Using canine sensibility to train your dog - Page 2

Ruger, Drake will do that sometimes too.  He used to do it more often than not when I was giving commands from a distance, but he's improved signifigantly.  When it happens, I realize that I have to step up his motivation because I'm boring him. 

While training a new command, I think you learn more about what they're thinking when the signals aren't clear enough.  I find it funny when the motvation is there, but he doesn't quite get what I'm asking... yet.  I know that at times, I can see how hard he's trying to understand and he'll try a few things in fast succession while looking at me like, "Is THIS it?".  The moment he figures it out, the look on his face tells me it clicked!  The confusion is gone, replaced by confidence, showing a quicker response, a more relaxed demeanor and a distinct dog smile.

Hubby's puppy was sooooo easy with the sit. We positively rewarded what he was already doing, added a command and walah. He is the exception rather then the rule though.

I will elaborate. From about 6 weeks old Deuce started running up to hubby and sitting in front of him ( not a polished sit/recall, mind you) looking for direction. We started waiting for his sit before petting or throwing a ball/kong for Deuce. Then we started adding the command to the behavior. When he would sit reliably on command I used the clicker and food to make both the sit and down more precise and fast.

This tells me that he wants to please, looks to us for direction, has oodles of handler focus. I like to see puppies at 6 weeks old following and trying behaviors to get our attention besides the obvious jumping up or barking.

At 6 months old Deuce is showing phenomenal promise as a patrol dog or very high level competition dog. Hubby is raising Deuce as a patrol dog but I believe he may be one of the few who can excel at both.

Melissa

Every thing starts with the sit. This is a long time, dog trainer
concept that goes back to the 1700's.

From the sit you begin to really communicate with
your dog. He begins to learn your language.

One side note as we proceed, is that when
i had puppies from my kennel years ago.

The first command was...puppy, puppy, puppies!!!!!

This is the universal puppy call... Very powerful to the dog.

I found out even when the dog is old and grey he remembers
the word puppy.

Dog psychologist with hundreds of degree's will tell you ..
The dog can only understand very basic concepts.
But I would tell my kelpies that the calves were puppies
and they understood this. Don't laugh, kelpies know what
you are thinking most the time. It must be the dingo in them.

The other thing I would say is that there are dogs in almost all breeds
that are way above the norm in intelligence. Not just Boarder Collies and German Shepherds.
I have worked dogs as good as any BC, but their breed was listed as number 25 or 30
in intelligence.

The one thing you will notice about GSD, is they have changed
considerably since the 1960's. That's if you are old enough to
know. GSD have been a utility dog sense the breed started.
So their character is one of a protection dog. Barking, suspicious of
strangers and ready to defend their master.

So every thing should be  taught to them, will be with this in mind.
 Because that is the way they are bred. If that does not appeal to you, try
a Labrador or another breed. They are very popular as well.

But having said that your dog is not a psycho killer and he
also should have been bred with some brains..not viscous.

I am reading a very good book right now titled, Inside of A Dog, by Aledandra Horowitz.  She's a scientist, and expains how dogs perceive their daily worlds, each other and that other quirky animal, the human.
So far, really good.  On alot, I will not look at my dogs the same way anymore.  Really so far a great read!
Can 't wait to get back to it!  Alot of what I'm reading, in hindsight I see my dogs doing!

Mind you, this is not a book to train your dog, just to get more insight as to how they think and why they do what they do and how you can better understand your dog/s.  From a Scientific aspect.

I'm sure I'm going to take a lot of flak for this but here goes:

Dog training is in theory quite simple. As people we LOVE to otherthink and overanalyze and make ourselves feel like we've done something miraculous by making one of nature's creatures do our bidding. (Please note when  I refer to training I refer to my areas of expertise, "street" obedience and behavioral issues) Dogs are freakin' brilliant and once you learn to get inside their head even the naughtiest of dogs becomes quite biddable.

Anything that drives a dog can be broken down into two categories: positive and negative. Positive can be food, toy, praise, affection and negative can be physical correction or even the witholding of positve reinforcement.

My rules are simple. The behaviors I want get rewarded, the behaviors I don't want get corrected. As a handler you must take on the demeanor you expect your dog to have in their work. If you have a hyper dog you want calm, you must be calm, nervous dog needing confidence, you must be confident, if you want a happy, animated worker, you should be a happy, animated handler.

To get inside a dog's head you have to let all your human impulses go. Our tendencies to coddle, second guess, hesitate, overreact, doubt, wonder, often work against us when trying to understand dogs. Dogs are not us. Drop every emotion or thought process a dog does not have or you do not want them to have and you're one step closer to thinking like a dog.

I agree ! 

Ditto KC!

I think dogs are SO much smarter than we can even realize.  My female shepherd shows such thinking and reasoning behaviors its amazing.  The other day we had our crew out for a run our male had my females favorite toy, she goes over to a stick and starts throwing it around and doing zoomies around it even going so far as to play bow to it, the whole time our males standing watching her he drops the ball heads over to check out what fantastic toy she has and she's already got the ball.  Such thought went into it and she got what she wanted in the end. 

Amy