Never chase your dog but...? - Page 1

Hello there again. OK, I've read and heard that I never should chase my dog: not playing neither trying to get something he has stoled.

That works fine... most of the time. But what should I do when he's free on the park and eats something dirty or potentially dangerous? I've tried to walk slowly to him or tried to be more interesting of funnier than the thing he has "chased".  But it's really hard to be more interesting than a piece of bread or a chicken bone.

Best regards

[sigh] It took me exactly THREE repetitions to teach my dog to LEAVE IT, if I didn't want him to eat something. If you don't have that sort of control over your dog, don't let him loose in a public place!  It just isn't safe!

I agree with in Sunsilver in as much as if he won't listen off-leash then don't let him off-leash in public areas.

Sunsilver, WOW 3 times and then 100% accurate responses after that.  That is amazing!!! You must have the smartest dog on the planet and be the best dog trainer in the history of mankind. 

Let me guess, he was 4 weeks old when you taught him this also?   Sch at 6 months? 

Less attitude more helpful responses.  No one is impressed with you.

How bout telling guillermoc what it is you did to teach your dog "leave it" so that he/she can try and duplicate your amazing success instead of just being an elitist jerk.

No wonder these boards have such a bad rep.

Sorry for the sour mood, I'm snowed in, and have been sick for 3 days.  But I find it hard to have sympathy for someone who would risk letting their dog off leash in a public area when they don't have control over it.  What if it decides it wants to take an ice cream cone out of a child's hand? You've got a lawsuit in the making!

As for my dog, he was 3 years old, and already had a solid foundation in basic obedience (sit, stay, come).

I put him on a down-stay and had someone drop a dog cookie near his nose. I told him sharply, "NO...leave it!"  He inhaled it before I could stop him.

I went to a different spot in the store (Pet Valu, and was using an employee to help me with this) put him on a down-stay, and repeated the exercise. This time he made a half hearted attempt to get up and go for the cookie, but stopped when I said 'no' and gave him the 'halt' hand signal (palm facing outwards, like a traffic cop.) I also had his leash in my hand, and would have given him a correction with the leash if he hadn't responded to the verbal command and hand signal.

We repeated it a third time, and this time he didn't even budge. He is my Hearing Ear service dog, and this was part of his training for public access.

I find this is not unusual with Shepherds. They pick things up VERY fast.  I did one training session on him with alerting to the kitchen timer. Then, I didn't touch the timer for 3 or 4 months, as I rarely use it. When it went off, he was right there at my elbow, nudging me.  Now, THAT was a big surprise, because I'd forgotten about the training, and had the timer right beside me so I would be sure to hear it.

And so you know we're not perfect, he still counter surfs when I'm out of the house!   Forget about booby-trapping the kitchen, he won't touch it as long as I'm home...too smart for that! By the time I get back, it's far too late to punish him.

Nice story, and good advice.  Very helpful.

I am a fan of electric training collars for off leash training.  Everyone has an opinion but I find them invaluable.

We had a Rot who LOVED bread.  If we would forget and leave a loaf of bread out on the counter while we were away from the house he would eat the entire thing.  He was the most intelligent dog I've ever tried to train.  I decided to set him up. 

I put his electric collar on him and left a piece of bread out on the counter.  I put the transmitter in my pocket, we put our shoes on and went to leave like any other normal time.  As soon as we got outside, I ran as quietly as I could to the back window where I could see him standing in the kitchen.  My wife got in the car, started it up and drove down the drive and even down the road.  That dog stood in the middle of the kitchen with his head cocked listening for the car to drive away.  He stood there for a few seconds after I couldn't hear the car anymore.  (He probably could still hear it) and then walked over to the counter put his front paws up on it and as soon as he did that I gave him a good jolt.  He jumped off of the counter and went and layed down. 

He never for the last 8 years of his life, ever got anything off of the counter again.

My year old Shepherd will put her paws up on the kitchen counter, so she can watch through the window to make sure I'm leaving. Then, it's whoopee time for the two of them. Needless to say, she gets crated when I'm out, and except for counter-surfing, and occasionally taking one of my dirty socks from my bedroom. my male is pretty civilized when I'm gone. (He doesn't chew the sock,  I think he just uses it as a 'security blanket' because it has my smell on it.)

The shock collar idea sounds like a good one, but too expensive at the moment. I may try to get some help from a friend on this, to set the dogs up and make them think I've left, then barge in when I catch them in the act.

GAwd, I'd almost need a closed circuit camera for this...   There's nowhere where I can spy on the kitchen without them being able to see me, or at least be aware of my shadow blocking light to the window...

I prefer to control the environment in order to have control over my dog, basically meaning I make sure to not leave the rests from our meal on the counter where he can reach it, rather than teaching him that it is forbidden to take it. On the long run, I expect him "not to repeat what he has never done before",  I just say no if he shows interest in f.ex. stealing, but I try always to prevent that situation to occur, where I would have to punish him for what he does, by environment control.

By "training" your dog in what he may not do, has the downside that the dog becomes overly passive, since he is somewhat scared of taking a iniative. I believe that by skipping most of these "old" teachings, you have a dog that is a lot faster learner, since he does never hesitate just to do the first thing that crosses his mind when training, and if the environment is set up correctly, that thing is just what you want him to do.

About the chasing part, an how to be more interesting than a piece of bread or a chicken bone, the best solution depends on the dog and your relationship, so I can only suggest something based on my own experience.

In my case, where my dog is very dependent on me, I  guess I would start running away from him, in order to get his attention in such a situation, allthough I am not sure, depending on how juicy bite he is focused on, it would work.

In the end, it is all about knowing the drives, and what triggers your dog.

I read somewhere a little story about some guy's who where working with wolfes, one night as one of them is entering the fence where they wolfes were kept, just notices that his mate is just standing there in the middle of the area, totally frozen, and a wolf who's cage just was open, was out, standing in a position ready to attack this friend, as soon as he would make the slightest move. The guy who just came in, always had a tennisball in his pocket, and knowing how the wolf reacts on his prey-drive, he immediately threw the tennisball into the wolfs cage, and that was it, the wolf ran directly into the cage, he closed it, and that dangerous situation was no more, by such a simple action.

Why is he free in the park if he does not have enough training to leave something alone or come when he's called? Everyone wants to go from point A to point Z and not bother with anything in the middle.

Thanks for all the answers, they were very helpful. And I think I'll not let him off leash yet.

Just a side note: I'm asking for help precisely because I didn't know the answers. Being rude with me or telling that I have not your simpathy really didn't help a bit.

I though that newsgroups were precisely to help anothers not to make mistakes and help to learn, but I didn't expected bad attitudes.

Best regards

GunnarHK              Very good advice.it is always more fun to be creative in your training and always good to set your dog up to succsed,not fail.it does take some thinking on the part of the handler.Show your dog you are smarter than him not stronger than him.Enjoy your dogs.