Teaching A Dog Not To Sniff The Ground

[shekhina]

Daegon wants to be a tracking dog rather than an obedience dog...I do not agree with his choice...yet.

He is very good on the stays inside, and even outside at my place...but get him to the club ground (which is also a public area and is VERY smelly for the dogs) and he can't keep his nose off the ground in the down stay. He gets a scent of something and he's up and looking to follow it

I've got him to the point where he will watch my face while he's heeling, with lots of excited talking and bringing my hand to his face (for some reason he likes that ) but I can't talk to him during a stay as he'll get up.

How can I teach him to watch my face while in a stay out and about? He will not take his eyes of me at home. I have tried saying "watch" and he knows what it means...but the smells are just all too much for his entire male brain

Please help, it is really ruining his stays which are absolutely rock solid even under distraction of dogs, cats, kids, noise and bogans at home

Edited August 26, 2006 by shekhina

[Erny]

......... but I can't talk to him during a stay as he'll get up.

Then he's not proofed in this yet.

[shekhina]

What I mean by that is I can talk to him, but not in the excited voice I use for heeling. And I certainly can't talk to him during the test, each word is marks off.

[Frau Rottweiler]

I would go back to basics in the environments in which he is distracted. Put him on lead and only move a step in front of him, so that every time he sniffs the ground you are in a position to give him a correction.

The correction should not cause him to break the drop, but just to let him know that the behaviour of sniffing is not acceptable.

[lab and poodle]

How about asking for focus while in the stay and rewarding that? Works very well for me, and I do track my dogs. Remember it is a context shift so you need to be close to your dog at the begining. You then need to get a bridge going so they know they are on the right track etc etc.Then you can extend it to out of sight . I find out of sight proofing is OK when you can dump you dog in the middle of a dog school go away for 10 minues and they are ok.The big secret? Make it very rewarding.

[Guest Pandii]

This maybe totally unright but what about some stuff under he's nose so he cant smell

like they use in morgues

[shekhina]

Thanks for replying.

I've tried something under his nose as suggested by one of the trainers at the club but it didn't work

I have tried asking for his attention and that works for the sit stay, or heeling etc. but not down stay, the ground is unbelievably smelly

Will go back to the beginning AGAIN with him on the ground and correct him if he sniffs...hopefully he'll just sit really still today for me, just this once

[Lablover]

Shekhina,

When you take him to unknown areas, with levels of distraction (suitable for his level), start to leave him at short distances. REALLY watch his body, especially his face, he may be stressing. Look closely and see if he is licking his lips, panting or showing other signs.

But then again, he may just be naughty LOL, and is testing you.

Dogs do what works for them!!!!

[shekhina]

thanks LL.

He's definitely just being naughty and wants to smell everything, no stressing signs at all.

Will just go back to basics with him in that particular area

He did me proud today though and didn't sniff the ground at all during his stays...perfect stays. Passed his grade 2 exam with a 92, so proud :p

[Lablover]

Good of you. Actually good for BOTH of you!!!!

[Rom]

I may get screamed down for this...had a similar problem with my girl getting up to sniff in the stays....particularly the drop stays....I decided to go with it and make the place between her two front legs while she was down in the stay the most interesting place to be sniffing. I'm a good shot at throwing things which helped, but while I was close to her in the beginning, I'd drop a treat between her legs...where she could reach it without getting up. As distance increased, I tossed the treat and landed it in this position. Gradually stretched this out so that when I returned to her, I dropped the treat for the reward btn her front legs rather than handing to her. Now that she is more mature, I don't need to do the treat toss anymore and I have her full focus during the stays...cuz when mumma gets back a treat may appear btn my legs!

[MyGoldie]

Hi Rom

I've used the same technique for my BC. I would use it when we were just standing in class whilst the instructor was talking. I would drop treats from standing position between his front feet, reinforcing that him lying there was what was required, rather than fidgeting around.

The "randomness" of the treat dropping kept his focus. I found that when I kept bending down to give him his treat for holding a down, he would break from the position.

I now have an extremely reliable down, so reliable that when he's holding a sit he goes into a down trying to win a treat! I'm back to rewarding a sit and reducing the rewards with the down...........just to let him know that sits win treats too, when that is what is being asked.

[dogdude]

Hi

I had a simular problem with my first dog and I fixed it by going a few steps backwards to a short leash with thorough proofing. I started by training on as many different grounds as possible in my area (especially besides goal posts etc and later moved on to dropping food treats around where the dog was in a down stay with minor pops of the leash occasionally required until no corrections were needed. This process did not take long. The dog quickly understood that sniffing was unacceptable and the distance was increased and I didn't have any problems with that dog sniffing again. I did however encounter a situation in a trial where one of the dogs broke the "sit stays" and began humping him, which of course pushed him off balance to a failure in the novice ring.

What I did realize was that I should have seen that as an obvious situation to proof against (other dogs breaking, not the humping!) and plan to go even further with my latest dog. I am pleased to say that we later won our ring at a Warrnambool trial some years ago because he was the only dog that did not get up during the sit stay.

I am a big believer in using food treats to teach dogs to "target" eg teaching dogs focal points used in recall fronts, healing focus and guiding strait sits in the early learning stages.

I only use food in the later stages to keep my dog motivated during the boring repedative exercises like recalls & retreives, but it is done sparingly. Some dogs will require more motivation than others with both food or toys but you dont need to become a "Human Pez Dispenser" to get your dog to perform a little bit of work during an easy and laid back life for a few minutes a day!

I am not a believer in using food treats for anything to do with stays other than "proofing the no no's". The down stay even more so. Stays would have to be the easiest exercise for a dog to perform because the only thing he has to remember is to "do nothing"! I dont beleive dogs need to be rewarded for doing nothing, and they certainly dont need to be motivated to do them. (although I conceed there will be a rare exception out there somewhere)

It concerns me a little during training at clubs on Sundays that dogs simply line up for their stays which most perform well, then everybody goes home happy, only for their dogs to have learned very little for the experience. I am not talking about being a "correction natzi", but rather to gently help the dog to work through his mistake with as little force as possible, and lots of patience. Wrong = Something learned! Perhaps some may disagree.

[Rom]

I did however encounter a situation in a trial where one of the dogs broke the "sit stays" and began humping him, which of course pushed him off balance to a failure in the novice ring.

Off Topic: In my girls first novice sweepstakes the dog next to her got up and started humping her in the sit stay...she held position for about three blinks with this 'OMG, get me outta here' look on her face before she broke to come to me. Judge restarted the exercise and made humpers handler stay with her dog. Didn't make much of a difference to us cuz we were already on a non qual score...our heeling was shyte! During the drop stay, same dog rolled over on to his back and was having a good old scratch and groaning cuz it felt so good. My girl had that same look on her face, but she held the stay!

ETA: we do compete in tracking...so I'm wary of how I go about correcting sniffing cuz I don't want to kill her drive for it.

Edited August 29, 2006 by Rom

[lab and poodle]

"Some dogs will require more motivation than others with both food or toys but you dont need to become a "Human Pez Dispenser" to get your dog to perform a little bit of work during an easy and laid back life for a few minutes a day!"

IMHO I think it is important to drop the human talk and do the dog talk. I am pretty sure it isn't work for them, it's just all tricks. When I am training, I never miss the oppurtunity to reward for a better effort. I learn't with my Lab that this policy paid dividends in the ring. I guess from an onlooker's point of view that the rewards would have looked a bit thin too.

I never fail to reward heavily for good stays. It is like money in the bank. We all know that behaviour reinforced is strengthened. I haven't had a failed sit or down stay up and including UD yet

[dogdude]

Hi Lab and Poodle

I'm glad that your methods have worked for you, but I think we should agree to disagree on the food subject concerning stays.

I feel that if you use too many food treats then your dog is performing "tricks", and not working. I don't believe that a dog understands "a better effort", only what is acceptable, or unacceptable.

Food is a very powerful enforcer of good as well as bad behavior, and should be used carefully. I think that dogs have a brain in their heads that are quite capable of understanding a simple exercise such as a down stay, if proofed properly. I am all for using food treats as a motivator for repetitive work.

Some trainers just can't seem to train without wanting to treat their dogs like a pokie machine at the local pub, but like the pokies, if you refrain from feeding them too much, you will certainly have "money in the bank", and a more honest working relationship with your dog.

This is only one man's opinion, and I dont mean to upset or offend.

[lab and poodle]

"This is only one man's opinion, and I dont mean to upset or offend. "

None taken. I think there is a fair chance that if a third party was to see us working our older dogs, they would think of both of us,"mean stingy b's, expecting their dogs to do so much for so little" I would be going along rewarding for my dogs best efforts only,raising the bar all the time, and you would be rewarding to not look like a slot machine. Probably the results are similar, I don't know thats part of the reason we trial.

In practice, with my older dog, he din't get a lot of rewards for doing stays becuase I hardly ever practised them, and when i did he was in the ring.(Not reccomended for newbies at all!!) But with my new dog, I am not taking any risks. She is a real live wire and staying in one spot is the hardet task of all for her. But, at 6 months she can pretty well do novice stays in company.

[dogdude]

Hi lab and poodle

I too am training a young, new addition, (Staffordshire Terrier) (11 months old). He is vastly different to any other dogs that I have trained in the past and I am trying to adjust. I hoped to possibly debut him at the Portland double trial in November if his learning curve continues at the same level, but we will wait and see what polish he has a bit closer to the closing date. An older dog that I last trialed there was lucky enough to win Best In Trial (English Bull Terrier) so I dont want to go back and look a dill. I may wait ti'll the new year. Hope to see you around the trial circuit.

Is your new dog a lab as well?

Appologies to all for getting off topic.

[lab and poodle]

My new dog is a miniature poodle. She is great, but very very different to my lab in many ways. I often say I feel like i am cheating when I am training her it seems so easy. She will be trialled in tracking this month for her TQT. I wont obedience trial her for a while, becuase I would like to see a bit more maturity. (so she can cover up for my mistakes!)

It is funny, but we very nearly landed up with an english Bullterrier from a woman who was dying of cancer, but we shifted countries before it could happen.

I had a couple of best in rings with my lab but never best in trial. That is good.