Dogs and bitches
-
How many of you have dogs?
Just got a puppy and wondering how you trained them? Positive reinforcement and no punishment is the modern way but that is pretty hard to do. A bit like attendance awards - show up, get a treat, bollocks.
I love the little critter (asleep at my feet as I type) but want her to be well behaved, not winey like an Irish rugby fan, no separation anxiety, no jumping up, no running away. etc.
This is as close as I have come to being responsible and adult. Jordan Peterson may be having an impact on me.
Any tips?
Discuss. -
It's all about tone of voice, so the trick is some consistency and heaps of time with them in your company.
I reared 2 Jack Russell's and they can be naughty bitey, fighty pricks so when they have really bad behaviour, then stomping around and swearing and actually scaring them under the couch for a bit was far better than any physical tap or such. I don't see the need to physically discipline a dog.
Think like an alpha dog and take no shit and they love you heaps more than a (possibly) soft, lovey dovey treating approach.
We couldn't have kids, so these dogs became pretty important to us but the principle of time spent with them applies well to everything we bring up.
Pockets of little treats for reinforcement (come sit stay etc) while they're young is invaluable. Do it every time for the first year and it'll work out good.
The best trained dogs look for hand signals, so that's a great habit alongside verbal commands
-
@snowy that separation anxiety is fixed by never getting exited when you leave and return. No extravagant " did you miss me etc", just wander in and out ignoring them, easier said than done.
Apparently the human is supposed to go through the door/gate first and you should insist they come back and you go first. Had a dog trainer once explain that every time you step over a dog ( usually on a door threshold), the dog thinks " pussy, go on step over pussy, I'm the boss I'm not moving for you". Trainer said shoo him out of the way everytime
-
@jegga said in Dogs and bitches:
What sort of mutt have you got ? Some are more strong willed than others
Yes a mutt. Cavalier spaniel / poodle. Some fancy name for them, but a mongrel.
Wife chose it because she is a teddy bear (bitch, not wife - although wife has her moments).
-
@siam Thanks. Absolutely what I have done WRT not getting excited when you see her. Wife hasn't done that so well and it shows in behaviour (dog, not wife, again).
@Siam . I am training her to hate the Irish today. Unfortunately they don't have hand signal - so using "potato famine" as a hate thing.
Any tips on training a wife would also be useful.
-
@siam said in Dogs and bitches:
Apparently the human is supposed to go through the door/gate first and you should insist they come back and you go first. Had a dog trainer once explain that every time you step over a dog ( usually on a door threshold), the dog thinks " pussy, go on step over pussy, I'm the boss I'm not moving for you". Trainer said shoo him out of the way everytime
That's the sort of info I need. Thanks.
We had our second night of "school" on Thursday. Dogs are amazing. Humans don't give enough credit to the intelligence of animals.
Now if I could just get the cat to behave...
-
@snowy from experience you absolutely MUST entice the dog to come at the slightest whistle or click or noise. Use heaps of treats and do this in secret from the wife.
Then one evening, all is peaceful and dog is snuggled on a contented wife when all of a sudden you trigger the dog, it jumps up and immediately trots over to you, jumps in your lap and settles in.The foul look on the wife's face and the pure betrayal in her eyes gets you through a month of normal marital hardship....and all the while her beloved dog snoozes in your lap. It's fricken priceless!
Last thing is, I have a theory that dogs love the human that takes them out and walking more than the human that feeds them
-
-
good to socialise them with other people and dogs too, both at home and out.
Our cat/dog is the wifes dog without a doubt, he sits and stares out the window for her when she goes out.
-
@taniwharugby said in Dogs and bitches:
he sits and stares out the window for her when she goes out.
That is the bit I am trying to avoid. Seems to be going O.K.but they really want to be a part of a pack and if an important person is missing they pine.
-
@snowy he will follow me about and play if I want to, but once I stop he goes back to the staring spot.
-
@taniwharugby Yeah, quite happy for the puppy to be wife's, just want her to listen to me (both of them).
Dog is now eating my shoe.
-
@snowy good luck with that....there is only 1 in our household that does what I say, and it aint the wife or 2 kids!
-
@taniwharugby You have someone that listens to you? Well done.
I can make the cat run away. Chickens ignore me -I'm no threat. The fuckers should know that I eat them several times a week.
I would like to have one "being" that will respond, at some stage of my life. Hence the thread.
WTF is this white male patriarchy shit? I'm a downtrodden minion and am determined to have one bitch under my control.
She is eating my paperwork as I type, but it is O.K. I said she could and they are bills. Well I didn't say that she could, really. It is quite hard to argue with a puppy. I'd rather take on the Baron.
-
@snowy dont get me started on chickens!!
-
@taniwharugby said in Dogs and bitches:
@snowy dont get me started on chickens!!
Do you have a problem one? I have a completely loopy chook that I love. Mad as a hatter, runs around the garden chasing nothing. Very entertaining.
-
@snowy nah I had to get rid of the 'good one' last week; she was about 6 or 7 and was a rescue hen, blind in one eye, so when she followed you it was amusing, she used to always escape the enclosure, come in the house if doors were open, jump up on window legde and peck window to get your attention, loopy as too...we lost 3 in last month, so wife replaces 3 with 6 more....new lot are ok though, 5 eggs a day, lazy free loading 6 we have had for years giving us 0!!
-
@taniwharugby Ha. We are a hen sanctuary. Really not the correct space for them at our current house, but, wife. Eggs are a bonus, we have 2 freeloaders.
Dog is now thrashing a car wash bush. Funny as fuck. Looking forward to an AB doing that to the Irish.
-
We have two golden retrievers and while they can be a little bit naughty they know when I raise my voice. Both will sit and look a bit worried.
I could never hit my dogs, I love them too much and they don’t speak English so wouldn’t really understand if I did.
I have smacked one of their bums real soft when she snatched at food but felt guilty as fuck.
Dogs are amazing loyal and full of love. Let them be as you would treat a family member.
There was a good tweet thread thing recently that said what would you say if you could converse with your dog for 30 seconds. If you find it, it’s quite cool
-
Walk the arse off it.
Most behavourial problems I see in friends' & neighbours' dogs is down to lack of exercise.
-
We have an IG, who is pretty good, and we used a clicker and treats when we first got her, because we live in an apartment, so toilet training, noise, etc were pretty important. I think the key thing to remember is that dogs don't know good or bad (they understand safe versus dangerous), and (especially for puppies) really only associate a punishment with the current action, so if they did something wrong, it's too late - both the positive and negative reinforcement needs to happen during or as the action finishes.
So, don't treat it for being it, treat it for doing things that you want repeated. I have a friend who thought that giving their dog a treat when it whined would calm it down. Now of course the fucking thing whines like a bitch because it was trained to do so.
One things we buggered up was allowing her to climb all over us. She was tiny (still is at 4kgs) but will literally walk all over you, and we set the precedent early, so it's now almost impossible to get her to associate it with danger. SHe's slowly getting better, of course, but I think we should have been clearer from day 1 and we'd be set.
Our other problem is related to her breed - they aren't super social anyway, but we never took her out enough to get socialized well, so she is still terrible with other dogs. Just frightens here even though she is totally intrigued.
Also - make sure it sleeps a lot more than you think necessary. Puppies are just like kids.
Some links:
-
Depends on what you want from your dog. If it's a working dog then you need work hard to encourage their play drive and direct it to positive behaviour. That is they love to work because it's a natural extension of play, rewarded by tug of war, treats, fetch etc. Then it's simple reinforcement.
A house dog that you want to behave a certain way requires a fair amount of patience, not giving them attention (positive or negative) for behaviour you don't want replicated and rewards for behaviour you do. You've also got to be on point with your partner and children so that there is consistency of application. The dog also has to know it's place in the pecking order and that's established by having everyone else command it.
TBH it just takes patience. It took me an entire weekend to train a beagle that it couldn't eat until I gave it the command. That way I could fill up the bowl, put everything away and then let them eat. I once forgot and only remembered 30mins later. Dog was still staring at the food.
-
@antipodean Not a working dog but if I could get her to bring in some cash it would be handy...modeling might be her thing, I'm not really tough enough to be a pimp but her puppies are worth a fortune.
The behaviour you mention with the beagle is what I am looking for - not quite that extreme but I can't stand yappy little out of control bitches. Fortunately she isn't one and I want to keep her that way (and the wife obviously, but that is a little trickier).
So far so good. Goes and whines at the door if she needs a pee. Quite good at recall, bounds up when I call her. Leave and stay are a bit of a trial but I think I am winning. Yes, patience is definitely key. That was all puppy - not wife.
-
@Snowy something to work towards
-
@taniwharugby That is remarkably similar to our puppy but she is trying to dig a hole in the rug not wipe her feet.
-
@snowy said in Dogs and bitches:
@siam I think that I am already there.
Wife walks and feeds dog most of the time. Dog want s to be with me because I ignore it. Weird.
Are you sure you haven't got a cat.
Patience and calmness will take you a long way in training. If you're having to shout it's time for the lesson to end.
-
@Snowy world of possibilities
-
@taniwharugby I like it.
Auckland Council are "dogist" bastards (at least half of that is true) they are also being sexist.However I don't have to follow the rules as my pet is a bitch and identifies as a parrot.
-
@snowy you could identify with being a Church or Marae and be exempt from rates!
-
@taniwharugby Now you have fucking done it...
-
Training is starting to work.
Sit, lie, roll, stay, all happening.
Can see the thought process in her face- "really? Now? Do I respond or should I disobey?" Pretty much me as a teenager.
Reward technique isn't working on the wife I must say. Patience, or better rewards? Hmmm, that is up to me I suppose.
