Need Training Tips.
Hey guys,
May I start by saying while I grew up with dogs, Roscoe is my first foray into Corgidom. Roscoe is 7 months old, we've had him for about 3 months now. I started with the training as soon as I got him home. Housebreaking was a snap, we crate trained him, and he has only went in the house once since we've had him. Sit and down were quickly learned, stay is still a work in progress. The only 2 issues we are having at the moment and cant seem to resolve are the "Leave It" command and jumping up when he greets people at the door or outside. Here's the funny thing, I can put a treat on the ground and say "leave it" and he wont touch it till I say it's ok, however, let there be a shoe, rag, paper, or towel on the floor and it's game over. We keep everything pretty much either away or out of his reach like the shoes and stuff, but what I want to get him to understand about these things are to leave it when we say so. I thought that the treat would be the big temptation but apparently not. He will leave the other items alone if I have treats, but if I dont have any on me, he goes straight for those tiems. The other issue mentioned above is jumping up on people when they come in the door or when we meet them on the street. I've tried putting him in his "place" when someone comes to the door but he just will not stay and will bolt right to them and jump up on them.
Anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Chad
May I start by saying while I grew up with dogs, Roscoe is my first foray into Corgidom. Roscoe is 7 months old, we've had him for about 3 months now. I started with the training as soon as I got him home. Housebreaking was a snap, we crate trained him, and he has only went in the house once since we've had him. Sit and down were quickly learned, stay is still a work in progress. The only 2 issues we are having at the moment and cant seem to resolve are the "Leave It" command and jumping up when he greets people at the door or outside. Here's the funny thing, I can put a treat on the ground and say "leave it" and he wont touch it till I say it's ok, however, let there be a shoe, rag, paper, or towel on the floor and it's game over. We keep everything pretty much either away or out of his reach like the shoes and stuff, but what I want to get him to understand about these things are to leave it when we say so. I thought that the treat would be the big temptation but apparently not. He will leave the other items alone if I have treats, but if I dont have any on me, he goes straight for those tiems. The other issue mentioned above is jumping up on people when they come in the door or when we meet them on the street. I've tried putting him in his "place" when someone comes to the door but he just will not stay and will bolt right to them and jump up on them.
Anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Chad
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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First, I'll say that what it's going to take is practice, practice, practice. Congrats on the housebreaking, Dax was a little stubborn with that. He's great at the "leave it" command, though. What I did was to get him to leave treats first, and he gets a treat if he does. Then I gradually extended the amount of time he'd have to leave it in order to get the treat. After he had it down, I used other things. He LOVES to lick the outside of cups for some reason, especially if they have something in them and are wet on the outside. So I knew how tempting it was for him, so I set a cup in the middle of the floor, and told him to leave it. Of course, he walked in circles all around it, and the sneaky little thing actually walked by it one time and snuck a quick lick in, but I eventually got him to understand. Every time he would go near it, I would make a loud noise, a clap, something like that, to get his attention, and tell him again to leave it.
Another good command to teach that is very similar to "leave it" is "wait." Teaching "wait" will help you with a lot of things. I taught Dax the wait command using his food bowl actually. Tell him to wait, start bringing the bowl down, and if he goes for it, pick it back up, and repeat until he sits and waits until you say okay for him to eat. Dax is so good at this now that I don't even have to tell him to wait, he just sees me with his food bowl and comes around and sits in front of me and stares at me like "come on, just say okay...come on...come on..." Heh. I also do this with treats like bones and little rawhide sticks. "Wait" is also useful to get people in the door without a dog in the way.
Dax hasn't perfected the art of not jumping on people. Everyone thinks (and so does he) that since he's so small, it's okay for him to jump, because it makes him easier to pet I guess. This obviously only worsens the problem. I taught him the "off" command, which basically I use to get him off the sofa, or to get him off of other people. I used the word off because, while a lot of people tell their dogs to "get down," to me, the word "down" already has a meaning and I don't want to confuse him. This works to get him off of people, but he just hasn't caught onto the fact that he's not supposed to do it in the first place.
One last thing...do a little research on clicker training. I didn't believe in it at first, but I tried it, and it works wonders. I've taught Dax many tricks/commands much easier using this method.
Anyway, good luck with Roscoe. They're smart little dogs, once he figures out what you're wanting him to do, I'm sure he'll be no problem.
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Permalink Reply by Alice on
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Finnigan learned "leave it" very quickly as well. We started off the same way using a treat and telling him "leave it" then rewarding him with a different treat. We then practiced with his toys and other items. We would just set an item such as a shoe or tissue on the floor then go sit down and as he approaches it we'd give the "leave it" command. "Drop it' was harder but he has learned it and will obey most of the time. :)
We too use "off" to get Finnigan to stop jumping up. He jumps on people and the couch, or people on the couch and "off" is very useful. The hard part is getting everyone else to use "off" instead of "down". We use "down" for lay down and our guests always say "down" because that's what they use with their own pets. It is frustrating trying to train people along with your dog and sometimes I think the dog is the better student.
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Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on
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Amanda has some great ideas. Leave it was hard for my dogs too (in fact, Lyla still doesn't totally have it). For my two, for "leave it" to really be effective. I have to put on my stern "I mean it" voice. They seem to understand not to disobey quite as often when I use that voice. In fact, just yesterday Sky was heading for the cat food, right as his nose started to dip down into the bowl I did a VERY firm "leave it" and he stopped, and trotted back to me. I was so impressed! I told him what a wonderful boy he was and gave him a big "praise party." Jumping is a problem for us too, and unfortunately I don't have a good answer yet. The problem is that other people reinforce it. I have started greeting people outside my door and telling them the rules about not petting unless the dogs are sitting and then letting them in. When we are at the pet store or the vet or the dog park, I just try to tell anyone who pets them, "not until they're sitting please." When people says its okay, I politely tell them no its not, I'm trying very hard to break that habit. Most people are good about it once you ask and explain you are training them.
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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If other methods are not working well I always resort to a leash in the house. At first you use it to keep him with you. He won't be able to get into anything or jump on anyone without a correction. After a couple days let him drag it around. You can grab him quickly when needed. By correction, I mean a tug (not hard) with a firm no or leave it or whatever you decide. Obedience classes are the best time and $ you will ever spend on your dog! He is at that testing my environment stage so it can be a frustrating but fun time for you. It has always worked for me! (except for stopping Sparty's barking greetings. Can't seem to stop that one. Where's the Dog Whisperer when you need them?)
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Ah, jumping up is a tough once since other people tend to reinforce it (it's easier to pet a short dog if it's on its hind legs). I always had trouble giving a firm no to the people. "Off" is a good one to teach, as Amanda mentions. If he jumps on you, just turn around so he can't reach you. With other people, really you need to be as firm with the people as with the dog, which is hard.
You can just keep working with him on "leave it." Leashing is good, as Bev said. I also used to "trade up" a lot and leave it is still one that we practice frequently with Jack (Maddie needs to learn it yet but is a soft dog and will stop what she is doing with a firm "no"). By "trade up" I mean that if the dog leaves it, he gets something better, like an extra yummy treat.
Honestly stealing things to chew was probably the one thing that Jack and I had a serious confrontation over. We worked on it for months and months and finally when he was about 14 months old I was tired of negotiating. I held him by the scruff and gave him a very firm (and very short) lecture til he showed some submissive gestures like trying to lick my face and putting his ears back a bit. But he was much older than 7 months and we'd been working on it for the better part of a year before I reached that point; he was being very defiant about it and it's one of the only times I have physically corrected my dog with anything other than a gentle leash tug.
I agree with Sky that "Leave it" often requires a very stern "I really mean it" voice. It's the only command that I don't always give in a normal speaking voice; I frequently say it with a bit of a growl. It also depends where we are. At this point in his life, if I say "leave it" in the house Jack lets go immediately. Outside I still sometimes need to fish things out of his mouth, especially if it's something edible.
I guess the message is patience and lots of practice, make it worth his while, and if much later on he's over a year old and still debating the issue with you even though you know he knows what the command means, then don't be afraid to be firmer with him.
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I laughed when I read what you said about "leave it!" Now that you mention it, it IS the only command I don't say in a normal voice. I find that really funny for some reason. I really think that the intonation really gets the point across since the tone of your voice says so much more than your words to a dog!
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Yes, I think "leave it" is tough because with the vast majority of commands we give, we have built a relationship where the dog has figured it's mutually beneficial for all involved to listen to you. However, with "leave it" it would almost always be more beneficial to the dog (as far as he's concerned) to ignore your command. With a very soft dog who is easily put off, it's not so hard, but with a more typically stubborn Corgi, it can be tough! I think that's why the tone of voice is needed.
As I said, in the house Jack is quite good and I can scatter treats around and walk him on heel with no leash and he'll leave. As a matter of fact, he'll give the treats a wide berth just so he's not tempted! And if he does happen to get something he shouldn't have, he'll drop it for me. But outside he still thinks it's negotiable and knows if he's far enough away, he can swallow faster than I can run over to him. So outside, it's usually something like "LeaveitleaveitLEaveit I SAID LEAVE IT!!!!" LOL
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While reading about your discussion re the leave it command it reminded me of a portion from my favorite dog training book"the Other End OF the Leash" by Patricia Mc Connell. She talks about getting her border collies to listen and starts saying a firm no when they are wrong and then adding the command she wants such as come. She decided they were thinking "yeah, I will do that when I get done with what I am doing" LOL. I think that is how the Leave It command conjures up for some corgis. "After I finish chewing or eating this I will listen". I tried it on my very headstrong Sparty and it actually worked! I still use it when he is not minding.
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Oooh, Bev, I'll need to get that book! I like that idea. I'll have to try it the next time Jack finds cat poop buried somewhere. LOL I have a sneaking suspicion that he's figured out that I will not remove it from him if he does not comply, however.
Yes, Jack is my stubborn guy who knows dozens of nouns and verbs but periodically thinks things are subject to renegotiation, so a fresh perspective might give me some good ideas. I'll look for it on Amazon when I get home from work!
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Beth...I think all the rules go "out the window" when it comes to cat poop!
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Permalink Reply by Stephanie on
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I wanted to add to this discussion that I read somewhere at some point (information overload these days) that when dogs are in the wild they greet the elders coming back from the hunt pretty wildly - like the greet us, they jump on the adults, lick their faces, etc. So with trying to eliminate this behavior, it's another example of going against what I would guess to be a very strong instinct.
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