Fin in Training
He has been going for 5 weeks now, he can sit and lie down and leave a treat until he is told to take it, but unfortunately that seems to be the extent of it.
We are not really sure what we were expecting but I guess it was more . I would have liked to have some tricks to get him to walk properly on a lead, but have resorted to looking on you tube for some guidance. He is brilliant when he first starts but soon gets bored and lies down and just want to sleep. I suppose it doesn't help that he goes training on a day that I take him into work with me. I am always so keen to make sure he behaves in the afternoon for students coming in ( which he is usually brilliant at) that I take him for a really long walk or two in the morning. I think by 8pm he is shattered and just want his tea. That another thing we are not so keen on , he is not suppose to eat for 4 hours before training. It does help him to be desperate for food so will do just about anything for a treat, but not sure its fair on him as he doesn't eat them until late in the evening after training and he is starving.
We did change his food as suggested by a few people in my previous blog. He now has tin meat and a complete food that is sugar free, all low in protein. He seems much better and we don't tend to get manic hour as much any more, in fact he seems generally calmer. Only really on days when he hasn't had enough attention does he play up. He gets loads of attention at the studio , where he come with me to work as all the visitors and staff fuss him so much. He also gets to have lovely long walks in the countryside.
Generally though he is being very well behaved for a 5 month old pup, of only we could stop him bringing the garden in the house and walk on a lead a bit better
We had a lurcher who was afraid of sheep too, he practically wet himself if they were anywhere near. He also suffered from "attention deficit" during training sessions but I changed his food to "Pero working dog formula for resting dogs" It calmed him right down and he stopped being fussy about his food, so experimenting with food can work very well. We now have to work with a mini dog beast (chihuahua 5 month old) and it is a whole new ball game!
ReplyDeleteI have two rescue boxers, aged 3 & 5, they are quite powerful dogs & can pull like steam trains & double the amount with two :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen they first arrived with me (8 months ago) I changed their food & started them in training classes. Boxers are notorious for training (stubborn & get bored v. easily) I put them on gentle leaders with padded nose band & the change was almost instant, now I can walk both dogs in one hand & no steam trains in sight :-)The gentle leader also helps with the training classes as you have so much more control of their heads.
Good luck with the training
I darent tell Alfie he shouldnt eat for 4 hours before training, LOL. Mind you, he is a Labrador and would of course eat forever given the chance.
ReplyDeleteI do think Fin is doing well for a youngster, as Tracy suggests the gentle leader is a good idea too - I had a halti for Alfie when I first adopted him at 18months old as he would just pull me everywhere, worked a treat.
I keep Abi's training sessions to just 5 to 10 minutes long as her concentration then goes and I do these little sessions 3 or 4 times a day. At 5 1/2 months she can sit, lay down, give her paw and the other one, high five, other paw high five and a high ten. Plus her recall is improving dramatically and she understand go lay down and bedtime and she has good manners at dinner time (always sits before getting any food). Plus I teach just 2 or 3 things at a time before introducing something new. I really think training should be short and sweet and end in a fun play time. Plus her training treats are something special that she needs to work for. I also only use a positive approach so loads of praise even when she's nearly there. Seems to be working here, hope that helps!
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