Motivating A Sighthound In Obedience

[Merrirose]

For those doing obedience or anything really with a sighthound how do you motivate them to want to do what you want. At the moment I am getting a great response at home though as soon as we go to training where there is lots going on all our motivation seems to vanish.

What works for you or someone you know?

[m-j]

The short answer is a huge reinforcement history. Exposure to the situation that you want them to perform in without asking them to do anything (no pressure) prior to wanting them to work so the dog goes ho hum this is now not that interesting. At home keep your training sessions very short, finish well before the dog wants to. Generalise the behaviour in less distracting environments, starting with very unstimulating environment gradually building on the distraction levels. When you take the dog to the new environment ask for one simple well known cue and leave it at that, next time ask for two and so on. If you are using food make sure the dog is hungry when you start training every time i.e just before it has it's meal. If you are using a game make sure the dog isn't tired. If you go to do a training session and you feel the dog won't respond don't ask it to do anything.

This how I start my Greys (ex racers that don't have a great deal of exposure to life outside the racing environment and they really haven't been asked to do anything that isn't instinctive or can't be managed) what I have found is after a while they are willing to work for longer and even learn someting new in a distracting environment.

HTH

cheers

M-J

[Keshwar]

As m-j said keep sessions short and fun.

Find out what motivates your dog. When I first started training my Afghan I went through a variety of motivators, toys, food, play, etc. Fortunately for me Faxon was/is very food motivated so training was a bit easier.

The big one for me with sighthounds is be consistent. Make sure cues are clear and consistent, reward the behaviour you want consistently.

I found concentrating on one exercise per training session worked really well. I would work on heeling in a straight line with change of positions for a couple of minutes. Next session might be turns, figure eights, etc. BUT keep training sessions short AND FUN.

[Merrirose]

Great advice, thank you both.

[Diva]

Yep, short sessions and a high reinforcement schedule.

And never show that you are frustrated, a sensitive sighthound may switch off rather than deal with that.

When they are first learning to work around distractions make it easy for them to do the right thing, and slowly increase the difficulty.

I think it's in part a matter of finding what your dog finds rewarding and then building the value of that through the way you deliver it. You really want them to be looking foward to training and getting excited when you get ready for it, once you have that the rest falls into place much better.

I'm training one of mine with a tug reward. I never really thought that would work for a Borzoi but its going well, she's crazy for it, while the other one does better with food. I've also seen people use flirt pole games as a reward - a nice bit of soft leather on a string at the end of a pole - so you can release the dog to chase it as you flick it around. But I find that way too hard to manage.

Edited March 9, 2011 by Diva

[Jumabaar]

I have not experienced Sight hounds, but I did have a very distracted kelpie to train. I began for treating him when he took a treat- he was so distracted even this was a big task. Once he realised that taking a treat was awesome I started to make him look for the second treat which meant he was focusing on me. I dropped out the first treat by keeping the rewards coming fast, just for focus. I then increased the time between treats.

It wasn't until he could focus on me that I started doing exercises. I quite often have to go back a few steps whenever I take him out but I have found he is working out how to make treats flow- I will reward him for any exercise when I am not actively asking him to do something rather than letting him become distracted.I would only do 5min sessions, but still reward him for focus between them.

Not sure if this would work but it was how I approached the problem

[Staranais]

The book "Playtraining your dog" by Patricia Gail Burnham uses only greyhounds as examples, and includes lots of lovely photos of her greyhounds doing obedience up to Utility level. The methods are fairly old school (although progressive for their time), but if you're doing obedience with a grey you still may find it inspiring.

[Kirty]

Sausage. Seriously. It is the ONLY thing that will keep Pia's attention for more than 5 minutes. LOL! We are going back to obedience soon, so hopefully she hasn't forgotten everything (she only learnt two things so it would be really embarrassing if she has!!).

[OSoSwift]

I have found having Whippets that they are one of the easier sighthounds to train, but basically everyone has covered it. Mine pick up very quickly if I am frustrated.

A really good reward history is the key.

When mine go to training they never play with other dogs or people when they are there. They work, so they hold no value for other people or dogs as I am the one who gives them all the attention and rewards. When Rommi first went she was all over the place for a good six weeks. She was working to Novice trialing level at home, but out there were a lot more distractions. Start small and short and work up. Now she couldn't care less what was going on around her.

Make yourself the most fun exciting thing there, be happy happy, 5 minute blocks (if that) at a time.

[Kavik]

The book "Playtraining your dog" by Patricia Gail Burnham uses only greyhounds as examples, and includes lots of lovely photos of her greyhounds doing obedience up to Utility level. The methods are fairly old school (although progressive for their time), but if you're doing obedience with a grey you still may find it inspiring.

I have this book and was impressed with the work she was able to do with the Greys, though I agree the methods were not as positive as I was expecting given the title of the book.

[corvus]

A Greyhound was the star of my pilot study, which involved learning a discrimination task. The Grey was a brilliant problem solver and a nice, steady thinker. He got through quicker than the other dogs. He was beautiful to watch work. Good luck with it.

[Nekhbet]

contact Tina Button at Monlaird Border Collies, she's trained a Pharoah in obedience and agility

[m-j]

KC Blue where did you get your sighthound from and what age did you get him/her from?