If you could do it all over again....

[TheVintageAngel]

Hi! I'm a brand new owner of a white GSD...8 weeks old (female). We were able to choose her from the litter and had our pick...so we chose her based on her calm demeanour (relatively speaking of course she IS a pup) and also because when we picked her up, she acted as if she liked it and didn't squirm....the others bucked like wild broncos ;-)

Anyhow, with all you experts by experience here...what would be the one thing you'd do different if you had a fresh slate all over again with your dog? We have lots of training books, including the books by the Monks of New Skete who raise GSDs for companion and therapy use....but what I find the most interesting and workable is actual experience....so let me know if you don't mind! We have children in the home (ages 8 and 5) if that makes a difference with your advice. Thanks in advance!

[Jax08]

Clicker! Good foundation work! Positive reinforcement! NILIF!

I trained Jax with compulsion. She had a prong collar on at 5 months old. No rewards other than a pat on her head and a good girl. So, when I went to my first Rally event it was a hard lesson to learn that I had no relationship with my girl. So we ARE doing it differently. I found a new trainer who a completely different philosophy.

It is extremely unfair to correct an animal when that animal hasn't been taught what you want to begin with. Break things down into small steps and then put them together for the complete piece. Build your relationship with your dog and you'll do great!

[TheVintageAngel]

Thank you! That's the clicker that you use to click each time, the instant they do something you want them too, correct?

Right now I've been doing a lot of calm, happy voice "good girls" but I'm starting to annoy myself - LOL

[PaddyD]

Originally Posted by TheVintageAngel

Thank you! That's the clicker that you use to click each time, the instant they do something you want them too, correct?

Right now I've been doing a lot of calm, happy voice "good girls" but I'm starting to annoy myself - LOL

It's actually click and treat. I'm sure some Mod can give you the links to the videos. Monks of New Skete was good but not too useful. I read several authors and didn't find much useful information for puppy training. I think the best thing you did was find this forum. There are a lot of knowledgeable, kind and thoughtful people here (I don't include myself). I wish I had found this forum before Abby was a year old. It would have helped a lot.
There is only one problem with this site: It's ADDICTIVE.

[Jax08]

The clicker is a marker. It can mark a behavior much faster than a "good girl". I use it primarily to teach a new behavior and then I mark with "Yes!" or "oops" if she didn't do what I wanted. There are several good clicker training books out there.

My big problem was that Jax did not relate a reward to me. She had no desire to work WITH me and since her only experience was one of punishment (the prong collar) you can't really blame her. I'm not saying to not use a correction collar ever. There is a time and a place for a correction. But build the relationship, make working with you fun, build her focus. Teach her what you want and reward her for offered behaviors. For instance, when she is looking at you on her own, reward her with a treat or a toy. She'll come to learn that focusing on you brings good things. Once she starts offering that behavior then put a command to it (Watch, Look, Focus, etc)

[LaRen616]

Originally Posted by TheVintageAngel

what would be the one thing you'd do different if you had a fresh slate all over again with your dog?

I wouldn't do anything different.

IMO Sinister is perfect, well his recall when other dogs are around could be better but other than that he is perfect, there is nothing I would have done differently.

Malice is a work in progress.

[Klamari]

Rear-end awareness. I know Rayne is only 8 months old but I hit a big bump in the road a couple weeks ago because it painfully apparent to me and my trainer that we had completely overlooked teaching her rear-end awareness.
It was fixed within a week, and now she is a almost pro at backing up in heel position and left pivots, but there were a couple of training sessions there in the beginning of teaching her that I wanted to just shoot myself because she just did not understand, and I didn't know how to communicate it to her, and I knew it was my fault.
But thankfully she is super smart....and very forgiving

[Caledon]

Work with focus more and earlier.

[Good_Karma]

If I had to do one thing differently, I would make a much bigger effort to make all the new experiences FUN!! If a socialization outing is not going well, go home! And next time do something that is more in the puppy's comfort zone. The big wide world can be a scary place, and for a pup who is on the timid side, you need to take smaller steps. That doesn't mean not going out of the house, but rather maybe just not jumping right into the middle of busy or noisy places. We went to some festivals and a Civil War re-enactment with our puppies and it was way, way too much for them at that age. They were terrified, we were frustrated, and overall it just set us back as far as making them be okay in public.

[Jax08]

Excellent advice Leah!