Marker trg with 2 dogs is starting to cause me grief. Trigger and Trooper know their names, and they are used throughout trg. The problem arises when one desrves a 'No' marker. A trg volley may sound something like... "Trooper Trigger Come ..Yes..Trooper Sit ..Yes.. (treat) Trigger Down ..Yes..(treat) Now Trooper will Down on his own, resulting in a NO marker, which is of course heard by Trigger, then I am forced to approach them, or repeat commands, ...hopefully you get the point. They are 9 month old littermates males, training them separately is just not practical, and I sense the dogs learn off each other.I've tried picking other words for "Yes" and "No" , and it seems easy enough, until you forget which dog gets which, or they figure out that Good OR Yes = treat. Any suggestions OTHER THAN train them separate would be welcomed. We are still in the early stages of trg, and my goal is to maximize every trg session and get them up to speed for eventual off leash and e-collar. If someone has experience they could share with me, please do...
Trg 2 Dogs
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All you might need to is to crate one of them, tie them up, or keep them behind a baby gate while you are working the other.
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training together is extremely difficult if not downright impossible because they feed off each other so much its not only confusing to you but its more confusing to them causing frustration for all involved. Training seperately is recommended not only because its easier but you can see where one dog needs more attention on something whereas the other may have it down before you even realize it. I agree with the crating one while training the other. You can set aside specific days to train a specific dog. say for example, each dog gets 3 days a week and they have a day of R and R. and then throughout the week you can reinforce commands together say for example when you have something tasty they are interested in. Say sit, down , or whatever it is you want them to do. That way they also learn to obey while the other is close by. it may not be practical but it would be most effective. Once they are proofed on their own, THEN you can start working them together more easily. You'd be surprised how much they learn and how quickly with one on one training.
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I know you do not want to hear about training separately, but I have tried training 2 dogs at a time and it is more than twice as hard as training 1. It may very well also take more than twice as long.
So if you only have a certain amount of time you want to spend in training, instead of training 2 for 30 minutes, train 1 for 10 minutes, go get the other one and put the 1st one away, and spend 10 minutes training him, and have 5 minutes left over.
Once they are both very good with commands that are intended for them only, then start to test them together.
If you want to train one individually to not DOWN unless he hears his name first, then try that with ONE DOG, by saying the other dog's name then DOWN. Only reward him when you've said his name first, if that is the rule you're setting. You will see it's hard for a dog to construct the sentence as you stand in front of him giving the down command to a dog who is not there. It is much much harder to try to teach that while the other dog is there, doing his obedience, but not being rewarded.
Do not make it so hard on yourself or your dogs.
So if you only have a certain amount of time you want to spend in training, instead of training 2 for 30 minutes, train 1 for 10 minutes, go get the other one and put the 1st one away, and spend 10 minutes training him, and have 5 minutes left over.
Once they are both very good with commands that are intended for them only, then start to test them together.
If you want to train one individually to not DOWN unless he hears his name first, then try that with ONE DOG, by saying the other dog's name then DOWN. Only reward him when you've said his name first, if that is the rule you're setting. You will see it's hard for a dog to construct the sentence as you stand in front of him giving the down command to a dog who is not there. It is much much harder to try to teach that while the other dog is there, doing his obedience, but not being rewarded.
Do not make it so hard on yourself or your dogs.
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I also have two dogs that I have found training together is impossible. They were both adopted as older dogs & are only 3.5 months apart in age. I find it is best if one is completely out of sight and hearing distance. For instance, when I am working with Z, it is best to leave Nadia in the house(crated) so that I can get the best results with Z, and visa versa. If I work them together, giving Z a down command and Nadia a sit command, I always get two dogs in a down; therefore when I have them both out together it is for playtime. No sense in me getting frustrated with them when I am the one at fault for not giving them the individual training time they clearly need. :apple:
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