I grew up with dogs and my husband and I have had dogs since before we were married. So, I've always felt like I had a pretty good grasp of what makes a "good" dog owner. We successfully trained our other dogs basics, like sit and down, managed to instill good table manners while we were eating and trained everyone (canine) to the underground fence. But some things we never figured out, like loose leash walking, managing counter surfing & such. Sophie's going to be a big dog and what's cute and managable now won't be when she's fully grown...
Because of this, I'd decided to enroll Sophie in puppy school before we got her. I asked my vet for recommendations and he was able to offer some suggestions. Unfortunately, the available classes conflicted with our schedules. None-the-less, I wanted to pursue a more formal approach to training. If I couldn't get it through a class, then at least I'd hit the books.
Not wanting to lock myself into any single school of thought, I picked up a few videos on Cesar Millan's methods, a book called The Dog Whisperer by Paul Owens and another book on Dog Training by Maran Illustrated. All of it valuable information... Lots to think about...
Then, quite by accident, I stumbled on a little starter kit for clicker training--includes a little book, some cards, clicker & treats. For $11 it seemed like a good way to explore another theory... Seems like a gimmick but also looks like fun.
It is official. Brian no longer has any matching gloves and Gary no longer has green socks. Sophie mangled them.
I've been working on having Sophie gently release things when we put our hands over her snout... (like socks, sponges, mittens...) She's still a little terror about finding these things, hiding and then trying to eat them... but she's catching on that she gets a treat if she lets go... so we're not having our tug-o-wars over socks anymore. We still have to chase her and sometimes reach into her mouth to pull out a half swallowed mitten, but at least she doesn't lock her jaws anymore...
Still working on the nipping. Since she views Brian (8 year old son) as a playmate, she ramps up the second he walks into a room. Consequently, he gets the brunt of Sophie's nipping and forgets all my lectures the minute things start to get wooly. Training is moving to the top of my priority list...
With our nice weather, we got out for our walks again! (Yeah!) Those walks were good for all of us--tired the dogs out, tired me out... (I REALLY want to figure out this loose leash walking...)
We have a huge yard and Josie is trained to the underwire fence but since Sophie is so young, we need to keep her on leash when we're in the front yard (too close to road to risk being unleashed...) And since she loves the snow, she wants to be out more than I can take her... She's taken to sitting on the stoop, enjoying the sun and fresh air. I am so looking forward to when she is old enough to train to the fence. I think she's going to love the freedom of romping without getting tangled up in a leash.
Week of March 6
Oh, what a fun week! With our snow storm and my experimentation with training methods, we've had a lot of excitement!
I noticed that the dogs are playing a lot rougher this past week. It does make me very nervous. Josie's such a sweet dog, but she's densly built, very solid, very fast and very smart. I think that because Sophie is playing so much rougher, Josie is gauging herself accordingly--but it freaks me out to watch. One very interesting thing is that when they wrestle, Sophie always ends up pinned on her back with Josie's mouth on her throat. Before, Josie would very gently hold Sophie, lightly enough so that Sophie could wiggle out. This week, she's pinning not just by her mouth, but with her feet too, straddling Sophie's body, making it so that Sophie literally can't move....
Then I'll hear a little whistle/whine from Sophie. In a split second, Josie hops off and stands back, smiling ear-to-ear. Sophie shakes herself and leaps back at Josie. And the game continues on. As nerve wracking as it is, it's also fascinating, how these two dogs communicate with each other.
I watched Cesar's movies and read the clicker book, (started the Dog Whisperer book but haven't finished it yet.) I've got to admit that as compelling as Cesar's methods are, I'm having trouble training for the things that I want to train for. Just for the heck of it, I started playing with the clicker methods. I re-read the book (it's very small) and looked online for some more info.
I can't believe how fun this clicker method is! I love that our "training" is play time--and watching Sophie's face as she tries to figure out how she's going to get a click is really neat. Josie's not "getting it" as quickly as Sophie but today we actually walked (inside the house) with loose leashes!
Week of March 13
I was delighted to receive an e-mail from Kristen, who connected Sophie (and her sister, Sadie) with Sunshine Golden Retriever Rescue. Kristen transitioned the pups from their original owners into the Sunshine Organization and had cared for both puppies before they were placed with Lorna, the puppies' Sunshine Foster Mom. It turns out that Kristen had clicker trained Sophie to sit & stay and was working on "down" when they went to Lorna's house! It certainly explains why Sophie took to the clicker training so quickly.
Right now, the biggest barrier in the clicker training is my own timing--Sophie is an eager learner and very smart--absolutely loves "the clicker game." Even Josie, who took a while to figure out how this type of training works, is starting to catch on--though she still waits for commands and isn't as willing to experiment to get her clicks, I'm seeing progress. Both dogs will now walk with loose leashes in our yard if I'm walking them separately. It's still chaos when I walk them together, but we're all learning and I'm very pleased at the progress thus far.
This page was last edited in March, 2009
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