It has been a busy week, but I am happy to say I was able to get some video of Quincy doing Place and working on Stay around distractions. I bred Quincy and I ‘own him’ but he lives with his foster mom, Heather, down in San Antonio. I don’t get to see him much and he doesn’t ‘live’ with me. Heather injured her arm and now has limited mobility. She realized Quincy’s behavior was out of control and decided to send him to me for a week while she was on vacation. When he got out of her car, he dragged ME around on his leash!!!! That had to stop. This dog is highly trained, but was lacking self control. Because this was the first week he has spent in my home (if you don’t count ‘puppy’ time almost 3 years ago) I wanted to let him know a few things.
1. I will NOT hurt him. I am a stranger to him, why would him trust me? Why would he care about my wants or desires? First, I build a strong level of trust and love, which is so easy with canines. It is what they desire most. This means I have to spend time with them, one on one.
2. I expect him to learn the rules. If he doesn’t pay attention, he gets limited freedom. At first Quincy was crated or tethered 90% of the time. He didn’t know place well, which means tethered or crated. Halfway into the week I removed all ‘gates’, tethers, and used the crate only when I left the home or at night. Yesterday he was totally free in the house, day and night with Jazz and River. Peace and harmony rule in less than a week.
3. I will give clear answers to everything. “Yes, that is right” OR “Ahh, that is wrong”. Those cues are given with little emotion. I do not get upset with the dog, I am keeping everything calm so they understand I am trying to communicate. When a new dogs comes into my home there is often a lot of “Ahh” going on for the first few days. They have to learn my rules. I must watch them like a hawk to make sure they aren’t going to do something silly or rude (like pee on the floor, hump other dogs or kids, steal food from my children) I have a few very firm rules. “No going upstairs”. “No bolting out the door, front or back”. “No stepping on my feet”. “No bumping into me when you play”. “No stealing the kids snacks”. “No peeing in the house!!” If you are firm and clear from DAY ONE, the dog gets it.
Quincy walked into my house the day Heather dropped him off and peed on my computer chair right in front of his mom and I! I grabbed him, took him over to the pee, told him “NO NO NO” and put him in the crate. I cleaned up the mess, took him outside, and let him go pee there. He was praised for peeing outside. He didn’t pee in the house again. Firm, Fair, and CLEAR rules work every time. I didn’t hit him, that only creates fear and shuts down a dog and destroys any relationship. I didn’t scare him, no dog can learn while scared. I just let him know that was RUDE. He got it. He isn’t dumb and he had to earn his freedom by proving to me he understood the rules.
He and River had to work out their issues. Both are intact males. Quincy was rude. River was jealous. It made for some rumbly, grumbly moments. We had a lovely family visit us on Saturday, the day after Quincy arrived. I had to crate Quincy because River was so grumpy!! Now, here is a good video to show how much things have changed.
Right at the end, you might have noticed a ‘growl’. Quincy tried to mount River. That is a NO NO, a dominance move. River wasn’t having it and was letting Quincy know he was being rude again. River has done more for fixing Quincy’s rudeness than I have, I believe. He would herd Quincy away from Jazz if he got all up in her rear or started being pushy. River would poke him HARD with his nose to back Quincy off. He would step between Jazz and Quincy, grumbling. It was great to watch and good for both River and Quincy. I believe they both grew from the experience. Never did they get into anything near a fight. River never tried to ‘roll’ Quincy. He just poked him, shoved him over with his body, rumbled, and grabbed his neck if he really wasn’t getting the point.
Below are some training video I did with Quincy. The first one is “Place” training. If you go to my You Tube channel, you can watch other video’s I have done on Place a few years back. Some puppy training with Quincy’s brother Lincoln. I might have a video of Jazz as a puppy doing place. I can’t remember. All those older training video’s are really useful to watch, as they give good information. In this video I cover a lot of training steps in 10 minutes. I blow though it because Quincy is extremely bright. If you have never trained Place, break the training up into sections. Do 5 minutes of work, then stop. Come back in an hour and do another step. What you use for place is up to you. A large bath mat is a good option if you don’t have a thin dog mat like mine.
A good way to break it up would be:
First training session: Teach the dog to get on the raised bed, give clicker or verbal ‘YES’ with treats while you hold them on the place mat. Release them off and move away. Do this inside your home with no distractions.
Second Training session: Build distance while the dog stays on place. Release the dog off place both at distance and close up. Vary the release. Wait for a sit or down, lots of cookies for ‘relaxing’ on the mat. Do NOT ASK FOR A SIT. Let the dog make the choice.
Third Training session: If the dog is seeking out the mat, add the name. PLACE, MAT, SPOT, BED all work. Pick something you will remember. I you ‘spot’ for teaching a small target for agility. I use Bed for going to our bedroom at night and getting on their dog beds. I use Place for mat training, relaxing. You can use whatever you want, just be consistent.
Forth session: Move outside, step back to First lesson, but quickly move to second lesson, then third in one session. D O NOT BORE THE DOG. They are smart. Expect greatness and be clear when they are doing right and when they are not.
Fifth session: Go back inside, work off leash, place mat on the floor. NOT RAISED. Get the dog to seek out the mat from a distance. LOTS of praise for going to the mat and away from you.
Sixth session: Go Outside in bad yard. Work off leash. Get dog seeking out mat. Have family members playing or doing something distracting.
Seventh session: Move out front. Back on leash. Once they are seeking out the mat on leash, remove leash. Expect them to be awesome, they will be.
Build on this. GO to the park. Go to the kids ball games. pretty soon you dog will be a perfect gentleman or lady.
In this second video I go into detail about teaching the dog to be calm on the mat. Once you get the dog ‘calm’ in the brain, you have the dog’s number and can teach them anything.
And lastly I show Quincy doing a down stay yesterday while the kids were playing. 4 kids. Riding bikes all around him. He holds his stay. He is calm in body and mind.
Here is my Youtube channel if you want to watch any of these video’s in larger format. http://www.youtube.com/user/anuttapoodle
~Becky