Should I Be Concerned?

[TheCheekyMonster]

"Look at That" could be a good game to play with her too.

how do you play this?

[Jumabaar]

Hey TCM, I hope you don't mind me butting in but I'm finding the advice in this thread really interesting and and would love some advice as well...

Quinn, my Aussie Shepherd girl is approaching 9 months old, her training and bond with me is going pretty well and she will come to me, sit and pay attention against most distractions now (other dogs, other adults) BUT kids, the younger the better, are still her highest value thing! I leash her at the dog park when anyone under about 14 comes in otherwise she'll run and jump on them no matter what I do. If I'm not quick enough she's across the park and knocking toddlers over before I even get close I understand that she does it because kids are the ultimate reward for a people-loving puppy, she can reach their faces, they run and scream and wrestle with her, in her head it's super fun! But actually they're scared and possibly getting hurt.

So I've been trying to desensitize her by walking her on leash near kids, telling her firmly to stay "Down" (she knows the command), physically restraining her from

reaching the kids if she jumps, and giving praise and pats when she stays down.

After reading this thread I'm thinking maybe every time there's a kid nearby I should have some super high value rewards (she's very food motivated), get her focussed on me (on leash) then take her over to the kids and reward reward reward while she ignores the kids, then take her away again before she has any interaction with the kid...

huski and others what do you think, if you don't mind advising?

Just a link to a recent thread- this is an awesome post by Cosmolo!

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/240166-halti/page__view__findpost__p__5917316

Edited August 6, 2012 by Jumabaar

[megan_]

There are a few threads in the training thread that explain it well. Some people teach it with a clicker, but I find it too much to click when out-and-about etc.

So here's my (most probably incorrect) explanation:

Desired End Result:

Your dog sees something that excites/arouses/scares him, you say "Look at That" (or whatever you want to say) in a happy calm voice, he looks at you, stays nice and calm and then you give him a treat. In effect you're teaching your dog that looking at exciting/scary this is okay, and if they focus back on you and remain calm then they get a reward.

How to teach it:

1. Start off in a low stimulation environment. Home works well. Stand right by them. Wait for them to look at something - anything - and say "Look at that" (in a calm but happy tone, it is meant to be a game) and shove a treat in their mouth straight away. Don't wait for them to look at you, that will come later. Repeat lots and lots (try dozens of times). The key is that they look away then you say it.

2. Test if they get it. Repeat step 1, but wait a second or two until you give them the treat. What happens? Do they look at you? This means they understand the process. If not, go back to step 1.

3. Start to slowly ramp it up. Take it outside and go through step 1 again. Slowly increase the stimulus and make sure you set your dog up for success.

IF you are patient this method works really well. I have a FA dog who hasn't reacted for a long time when out-and-about by simply playing this game with her.

[Simply Grand]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the advice :)

jumabaar, the training thread you linked is really interesting and relevant to me too, funnily enough I just yesterday bought a front attach harness for Quinn coz she's a puller too and it was getting too hard for me to walk all 3 dogs at once with her pulling me all over the place. She settled straight into it and it's really good for getting her next to me so I can then reward her.

Megan I think she'll be really good at the LAT game! I realise she actually did it herself yesterday - I put the harness on her and just walked her a few houses down the street and back to test it. One front yard had some food container in it and she tried to get over to it, first time we passed it I called/pulled her away then treated; second time we passed it she went to pull over to it, called her back and treated; then went and got the other 2 dogs for the proper walk, passed the spot again and she looked at the container then looked straight to me for a treat!!! Took me a second to realise what she'd done but then I was excited. Now I realise she was teaching me LAT :)