[Lexus]

What was the hardest thing to get your dog to figure out?

For me, it has been the whole retrieval thing. She just dosn't like it. Oh yeah, she'll go get it, and bring it most of the way back ....... then DROP IT!! Right now I've back off retrieval and am working on her holding an item until told to release it. Crossing my fingers that she can shift that knowledge to HOLD IT until she returns to me and I TAKE it FROM her with her hold command. In a few days we'll graduate to heeling (moving) while holding an item, once she's got that I will JUMP UP AND DOWN because I know the next step is to retrieve!!!! :dancing_b

This is the highlight of my day, as soon as it cools down, working my girl.....!

 

[LCGSDmama]

I'm not sure what the hardest thing was to teach Malachi... He was a fairly easy puppy to train..

I think Bella was the hardest.... She did NOT wanna be house broken.. and the "Sitzing" and the "Platzing" was a bitch with her too... Rotties are STUBBORN asses... thats for DAMN sure!

 

[TakirasDad]

The hardest thing for my girl and still is - she likes to mouth people! I am trying my hardest but for some reason she just can keep her mouth shut. She doesnt bite, but she will come up to ya with an open mouth and try to get ya to pet her by mouthing your hand or arm. PIA I tell ya. Anyone have any suggestions that I can try?

DA

 

[Lexus]

And I'm sure visitors just LOVE being mouthed by a DOBERMAN!! he he he! Don't know how to get her over it except by what I'm sure you are already doing, and give her something else to fill her mind at the time she usually does the mouthing. Weather it be some obedience (show off to the visitors just how clever she is) by making her go through some paces in front of them and follow up with a down stay untill she is relaxed and not excited to see them anymore. Or when you get a visitor bring out a favorite toy or rawhide that she doesn't get at any other time, so she is involved with that rather than the person. So that the person is less than interesting to her, because it's not everyday she gets that "great big tasty kind of bone (or Kong)"and that deserves more attention than some boring old person- in her mind anyway . Good luck!

 

[LCGSDmama]

The hardest thing for my girl and still is - she likes to mouth people! I am trying my hardest but for some reason she just can keep her mouth shut. She doesnt bite, but she will come up to ya with an open mouth and try to get ya to pet her by mouthing your hand or arm. PIA I tell ya. Anyone have any suggestions that I can try?

DA

Malachi did that when he was a puppy... it was part of the "sherpherd/herding" in him.

Some HOW we had ALWAYS had a toy in our pockets, when he would come up and put his mouth on us, we would yell "NO!" and give him the toy, and then praise the hell out of him when he would start playing with that..

DA, how old is your girl?

I remember you saying she was a rescue(bless your heart!) do you know if her previous ownes worked her in ScH or PSA? SOME DOGS(not all) that get worked in those sports tend to be mouthy, and the owners dont correct them, because they WANT them to bite the decoy...

I thought I would through that out there...

 

[doberlover]

The hardest thing for any of my dogs to learn was to heel. THey love to pull. I haven't used a choke chain as they do a lot of damage in the neck area, saw someone at the vet who used a halter and it cut the dog clear through to the armpits so I won't use that. I currently use a prong. It seems to help the pulling a tad but they are smart enough to shake it down where it does not do any good, hence I have to stop often to rearrange it. I heard of a new harness made just for Dobies and will post my results.

DA - I did the same as Kayla, just stuck a toy in their mouth. I do notice that my new puppy has more mouthing issues and have had to correct her more sternly ie. hold her mouth closed for 15 seconds and repeat no bite but she still thinks I am playing and starts to growl & nip at my pants. It's so hard not to laugh while I say a stern NO.

 

[TakirasDad]

Thanks for the advice guys & gals.

My girl is 2 years old and yes I rescued her from the side of a garage and a chain. Stupid people.

A little more info: She does not mouth me, if she wants to be pet by me she will either come up and lick me or she will come platz at me feet and kinda just look up at me like ..Pleeeeaseee, pleeaseeee pet me.

Now it is a different story with others - She will mouth first if she wants attention, then if she gets corrected either verbally or with a collar she will be nice and start licking them. She definitley knows it is not nice to mouth people but I guess she thinks she can get away with it with certain people.

My biggest concern is my 2.5 year old daughter. Let me say right now - there is never, ever, ever a time that they are left unsupervised. We are always there if the dog and the children are both in common areas of the house or yard. As you can imagine a 2.5 year old has alot of energy, so usually what happens is my daughter starts to run or jump playing and boom the dog wants in on the fun. She will start to chase after my daughter down the hall, not to hurt her but she thinks it is play time. When she gets to her or if my daughter stops running she will beging to start mouthing her arms trying to be pet. The only time this does not happen is if my daughter starts the petting before the mouthing can start, then she will be very happy to just stand there being pet. Now when she stops petting the dog there is a 50/50 chance the dog will either want more attention or go about her way and find something else to occupy her time.

I guess the only thing to do is continue to let her know that mouthing is not tolerated, and correct her when she does.

This dog has only been in the household for approx 4 months now so I think we are all still learning to get along.

As for her previous owners I am not sure of the training that they had her in. I do know she did OB training. I found out who the guy was that trained her as a puppy and I enrolled her. We just finished his 5 week course, mostly it was training me. She is coming around slowly , but I think I really need to build a relationship with her, and her trust me 100% - that is going to take time.

Thanks again for the advice.

DA

 

[frznbuns]

:duh_6b: I think the hardest thing I taught my girl was to catch. All the others could be you would throw something to her like a treat and it would hit her in the head. Then she would look at you like.. Duhh Was I suppose to catch that. It took me almost 4 1/2 years to teach her. (she turns 5 in October)
And then one day she just got it!! yeah!! now all my babies can catch! But Spirit my Boy is the Best!! :clap:

 

[LCGSDmama]

I currently use a prong. It seems to help the pulling a tad but they are smart enough to shake it down where it does not do any good, hence I have to stop often to rearrange it.

You might have to remove another prong in the collar, it is NOT supposed to be able to go on the neck at all... Dave(my pet :dancing_b ) used to put my boys prong collar on his neck... It took me a LONG ass time to train him to put the prong collar high on Malachi's neck...

I'll find pictures to show ya..

 

[LCGSDmama]

http://www.leerburg.com/fit-prong.htm

And its fitting... Leerburg is using a Doberman as an example!

 

[Lexus]

You might have to remove another prong in the collar, it is NOT supposed to be able to go on the neck at all... Dave(my pet :dancing_b ) used to put my boys prong collar on his neck... It took me a LONG ass time to train him to put the prong collar high on Malachi's neck...

I'll find pictures to show ya..

Kudos Kayla, EXCELLANT link!!!! I sometimes use a prong, haven't in a while, think I'll get back into it now! I had it higher up than the pic with it low on the dobe's neck but not as high as they show, I will readjust and use it again, I think I will be happier with it!

Once again, very informative link! THX

 

[LCGSDmama]

Leerburg has some awesome info.. and if you read his Q and A's... OMG you'll bust a rib laughing at some of the stupid ass people!

Now, I was considering getting a GSD from him.. I wanted a LC.. he dont like em... and he let me know!

 

[Lexus]

ohhh, I had a ball reading that stuff!! WOW.... people can be DUMB!!! "how many heat cycles must my bitch go through to have purebred puppies again after she was bred by a mutt" WOW!!!

That's a shame that he's tough on the LC though..... I tried to find something about it, but all I found was that he states it is technically a recessive gene, but he wasn't harsh there. Surprising, he didn't hold back elsewhere!!

By the way, Lexy did great in her "refitted" prong tonight!

 

[LCGSDmama]

Awesome Jessie!!!

I told ya, you would have a ball reading his site!

 

[TakirasDad]

http://www.leerburg.com/fit-prong.htm

And its fitting... Leerburg is using a Doberman as an example!

I have seen that article and thought that was the correct way until I read THIS article http://www.flyingdogpress.com/prong.html that clearly says to keep the prong in the middle of the neck.

I read Ed Frawleys website and he has alot of good advice but I cant say I agree 100% with everything he has to say.



DA

 

[LCGSDmama]

I've had too many people, trainers, ScH trainers, OB trainers, you name them,

that say the prong should fit high on the neck... Before I trained Dave on how to put on the collar right, it was in teh middle of my Boys neck.. and it didnt nearly as good as what it does now..

I agree with you an Ed Frawley though...but He's old and stuck in his ways, thats for damn sure...

 

[Lexus]

Yeah I see what they mean by to high up on the neck, I have mine (as of last night) just down of where it is places on the softer part of her thoat, (rather than lower) and the put it about (little Higher than) midway on the back of the neck. All she did was pull a little, feel it and settled right in at my side, maybe checking one more time to see if it was still there. So it wasn't by her ears, I can see that would be painfull, but it was more on the soft of her throat than the meaty part further down. She's never rambuctious anyway, but she does tend to pull ahead and have to be reminded frequently where to be, even if they are just small reminders I prefer not to have to do them at all. She is still young too, as she grows older in her training also, she will get more consistant I know.


I used to be terrified of prongs, but even my trainer prefers them to chains. I'd rather not correct at all with a prong than be reminding my babe every few minutes, "Hey I just told you where to be" with a tug tug. I also bought two very light weight collars and put them together to make one large enough for lexy, so she doesn't have a heavy duty one on, it has very small prongs. Maybe an inch curved.

 

[doberlover]

Thanks for the links to both sites. I agree that when the prong is close to the ear it is painful, my boy has reminded me of that a few times. I will remove some of the links and see how my boy behaves. I would never use a choke either. When my boy was a pup I used a choke on him. When we returned home the front of his neck was chafed and bloody causing scars that never healed. I threw the darn thing away vowing to never use again. Then a neighbor who also had a doberman showed us the prong collar. Unfortunately we relied on the advice of the store where we bought it so that is why it never fit properly. :thanx:

 

[Gracie's_Mom]

The hardest thing for my girl and still is - she likes to mouth people! I am trying my hardest but for some reason she just can keep her mouth shut. She doesnt bite, but she will come up to ya with an open mouth and try to get ya to pet her by mouthing your hand or arm. PIA I tell ya. Anyone have any suggestions that I can try?

DA

Gracie use to do that. When company comes we make Gracie sit/lay in the kitchen or the living room depending on which door they knock on. From there whom ever came over has to get all the way inside the house before we will release her. If she gets to excited she goes right back into a sit/lay position all over again.

Now when my brother comes over with his rott, my brother tries to get her to mouth him. I get so mad and tell him that we are trying to get her to stop then he comes and messes it all up.

The hardest thing to teach Gracie has been come, stay, leave it, and her temper tantrums. Her temper tantrums drive me up a wall. She does this really high pitched bark if you don't look at her she jumps on the couch and gets right in your face and does it. Then she starts chomping her teeth at you and then starts crying. If all of that doesn't work she runs in the office and slams the door closed. It's really cute to watch her throw one as long as your aren't the one she is throwing a temper tantrum too. Lol.

 

[Lexus]

Just like kids aren't they!!?? Lexy (when she is being the super villian) chomps at the air, when she isn't getting her way, or more likely, pops is in her spot on the couch!