Help needed!


Do you have more information on the scent games? I think that would be good for them, and then should I only play with one dog at a time and put the other one in a kennel or in another room, or can both play?

I detailed a couple of the scent games in the article I linked to below:
http://sheltie-hair.blogspot.com/2008/10/creating-mental-balance-in-sheltie.html

Once both dogs know the rules of the games and how to play, then they can play together for the "hide and seek" type games. The scented containers I would play individually.

Right now I am having a little bit of a harder time training with the clicker, as both dogs are around, so I have to lock one up somewhere so he or she does not hear the click. Someone told me that they have a 'deluxe' clicker now, that makes different tone clicks, so you use one tone with one dog and another with the other. Have you heard of this? Do you think it would work?

Clicker with two dogs at once is a little bit tricky, but there are way around it. There is a Clicker+ that has different sounds. I considered purchasing one of these, but at the rate that I go through clickers I didn't want to risk losing or breaking this more expensive one! :lol:

Instead, I will either put one dog away when I am using the clicker with the other, or I will work one dog on "non-clicker" tricks while I work the other with the clicker. For example, if I am working both dogs at once, I will put one dog in a down-stay or a sit-stay and work with the other dog with the clicker. I find this game very helpful in letting the dog know that the click doesn't serve as a "release". So the dog in the stay is required to ignore the clicker because it isn't intended for them. I will work this way for about 5-10 minutes, then switch dogs. The dog that was in the stay is released for clicker work and the dog that was working with the clicker is put into a stay. I personally do not use the clicker for duration activities (like stays) so will reward periodically through the stay without clicking first. I only use the clicker for initial training of a new task, cleaning up an old task, or adding speed or response.
 
Thank you for the advice. I will have to read the article you posted on the link. I think those games sound like a lot of fun (once I get the hang of them first!:biggrin2:)
 
Martha said:
Hi, everyone!
Congratulations on the website: it looks great! We would like to introduce ourselves: we are university teachers and owners of Martha, a blue merle female sheltie. She is almost 4 months old now and bonded with our family (2 adults and 2 young girls) quite quickly. She is very "sheltie": vocal, bright (we "toilet-trained" her successfully in a week), and with a strong herding drive. We are now facing some behavioral challenges and need advice: (1) She has been nipping and barking (and even growling!) at me or my husband out of the blue. We promptly say NO and place her into her crate or other room, ignoring her for 20-30 minutes. But we are concerned she may hurt our kids. We will take her to puppy school in late January but would like to understand why she is doing that. Any tips? (2) She was recently dewormed and treated for diarrhea caused by eating too much snow. We increased her daily food intake and are keeping her on a short leash during her outings (which is driving her nuts), but she insists on the behavior. (3) We are providing her with 3h/d of activity (1.5h morning walk and 1.5h afternoon ball play, running or frisbee). But it does not seem to be enough: she sleeps most of the time when she gets home but as soon as she is up, she is ready to go (again!). Is this a common behavior during teething or is it possible that we have a hyperactive puppy? (4) Finally, she has been barking and jumping when meeting new people and dogs. We keep her on a short leash, firmly say NO but how can we correct for this behavior more effectively? As you see, we have our hands full these days: any help is much appreciated. Thanks! Tami & Renato
Click to expand...

It sounds like your puppy is trying to be "The Top Dog" which means it wants to be the leader....like in a pack of wolves, theres a leader in the pack
thats what it sounds like to me your puppy is trying to be, that should be perfectly normal
All you would need to do is alphatize your puppy...show her that your the leader
Theres an alpha position...just hold him like a little baby and hold her there till she is calm "they dont like that position too much so they will yelp and act like it hurts sooo soo much"

The nipping problem is fixable
2 ways i know of
1. when she starts to nip at your ankles or hands or what ever, be quick and get ahold of her and put your hand over her muzzle and one hand on her back and loudly say "NO BITE!"

and if you really want it to stop fast

I wouldnt call this alphatizing, more like discipline
Same scenario..just be quick only get ahold of her low jaw and apply pressure to it and say "NO BITE!" she may yelp but its not painful....just annoying to them so they'll fake it to try and get out of something they dont like.
My mom used to do that to me when i was being bad
But bandit doesnt nip at us anymore like he did when he was a young puppy
now he just bites on our other shelte hehe but its just playful and he playfully bites and mouths on my hands


Oh heres another alpha technique
when you play tug of war...never let her win the rope
oh and instead of saying NO. say something like "Uh uh uuuhh" or "Ah ah aaaah" <---however thats spelt
Saying No all the time to Bandit didnt even phase him for long


wanted my 2cents before i read everything
 
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BlueBandit said:
Oh heres another alpha technique
when you play tug of war...never let her win the rope
oh and instead of saying NO. say something like "Uh uh uuuhh" or "Ah ah aaaah" <---however thats spelt
Saying No all the time to Bandit didnt even phase him for long


wanted my 2cents before i read everything
Click to expand...

NO, never worked for Bacca either. The 3 syllable AH,AH,AH, works well for him. I guess because it does not come up in any other circumstance, unless he's being corrected.
 
I am currently compiling a list of resources regarding current research into dog pack hierarchies. The "alpha theory" is based off of research in the 1970's on artificial wolf packs observed in captivity under unnatural circumstances. New research based on natural canid behavior under non-artificial settings indicates that the previously accepted alpha theory is inaccurate at best. When I have gathered a list of recent research I will be sure to post it here.

As for the tug thing, winning or losing doesn't matter in the least. The only thing that matters is that you control the game. If you make the rules and everyone plays by the rules, it doesn't matter if the dog wins an individual "match". The thing that matters is that the game starts and stops when you say so, anything in between doesn't make a difference at all. If you watch two dogs playing tug of war, neither dog wins all the time. Each one wins and each one loses their fair share, but the relationship between the two dogs does not suffer because of it.

Train an "out" or "give" command in order to end the game or get the toy back after each bout of tug. Then the game is not about gaining possession of the item, but rather about the act of tugging in and of itself.
 
"Hide and Seek - Put your dog in a sit-stay, show them a treat in your hand, then allow them to watch you hide the treat under a pillow, blanket, or towel. Release them from the stay and encourage them to figure out how to find the treat."

So i went to the link Geerome provided there for game sand stuff,, and tried this to start with lol,, with a blanket,, hehehe

After a couple of minutes of trying to figure out what layer where the treat was in the blanket he did what a good sheltie should do.

He proceeded to chew his way thru the blanket :eek2::eek2:

That was funny to watch for the whole 5 seconds i let it happen for.. it just took a matter of refolding the blanket so he had to many layers to work thru , lol,, he got it after a few minutes of trying.. somehwere to to start i guess.. hehe love all the ideas on her page,, he gives me a funny look when he's thinking..
 
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haha :lol: Glad you and the pup had a good time with the game! I have one that tries to go "through" the blanket as well. I found it helps to get them started if you use something like a cushion. Something they have to push out of the way instead of try to dig through. After they get the hang of that, the you can increase the difficulty by moving to a blanket or something similar.

It's so much fun watching their brains work! Glad you enjoyed it :biggrin2:
 
Is it unusual if I play the hide and seek game with a really smelly treat in a room and my dog can walk right past it (say it's hidden under a cushion on a low couch)? I find that Romeo's scenting ability is not that developed. He usually has to be within like a foot to 2 feet from the smelly treat before he can detect the scent. He'll walk all over and put his nose in EVERYTHING (instead of going straight for the area where the treat is) before he comes even close to the scent! Am I expecting too much from him if I think he should be able to smell it from the other end of the room??
 
If he hasn't learned to use his nose, then it is expecting too much. You need to teach him to use his nose before expecting him to be able to find things that easily. He has the ability to do it, just hasn't learned to rely on his sniffer yet. Back up a bit and don't do the full hide and seek game yet. Hide things directly in front of him with some sort of obstacle (pillow, cup, etc.)
 
That's what I am doing now. My two have not learned to use their sniffers, so I have to show them where I hide the treats and cover them with a pillow. Now I will use two pillows and hide a treat under one of them so they have to find it. It's slow going, but hopefully they will get it in time. But it is fun watching them.
 
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