train my dog

Information found at Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies Website URL: http://www.behavior.org/animals/

Living with a Family

House training (formerly called “house-breaking’)
Appropriate around other animals
Appropriate around people (family and visitors)
Leash manners (not lunging, not pulling)

Specialized Activities

AKC Canine Good Citizen®
Obedience and Rally competition
Agility
Field Work & Hunting
Herding
Lure Coursing
Tracking
Therapy Dog Training
Service Dogs
Special Work settings (pest control, geese management)
Search & Rescue
Police and Military Dogs (protection, drugs, bombs, etc.)

Canine Behavior Problems

Aggression toward other animals
Aggression toward people
Barking
Car chasing
Chewing
Destruction
Digging
Fears & phobias
Feeding problems
Fence jumping
“Hyper” behaviors
Jumping on People
Housetraining (toileting) problems
Pica
Resource or food guarding
Running away
Separation Anxiety
Sexual behaviors (mounting)
Shy
Sniffing people
Community Canine Problems
Each year, millions of dogs are surrendered to animal shelters, many because of behavior problems that could be easily treated. Because so many shelters are over-crowded, a substantial number of the dogs surrendered to shelters will be euthanized.

With 4 out of 10 households in the United States owning at least one dog (68 million dogs), it is clear that the field of behavior analysis has much to offer dogs and their humans.

For more information visit:
http://www.behavior.org/animals/

Things that I need to accomplish in order to make training go smoother

Be more aware of my environment.

Learn to remain more focused.

Improve consistency.

Learn more principles and methods of behavior modification and try them out.

Improve my reinforcement timing.

Maximize reinforcers.

Reduce number of corrections.

Analyze an environment for natural reinforcers (only makes my job easier)

I will list more as they come to me…but I know I got a lot of work to do, lol :O)

There is this dog at the park where I take my dog. According to a man that works in side the county senior services center, the dog has lived there for several months. She looks to be a black lab and maybe 6-10 years old. Looks like she is infected with mange because she is missing a lot of fur. The gentleman that works there also told me that the county animal control has been setting humane traps for her, but she has learned to take the food without setting off the trap.

When we, my dog and I, first started going to the park, she would stay pretty far away and watch us. The next time she came she started barking at us out in the open and quickly retreated behind a tree. She did that for the next couple of times that we were there. Today, however, when I got out of my truck and began to unload my bicycle, she came running up within like 30-40 feet of me and barking. I remained calm and faced her without moving and waited until she moved, then I moved and went to grab a piece of hot dog for her and she sniffed the air once more and retreated back about 20-30 feet. Then I got my dog out of the truck and we rode and walked around the park for about an hour. She was always in site and if I came to close she would woof. Before I left, I took the rest of my hot dog and walked up to the tree she normally hides behind and deposited all of the hot dog there. Then Kai and I went around the park one more time and she came out to find the hot dogs and ate them. Then we packed up and left. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

I know a couple of rescue agencies and maybe I could either, befriend her and find her a good home that way or befriend her and take her in myself. I don’t know though, then I’d have to study Dog-Dog behavior and the dynamics change once again.

more tomorrow…

He will tolerate me gently opening his mouth so I can look at his teeth. I’ve often wondered if I should work with him letting me brush his teeth (I know when I worked as a vet tech for a while, they usually put dogs to under for a dental cleaning, but they are using drills and sanders and dangerous tools, If I could teach him to brush, i could avoid costly canine dental work later :)...hmmm that is a idea.

the problem that I am running into is, what is the proper behavior while he is in those situations? Is it to sit, keep going, oh oh maybe I can teach him a don’t look command, (which I heard is effective when you have dog that is aggressive toward other dogs, which, mine is not, he just wants to play really badly) maybe it can be all of those, but what is the best way to initially break into his conciousness when he is super excited. Now, that I am thinking about it, i just need to get him a really good reward for him, this one is on the cooked cubed chicken reward level, maybe even higher than that, I will have to try some stuff and let y’all know.

Work on responses when someone knocks at the door.

Work on responses when there is a cat or squirrel or a moving creature in general.

Work on “Don’t Look” command

Work on bark on command

Continue to work on Stay

Continue to work on Come

Continue to work on Heel, even though I don’t say, heel, the action is the same.

Working on proper responses while around kids and adults, dogs, and, other various distractions.

Sit

Stay

Come

Roll Over

Lay Down

Bring me his bone

Give Paw

Get in the bathtub for a bath on command

Shake the water off on command (this one is not totally reliable and has mostly to do with the natural environment, if he has shaken off two or three times in a row when I tell him to, he will stop responding to it until I let him out of the bathtub and then he’ll shake a couple of more times on his own. I guess the bathtub is a pretty confined area to be shaking in.

He will tolerate me gently opening his mouth so I can look at his teeth.

I can clip his nails without very much fuss (unless I accidentally hurt him, then his patience goes out the window quick, can’t really blame him though, I would do the same thing in his paws.)

He will tolerate having his ears cleaned, but will try to hide whenever we go over to the cabinet we keep the first aid supplies in, he knows…

Balance a treat on his nose and flip it up to himself on command, “Wazoo, Ket!” (that is how you say it, i have no idea how to spell it, as it is a Japanese phrase) While he is balancing the treat, you chant, WAZOOO WAZOOOO WAZOOOO and Ket! mean to get it…you get the idea, lol

Go get his bone and bring it to me

Find his bone when it is hidden (takes him a while sometimes)

Bring me other stuff if he doesn’t have a bone nearby and gently hand it over.

Ride along side me while I ride a bike, without any accidents.

This took some time and will take much more, but, I can finally break his attention and have him lay down when someone is at the door.