This is a placeholder text
Group text
by CrazySableDog on 11 July 2010 - 01:07
I have a 15 month old female and I have a question about her temperment.
Training history-
I started training her at 7 weeks to sit, down, here, focus and we played tug alot.
Starting at 15 weeks we upgraded to sit, down, here, focus, heeling (off leash and more of a focused following me around) and stand still playing tug.
Starting at 6 months we were doing puppy agility, sit, down, focus, here, heeling (like above) standing, and tug.
Starting at 9 months we we cut down on the agility did sit down, focus, heeling, here, cleaning up her heel, "the go" command where I throw a treat and she runs and gets it and comes back.
Starting at 14 months we were doing all of the above and she learned back up.
Starting at 9 months I slowed down working with her alot because I realized she didn't want to play tug nearly as much and someone had told me it was because I put to much pressure on her. So I'll go 2-4 weeks without really working her besides sit, down, focus, and stand. When I get to working her she's ok. Some days she's awesome, she's flashy happy, doesn't miss a beat!. She had a heat at 12 months. Every now and again (Its rare and she only did it twice during her heat and tonight) I'll work her and she will try to run away. Its ALL fun and positive. I don't even have a collar on her and I've never laid a hand on her, but for whatever reason she will run out of the room and act like the whole world is crashing and we have only been working for about 15 minutes. When she does come to me she jumps up and hugs my waist with her ears pinned back and tries to get up under my with her head. (At least thats what she did tonight) I'm concerned because I don't know whats the matter with her or what I'm doing wrong.
She is an inside dog and half show line and working line if that helps? She is my first German Shepherd. I was just wanting to do Obedience and Agility with her. Now I'm afraid I've pressured her too much, or not enough.
Even when she acts like that I make sure to end on a good note with her tail wagging. I just felt that with her doing it tonight and not being in heat that I'm doing something wrong so now I'm looking for guidance.
Thank you.
Training history-
I started training her at 7 weeks to sit, down, here, focus and we played tug alot.
Starting at 15 weeks we upgraded to sit, down, here, focus, heeling (off leash and more of a focused following me around) and stand still playing tug.
Starting at 6 months we were doing puppy agility, sit, down, focus, here, heeling (like above) standing, and tug.
Starting at 9 months we we cut down on the agility did sit down, focus, heeling, here, cleaning up her heel, "the go" command where I throw a treat and she runs and gets it and comes back.
Starting at 14 months we were doing all of the above and she learned back up.
Starting at 9 months I slowed down working with her alot because I realized she didn't want to play tug nearly as much and someone had told me it was because I put to much pressure on her. So I'll go 2-4 weeks without really working her besides sit, down, focus, and stand. When I get to working her she's ok. Some days she's awesome, she's flashy happy, doesn't miss a beat!. She had a heat at 12 months. Every now and again (Its rare and she only did it twice during her heat and tonight) I'll work her and she will try to run away. Its ALL fun and positive. I don't even have a collar on her and I've never laid a hand on her, but for whatever reason she will run out of the room and act like the whole world is crashing and we have only been working for about 15 minutes. When she does come to me she jumps up and hugs my waist with her ears pinned back and tries to get up under my with her head. (At least thats what she did tonight) I'm concerned because I don't know whats the matter with her or what I'm doing wrong.
She is an inside dog and half show line and working line if that helps? She is my first German Shepherd. I was just wanting to do Obedience and Agility with her. Now I'm afraid I've pressured her too much, or not enough.
Even when she acts like that I make sure to end on a good note with her tail wagging. I just felt that with her doing it tonight and not being in heat that I'm doing something wrong so now I'm looking for guidance.
Thank you.
by Doberdoodle on 11 July 2010 - 04:07
I think some lessons with a trainer would help give you more ideas, but I can give you a few... One thing I will cautiion you about is letting a dog run away from you-- once they learn they can run off at any time, it's always an option for them either from pressure or whatever reason, and can be a very tough habit to break. I progress from on-leash obedience, to using a long line, to a tab, to off-leash. WIth puppies, all I do is imprinting clicker training stuff with my GSD pup on and off leash, I don't care to have solid obedience with a young puppy, and it's normal for a young puppy to have short attention span, but the training changes as they get older as you require more of them.
For what purpose are you training her- you said OB, but do you mean competitive? The training will depend on what your goals are. If you are aiming to have a well behaved dog and not necessarily do compeition, I would work the tug separate from the obedience, at the end of a session. Could be she's bored. A common mistake people make is to repeat things too much, thinking 20 sits or downs is better, but the way I work a dog is to start with the basics and aim to get 3-5 in a row and no more. So if it's "sits", the dog will sit 3x ("sucessfully means sitting straight and on one command, with no correction), then if there's 3 sits I move on to my next exercise because I see the dog is putting forth an effort to listen. If I have to correct the dog I start over counting at 1. Balanced training is going to include correction for things the dog understands. Then I move on to more things, sits out of motion, downs out of motion, or whatever the goal is for the session. These same exercises for training will be repeated in new locations- inside, outside, park, field, etc.
It's normal for dogs to have their days where they're not so sharp. You have to look at a several things, like...
-is the dog truly making an effort to listen to you (even when there's no tangible reward involved, and around distractions)?
-Is she possibly bored with the exercises b/c they're repetative?
-Are you breaking up the sessions with a "free time" afterward to play tug?
-Do you think you're playing tug the right way (not outing her too often, making it a prey object) and with a tug she is comfortable biting?
And most importantly- Are you having a goal in mind and making marked progress in each session.
For what purpose are you training her- you said OB, but do you mean competitive? The training will depend on what your goals are. If you are aiming to have a well behaved dog and not necessarily do compeition, I would work the tug separate from the obedience, at the end of a session. Could be she's bored. A common mistake people make is to repeat things too much, thinking 20 sits or downs is better, but the way I work a dog is to start with the basics and aim to get 3-5 in a row and no more. So if it's "sits", the dog will sit 3x ("sucessfully means sitting straight and on one command, with no correction), then if there's 3 sits I move on to my next exercise because I see the dog is putting forth an effort to listen. If I have to correct the dog I start over counting at 1. Balanced training is going to include correction for things the dog understands. Then I move on to more things, sits out of motion, downs out of motion, or whatever the goal is for the session. These same exercises for training will be repeated in new locations- inside, outside, park, field, etc.
It's normal for dogs to have their days where they're not so sharp. You have to look at a several things, like...
-is the dog truly making an effort to listen to you (even when there's no tangible reward involved, and around distractions)?
-Is she possibly bored with the exercises b/c they're repetative?
-Are you breaking up the sessions with a "free time" afterward to play tug?
-Do you think you're playing tug the right way (not outing her too often, making it a prey object) and with a tug she is comfortable biting?
And most importantly- Are you having a goal in mind and making marked progress in each session.
Contact information Disclaimer Privacy Statement Copyright Information Terms of Service Cookie policy ↑ Back to top