Comment

Comment by Beth on January 24, 2011 at 8:21am

Sounds like fun!  Just remember, on your walks you DO want to give her time to sniff and explore and just be a puppy.  Socialization is the single most important thing you can do with a puppy, and socializing involves giving her time to explore the world and make her own decisions about it without always turning to you.  So spend five minutes a couple times a day practicing getting her to look at you, but give her plenty of free time to check things out.  

 

I have another method for stopping ankle-biting/ heel nipping if like.

Comment by The Geek's Wife & her Corgi Ein on January 24, 2011 at 1:53am

Sunday, 1/23/11 - Training day 1

Notes from Class:
Associate the word "good" as a positive thing. Exercise: Say "good" in a high pitched, upbeat voice and then treat. Repeat this several times.
Make eye contact with your dog. Exercise: Show your dog that you have a treat and then extend your arm completely out to the side (their eyes will most likely follow the treat), say their name only once, and the second they make eye contact say "good" and treat. If they do not immediately make eye contact make kissy noises, blow on their face, or tap them on top of the head to get that eye contact, but DO NOT say their name more than the one time. If even that does not work then walk away and try again in a minute or 2. Just a couple of minutes is all it takes to reset the situation and try again.
Discourage your dog from jumping up at you when overly excited. Exercise: When the dog jumps up at you give the "uh uh" command while simultaneously bumping them with your knee or hip, put your hands in the air, and do not make eye contact. As soon as all four legs are on the floor praise with the "good" command, your attention, and a treat if you have it. The purpose of jumping is to get your attention (positive or negative) so you do not want to give attention or eye contact until all 4 are on the floor. This may get worse before it gets better. The dog may jump more to test your boundaries trying to get a response. Being consistent will eventually pay off.
Discourage your dog from nipping at your feet and ankles. Exercise: Get a squirt bottle filled with water and a couple spoonfuls of vinegar and keep it on you but try not to let the dog see it. When they start to nip at your feet and ankles whip it out and spray them on the head. It works best if they don't know where it's coming from and it's a total surprise. You don't want them to associate the water bottle with the spray on the head, you want them to associate the nipping with the spray on the head. Do not give the negative "uh uh" command because you don't want them to think that it's acceptable to do this until they are commanded otherwise. You want them to make the association that - nipping feet = sprayed with smelly water. If you're consistent, eventually they should stop because they don't want to get sprayed with smelly water anymore.

Personal Experiences:
It wasn't hard to associate the word "good" as a positive thing. After the 3rd or 4th time, I could tell that Ein really loved hearing the word good. Easy peasy! Moving on to the eye contact exercise was a breeze too. Ein is such a smart little puppy. It only took her a couple of time to realize that she wasn't getting anything until she made eye contact with me. The exercise became challenging to me when she wouldn't take her eyes off of me. What's the purpose of saying their name if you already have their undivided attention? There isn't. The trainer saw us and told me to treat her for doing exactly what I wanted even though I didn't have to ask. She then distracted Ein a couple times for me so I could practice getting her attention back. I never would have expected that I could keep her undivided attention like that in a room full of people and dogs. I guess it's a good thing that she's highly motivated by food. I took her on a walk hours after class so we could practice some more. I knew the neighbor sights, sounds and smells would provide the distractions I needed to practice getting her attention back on me. Every time she would want to stop and smell something or hear something she wanted to investigate I would say her name. She immediately looked at me, I said "good", treated her, and we continued on our walk. She would completely loose focus on whatever it was that had her attention and it allowed us to move right along. What an amazing difference that made for our walks! And it's only the 1st day! After the 4th time I stopped treating her and would just use the "good" command whenever she made eye contact and that made it so we hardly ever stopped walking. What an exciting day this has been. I've only had a couple opportunities to try the jumping and nipping exercises so the verdicts still out on those. Hoping they will be successful, but they're not the trainer says she's just an e-mail away and has other ideas to try. It feels so good to be one day closer to having an obedient dog.