You've taught your dog basic obedience commands. He can sit, lie down, stay and come when called. He walks quietly on a leash. But as soon as someone comes to visit or you try to take a walk in the park, he suddenly acts as though he never heard these commands before.
Never fear. Your dog is trained, but there is still more work to do. He hasn't learned that he has to obey in new places and around new people and dogs. It takes just a bit more practice but you can soon have a dog who listens to you no matter what is going on around him.
can break the training down into three segments. One segment is just generalized impulse control. Will your dog continue to do a sit/stay if you roll a ball past him?
Now you are ready to move outside in a quiet location and practice the same exercises. You can keep the dog on a long line if you don't have a safe area to work. By long line, I mean a long line that drags the ground - not a retractable one. Those are fine for exercising a dog, but are too cumbersome to use for training. I always use a cotton line to prevent rope burn on my hands.
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Canine Comments
You are absolutely right! It is frustrating when others don't see the results of their misbehavior. I had one client who wanted his dog to get on the bed when his wife wasn't home so they could cuddle and watch tv. He wanted the dog to stay off the bed when the wife was home. I had to explain that this only confused the dog and ended up in the dog being punished for doing what he allowed the dog to do.
I had a sweet Toller who was almost too smart for his own good. Training him was easy, when I did it the RIGHT way (clear, consistant commands with treat rewards). Sadly, the rest of the family let him get away with murder (and he knew it). Rather frustrating!
I could walk with him off leash, and he would stay beside me until I released him, even when other dogs came around. The rest of the family made no attempt to work with him, so he pulled on the leash, jumped on people and was a nuisance.
My take away lesson from this- everyone in the family has to be on-board with the training methods.
Thanks, Katie. Sounds like you have a really great dog. You are right. You do have to be consistent and not change words - or meanings. One of my big ones in class was using down to mean lie on the floor - and then what would people use when the dog jumped on them? Down, of course....Off is a very handy word.
I'm so in love with our new member of the family, her name is Keeva a pit bull mix, the one my daughter got for Christmas. She is so smart. We find these techniques work well, using the same verbal commands or rather (I prefer) speech or words makes it simple. You can't be a confusing human mixing it up all the time. If we veer from the plan she can't stay to task because it is actually we humans who are off task and then wonder why she's not doing what we expect DUH! Dogs are such amazing creatures we are so fortunate to have them in our lives. Great article and very helpful tips.
Clicker training is great! I think there is something about the sound along with the instant response that really excites my dogs. They love it.
I just got a clicker for our dog, gonna try that along with the treats for getting him use to people better, thanks.
Thanks. Keep us posted. It really works.
I'm going to have to work on these. I voted that my dog(2) are out of control in your poll. Great training tips for the dog owner too ;-)
Rotties are very smart. They are working dogs and like to do something, even obedience.
This sounds like very good advice. Dogs are so easy to please that weaning them off treats for obeying shouldn't be difficult. I don't have dogs now but my Rotty was very smart and learned to obey quickly.