Mogwai

Start off by getting him used to working enthusiastically for food at home. You need to teach him this first, cut his meals in half and use the other half for training. I mostly just use normal food. It is consistent and healthy, and a good barometer for whether they are ready to be working in that environment or not. 'Make haste slowly' was the advice my mentor gave me. There really are no dogs who are not motivated by food (unless they are sick). Evolution knocked all the non-food motivated dogs out thousands of years ago. Aside from a hungry dog are there any other things I can do to increase food motivation? What would be the best way to manage any unwanted behaviour in the mean time while I solidfy the foundation work? And thanks everyone for the replies. :D

The Spotted Devil is it your dally that I have seen make appearances on some of the K9Pro videos? If so you make me weep with envy! :laugh: I don't think it is matter of him knowing how to heel. He can heel quite well with good focus on me but we come unstuck around distractions. It is really his whole outlook on environmental stimuli that we struggle with. My copy of Control Unleashed just arrived in the mail! Might have to have a look for the dvd too. Yep! He's a typical blasted Kelpie, so full of potential and yet so very, very frustrating! :laugh:

He can be a bit picky about foods. Honestly I think I've tried everything with him, cheese, steak, kibble, cabonossi, liver treats etc., etc. The only time I get really good food motivation from him is if I do some training at his feeding time. If he were interested in a tug toy, or something similar then I could use that, but he really has no interest in tug toys. He likes herding his soccer ball but I can't really stick that in my pocket. I would love to be able to do something with him but I'm apparently just not interesting enough!

Another troubleshoot question for the LAT: We've been practising at home with a toy and he seems to have the concept down. But if I try on a dog at the park he just isn't interested in what I've got. I can use roast chicken and get over a 100m away and he will still just stand there and stare. It's like if he can even see another dog that is enough to put him over the threshold. Am I moving too fast and increasing the criteria too much? Should I forget about other dogs for the time being? And even when he is in a calm state he seems like he could take or leave the food anyway. I just really wish I knew how to motivate my dog.

Sticky would definitely describe me dog! It would really be great if we could overcome this because it is really impeding his progress. I have conditioned him to both the word "yes" (i.e yes means treat)and the clicker, but is the clicker better to start with as the sound cuts through a little better? I started a bit of the LAT training on todays walk (as well as some using a toy yesterday). I think I failed today! There was just too much going on around us today and I stuggled to keep him under the threshold (which apparently is only about a football field). Is it ok to use the treat to lure his focus back to me or should I just move further away? Is it good to 'jackpot' so the dog doesn't immediately go back to looking or in this case does it not matter?

I had quick search for the look at that game superminty mentioned. So if I've understood it correctly, I would start the behaviour far away from other dogs so as to keep him under the threshhold, mark for looking and treat when he returns his focus to me (or would I mark and treat at the same time as he returns his attention to me)?

I've done a fair bit of focus training with him using the 'watch' command, rewarding him for checking in, I'll take him out on his long line and wait for a moment when he isn't paying attention and run in the opposite direction (he has actually become quite good at making sure he doesn't 'lose' me). It definitely needs more work around distractions. I did take him to formal obedience for about a year, but found after making some progress he just started sliding backwards and getting more and more distracted by the other dogs and I felt that he was just habitualising bad habits. So now I use our walks to do some training, as well as some trick training at home. Dogs really are his 'kryptonite' in terms of distractions. He would much rather herd and/or play with other dogs than listening to me. I've struggled to find a motivator for him as food just doesn't really cut it when he is excited and unfortunately he has no interest in tugging. Unfortunately I don't know much about it but I think he would probably benefit from training in drive. His recall is something I try to reinforce every time I take him out. I certainly wouldn't say it is 100% but most of the time I can call him away from whatever he is fixating on. I should mention that aside from this issue he doesn't really 'suffer' from any stereotypical bored working dog behaviours. He is a calm house dog and I can have him sit quietly under a table at an outside cafe etc.

Do you know of anywhere around Orange I could take him to do some herding?

Just wondering if I could get some advice about my 2 year old kelpie who has a habit of stalking/herding other dogs and to a lesser extent people when out on a walk? He isn't aggressive but he gives a lot of hard eye, puts his head down, ears back and will pull/strain on his lead a bit, which understandably some people esp. with smaller dogs find intimidating and/or rude by canine etiquette standards. Is it possible to curb his instinct? I’ve been trying to get him to focus on me but honestly I just don’t know if I can give him anything that is more rewarding than this behaviour. On top of that his brain seems to just switch off anyway.

Thank you everyone for your help. I must admit I kind of hit the panic button when it happened thinking of all the worst possible outcomes. All my other dogs have been great at the vets. But I guess young puppies are just instinctual in their reactions to pain. I guess I can only keep working with him and hope for the best.

Thanks, he's a Kelpie. Definitely not the start to things I wanted for him. I'm really hoping he will be able to get past all this.

Thanks for your replies. I will definitely be taking him for some "happy" vet visits. This sounds like a great idea and something I hadn't thought of. He is fine with the receptionist and was very happy greeting and wagging his tail and was also fine with the vet until she put the scope into his ear. His puppy class is at the vet clinic so that should hopefully provide some positive associations.

I was hoping to get some extra advice about my 12 week old pup. Unfortunately every trip to the vet so far has been a painful experience for him. His first trip to the vet was after hurting his leg in play with our other dog (he growled when the vet was manipulating his leg) the second time he had an insect sting in his ear which was quite obviously causing him a great deal of pain. On his last trip to the vet for his vaccination he snapped at the vet when she was trying to scope his ear. I have contacted his breeder and they have since seen him and felt it was a normal reaction to pain and did not consider that he has any serious behavioural problems but suggested making trips to the vet a positive thing by just taking him and giving him treats. I also contacted a behaviourist who gave me the same feedback. I have also been trying to desensitise him to being examined by touching his ears, feet and looking at teeth and eyes. However, I’m concerned this may have had a lasting effect on him and that he feels his first line of defence should be aggression. I’m quite upset that this has happened as I’ve been trying very hard to do everything right by him i.e. crate training, lots of socialisation, clicker training, making him sit and look at me before feeding etc. He will also be starting puppy classes next week. Is this something that he is likely to overcome? And is there anything further I can do or should change?