Excitable Boy

[CrabbyP]

Hello.

Been lurking for a while, and thought I would ask some advice.

Jacob (newly adopted, 4yo Mastiff x) has settled in well at home, and I have been taking him to the local dog training club each week. I know what I'm asking is probably all very basic stuff, but he's my first dog, and so I'm learning on the fly.

Jacob is capable of good focus (when there's treats to be had), and knows his basic sit/drop/stand/heel, but as soon as there are other dogs around... forget it.

Last night it got to the point that I couldn't even get to the table to sign up -- as soon as I had him quiet and approached the table, someone else would approach with their dog, he would lunge and bark (usually playfully, but not always) and I'd have to withdraw to regain his attention and start over. It was frustrating. I looked at the beginner group lining up (which we are repeating due to his lack of concentration), and they were all tiny and/or puppies, and I decided to not try to join the class, for all our sakes. (Actually, I initially thought "bugger this, I'm going home", considered a bit of a sob, but I gathered myself together and decided to get over myself and make the most of it.)

So, I spent the hour walking in the empty corner of the field with Jacob, doing heel and sit and drop, lots of direction changes, some sit/recall at the length of the leash, and made up a little game based on his dinner ritual, where I had him sit, walked to the leash's length, put a treat on my shoe, and made him look at me until I released him to come get the treat. I've been working on encouraging him to walk on a loose leash this week, stopping when he pulled ahead, and rewarding when he turned, made eye contact and sat. So I did this around the oval as well, closer and further from the classes. Every time I stopped, I wanted him making eye contact. If he got excited, I'd walk backwards with kissy sounds and the like, until he turned, made eye contact and sat.

He was much calmer by the end of the classes (although I intentionally stayed away from any of the dogs that I know set him off), and I let him have a meet/greet with a collie that he knows. He adores her, and she ignores him, so it keeps things calm(ish).

So... can people advise other exercises that I can do on my own during training club? I don't want to give up the classes, and I understand that my needs fall outside the class grouping environment, so I'm happy to work on this on my own, but don't want to bore Jacob silly in the meantime.

(I have booked in to see a professional trainer, but there are a few more weeks before our appointment, so I have a few more classes before then and would like to make the most of them.)

Cheers.

[kelpiecuddles]

How long before the class do you arrive? I always try to get to the park 30-40 minutes before the class with my excitable ones and go for a bit of a walk to settle them before going 'into the fray'

[Justrace]

watching this thread with interest.

[CrabbyP]

Hi, KC.

I've tried both going for a half-hour walk before the class, and also arriving just before the class to minimise "hanging around" time... I think he is improving each week, or at least, he is certainly settling again after a "distraction/melt down" much more quickly than he used to, which is good.

[megan_]

Look up "Look at That" on this forum and YouTube. It is a great method to counter this but you need to be sure to keep your boy under the threshold and not push him too quickly

[kelpiecuddles]

Any chance there are some other dogs who he gets along well with whose owners would be willing to join you for some calm down time before class? I found it very valuable with my kelpie, really helped to get the sillies out before class.

[CrabbyP]

Hi, Megan.

Looked up some YouTube and that looks good! Will definitely read some more and begin working with this.

KC, unfortunately we don't know any other dogs particularly well, yet. (The collie is at the park each weekend, and her owner has been very kind to walk with us occasionally so Jacob knows her better than the others, but we keep Jacob on a long line at the moment when at the park, and so play is limited.)

[Tassie]

:D Quick reply.

First, do you have to take him to the table with you to sign up? Personally, I would be leaving him in the car, going and signing up, and then getting him. IMHO, it's very hard to pay complete attention to your dog, let alone anyone else's, while you're trying to do something else - and it's putting him way over threshhold, and making it very, very hard for him to be a good boy :) .

Second - (and this comes from an owner who has and has had reactive and/or excitable dogs - parallel leash walking is one of the great exercises. It would be great if you could persad ethe collie person to join you and your lad in a walk - but have the dogs on regular leads, and walk as far apart (to start with) as your boy needs -you'll find that distance decreases quite quickly. Because you and the other owner and dog are walking purposefully and in the same direction, there's much less pressure on your boy, and he will learn that being around other dogsdoes not have to be a cause for reactions of any kind. (It's also nice to have someone to walk with :D .

And yes - you're doing the right thing, IMHO, working him on the exercises at a distance from other dogs that allows him to concentrate on you and have success and get rewarded for that. Again - the distance you stay away will decrease fairly quickly if you're consistent.

And LAT is good to do.

[CrabbyP]

First, do you have to take him to the table with you to sign up? Personally, I would be leaving him in the car, going and signing up, and then getting him. IMHO, it's very hard to pay complete attention to your dog, let alone anyone else's, while you're trying to do something else - and it's putting him way over threshhold, and making it very, very hard for him to be a good boy :) .

You know that "D'oh" moments! I just had one I'll keep him in the car and sign up next week. (How obvious, and how oblivious :laugh: )

[Tassie]

:laugh:

[Staffyluv]

I will see if I can find Zig's thread because this was exactly his problem..

He still gets excited at the prospect of meeting other dogs but he no longer gets to say hi on his terms. He only gets to say hi if he walks in calmly.. Not like he used to, jumping all over the place and being out of control.

There is loads of great advice in the thread, one of the best things was NILIF.. nothing in life is free. We don't use it anymore but it did help heaps.

I had the added bonus with Zig of him having no interest in treats whatsoever. I could dump dog chocolates, salami, cheese, kibble (you name it we tried it) in front of him to get his attention and still he was a nightmare.

I will be honest and say, I felt like giving up a few times.

His intense focus on other dogs, even had our behaviourist telling us not to go to obedience as it may make him worse.

I have had wonderful help from our trainers at obedience.

We started by not standing in the group, we were about a metre or so away from them and every time he did the right thing, we moved closer. When he did the wrong thing, we moved further away.

Check out the reactive dogs thread here in the training section as well. Reading that thread gave me a better insight into watching Zig and looking for his cues of when he was going to jump or lunge forward. They all have their little tell signs and when you learn what they are, you can correct the behaviour at the right time..

That was one of Zigs biggest problems, me! My timing was terrible and since going to obedience, I have learned how to correctly time a correction. I am still learning and have a long way to go.

But here is the clincher.. Zig started obedience earlier this year and at his beginners assessment, he came first.

That uncontrollable dog, with no focus, came first..

It can be done..

Read as much as you can, watch you tube videos on training and another great source is the K9 Pro blog.. Steve Courtney is a genius IMO.

Good luck and I will hunt down the link to Zigs thread tomorrow when I am on the computer.