When's The Best Time To Use This Facility?

[Banjoman]

Chancey has been with me for five weeks now & has settled in at home very well.

She is straight off the track (her last race was the end of December) & when out walking she is permanently on the alert for anything that moves, people walking in the distance, a cyclist riding away from us & especially people walking dogs have her pulling like mad. I am working on stopping her permanently pulling into her collar & by the time we are nearing the end of our walk she is usually a little more relaxed. When she sees another dog she is frantic to get to them & I sometimes have a screaming bucking bronco on the end of the lead, yet she walks happily with my own whippet and the whippet & IG who walk with us most mornings. I don't think she is aggressive, she just wants to go and see them, although I'm pretty sure she would chase any small fluffy that ran away from her!

 

I am currently working on "Look at me" at home but at the moment when we are outside nothing distracts her. i have been unable to get her to sit at all, she almost seems to have to think about getting into a "sit" when she wants to!

 

Because I am aware that she is still "keen" & there are often small dogs running loose I have a plastic muzzle on her when walking in the forest but she often nearly knocks me over or trips me up when rubbing her head against my legs trying to get it off. When walking around the housing estate where we live I prefer not to have the muzzle on as we are unlikely to meet a loose dog and I can always cross the road or detour if I think I need to avoid another dog & owner.

 

I have found a local boarding kennel that is prepared to rent out one of their exercise pens which would give Chancey the opportunity to have a little freedom and a lope around & where I can safely do off lead recall work with her. We investigated it & spent a short time there this week and Chancey spent the early part of the time running the fence watching the smaller dogs that were out in a neighbouring exercise area but after a while she seemed to lose interest a little.

 

I can choose what time I want to use this area & wonder if it would desensitise her to small / other dogs if I go there when I know the kennel dogs are going to be out in their exercise pens & she gets to see them & used to their proximity but cannot meet / chase them? Or I can go at lunch time when I know there will be no other dogs out so no distractions if I want to do some training with her. We have not done much training outside in my small garden as the weather has been wet & windy since she came to me & all grassy areas are just sodden & squelchy.

 

Suggestions would be appreciated, please.

 

Thank you.

 

Carol.

[greysmom]

Do you have to use it at the same time every session? Maybe you could work on some things when the dogs are out and other things when the dogs are in?

 

If she's not responding to you when you're outside the house, you'll need to up your treat value substantially then. An extra special, smelly, yummy treat that you only have available to her when you're practising away from home - hot dogs, sausages, smelly cheese, sandwich meat, broiled chicken breast. Or maybe she would respond better to a squeaky toy (a small one), or ball. You just need something she wants badly enough.

 

It also might be worth it to try and load a clicker cue for her. That way, even if she pays attention for an instant, you can click her immediately for a response. At home when she's calm, just sit with her and treat-click, treat-click. Soon she'll come to associate the click with something good and you can use it as a reward in and of itself.

 

I'm not sure how you feel about them, but you can also try a Head Halter

http://www.petco.com/product/117654/Petco-Black-Non-Pull-Head-Halter-for-Dogs.aspx

 

I have mixed feelings about them, but did use one fairly effectively with one of our boys (a different one than the one in the link).

[Banjoman]

Thanks Chris, I hadn't thought of a squeeky toy as a treat, she does like them but kills them within minutes. I find I run out of hands when walking with two dogs. As the whole idea of getting another dog was to keep Banjo company I don't want to walk just her & leave him behind to stress out!

 

Providing nobody else wants to use the kennel run I think I can have it when I want so could hire it 11.30.a.m. - 12.30. p.m. and have half an hour playing with my dogs in the run with other dogs around and half an hour training / playing time without too much distraction. I feed the dogs around 1.00.p.m. so I need to use it before their lunch time but, being an outdoor run and with the recent weather conditions I might just need to ask them if I can go on a certain day & time my visit to suit the weather. A lot of the fields around the kennels are flooded, with water running off them and across the roads.

[sobesmom]

It sounds like a wonderful opportunity for you. I'd agree that the answer is "both". Some times with other dogs around and some times without. Use the time without distractions for training, and the time with for fun and desensitization. Have fun! It sounds really cool!

 

ETA: That pic is adorable. That's a happy pup!

Edited March 4, 2014 by sobesmom

[Guest Giselle]

How are you training eye contact/focus? Are you luring or are you shaping it? What treats are you using? Have you trained this behavior successfully before?

 

IMO, solid focus is the first problem you should tackle. There's no use taking the show on the road, so to speak, if there's no show to begin with. Otherwise, you can just use the facility for exercise.