tigger000

Hey guys, sorry i know i have been bugging you all a bit about this...but the good news is i am finally getting somewhere with the dogs! So i am using a poodle for my scent detection. He is highly toy motivated (tennis balls in particular), so to begin i have been hiding the tennis ball in the lunch box filled with tea. Each time he sniffed the box and sat, he was rewarded with the ball. He has been doing this great. As soon as i start introducing another box (non target), its like he's forgotten that he has to sit at the one that smells. Sometimes he will get it straight away and so i jackpot this by playing ball with him for a little bit, but most of the time, he will sniff each box...but just keep moving on...he usually acts more keen on the one with the tea and tennis ball in it...however he wont sit...he just stands there. As soon as i go back to step one, with just the target box, he sniffs it and sits like he's supposed to. What am i doing wrong? And does anyone have any suggestions on how to phase out the tennis ball so i dont have to continue hiding it in the lunch box? Now for my assisstance skill i am using my dalmation. He's doing fantastic at picking up the rubbish and putting it in the bin and he has stopped dropping it all the time before making it to the bin. The issue i am now facing with him, is that i will get someone else to place the rubbish on the ground (the dog is watching the person do this)...but as soon as i give him the cue "rubbish"...he just looks at me and doesnt seem to see where the rubbish actually is? Its not until i walk right up to the item, point at it and go "here it is"...that he realises and comes and picks it up. Any ideas why he might be doing this and how to overcome it? Thanks guys

So i was wondering how you go about proofing skills with a dog that is easily/highly distracted? I need to proof a scent detection skill and an assistance skill (i am no where near that stage yet, but just wanted some ideas for when/if i get there). I need to perform these skills in a new environment with other dogs/people around for a course i am doing. The dog i am working with is easily distracted by people/other dogs.. so i was wondering what the best ways are to overcome this?

Thanks for your reply. I am using a cream colored bin, with a squashed bottle and the cue 'rubbish' for his rubbish bin skill, whereas for the scent I am using tea bags, blue lunch boxes and the cue 'find'. The only similar thing is that I am training both skills in our house as he is easily distracted outside. Im having a lot of trouble getting him motivated and have heard that this is a problem with dalmations! So I tried not feeding him one morning and this seemed to peak his interest a bit more. I think going back to step 1 and getting a good sit response to the tea is a good idea. And when he gives an unwanted response - scratching/biting I'll just ignore it. Ugh I've been trying for weeks to get this and it's starting to do my head in! Lol. I think if he was highly toy motivated it would be an easier task, but I guess I can only work with what I have!

Hey everyone, I've posted on here before about teaching my dog scent discrimination. Anyway, im teaching him scent detection and am having one problem that im a little unsure of how to fix. He is scent detecting tea. I have heaps of tea bags in a lunchbox and started teaching him a passive response (sit) when he smells the tea. The problem i am facing is...he is no longer just smelling the tea, he either tries to pick the lunch box up, grab the tea bags in his mouth, or stick his nose in the lunch box and nudge the tea bags around. Im not sure why he is doing this or how to go about stopping it. Is it that his reward isnt good enough? i've been using frankfurts and cheese and laternating between the two. Or is it because i am also teaching him to put rubbish in a bin...so he now thinks that he will get a reward by picking the lunchbox/tea in his mouth? Any ideas?

Hey everyone, So for the past few weeks i have been teaching my dalmation to put a piece of rubbish in the bin (a squashed water bottle). We're at the stage now where i can move the item about 1-2 metres from the bin and on command he will pick it up and put it in the bin - eventually. The problem is, he tends to drop the item a couple of times before actually putting it in the bin. I have just been ignoring him when he does this and only rewarding him when he actually gets in the bin. The times (very few) when he doesnt drop the rubbish item at all, i make a big fuss and jackpot. Has anyone got any other ideas on how to stop him dropping the item before getting it in the bin? Or does anyone know why he may be doing it? Another slight problem is that he gets distracted quite easily....i was thinking of not feeding him for a day and then trying and seeing how that goes. I havent had a chance to train him before his dinner yet...so im thinking he just isnt that motivated to do it as he isnt that hungry! thanks in advance

hey guys, I was wondering how you would go about teaching a dog to put rubbish in a bin? I have started the training with my dog and i am training him via shaping. This has worked really well so far! To begin i put a milk carton on the ground, rewarded him everytime he looked at it and slowly built it up until he was picking it up in his mouth. After he was reliably picking it up i introduced the cue "rubbish". so now, when i give the command, he goes and picks it up. The bit i am unsure of how to do is...how to get him to put it in a bin. At the moment he doesnt bring the milk carton to me, he just picks it up and drops it. Would the next step be teaching him to bring the milk carton to me? Then once he's reliably doing this, bring in a large basket (eg washing basket) and put my hands near it....then slowly take away my hands so he is putting it straight in the basket? and then from there reducing the size of the basket to the size of a rubbish bin? Has anyone else got other methods or ways of training it? Cheers!

Do you think I could get him responding to his name through shaping? When he looks at me reward him, and when he starts doing that really well then bring in the cue (his name)?

sometimes at home he wont respond to his name, but it is worse when we are outside. Yeah, he has been like that for a long time now. At the moment i am using frankfurts as his reward...

This is how you break the word and remove all usefullness for it. What you need is Lesley Nelson's "Really Reliable Recall". http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB810P If she can get Afghans to come when called, you should be able to train a dalmatian but you're going to need to go back to scratch and start again where there are very few distractions eg your laundry. And if he's not interested in any treat you have - try skipping a meal and then training before the next meal is due. You may also want to investigate using methods from "Nothing in life is free" (aka NILIF) and "Triangle of Temptation" (aka TOT). Ie no dinner until he's doing what you want. Or he has to work for every piece of dinner. Ie if you get a successful sit-stay-come for every piece of kibble - that's a really high repetition rate... it should start to sink in. But you may need new command words if you have broken all your old ones. I'm not even up to the recall stage of training. I am having the problem when he is just on the lead next to me and i am trying to get his focus on me. I took him out today just before his dinner...so he should have been pretty hungry. But i will try not feeding him for a morning and night and see how he goes. I might also try what you suggested about getting him to do something before given a piece of kibble etc

;) he is probably 'tuning out' to give himself a bit of peace How is he at home? Does he come when you say his name? Does he know /obey commands without hand signals- just voice? Does he respond to a whistle,or a clicker? Does he respond to barking dogs? Have you done any regular training with him in the past 6 years? haha, yeah at home he comes when his name is called. He knows commands just by voice. I am wanting to teach him to obey commands with just hand signals also. He hasnt been clicker trained, i used "good" as a bridge. He was crying at the park today as there were a couple of dogs off lead running around him and barking - so yes, he does respond. I have done very little training with him in the past 6 years (bad owner i know!). but he does still comply with the commands he was taught as a puppy - sit, drop, heel.

Hey all, I have a 7 year old dalmation that i am currently training for a course i am doing. when i got him as a puppy i took him to obedience class and he did great. However he did get to a point in class where it didnt matter what kind of reward i had in my pocket (i tried a wide range of treats) he wouldnt listen to me. I am now starting to train him again and am running into the same problem. I call his name over and over, even tug on the check chain so it becomes annoying for him...yet he still wont focus on me. I need him to focus on me so i can give hand signals and to stop him getting distracted by other people/dogs around. He knows the command "look" as i get him to look at me every time he is fed dinner...yet when it comes to obedience training and i give him the "look" command he rarely does it. Im not sure whether he is too distracted by other thingsa or whether i am doing something wrong? Any advice on how to overcome this problem? thanks!

I agree. I guess I need to work on my patience a bit too while I'm at it!

I live in cheltenham, where abouts are you? I have been trying to work on his association between the tea bags and getting a reward. Each time he sniffed them I rewarded him, he was so keen that he was picking them up in his mouth to be rewarded. So I started hiding them in easy places around my room and he was doing fine at locating them and being rewarded. So I stopped training for a bit, and then thought I'd give him a go with two containers, one empty and one with tea bags underneath it. Of course, he still scratched on the non target (even though it wasn't as enthusiastic as with the target one). Ugh I guess he still hasn't got the association and I really need to work on it. I think I'm finding it hard to tell if he's made the association or not!

Although he does love his soft toys I find that he is still more motivated by food. I am going to start from scratch with the training. I am going to teach him the active response of scratching and change the containers I am yang to something which is easier for him to scratch on. So today I got a clear Plastic lid and placed some food under it and within only a few repetitions he was scratching his heart out trying to get to the food. So i think I will continue this for another day or so and then work in associating tea bags into it. I think I am unsure on which order to do things. Do I start incorporating in the tea bags now, or do I start to move to containers which are not see through (I'm thinking of using lunch boxes so I can wash them easily if any target odour gets on non target boxes) and get him scratching those and then slowly incorporate tea bags? Also when it comes to incorporating tea bags I'm not sure what's the best way to go about it. Is it best to put a whole heap of tea bags with the food and slowly removing the food, or have the tea bags in one hand or on ground and when he is interested in them reward him? Then move to hiding them around the house/yard and when he finds them rewarding him? Sorry about all the questions...just such a newbie to all this stuff

Thanks for all your replies! He does like some toys, but only soft toys and I have difficulty using them as once I reward him with the toy he becomes easily distracted and won't do anything till he gets the toy back. He is quite food motivated though so I will probably continue using this as his reward. I think I definately need to slow down and go back to step 1. I will be taking on all your advice and ll keep you updated!

Hey everyone, I am new here and thought this would be a great place to ask for some help! I am currently doing a cert III in dog behaviour and training. As part of this course we are required to teach a dog to detect a particular scent (like you see them doing at the airport). The dog i am using is our family dog - a 7 year old Dalmation and the odour i am teaching him to detect is tea (just normal earl grey tea bags). The containers i am using to hide the items are those black ciggarette butt bins. The task we are being assessed on is as follows: There are to be 6 containers. No holes in them and they are not to be see-through. Only one container must contain the target odour, the other 5 must have other items in them (non-targets). The dog must successfully detect the target odour 4 out of 5 times. I have started training our dog and am struggling with a few things. 1) He really lacks motivation. I have tried not feeding him in the morning and this seemed to help a little bit. 2) We can choose either a passive (e.g. sit) response or an active (e.g. scratching) response to the target odour. I tried doing the passive response, however my dog is still recovering from a torn crucit ligament and struggles to sit down. So we tried the active response. Problem is...i have been trying to teach him to scratch the containers...but he just doesnt get it. Instead, he picks them up in his mouth. Im not sure whether we are able to use this as a response...so may need to find another one to use! 3) I have worked the dog up from having 2 containers (1 target and 1 non-target) to 6 containers. I havent yet put the lids on them though as i dont think he is ready for that stage. The problem i am having is that he is picking up every container in his mouth. I have tried just ignoring him and moving on when he indicates on a non-target, and praising him with pats/food when he indicates on the target...however he is still struggling with this. I am worried that he is not associating the odour with picking the container up in his mouth and receiving a reward. To help associate this i tried putting some food in with the target odour and slowly taking it out - seemed to help at the start...but after removing the food and contaminated tea bags and replacing them with fresh ones...it isnt working as well. Anybody got any ideas on how to solve any of these problems? I am considering finding another dog to do this part of the course...so if there is anyone in melbourne that lives around my area and wouldnt mind me borrowing their dog a few times a week in the afternoon, please pm me!