The Official Uncertified Dog Training Thread

kdebello

Well-Known Member
I have to say that reading the few posts in this tread so far made me feel a lot better about the status of our relationship with Bailey L.

  • 11-12 months old
  • your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine pure breed
  • sweet as pie (loves her daddy, the jury is still out on mommy)
  • she's into chewing stuff when bored (mtb shoes, furniture, pillows and stairs steps so far)
  • she's fairly obedient, waits for OK before grabbing her treats, going through the door in and out, going in and out of her cage
  • responds fairly well to sits, stay and ok/let's go
  • except for 2-3 minor accidents she'd been on point with being housetrained (and it wasn't her fault, the first time we waited too long to take her out and then we didn't use the proper cleaner so she went again on the same spot, since then we used enzyme cleaner and bought a pet specific carpet cleaner which seem to have done the trick)
  • friendly with adults and kids, seems not to be particularly attracted to males (other than me)
  • she launches at cars, apparently only when walking around the neighborhood and on the driveway if in proximity of the road. Parking lots seem fine
  • she pulls hard on the leash when walking outside the property, not always. When she gets into she will not respond to food or praise, you can only make her stop and sit, but the behavior will resume as soon as you start walking again.
  • she jumps at me and my wife but not in an aggressive manner (even though jaws snapping is involved) but she responds to No and pop of the leash and stops it
  • first and only time we let her out voluntarily she was doing fine until a pickup truck zipped by and she took off, had to retrieve her in the neighbor backyard where she was peacefully chomping on a cranberry scone...
We're in 3 out of 5 private lessons package with a trainer, I've seen improvement especially because she's pointed out what to do and how. tools and other stuff. AS said many times before it takes patience and consistency.

I start thinking that we have unrealistic expectations in terms of how fast this was going to work out, Bailey L. has been with us for less than 2 months, and atthe beginning some of the behavior that we now consider 'offending' seemed cute and we probably encouraged it as well...

My wife is the one taking it harder because she strongly lobbied me into getting a dog (don't get me wrong, I wanted a dog since I was 5 but was never in the position to get one) so now finds particularly frustrating that she did not turn out to be the doll she expected her to be. To be fair my better half has some health problems (which was what made me think that getting a dog would not be a good idea) but both her and her doctor thought it would be actually a good thing to get some distraction and it would motivation for some exercise...so I find myself having to work on both Bailey L...and my wife!

Unfortunately since we got Bailey L I have not been able to ride much, I took her with me while riding and the first 2 times it was great (always on the leash). but the 3rd time it was impossible to manage and had to head back home after a few hundred yards of pulling to the side, dropping on the ground etc...

@serviceguy , we seem to have a lot in common with our dog situation. Our Bailey, "Bailey D", is a little older as she's almost 2, but we had or have had some of the same behaviors, both good and bad.

She was into the nipping/light biting and also did some short lived chewing early on. With correcting it as it happened, we were able to get that to stop, as well as any chewing on things other than her own chew toys.

Bailey D is also fairly obedient with waiting for food or staying at the door until we say "ok".

For the pulling while walking, I mentioned in the other thread that if we do some quick training in the driveway before the walk, that seems to help remind her that we are the focus. A quick up and down the driveway, reinforcing the command to stop, wait, heel.

Bailey D is heavier than she looks and is close to 70 lbs. She doesn't really pull with me, but with the kids and my wife, we worried she might be too strong. Early on, we tried different harnesses and collars, but what my wife had the best luck with was a simple gentle leader. Bailey was receptive to putting it on (it goes over her snout) and from the first time using it, she did not pull once with my wife. It's not a muzzle, it's just a strap that goes around the snout and if she pulls, it turn her head back towards us. I'm sure it doesn't work for everyone, but we did have great results with it.

We adopted Bailey D right after the pandemic started. I had just sold both of my bikes and she was an addition to our family that we didn't realize how much we needed. I don't post much on any social media about personal stuff, but to summarize, life the last few years has been tough. My work is a stressful and complicated situation. My wife also has health issues that she has been dealing with for almost a decade with no relief, we have an insurmountable amount of debt from medical bills, and two teenage girls who will be going to college before we know it.

Some might say adding a dog to the mix was a very risky situation, but against anything that anyone told us, we did it anyway. Bailey D does have some issues, but through it all, it was the best decision we ever made. She has been a huge help with the immense stress we're under, and at the end of the day she helps make things a little better.
 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
@serviceguy , we seem to have a lot in common with our dog situation. Our Bailey, "Bailey D", is a little older as she's almost 2, but we had or have had some of the same behaviors, both good and bad.

She was into the nipping/light biting and also did some short lived chewing early on. With correcting it as it happened, we were able to get that to stop, as well as any chewing on things other than her own chew toys.

Bailey D is also fairly obedient with waiting for food or staying at the door until we say "ok".

For the pulling while walking, I mentioned in the other thread that if we do some quick training in the driveway before the walk, that seems to help remind her that we are the focus. A quick up and down the driveway, reinforcing the command to stop, wait, heel.

Bailey D is heavier than she looks and is close to 70 lbs. She doesn't really pull with me, but with the kids and my wife, we worried she might be too strong. Early on, we tried different harnesses and collars, but what my wife had the best luck with was a simple gentle leader. Bailey was receptive to putting it on (it goes over her snout) and from the first time using it, she did not pull once with my wife. It's not a muzzle, it's just a strap that goes around the snout and if she pulls, it turn her head back towards us. I'm sure it doesn't work for everyone, but we did have great results with it.

We adopted Bailey D right after the pandemic started. I had just sold both of my bikes and she was an addition to our family that we didn't realize how much we needed. I don't post much on any social media about personal stuff, but to summarize, life the last few years has been tough. My work is a stressful and complicated situation. My wife also has health issues that she has been dealing with for almost a decade with no relief, we have an insurmountable amount of debt from medical bills, and two teenage girls who will be going to college before we know it.

Some might say adding a dog to the mix was a very risky situation, but against anything that anyone told us, we did it anyway. Bailey D does have some issues, but through it all, it was the best decision we ever made. She has been a huge help with the immense stress we're under, and at the end of the day she helps make things a little better.
Sorry to hear about your wife, I'm glad that Bailey D brought some relief to your situation. I can see that happening for us as well soon, I have great hopes for Bailey L.
 

iman29

Well-Known Member
@iman29 yesterday he got off the dog bed and happily came to me for pets. That's something I just thought of; it's like a reflex reaction then he stops. Wonder if even as a pup there wasn't enough to go around and his first instinct is to guard. Hmm. It's even tough to reward good behavior as there's such a fine line between the two.

Thats one of those good "ad hoc" opportunities to provide an super exaggerated reward - doesnt have to be a treat can just be smothering with hugs kisses or belly rubs whatever he likes.

I was thinking more about this last night and with the guarding its tricky because I like to think of it as the dog is on the wrong "channel" and you have to find a way to change it or you can't even really communicate (like 2 way radios). Shelby's guarding sometimes translates to a new toy, or her favorite new bed so instead of trying to force the issue, I get her to do something I know shes always successful at like Paw and then reward THAT behavior immediately. then I will repeat this until she stops complaining that I come to close or took something away. It takes some practice to also read the body language (lowering head, ears back, eyes looking upward...) and cut it short before the dog goes from 0-100 on the wrong channel.

I do this in certain situations with Shelby as random reinforcement. I will see her behaving nicely and chewing on one of her favorite toys by herself and get her attention first (never sneak up its not gonna end well) and then I will take it away with a steady slow motion so as not to trigger an instinctual response. I think of this as continuing to de-sensitize her guarding but the reality is she may not ever get rid of it 100% its still manageable.
 

rlb

Well-Known Member
@serviceguy, right before I got Marlee, I was approved to foster dogs through some rescue org. They sent me tons of paperwork to read and one had to do with decompressing. It takes much longer than I'd expect for a dog to decompress and settle. And honestly, I never even thought about decompressing before. My last dogs were thrown into my life and we just did things. One was very scared and had issues, but I never felt like I had to revolve my life around him. My point is, you are right - 2 months is not a long time and your dog is still adjusting and learning. You made some good points about what was once cute and encouraged is what you are now trying to fix.

Our "pup" will be with us 2 years in May, and it's only the last ~6 months or so that I feel she's really settled in. I think part of that may be the socialization and exercise she's getting at doggy daycare a few times a month. But I also feel like she's finally settled into our house. There have been no potty incidents and very few chewing incidents lately. She's also earned crate-free bedtimes, and when shes home alone for extended periods shes gated in the kitchen instead of crated.

But yeah, it does take a whiel for them to settle! Especially if they've bounced around a lot. Our girl was in a home, then given up to a shelter (and possibly a foster for a while too) before being driven up fro Georgia then coming home with us that same day.
 

iman29

Well-Known Member
OK so you know what ,this whole discussion has motivated me to teach Shelby MORE things that I know she's capable of, but it's my fears and apprehension thats holding me back. Hopefully this is not bragging, just showing what's possible once you have a really good training foundation established.

I have always wanted a dog "capable" of being off leash but not full time so to speak. Given the issues we had in the early days I backed off that idea to focus on the more important stuff like not having her almost dislocate my shoulder on every walk. She's pretty good at walking with a loose leash these days and I tested this a few times by holding the leash with one hand and a loose grip. With her leash training, we have established a well practiced routine that once that leash is on shes not supposed to move even if someone is not holding it. 99.99% of the time this is what happens when we come back in the front door, since she has to get her paws wiped down (Paw command in use here!) and the occasional full body wipe down with some scented dog cleaning wipes (used in between baths).

Today I (bravely) decided to to some " drop the leash drills" outdoors with her on this morning's walk. The leash has the poop bag attachment on it so it makes a sound she doesnt like and I think she associates that with oh I should stay still. Once she did her business i dropped the leash next to me and put her in sit. I was able to take off the gloves, collect the deposit, get my phone and take this pic (2-3 minutes) and the whole time she didn't budge - almost like the dog statue in the background.

1644522372339.png

Will try this a bunch more and then try removing the bag holder and see if she has the same response, but only when I am closer to home.
 
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iman29

Well-Known Member
Our "pup" will be with us 2 years in May, and it's only the last ~6 months or so that I feel she's really settled in. I think part of that may be the socialization and exercise she's getting at doggy daycare a few times a month. But I also feel like she's finally settled into our house. There have been no potty incidents and very few chewing incidents lately. She's also earned crate-free bedtimes, and when shes home alone for extended periods shes gated in the kitchen instead of crated.

But yeah, it does take a whiel for them to settle! Especially if they've bounced around a lot. Our girl was in a home, then given up to a shelter (and possibly a foster for a while too) before being driven up fro Georgia then coming home with us that same day.
agree here and can relate.

Shelby really liked her crate from Day 1, she was 7-8 weeks old when we got her. In the beginning she was always in the crate when we went out, and only in the kitchen gated off when we were home while potty training etc... since thats the best spot with tile floors for accidents. She naturally got more privileges as she got older/better we would go out and leave her in the kitchen gated in but then still goes to bed in the crate (Shelby Night Night/ Shelby Cage). She got very good at no accidents pretty quickly and for a while now she will literally stay in the cage all night and all morning without a sound until someone lets her out. We can all come and go in the mornings and she might look up but she never cries to get out. Most mornings I am waking her up between WFH meetings to take her on her walk.

And it was only the last year that we took down all the gates. She has run of the house but, she has been trained to stay off the 3rd level of the house where the bedrooms are since thats the only way the 2 cats can have an escape when Shelby gets too excited to play with them (no fighting which is good). The only time she can go up to the bedroom level is for her bathtime (Shelby Bath). Shes also not allowed in the garage without leash, or to come down to the basement.

My son was just saying to me how she has access to everything around the house (shoes, jackets, coffee table with candy bowl, etc.. ) but she has rarely had any issues in the last 2 years aside from the occasional paper plate or candy wrapper one of the teenagers leaves on the coffee table.
 

shrpshtr325

Infinite Source of Sarcasm
Team MTBNJ Halter's
My son was just saying to me how she has access to everything around the house (shoes, jackets, coffee table with candy bowl, etc.. ) but she has rarely had any issues in the last 2 years aside from the occasional paper plate or candy wrapper one of the teenagers leaves on the coffee table.


this is something we have achieved with our two which amazes my in-laws (who have 4 dogs that basically run the show in their house). Our dogs will NOT eat food unless it is given directly to them (either by hand like a treat, or in their bowl) no stealing food off the coffee table/kitchen table/counter/stove ect (and yes mine can reach all of those places without any issue), you can drop food directly in front of them and they just look at you like "you dont think im going to stoop to that level do you?"

I also made sure we trained them from the beginning to stay off the furniture (as much as it killed my wife to not cuddle the puppies on the furniture, she now understands why)

we also had very few teething incidents with either one chewing on stuff they shouldn't, all it took was catching them once and they stopped.

we haven't used crates with ours since they were 6 months old or so(both have run of the house all day/night), but neither one of them particularly liked the crates so the kitchen became their room when we went out for housebreaking purposes for the same reason you described.
 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
Observation...

I was working from home today so I took the opportunity to try a few things with Bailey L while taking her out for her bathroom calls. Watched the training video that @iman29 posted in reply to one of my posts a few days ago, made a ton of sense, so I tried the pop on the side technique to correct unwanted behavior. Our trainer told us the same, it was more evident with the video because...well, she's kind of short so the low, later movement didn't really clicked for me...it worked most of the time so I though 'success'...

I then moved to the front of the driveway, next to the road. Made BaileyL sit and we waited for cars to pass by (definitely must have to do with the speed, good call @Mare45 ).

The result were confusing but maybe a better man ( either @iman29 or @Mare45 ) can squeeze something out of it (I don't have a clue)...

First couple of cars she launched violently at them (so much for a quick low, side pop), I had to hold her back, her legs up in the air, wait for her to calm down and make her sit (light upward pull of the leash, she would not listed to a vocal 'sit')...then the magic happens, 3, 4 cars pass by and she looks at them but doesn't move, I rewarded her with great praise each time and started thinking 'I got her'...then disaster strikes again and she does exactly the same crazy routine of launching at a bunch of cars, sometime barking, then...calm again...I'm puzzled, can't tell if I did anything different.

I kneel next to her to make sure the next time she jumps I pop the leash horizontally (for lack of any better ideas) and she decided to lean against me without being requested to...and now when she's leaning against me she does not show any interest whatsoever toward passing cars, she looks at them passing by then she looks at me and I reward her with great praise again. Decided to close on a positive and walked her back inside.

Is there any valuable info in there?!?!
 

iman29

Well-Known Member
Observation...

I was working from home today so I took the opportunity to try a few things with Bailey L while taking her out for her bathroom calls. Watched the training video that @iman29 posted in reply to one of my posts a few days ago, made a ton of sense, so I tried the pop on the side technique to correct unwanted behavior. Our trainer told us the same, it was more evident with the video because...well, she's kind of short so the low, later movement didn't really clicked for me...it worked most of the time so I though 'success'...

I then moved to the front of the driveway, next to the road. Made BaileyL sit and we waited for cars to pass by (definitely must have to do with the speed, good call @Mare45 ).

The result were confusing but maybe a better man ( either @iman29 or @Mare45 ) can squeeze something out of it (I don't have a clue)...

First couple of cars she launched violently at them (so much for a quick low, side pop), I had to hold her back, her legs up in the air, wait for her to calm down and make her sit (light upward pull of the leash, she would not listed to a vocal 'sit')...then the magic happens, 3, 4 cars pass by and she looks at them but doesn't move, I rewarded her with great praise each time and started thinking 'I got her'...then disaster strikes again and she does exactly the same crazy routine of launching at a bunch of cars, sometime barking, then...calm again...I'm puzzled, can't tell if I did anything different.

I kneel next to her to make sure the next time she jumps I pop the leash horizontally (for lack of any better ideas) and she decided to lean against me without being requested to...and now when she's leaning against me she does not show any interest whatsoever toward passing cars, she looks at them passing by then she looks at me and I reward her with great praise again. Decided to close on a positive and walked her back inside.

Is there any valuable info in there?!?!
So first have to say good work! It always starts somewhere and you are giving it a genuine attempt to help her and you over her fears and anxiety. And yes some
Good info there to work with my mind is racing actually will try to explain and not make this too long. (Yeah that probably won’t happen).

It’s good to see she’s responding to the correction technique changes you made. It’s also good she can be successful sometimes when cars pass by so you know she has it in her.

I have experience with this actually with Shelby she used to be really freaked out by school buses and trucks that have the traction chains attached to them.

My thoughts are:

She clearly gets triggered by passing cars so it’s fear, anxiety or past experience or a combination of all of these.

When she’s in this “state of anxiety” she will
Lash out and you won’t be able to communicate with her because she’s in the red zone. Or on a different “channel “that she can’t even hear you like a screaming child
You will need a way to “change the channel”
As I call it to get her back to a state where you can communicate with her successfully. This does not refer to the snap the collar/leash approach only which probably doesn’t work anyway. But you also have to be sure you are not rewarding that behavior with things like “ok ok it’s ok” and hugging and petting her with affection. I’ve seen that before and it’s a natural reaction same
As we humans might do to a small child that’s crying. But since this is a dog they don’t communicate or relate this the same way.

Let me suggest a new “tool” or command to use to help communicate with her. Eye contact in dog behavior is critical it’s even how they communicate with each other. You can leverage this and have her focus on you when you see she’s getting ramped up into the red zone.

I use the “Look” command all the time. It keeps her focused on me and she has to make physical eye contact every time to get a reward. One thing to keep in mind always use the same format to speak the command (Name, Command) “Bailey Look” but never use the command NO when you say her name. Bailey NO or NO Bailey. You want to save the NO command for anything you NEVER want her to do (like jumping at cars ).

I tried to find another video for you to see a trainer execute this and this one is pretty close to how I did it. I didn’t do the arm thing but I did start off sitting down with her ate eye level to teach her. Then progressed to standing up and then also used it on every dog walk (still do).

Also key to this training session is to find her in a calm state so don’t do it after a long walk. Maybe after she took a power nap in the sun you can call her over for some belly rubs and then kick off the training. Keep it to 10-15 minutes max or until she has a high success rate in a row (ie 8 or 9 out if 10 times). She will learn this one quick but do this a few times at least 5 mini sessions sitting. Then a few standing. Then try it on a walk in the yard with some treats you will see how fast she progresses. Once she knows this one then we can talk how to use it for the car passing training and desensitizing.

Ok my hands are tired from typing . Let us know how it goes !

 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
So first have to say good work! It always starts somewhere and you are giving it a genuine attempt to help her and you over her fears and anxiety. And yes some
Good info there to work with my mind is racing actually will try to explain and not make this too long. (Yeah that probably won’t happen).

It’s good to see she’s responding to the correction technique changes you made. It’s also good she can be successful sometimes when cars pass by so you know she has it in her.

I have experience with this actually with Shelby she used to be really freaked out by school buses and trucks that have the traction chains attached to them.

My thoughts are:

She clearly gets triggered by passing cars so it’s fear, anxiety or past experience or a combination of all of these.

When she’s in this “state of anxiety” she will
Lash out and you won’t be able to communicate with her because she’s in the red zone. Or on a different “channel “that she can’t even hear you like a screaming child
You will need a way to “change the channel”
As I call it to get her back to a state where you can communicate with her successfully. This does not refer to the snap the collar/leash approach only which probably doesn’t work anyway. But you also have to be sure you are not rewarding that behavior with things like “ok ok it’s ok” and hugging and petting her with affection. I’ve seen that before and it’s a natural reaction same
As we humans might do to a small child that’s crying. But since this is a dog they don’t communicate or relate this the same way.

Let me suggest a new “tool” or command to use to help communicate with her. Eye contact in dog behavior is critical it’s even how they communicate with each other. You can leverage this and have her focus on you when you see she’s getting ramped up into the red zone.

I use the “Look” command all the time. It keeps her focused on me and she has to make physical eye contact every time to get a reward. One thing to keep in mind always use the same format to speak the command (Name, Command) “Bailey Look” but never use the command NO when you say her name. Bailey NO or NO Bailey. You want to save the NO command for anything you NEVER want her to do (like jumping at cars ).

I tried to find another video for you to see a trainer execute this and this one is pretty close to how I did it. I didn’t do the arm thing but I did start off sitting down with her ate eye level to teach her. Then progressed to standing up and then also used it on every dog walk (still do).

Also key to this training session is to find her in a calm state so don’t do it after a long walk. Maybe after she took a power nap in the sun you can call her over for some belly rubs and then kick off the training. Keep it to 10-15 minutes max or until she has a high success rate in a row (ie 8 or 9 out if 10 times). She will learn this one quick but do this a few times at least 5 mini sessions sitting. Then a few standing. Then try it on a walk in the yard with some treats you will see how fast she progresses. Once she knows this one then we can talk how to use it for the car passing training and desensitizing.

Ok my hands are tired from typing . Let us know how it goes !


Will do. Last night I could not squeeze any attention out of her when I took her out for the soon after dinner backyard/front yard tour, she was distracted by everything and anything, birds, planes, cars in the distance, a piece of wood out of place, the neighbor porch light that is always there…then when trying to replicate the driveway ‘desensitizing’ she leaped so high she was barely stopped in mid air by the leash, had to go back inside, not sure how she didn’t break her neck. No correction seemed to work. She also decided to rip apart her second bed to date in the space of a few seconds being left unattended. Than when we went out for the last call before bed she was fine and we walk around the driveway a few time, no issues. Let’s rename this thread ‘leo sucks at training his dog’…
 

extremedave

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Thats one of those good "ad hoc" opportunities to provide an super exaggerated reward - doesnt have to be a treat can just be smothering with hugs kisses or belly rubs whatever he likes.

I was thinking more about this last night and with the guarding its tricky because I like to think of it as the dog is on the wrong "channel" and you have to find a way to change it or you can't even really communicate (like 2 way radios). Shelby's guarding sometimes translates to a new toy, or her favorite new bed so instead of trying to force the issue, I get her to do something I know shes always successful at like Paw and then reward THAT behavior immediately. then I will repeat this until she stops complaining that I come to close or took something away. It takes some practice to also read the body language (lowering head, ears back, eyes looking upward...) and cut it short before the dog goes from 0-100 on the wrong channel.

I do this in certain situations with Shelby as random reinforcement. I will see her behaving nicely and chewing on one of her favorite toys by herself and get her attention first (never sneak up its not gonna end well) and then I will take it away with a steady slow motion so as not to trigger an instinctual response. I think of this as continuing to de-sensitize her guarding but the reality is she may not ever get rid of it 100% its still manageable.
Paul sometimes doesn't change expression or demeanor before "attacking", it's the oddest thing. Whenever he's uncomfortable/nervous he heads to his "place" be it the bed or crate. Maybe work on repeating "come" with treats to get him used to leaving his spot happily.
 

Fat Trout

Well-Known Member
I've had a lot of adopters over the years insist the behavior of the dog is due to some type of abuse...I think dogs are just weird sometimes so I don't put huge stock in past experience.
We have taken in a number of dogs. We end up keeping most of them...yes some have moved on to great homes. The personality spread is huge. Some just need more time. One of the absolutely sweetest ones we ever came across we have now (Beans). From Texas, one year old, had heart worms...found that after we got her....we fixed that, had a busted back leg (healed on its own)....no bone attached to the hip but it has worked out fine (incredibly). We were going to choke down surgery on the bad leg but one doctor said she already did the hard work, if it doesn't bother her see how she does if you slowly work with her to strengthen. We did therapy and slow working. Her tail was also broken in the middle and degloved but rehealed (probably when the leg was smashed, car?). Later we found she had two past injurys swell that we didn't know about.....we pulled (2) field point pellets out at the vet (yeah she was shot by a pellet gun...twice). We had to hand feed her for a while at the beginning (thats how we got her...to help as we know a shelter that was at a loss with her). She is now the most energetic and loving dog you could imagine. She runs like lightning now. We had her out on trails today hiking.....freaking lightning fast. She gave up but she came around. we couldn't let her go. We had two others (since passed). Both older. One timid as you could get (Bashful).....definitely had the "what happened to you question". Came around perfectly (with time). Another (Manny), old as the hills and nasty....this was my wifes project. We are convinced he was dumped because he was a nasty prick. I got the stink eye and got bit once (minor). He warmed to me but he was mommy's boy. Dude led a rough life somewhere, but he fell into the fold and we both miss him now.
 

iman29

Well-Known Member
Will do. Last night I could not squeeze any attention out of her when I took her out for the soon after dinner backyard/front yard tour, she was distracted by everything and anything, birds, planes, cars in the distance, a piece of wood out of place, the neighbor porch light that is always there…then when trying to replicate the driveway ‘desensitizing’ she leaped so high she was barely stopped in mid air by the leash, had to go back inside, not sure how she didn’t break her neck. No correction seemed to work. She also decided to rip apart her second bed to date in the space of a few seconds being left unattended. Than when we went out for the last call before bed she was fine and we walk around the driveway a few time, no issues. Let’s rename this thread ‘leo sucks at training his dog’…
Took me a few days to think about this.

There's so many things happening at once it's hard to know what to do in each situation since there's way to predict how the dog will be on a particular day, hour, minute. There are so many "things" to fix, it can be like OMG this is never going to work.

So far the topics and suggestions have been about addressing a lot of behaviors. But I think I mentioned before about having a good foundation for obedience leads to better attention and behaviors (for you and the dog) in my view and experience.

Instead of thinking and stressing over what you consider bad things, take a minute and think about what she does that you like? You mentioned shes very good at sit? How often do you practice/reward her with that? Can she do any other more "simple" things (down, stay, paw...) yet? Im asking because I am thinking you need to try and focus on setting her up for success and increase the chances you can give her positive reinforcements.

If the Look training is going well, then switch to some other things she already knows and do drills with her. This will help improve her foundation and understand the boundaries about her relationship with you in the "pack" as the leader. You need to establish your place but this does not mean like a military drill instructor. More like the leader who will always give positive praise and rewards for doing what you ask.

Hope this gives some ideas to continue to try to work with her! #TeamBaileyL
 

iman29

Well-Known Member
@serviceguy , we seem to have a lot in common with our dog situation. Our Bailey, "Bailey D", is a little older as she's almost 2, but we had or have had some of the same behaviors, both good and bad.

She was into the nipping/light biting and also did some short lived chewing early on. With correcting it as it happened, we were able to get that to stop, as well as any chewing on things other than her own chew toys.

Bailey D is also fairly obedient with waiting for food or staying at the door until we say "ok".

For the pulling while walking, I mentioned in the other thread that if we do some quick training in the driveway before the walk, that seems to help remind her that we are the focus. A quick up and down the driveway, reinforcing the command to stop, wait, heel.

Bailey D is heavier than she looks and is close to 70 lbs. She doesn't really pull with me, but with the kids and my wife, we worried she might be too strong. Early on, we tried different harnesses and collars, but what my wife had the best luck with was a simple gentle leader. Bailey was receptive to putting it on (it goes over her snout) and from the first time using it, she did not pull once with my wife. It's not a muzzle, it's just a strap that goes around the snout and if she pulls, it turn her head back towards us. I'm sure it doesn't work for everyone, but we did have great results with it.

We adopted Bailey D right after the pandemic started. I had just sold both of my bikes and she was an addition to our family that we didn't realize how much we needed. I don't post much on any social media about personal stuff, but to summarize, life the last few years has been tough. My work is a stressful and complicated situation. My wife also has health issues that she has been dealing with for almost a decade with no relief, we have an insurmountable amount of debt from medical bills, and two teenage girls who will be going to college before we know it.

Some might say adding a dog to the mix was a very risky situation, but against anything that anyone told us, we did it anyway. Bailey D does have some issues, but through it all, it was the best decision we ever made. She has been a huge help with the immense stress we're under, and at the end of the day she helps make things a little better.
Great stuff! sounds to me she landed with the right owners and you have adapted the training and her quirks to make things manageable.

My family always tells me she "only really listens to you" but thats because I am the one that taught her (and them!) what she knows and I spend the most time with her even the last 2 years working from home. The complaints I hear about from them are usually because they are not managing her on the leash they way I taught them (dog on the left, not walking ahead or behind, no tension on leash). Even at 60lbs, Shelby is lean and plenty strong and can easily pull someone down if you dont pay attention.
 
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