Training advice please

sammy_kaye18

Hi All

My jack Russell terrier is getting there with his training. Sit, beg, recall and bed are all well known and he has stay down to a degree too - if i send him to his bed and ask him to stay he will stay until my son has put his bowl down for feeding but if im outside attempting it with a treat he concerntrates on the treat mostly so im working on this.

However 'leave' is a big problem. I have been telling boyfriend for months that he needs to stop giving in to the dog and letting him have things but he hasnt listened and then undermines all the training i have done with him when he takes him out (which is VERY rare thankfully and im talking once in 4 months:eek: although rest assured he is walked 3/4 times a day with me and my son and has supervised communal garden access) but I mean he lets him drag him everywhere, wont recall him as hes 'a nice dog' etc.

Anyway earlier today myself, boyfriend and son took him out for a walk in a wooded walk where he can be off lead but its near no roads etc so hes safe and you can see ahead and behind easily for other dogs, my boyfriend dropped his lead (just a bog standard cheap lead) and as he picked it up, Bruno (hes 7 btw) latched on to it and wouldn't release it. My boyfriend asked him to leave and he wouldn't, my boyfriend kept repeating and was getting very annoyed and losing his temper. I told him to ignore his actions, walk on and eventually he would lose interest, drop it and focus on something else and even if he did chew it he couldnt do much damage to it or himself. So we walked on but i could still hear him shouting at Bruno. Eventually I had to step in as boyfriend was very agitated and to be honest i was quite worried for my dog, eventually i had to prise the lead out of his mouth.

On a previous incident though (he has a fetish for plastic pop bottles and chewing them to pieces which whilst i dont like it there is worse he could do but i always take them off him asap as i never know whats been in them - ok pop - but in our area they could have had anything in there as we have quite a rampant drug problem in the area so not something i want my dog getting) and i approached him, put my foot on the bottle, held the scruff of his neck and asked him to leave, and he let go of the bottle but as soon as i went to pick the bottle up he went straight back for it and if i walk him on a few steps and let him go he will go straight back to it so i have no other option than to relead him and walk him on about 20 - 30ft and then unlead him again. The last incident i took a bottle off him and threw it on top of a load of brambles thinking it was too high for him but he bounded after it and came back with a gash to his cheek - it wasnt deep and has healed fine (i phoned the vet as soon as i was in for suggestions on cleaning etc) but I would like to teach him the leave command as im worried incase he gets hold of something he shouldn't have it could be potentially dangerous to him or harm him.

So i was wondering if anyone knew the best way I could approach this?? and reinforcing the 'leave' command??

I dont drive and there are no dog training groups in the area.

foreign_correspondent

Try offering him a swap (use some good tasty treats!) - so he has to physically drop/leave something (eg, the lead, pop bottle whatever) - to free up his chops for a treat.

Say the command whilst offering him a nice treat so he has to drop it, and as soon as he drops it preaise and let him have the treat!

Good, tempting treats are things like bits of cheese, ham, chicken skin and tripe sticks (Asda do some nice ones where the tripe is compressed into a solid roll about the size of a pencil - they are easy to break, so I break a bit off one to give to the dog as a treat, rather than a whole stick if its for training!)

I was very impressed when I saw badger snaffle something of the pavement recently and I told her to 'drop it' - she looked a bit sheepish, opened her mouth, and relutantly dropped what turned out to be a maltezer!

She did better than I would have, someone would have had to use physical restraint to get a chocolate out of my mush!:rotfl:

Raksha

What FC said. If the lead thing is a problem, try walking the dog with two leads, when he picks up one, you hold the other......

pboae

If it's any consolation I have a similar problem with my OH, he's much better now, but it used to be really hard, I'd spend hours training our dog, and then he would take him out him let him do as he pleased.

Anyway, FC has given you excellent advice, but I wonder if it would be worth teaching him some self control exercises as well. It's like a slightly more advanced version of leave it. So for example, normally you might show the dog a treat, tell them to leave it, and make them wait for it, then give to them. The dog can learn that leave it still means they will get the item, just that they have to wait a short while for it.

So to build that up into a self control exercise, you have an item, tell the dog to leave it, put it on the floor, then call them to you, past it, and reward them with a treat. Obviously you start with something low value, and offer a good treat for it. You can also do it by putting a higher value treat on the floor and walking past it with your dog on lead saying 'leave it' as you pass. Then rewarding with something of even higher value. You could use a different command like 'Ignore that' or anything really, as long as your dog is clear what it means. The important thing is that they don't get the target afterwards, they get whatever you reward them with instead.

I'm not sure I've explained that very well, but if you aren't sure what I am on about, just ask!

sammy_kaye18

Well I started the 'leave' training today

I took Bruno on his usual walk , dropping his lead every 20 or 30 feet and pickign it back up with the leave it command, he let me get it a few times but think was partially distracted by the fact he knew i had a treat in my pocket - must change pockets i think - crafty little whotsits.

So that went ok - he did grab and do the mad doggy shake thing 4/5 times but i dropped the lead approximately 15 times and it was our first day attempting this today after the events of yesterday.

Anyway derived a plan when i came home. I got some whoopsied ham out of the fridge (there was only one slice int he tub left which i sliced into abotu 7 bits - it was intended for bfs sandwiches and dog and i have about 6 more packs in the freezer) so i cut it into strips and put it nicely in the little container ham comes in in the middle of my living room floor. Then went and retrieved doggy form the hallway - putting his lead back on him. I then walked him round the container of ham and said leave it whenever he went for it but rewarded with a little treat form my pocket when he listened. He was then listening fine when i had the lead.

So braved it and decided to drop the lead, this went ok - he did snaffle a few bits, but mostly listened very well to the leave command and i managed to walk him round the tub once or twice with him leaving it alone . Then once all the smaller treats were gone i used the left over ham in the tub and dropped them on the floor around me one at a time which he saw and was given the command, and if he left it, i went and picked it up and gave it to him.

So all in all for his first day of this he did well i think.

foreign_correspondent

sounds good!!! He sounds like he is motivated by food, so I am sure you will soon have him doing this brilliantly! well done!!

sammy_kaye18

FC

Yes my bruno is very food orientated. He snaffles anything he can get his grotty little paws on when we are out walking - dead/alive/edible or not. :eek: so the leave comand i feel will be used regularly enough!

Must keep it up and get bf to butt out though i think

Mrs_pbradley936

If you blow on his nose he will automatically release whatever he was holding BUT be very careful that he does not nip your face because they tend not to like it and it takes them by surprise.

pboae

Well done, that sounds like you are making progress already.

Just one thing I would query. Near the end you say you dropped the ham, and if he left it, you gave it to him. I wouldn't do that at this stage, it's reinforcing the idea that leave means he'll get it later. So you can drop one treat and feed him another if he leaves the first, but at this stage, don't use the thing he is leaving as the reward. Once he is very clear that 'leave' means "leave it alone and don't touch it again", rather than "leave it, wait for a while, then get it", you can start to reintroduce that.

Waterfalls

you could always try a deep sounding 'aaaa' sound. as they will be learning and repsonding to the whay it is said rather than the word itself,
good to hear the trainings going well