Greyhound Vs Shepherd...a Training Experiment

[Guest houndlover]

I am trying to teach Cavoc (my 9yr old GSD) and Tully (my 3 1/2yr old foster dog) how to retrieve. Cavoc certainly has a few advantages over Tully: 1) I have had Cavoc for about 10months and and I have only had Tully for about 1 1/2months and 2) Cavoc is deaf so he is more in tune to my hand motions. Both dogs are playful, puppyish and highly food motivated. This is how training went last nite.

 

I took Cavoc outside and showed him the treats. I put the treats behind my back and put the ball in front of his nose. His goal was to touch the ball with his nose and then he would get a treat. He obviously had no idea what I wanted him to do and tried EVERYTHING to get a treat. He sat, laid down, sat again, tried to give me his paw. After a few seconds he reached for the ball, touched it and got a treat. After a few more attempts he seemed to understand what I wanted so I moved the ball further away and he continued touching it with his nose. After the treats were gone, we stopped.

 

Next it was Tully’s turn. I did the same thing as above. I put the ball right in front of Tully’s nose really close so that he HAD to touch it. He did and he got a treat. He touched the ball again and got another treat. Then it was downhill from there. He walked away and was completely uninterested in what I was doing. I was able to lure him back with another treat but apparently there was something more exciting going on in the yard and away he went. He came back after a little while and I was able to get him to touch the ball one more time before he decided that running around the yard with Daisy would be more fun. LOL

 

What a difference in the 2 of them! I really couldn’t believe it. Cavoc was totally focused and would have done anything to please me. Tully was in his own world. LOL

[Ragsysmum]

Just shows you how intelligent greyhounds are! He showed you he understood the game, got bored after proving he could do it easily and went off to find his own entertainment. Now that's a bright dog I reckon!

[Mystella]

 

I decided to try to work on recall with Jeff, just because it is a good idea. I get out treats, he runs to his bed and lays down (this is where he likes to take his treats) I call him back to me, he comes and gets treat. Now we go downhill. I walk across room and show him treat and say 'jeffy come' he runs to his bed across the room and gives me the 'bring me the treat' look. I don't. I repeat 'jeffy come' he roos at me. Dh begins to laugh. I move to a new spot midway between his bed and the wall, Jeffy come, he roaches, stands, lays down and begins to bark at me.

 

We definitely need more work on this

Edited May 6, 2010 by Mystella

[Guest Sunset123]

"Go get it" is one of Arrisa's favorite commands.

 

Here's how I got her to understand what I wanted her to do:

 

First... she uses a clicker. So if you don't use one you might want to try it. The clicker should be "charged," meaning, dog knows that a treat follows a click.

 

Second, I used one of her food toys (the Kong ball or the Busy Buddy) with a little bit of peanut butter inside. I roll it down the hall, and say "go get it!" the moment she touches it with her nose I click. She knows that means treat, so she comes back and gets it. It's easier to get a cookie from me than to dig peanut butter out of the toy! The rolling was good because she was able to follow it slowly and she wasn't frightened when it hit the ground with a thud. Eventually, she understood that I wanted her to do the same thing with any toy that I tossed across the room.

 

I haven't been able to figure out how to teach her to pick up something on command, though. If anyone has any ideas? She does catch toys and retrieve them when we're in the yard.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Sunset123

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

I find with fetch for Spud, anyway, that stuffies work much better than a ball.

 

Sadie, on the other hand, loves loves loves tennis balls.

 

Is there a reason you want them to fetch? We don't play fetch per se, but if Spudzie leaves his toy(s) in the yard, he'll go back and get them when we tell him, "Go get your toy." It's a useful trick.

 

 

[GeorgeofNE]

Interesting, since neither breed is a retrieving breed!

[arandomchic]

We joke that greyhounds already had their career which revolved heavily around the schedules of everybody else . In retirement they want to do their own thing!

 

Like BlackandBrindle's Spud, our Molly will fetch stuffies only and she drops them when I say drop. She figured out quick if she drops it, it'll get thrown again. We have the most success indoors where there are less distractions. In the yard, about half the time we throw her stuffies, she grabs it and zooms around for a bit.

[Guest LindsaySF]

It's like that in my house too. Cody and the pit bulls will do anything for a treat, they would die to please you. The Greys, not so much.

[Guest Sunset123]

It's like that in my house too. Cody and the pit bulls will do anything for a treat, they would die to please you. The Greys, not so much.

 

I got lucky and got a foodie. :lol

 

OMG, YOU HAVE A PIECE OF BANANA!!! *SIT* *DOWN* *SIT* *SHAKE* YOU LIKE THESE?? I HAVE MORE! *BOW* *SIT* *SHAKE* *SHAKE WITH OTHER PAW* *DOWN* YOU WANT ME TO GO GET MY STUFFIE FOR YOU???

[Jackandgrey]

It's like that in my house too. Cody and the pit bulls will do anything for a treat, they would die to please you. The Greys, not so much.

 

I got lucky and got a foodie. :lol

 

OMG, YOU HAVE A PIECE OF BANANA!!! *SIT* *DOWN* *SIT* *SHAKE* YOU LIKE THESE?? I HAVE MORE! *BOW* *SIT* *SHAKE* *SHAKE WITH OTHER PAW* *DOWN* YOU WANT ME TO GO GET MY STUFFIE FOR YOU???

 

Yeah that's Jilly

[Guest houndlover]

It's like that in my house too. Cody and the pit bulls will do anything for a treat, they would die to please you. The Greys, not so much.

 

I got lucky and got a foodie. :lol

 

OMG, YOU HAVE A PIECE OF BANANA!!! *SIT* *DOWN* *SIT* *SHAKE* YOU LIKE THESE?? I HAVE MORE! *BOW* *SIT* *SHAKE* *SHAKE WITH OTHER PAW* *DOWN* YOU WANT ME TO GO GET MY STUFFIE FOR YOU???

 

Yeah that's Jilly

 

I find with fetch for Spud, anyway, that stuffies work much better than a ball.

 

Sadie, on the other hand, loves loves loves tennis balls.

 

Is there a reason you want them to fetch? We don't play fetch per se, but if Spudzie leaves his toy(s) in the yard, he'll go back and get them when we tell him, "Go get your toy." It's a useful trick.

 

Cavoc is very mouthy when he gets excited so the trainer at obedience school said that "fetch" would be a good thing for him to do when he gets all fired up about something (like when I get home). Tully doesn't need to learn to fetch but I thought that he would really enjoy it b/c he likes to play so much but I guess I was wrong.

[Guest bordermutts]

I haven't been able to figure out how to teach her to pick up something on command, though. If anyone has any ideas? She does catch toys and retrieve them when we're in the yard.

 

Does she pick them up off the ground, or just catch them in the air? If she already picks them up, hopefully you can just tie a command to it and reward her for it.

 

If that doesn't work, here's what I did with our 2 dogs (Chopper doesn't count since fetching is about as natural as breathing to him ). Harriet was a tricky case- she would touch the ball, but that was it. First, I stopped giving her treats unless she actually put her teeth on the ball and grabbed it. That worked, but then we hit a wall again for a while What I ended up doing was tying a string around the ball and dragging it across the ground in front of her; when she went to grab it, it lifted up off the ground just slightly, and I gave her a treat. Eventually she figured out that whenever the ball got lifted off the ground, she got a treat.

 

With Smushie, he wouldn't touch the ball at all, so I did something called 'reverse-chain' training (or something like that). It's where you start with the end behavior and work backwards. Basically I just stuffed the ball in his mouth, and when he spit it out in my hand, he got a treat. Eventually he figured out that ball in my hand = treat, and he figured out the rest himself. It was surprisingly easy. Obviously this won't work for all dogs; Harriet didn't take too kindly to having a ball stuck in her mouth, so I had to be more creative. It's a pretty pointless trick for her, but I learned a lot teaching it... and it's cute

[Guest Sunset123]

I haven't been able to figure out how to teach her to pick up something on command, though. If anyone has any ideas? She does catch toys and retrieve them when we're in the yard.

 

Does she pick them up off the ground, or just catch them in the air? If she already picks them up, hopefully you can just tie a command to it and reward her for it.

 

If that doesn't work, here's what I did with our 2 dogs (Chopper doesn't count since fetching is about as natural as breathing to him ). Harriet was a tricky case- she would touch the ball, but that was it. First, I stopped giving her treats unless she actually put her teeth on the ball and grabbed it. That worked, but then we hit a wall again for a while What I ended up doing was tying a string around the ball and dragging it across the ground in front of her; when she went to grab it, it lifted up off the ground just slightly, and I gave her a treat. Eventually she figured out that whenever the ball got lifted off the ground, she got a treat.

 

With Smushie, he wouldn't touch the ball at all, so I did something called 'reverse-chain' training (or something like that). It's where you start with the end behavior and work backwards. Basically I just stuffed the ball in his mouth, and when he spit it out in my hand, he got a treat. Eventually he figured out that ball in my hand = treat, and he figured out the rest himself. It was surprisingly easy. Obviously this won't work for all dogs; Harriet didn't take too kindly to having a ball stuck in her mouth, so I had to be more creative. It's a pretty pointless trick for her, but I learned a lot teaching it... and it's cute

 

She can catch in the air and pick up from the ground when we play fetch in the yard. I'd like to use that and turn it into something she can do on command. The problem has to do with a conflict with our training method. I clicker train to mark her behaviors. A click for any other command means, "you did it, now come get a treat!" So what happens when I click when she gets the toy in her mouth is that she'll automatically drop it and come over for her treat. Oops! I'll try your methods and see if I can make it clear to her.

[Guest bordermutts]

Yeah, teaching Harriet to actually carry it all the way back to me took a while (sometimes she still won't bring it all the way, but its mostly because I don't practice much anymore ). If I recall correctly, I just kept rolling the ball a few feet away, and I would only mark/treat the behavior (I use "yes" in place of a clicker) if she carried it for at least a couple steps. Then I kept raising the bar and making her carry it farther and farther. It took weeks, but then one day she just randomly started carrying it all the way back. I have no idea why... the only difference was that we were playing in the basement instead of the living room that day... I have no idea how dogs' minds work sometimes

 

I think the easiest way to do it (if you can) is to teach the dog to drop it in your hand, because then they know exactly where you want the ball/toy to end up... but for some reason Harriet just couldn't grasp that concept, even though she's pretty bright. Like I said, sometimes I just don't know...

[Batmom]

The way I got Joseph to learn to bring it back was to - in quick succession - "Get your toy," go to the toy (he'd follow me over), which he had already dropped, "Drop it," and "Good boy!" He's really food motivated, not the sharpest knife in the drawer but still. So far (not even a week and not much time to work with her), Gidget doesn't chase toys, she only chases Joseph .

[BauersMom]

This thread has me laughing out loud.

 

I have two who are in the "don't care" category. Somehow I've gotten sit with one of them. A small miracle. But now if I try to teach her something else, she sits. I guess she's realized that if she gets a treat with a sit, why bother?

 

My third is super food motivated and learns really quickly. He got "speak" in about 20 minutes. The problem I have now is that when I try to teach another dog anything, he wants in on the action. "I'm sitting too! Look paw! Paw, I got that one too!" Not really helpful. I stuck him in the crate during one training session, and there he was sitting, giving paw, etc in his crate. Oy.

[Guest Sunset123]

I stuck him in the crate during one training session, and there he was sitting, giving paw, etc in his crate. Oy.

 

 

Poor guy!

 

 

When I had two dogs in the house, littermate Aussie sisters, we had one who was more showy with the tricks and one who just liked food. The first one would do her little "Watch me! I'm sitting like a good girl!" routine, and the second one would hide under the table and watch. As soon as the first one had successfully gotten the treats to come out, her lazy sister would spring into action and magically appear to receive treats as well!

Edited May 7, 2010 by Sunset123

[Guest houndlover]

I am definitely going to try some of the other training suggestions posted here to teach tully how to fetch. Im not sure if this training method isnt working for him or maybe I am expecting too much too soon. Tonite, I took Cavoc outside to work with him and he was again completely focused. We have moved on to me being able to move away from him and he will walk over to me and touch the ball with his nose.

 

Tully on the hand, is either disinterested or I am just moving too fast for him. I had the ball in one hand, treats in the other. I put the ball in front of him, he touched it with his nose and we did this a few times. Then I put the hand with the treats behind my back (which is the way that I do the exercise with Cavoc) and Tully walked away from the ball and went behind my back to find the treats that were in my hand. Tully definitely knows what he wants and he is going to get it one way or another.

 

This thread has me laughing out loud.

 

I have two who are in the "don't care" category. Somehow I've gotten sit with one of them. A small miracle. But now if I try to teach her something else, she sits. I guess she's realized that if she gets a treat with a sit, why bother?

 

My third is super food motivated and learns really quickly. He got "speak" in about 20 minutes. The problem I have now is that when I try to teach another dog anything, he wants in on the action. "I'm sitting too! Look paw! Paw, I got that one too!" Not really helpful. I stuck him in the crate during one training session, and there he was sitting, giving paw, etc in his crate. Oy.

Edited May 8, 2010 by houndlover

[Guest NeverSayNever]

You might start with something the greyhound already likes to pick up. When I train my greyhounds to retrieve, I put them on leash, so they cannot take off with the toy. I am right handed so I hold the leash in my left hand and a treat in my right hand. I drop the a toy my greyhound already loves to pick up and play with. When the greyhound picks up the toy, I put my left hand on the toy and put the treat in his mouth and trade him the toy for the treat. I drop the toy again. Greyhound picks up, I trade with a treat again. I'll do that several times. If greyhound loses interest in toy, game over and no more treats. We'll work again tomorrow. After a few trainig seesions, the greyhound starts to try and put the toy in your hand. Instead of grabbing for it, see if the greyhound starts to offer it to you for the treat. Once greyhound is good at putting toy in my hand for a treat, I stop using the leash and start tossing the toy a few feet away.

 

For dumbbells, I do what you are doing with ball, but with a clicker. But I have had an easier time teaching dumbell retrieves to the greyhounds who I had already taught toy retrieves with. After awhile most of them will pick up anything I toss or point to.

 

Happy Training! I'm still pulling for the greyhound!

[Guest krystolla]

I have two who are in the "don't care" category. Somehow I've gotten sit with one of them. A small miracle. But now if I try to teach her something else, she sits. I guess she's realized that if she gets a treat with a sit, why bother?

 

Ran into that when I was trying to train my cats to do tricks. One of my girls learned the initial trick, and then looked at me like I was an idiot every time I tried to get her to do anything else. "I did my part, give me the treat!" Incidentally, never teach a cat to paw at you for a treat, it's only cute the first hundred or so times.

 

I have to admit, I love a challenge. Anyone can train a lab, training a greyhound (or a cat) takes creativity.

[kronckew]

tully is a greyhound. if it is not moving, it's boring, he'll ignore it.

 

millie does not do fetch. she says she's retired.

 

blue & i play fetch almost every night, he brings me his favourite rabbit, drops it in my lap and waits for me to throw it. repeat until i get tired. go upstairs to fetch goosey. drop it in my lap. wait for me to throw it. do a 'sit' to encourage me, optional poke with pointy nose. fetch thrown goosey. repeat.

he's doing his best to train me.

[BauersMom]

I'll let you figure out which one knows sit and sit only.

 

[Guest houndlover]

I'll let you figure out which one knows sit and sit only.

 

I like the dog to the far left that has his jammies on and just stands there and looks cute to get a treat.

 

he's doing his best to train me.

Is it working?

[BauersMom]

I'll let you figure out which one knows sit and sit only.

 

I like the dog to the far left that has his jammies on and just stands there and looks cute to get a treat.

 

 

 

That's Princess, and she's 12. So she gets whatever she wants for lookin' cute!

Edited May 8, 2010 by BauersMom