I LOVE smart dogs!!!

[kidkhmer]

I had basically taught Karma "outside" a little while back. Every now and then she would still use the dining room table as a defensive linesman ( is that the right term ? I am not American ? ) to try and block me shooing her out but only briefly.

I bought a bag of beef rib bones a few days ago and froze them and the first few times I would say "Let's get a bone" and walk her to the fridge and she would sit at the fridge while I fished one out. Initially I would then walk her outside and make her sit and then give her a bone - some of which she would start on straight away on her special mat on the front porch and some of which she would take to her "special secret squirrel" hiding place .

After the half dozen bones I then started giving Karma the bone in the kitchen at the fridge and saying " Take it outside /outside with it ". Again, initially she would either jump up in her favorite chair which is right near the front door or run around the dining room table but now...........

"Let's get a / want a BONE ?" Karma goes straight to the fridge and sits and waits. I can take my time and she is still there and no whingeing or whining or carrying on. I have also started letting 2yr old Grace give her the bones and Karma is very gentle on the take. She reminds me alot of my Blue Heeler. Dexter used to be almost embarrassed to take a bone !

then.....

"Outside with it" and she absolutely bounds out of the house and makes for her porch mat like a jump jet landing on a carrier !!!

As you know I am clicker training too but what Karma is showing me about the GSD ( or I guess any smart dog for that matter ) is simple daily repetition can also work. No marking the behavior, no rewards,just doing the same thing. That is also the way I taught her to "get over/get behind " in the cab of my truck. She was doing it every day and picked it up within a week.

[Iletthedogout]

Originally Posted by codmaster

Probably but more often it is the not so good trainer!

tous chez!!!

[littlebit722]

KZoppa, when you teach your gsd, do you use any type of treat? If not, how do you get them to learn and want to do what you say so quickly? Thank you.

[KZoppa]

Originally Posted by littlebit722

KZoppa, when you teach your gsd, do you use any type of treat? If not, how do you get them to learn and want to do what you say so quickly? Thank you.

The first couple times i started with basic training treats for puppies. I got them at petsmart. they're the petsmart brand. She LOVES those things. After she started doing well with the command on the treats i took the treats away and used positive reinforcement. She would do a command such as 'sit' and when she completed the action and held it for a couple of seconds she would get some pretty ecstatic petting and excitement. She seems to enjoy that more than the treats so we turn it into a game. She's doing very well with sit stays at the door as well. down is something we're having some trouble with but when i leash trained, NO treats were involved. I use the direction change to train her. When she started pulling i would change direction. After a couple times, she learned she needed to stay where i wanted her to at my side and pay closer attention to me. Because she's only a lil older than 4 months she does still get distracted so she's forgiven for puppy curiosity but 98% of the time she's pretty good about checking to make sure she's still being a good girl. We also use meal times as a training time. She has to sit and give paw/shake before her bowl gets put down. We're going to start working on leave it and wait in the coming days so she wont eat until i tell her its okay.

[littlebit722]

Thank you for the great tips!

[ilivenanigloo]

Love a smart dog! Lupa never liked treats, she's always been a tennis ball kinda dog. I actually never marked individual tricks she did correctly, I just used repetition and then play time so she wouldn't get bored or frustrated. These days, I can tell her to get her ball, bring it, drop it, heel, sit, heel, down, heel, go get your ball! Her training is rusty, but it's pretty nice to not have to carry around a slimy ball or smelly treats because she's waiting for the chance to go grab her ball, run around some and lay down to chew on it.

It took three days to get Lupa to sit at the door to go outside in the morning. No special training was need for that, since going outside means running around and presented a reward in itself.

Personally, the thing I enjoy most about training smart dogs is that you don't have to train every little in-between step. Some dogs need to be taught "hold," "pick it up" and "bring it" and then "drop it" just to learn to fetch. Of course, it helps when the dog has prey drive, so maybe I'm just cheating. Hehe.

"Stop" is an easy one. Put the puppy on a retractable leash and let it run in front of you. Stop while giving the leash a tug to exaggerate the annoying tug on the dog. Say "Stop." Repeat with varying distances between you and the puppy. No treats necessary.

Oh, and just some advice...teach your puppy to speak so you can teach him to hush. My #1 training regret is not doing this.

[KZoppa]

Originally Posted by littlebit722

Thank you for the great tips!

no problem! some dogs are a little more difficult but thats natural. Just a fair warning. Shasta was a totally blank slate when i got her so she's been easy to do training. My other dogs were rescues or taught poorly by previous people so i've been working on changing unwanted behavoirs with them but same basic steps. good luck!