ClareL

Hi I have a very difficult to train dog and I have come to the conclusion he is only responding to hand signals not words, so I was wondering if there was a book on hand signals to train dogs?

I got a no pull harness for my crazy puller, a normal harness he could pull harder and he hurts himself on a collar as well. My one the ring you attach the lead to is at the front on his chest so pulling makes him turn sideways, doesn't hurt him at all and takes a little of the edge of his pull. its called a sense-ible dog harness. If you pm me i'll let you know where to get it form.

Sorry I knew I was using the wrong expression, It is definately free shaping we used to get him to sit and drop. Not luring. He is not food motivated, he is walk motivated he will sit next to the front door, and try and make me follow him to the lead cupboard. When we are going for a walk he will wait to have the harness put on very nicely then there is no calming him down, no chance of giving him a treat on a walk he just wants to be at the end of the lead he runs back to sniff the treat then runs back to the end of the lead. When he escapes (as he is an escape artist) he doesn't run away just tries to make me follow him and stays out of reach Only other thing he likes to to sit on my doona for a cuddle. We tried the triangle of temptation and he is quite happy to just wait for his food

Free shaping is the method we used to teach him to sit and drop, shake he copied from the other dog. We have tried hi 10 (as he does this on his own a bit) but he doesn't understand the command and he will walk across the room on his back legs following me (something he would do on his own to start with) Sorry I just didn't know there was a name for it. Its not that I am unwilling to teach him tricks just with the free shaping there are only a few things I can get him to do and like I said it was a great deal of work (even the sit). Now reading what you have written thats how I was expecting to train him to use equipment in the back yard, luring him through/over. He has meat loaf stuff and cheese for training sometimes smakos. He has dry food in the morning and a little wet mixed in at night. I know $70-100 many not sound like much to some people but it is to us, we have tried it. Vickie, you can say I am using the wrong method but you haven't actually suggested anything just teach it and i am teaching him some, you havent suggested any simple tricks either, but thankyou for the input

I completely understand the no gureentee but we haven't got a lot of money and trainers are expensive so i am not keen to continue that as we get no where. Already been told group training is no good for him, to which I agree they just move to fast. Asked about the energy but he doesn't play with toys will only do a couple of sits drop shakes before he decides he is no longer interested. He can't be kept in an off the lead park. I have never heard of the 2 differant holders one for walking and one for running, probably the best suggestion and will give it a go as previously I was told all pulling was unacceptable. I understand what people are saying with tricks it took 4 weeks for him to drop and still will only do it for food. So as a solution for his energy would take months and most of the tricks on the tricks page are beyond him. I have never heard of shaping

If I could go to a trainer who would gureentee they could fix it I would but no one offers that so why should I give them money for nothing just to be told the same thing over and over again I have googled and looked everywhere online and not found a differant technique to the ones stated earlier. I have done everything the trainers have said i have been back for numerous sessions to no success. He is slightly better at the trainers but thats it. The longer I work on the training the worse he gets due to the built end energy from not getting walked. The trainers have been recommended on dol. I have tried I really have and I am really tired of being told a professional trainer can fix it. Unless they have some mircle cure I have tried it, the only thing that has any affect is an easy walker harness but that just makes him not pull so hard. The biggest problem I think is if he is not getting walked his energy is building up which is why i want something for him to do in the backyard to burn energy tricks dont do that and as he can not go off lead anywhere I have had little success finding something thats why i thought some agility equipment might be good I could get him to burn some energy then try walking. A trainer doesn't know my dog and all training sessions are just the same standard set up as far as I can tell and it doesn't work on him. Sorry if I sound snappy but am just sick of being told the same thing time and time again. I teach children and not every child can be treated the same and I feel the same thing goes for dogs

He is alright when he has no distractions and no where to go (hence backyard) I am only expecting he will do it when i am there right next to him to coax him over/through because he seemed to like runnning through a tunnel (one of us putting him through other meeting him at other end) Also he can walk along the top of a fence and likes climbing (normally to escape but he is now trapped) I am not expecting to time him doing it or that he could go from one thing to the next without me leading him there, just something I could spend time with him doing even if i have to run my hand across a walk with a treat so he will do it. All I want to achieve is to do something other than walks with him. If he fails he fails no big deal. But it is fine I have looked around the site and found things I can build for him to have a go. I was just hoping for someother peoples idea on how to get him to go over/through things. He has done the no walking if he pulls/ change direction if he pulls/ treating when he is next to my leg so he things its a good place to be. I have spent a significant amount of money and time with good trainers all who said they could fix it. All have told me I am doing the correct thing picked on my timing and all that as I said the other dog walks pretty much perfect but not this one. I certainly wont be going to a trainer that says they can fix it in 20 minutes because that simply isn't true. Also I wont name the trainers I know how things go on dol they did try really hard and they did achieve some things with him he is just very difficult. He is only a little dog so pulling isn't a huge issue but after several weeks of him not getting a walk or only walking in circles he got quite depressed and its not worth that. I have accepted he will never be a well trained dog I just thought he might like this as it seems more natural to him due to his climbing skills. Thanks for everyones input

As I said earlier he has had one on one training for the walking many times. I am yet to find a technique that works, I have read through this forum for new techniques for ages no luck and everyone he has been to says they can fix it it only results in him not getting walked and to the point of explosion with energy.

The lead think probably doesn't matter with him as he pulls so he is very use to it being tight and wouldn't see it as a correction. He is a bit of try it and see how it works kind of dog

Yeah in the backyard he can be off lead, thanks for the tip also he is 2 and a half we think

We have put a great amount of effort into lead training (and a year of it) we have got no where. He has had a halti no pull harness and he will remove the halti in under 3 seconds and walks sides ways in the no pull harness. There is no way he can go off lead its too dangerous. Our other dog is really well trained walks almost prefectly, better off lead than on so its not just a case of us not training him my trainer says she has a dog like him and he is incredibly difficult for her. He was 1 and 1/2 when we got him and knew nothing. The reason I am interested in agility is he tried a tunnel at training once and he really seemed to enjoy it and it is something he can do in the safety of the backyard. The other dog plays fetch and stuff and i know he gets jealous of the attention as he will chase and try to bite him if we play when we first get home. I dont want to compete and i think it will be harder training in a group as I have been told the group training for obediance is not possible with him as he is a special case. (They dont allow enough time for him to achieve the task and normal training methods haven't worked) Thanks for all suggestions

He has been to obediance training group and private. I have been told he is highly reward driven if it is too hard to get the reward he gives up. He can be trained to do things he can repeat a lot (sit drop shake) but if you want him to go outside, come back, get off the couch he would prefer to do what he wants than get the reward. I imagine getting him to walk over a plank or run through a tunnel should be like sit/drop he is getting attention so he is happy to do it. Our basic aim is for him to have more to do than walks, he is terrible at walks and we figure if he can get some exercise before walks he might be a little better and not so excited.

I have a jack russel X. He is not well trained (he can sit drop shake but thats about it) he has no interest in toys but he loves walks and sniffing around he pulls like crazy so I couldn't say he was under control on his walks and we certainly can't let him oof lead. I have been told he would be happier if he had jobs to do so i thought running through tunnels and over sea saws and things might be something he would like to do. My question is can you do it with a poorly trained dog? Obviously he couldn't do it at a club I was just thinking of setting some things up in the backyard for him to use. Any suggestions or ideas of other things for him would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Food isn't bad, my boy tends to drop the treat on the floor before eating it so she trys to steal it and scare him off but i thought it might help with the other behaviour. They can all eat together but she now has hers in another room just in case. We will try the crating thing with the grumbles, it isn't bad and it probably is just normal interaction but I just want to make sure it doesn't get worse

Hi, I have a new dog staying with us for a while and just wanted some advice on making sure she gets along with my other 2. We did the intro at the park which went well, she had a snap at the first dog as she could smell the treat he just had so she is a bit food protective so we are being careful so that and its been fine. With the other dog he wants to play all day and annoys her a bit so we have had a few grumbles but nothing too serious. So we are happy with that. The main issue is both she and the first dog seem to be protective of me and get in grumbles while we sit on the couch both wanting the other to go away. Just wondering the best way to deal with this? Sorry its so long just wanted to give background in case it helps. They are being kept separate during the day so no issues when we aren't home

We have only had one lesson, she is just slow on the email reply so I thought someone on here might have some ideas on the exercise part, obviously it is too soon to see if the methods will work, just having no success when he is exercise deprived. I tried a combination of the private trainers technique and the group training, probably not what a trainer wants to hear but it worked he seemed to know what he was doing wrong and he actually made it around the block. I think attention is his major problem so we are going to start the triangle training tonight. Thanks to everyone for suggestions

We had both dogs at training so I think she was focused on the other one at that stage. I dont think people quite expect what happens when we let him off, he is an escape artist so will get over/under any fences you have to jump on top of him to stop him so you can't just block the entry to the park either. I haven't read that so i will google it He has no interest in any toys at all. I now get him to sit then say sit and give the treat, like i said first day we were getting somewhere but he is now a very bored dog and sits at the door crying so I think the techniques will work but he still needs exercise and stimulation while he is training

No focus work, never heard of it but I would say thats exactly what is problem is he doesn't really care what i'm doing. I was saying sit and when he sat giving him a treat, he wont always do it and he will do it some time without command just when i look at him. I decided he didn't know what the word was just was copying our other dog or trying to work out what I wanted so sitting. Trainer agrees he doesn't know what the word is. He has tried many walking techniques currently when he walks by my side he gets a treat. It was working day one then because he used to get a 30 minutes run each day and can no longer do that he has too much energy to pay attention to anything.

He is a rescue we think 2 1/2 and jack/pom/malt for breed probably mostly jack in personality. She had me treating him for being by my side at training which worked ok then, now he grabs a treat and then runs to the end of the lead. When he hits the end of the lead i am meant to change direction, hence the circles. Her solution was to let them off the run at the park but he has no road sense so its just too dangerous Only thing he likes to do is explore/sniff, all attempts to have him off leash only last till he has finished exploring the area then he moves on. He just sits if you are anywhere near a treat, drop gets he very confused he will eventually do it still working very hard at this but scared it will end up like the sit he will do it but not for the command.

Hi, I have had my dog for a year now and am struggling to teach him anything. He doesn't understand sit, he will sit if i look at him long enough but the word means nothing, he can't walk nicely and he does a runner if i ever let him off the leash. He is also not interested in toys at all. Group trainnig achieved nothing, they move too fast for him hence why he doesn't know the word sit. Started private training, so he is not allowed to go for a walk if he doesn't walk nicely. So for the past week we have done circles in front of my house, problem is now he gets no exercise and no fun the only thing we get to do with him is sit on the couch as he wont play with toys or anything at home. I feel like i am really punishing him and I dont really no if he is able to learn as he is still yet to achieve anything. Any suggestions what i can do so he gets to have some fun?

No I'm not trying to introduce her to dogs but its hard to control other peoples dogs who are off the leash. I only take her to on the lead parks and down the streets leading to them but unfortunatly in my area people seem to ignore this. She stops pulling when I say no on her own but as to the other dogs its unavoidable when they just run up to her.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have been working all the dogs on their own and although time consuming they have improved alot. Still pulls like crazy she let another dog sniff her and then had a little snap (the other dog was off lead didn't walk her up to it) but I can handle that and i am going to start giving her treats when she sees them as suggested she is a very food orientated dog so i think it will help. Thanks again to everyone

ok thanks I am wondering if it is the other 2 working her up. We resently started her on a halti as with 3 they could pull me over with their pulling and when i first walked her on it on her own she walked up to 4 other dogs all together had a sniff and then walked away no interest. I am in Melbourne eastern suburbs, so i will look into a trainer but a bit worried about how much they will cost. I might try taking her on her own tonight and see if there is a differance. Thanks for advice

Hi I have 3 dogs and one of them has become aggressive towards other dogs on walks. She started off ok just barking but now if we walk her up to another dog and let her have a sniff she will snap at them. Just wondering if anyone had any ideas about how to address this??

K thanks I'll try that one see how we go, try mixing it through with some cheap stuff and they might start eating it. Thanks for the advice