moves into position.

Good Luck with whatever method you choose to use!!
 
Goggle said:
The spoon is a great idea for treating! I have found that with treating when teaching heel it is so easy to lose your pace or let the dog move out of position - using a spoon would definately hlep with this!
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I find that if I use my hand to lower the treats when I am healing, my dogs will actually start to jump up to meet my hand. I find this to work really well in keeping all four feet on the ground.

Letting the dog offer the behavior I find to be the best way for them to learn. They think it is their idea, and they seem to respond really well to this kind of "thinking."

Good luck! Let us know how it works for you :biggrin2:
 
Thank you for all your feedback. It is really appreciated:smile2:
I will let you all know how it turns out. Unfortunately not too much time to practice with the Christmas season and two trips planned before the end of January.
 
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