Feeling pretty helpless and drained, advice?
Hey guys, I have a dog that has a few issues including barking at random noises, pulling on leash, running out the door, and not paying attention to me even in moderately stimulating environments. I'm having a very stressful time with him recently and have even considered rehoming him as a result. It seems like nothing I try motivates him.
I already tried a trainer once and had terrible results. The trainer encouraged the use of pinch collars, spray bottles, and other punishing techniques that made me uncomfortable. I ended up not finishing all of the sessions that I paid for because of this. Since then I've been lurking here and trying a lot of the resources recommended (When Pigs Fly: training success with impossible dogs, kikopup on YouTube) but I just don't see progress happening.
To top it all off I'm moving across the country at the end of this week and will be living in a shared house, which makes me afraid that my dog will be seen as a burden to my roommates.
FWIW, I'm moving to Denver. A company called FetchMasters caught my eye, they have really great reviews and state that they don't use any type of positive punishments like shock collars, pinch collars, rattle cans, etc. Their at home training is $500 for five sessions and while I can afford that it isn't an insignificant amount of money. Is it worth even trying a different trainer to help me? It feels like there's nothing I can do to modify my dog's behaviors.
Posted Jul 24, 2018, 12:49 AM UTC
Aside from working with a trainer that was using force/punishers, what tactics are you yourself doing to try to curb the behaviors of your dog?
Leash pulling: He's not interested in treats when we're outside, he spits them out or ignores them. I switched to a gentle leader, don't move if there's tension on the leash, switch directions frequently or if he moves past me. He has improved slightly and doesn't "pull" per-se anymore if he sees something interesting he completely forgets everything.
Barking: I have no clue what to do even after research. Like, how am I supposed to reinforce quiet behavior when the stimulus (usually another dog barking outside or a car door) is so random?
Running out the door: a problem with strangers more than me. I don't have anyone who I can work with to help him learn.
Attention: tried building attention by clicking and treating when he looks at me/I say his name, but it hasn't improved much at all. His name recognition is terrible to be honest.
What are you using for treats? To condition a dog to his name, I use extremely high value treats - shreds of real meat or bits of cheese. Name/treat. Pause (important). Name/treat. Do this with no distance and no distractions 10 or 15 times in a session, 10 or 15 times a day. If you are using something he really wants, you should notice a vast improvement in his name recognition.
I usually use Zuke's mini naturals as medium value, kibble for low, and cheese for high value.
I'll try what you recommend. To teach his name I was trying to wait for him to look at me as well when I said it, but I guess that's too high of a standard.
Yep, that's "chunking" - asking for a finished behavior before rewarding. Right now you want to simply create an association between his name and the reward. When that is sharp and obvious, you can start asking for a bit more criteria - a second of eye contact - before asking for more.
In addition to what u/shiplesp has said, make the rewards more interesting than you handing out a treat. Throw them a little bit away so the dog has to chase them.
Also consider that the dog might not be that hungry, so it could be useful to either let them miss a meal or two, or use the day's kibble as reward throughout the day rather than any meals.