Many new experiences-HELP

[Edward B.]

My boy plays with everybody (16 months, 46 kg), humans and animals. But some time hell starts when somebody passing next to my door and stay too long in front of it. Sometime when he plays with other dogs they try to bite him, either because is heavy or they just want to show him who is the boss, again hell starts. One think he knows and react immediately (a lot of work and patience): Stop it!

 

[al capone]

Thank you Edward,you are right,that's what he needs a lot of work and patience


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[Edward B.]

Is not something easy, but not impossible. I don't have the perfect dog when comes to obedience or training. I am not a trainer.But for everyone to be safe I try to change my dog in a way that keep me out of worries when I am outside with him or between peoples, specially children. He never provoke somebody. Sometime I am amazed how indifference shows with what happen around, until something start bothering him.

 

[al capone]

My dog always liked to play,now he is changing. Last night I took him for a walk in a different place little far from home. We crossed street and I didn't see a Akita coming with 2 persons,the Akita was leashed so I just stood still with Al Capone when they were a little closer Al Capone started barking like treating the Akita. The Akita and his owner were calm, I was ashamed how Al Capone behaved. He is changing because to many aggressive dogs we see close to work. I'm working with obedience when we go for a walk at home and at work,so I hope he improves with it
Thank you Edward.
Rolando


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[al capone]

Forgot,very nice photo with your dog. Someday I get me a photo like that


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[Hector]

My dog always liked to play,now he is changing. Last night I took him for a walk in a different place little far from home. We crossed street and I didn't see a Akita coming with 2 persons,the Akita was leashed so I just stood still with Al Capone when they were a little closer Al Capone started barking like treating the Akita. The Akita and his owner were calm, I was ashamed how Al Capone behaved. He is changing because to many aggressive dogs we see close to work. I'm working with obedience when we go for a walk at home and at work,so I hope he improves with it Thank you Edward. Rolando Enviado desde mi iPad utilizando Tapatalk

When you stood still with your dog, did you have the option of turning around and walking away? It would have been a good time to get his focus back to you by giving a command such as heel or turn and do some work while moving away from the trigger.

 

[al capone]

Right Hector,I could turn around and cross street,I had the time to do it but I thought if Al Capone is not provoked he won't react but it wasn't like that. I'm going to be more awake and react before him and do what you recommend
Thank you so much for your help Hector


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[EverythingEnglishMastiff]

Yeah it sounds like just creating some space for him will do the trick until he gets used to it. Keep a mental tab of how close the other dog was when he decided to react and use that as his "threshold". You can also try and bring something that he really likes, a toy, bacon, some kibble, anything he holds a high regard for. Use that to try and keep his attention when they are passing. Also the length of the walks isn't so important as the structure and number of stops on a walk. The more stops you make and the more commands he follows during a walk, the more he will learn. Try stopping every 20 yards or so and asking for a sit. Distractions happen and the only way to get better is to keep practicing. Don't be embarrassed. After all he is a dog and dogs behave like dogs.

 

[Hector]

al capone, can you describe what things you have been doing training wise at home and outside? Are you working on focus? Are you working on leash pressure? Does he know basic obedience and how good is he? What have you been rewarding him with?

 

[al capone]

Al Capone knows simple staff like: come,sit,heal,down,stay,there no,enter,up,let's go,that don't. I think just about it.


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[al capone]

He knows to walk with leash,he doesn't drag you.


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[al capone]

I reward him with good boy,very good boy and give him American beef hide


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[Hector]

Okay, that's very good. Take a look at this article and practice some of the movements. When my dog was reactive with people, this was very helpful and worked very well. Also, when you walk around distractions, try rewarding the dog with treats like small cut up meat to keep his attention. Also train him to give you attention every time you say his name. Name, dog looks at or towards you, give treat. Practice this. You should get him to come running to you no matter where you are in the house if you say his name. This is also training his recall. When he is good in the house, try it on the leash outdoors. His response around distractions will let you know how well he knows the behavior and how motivated he is to listen. If he has a hard time responding because something else is more interesting, train to get his attention farther away from the trigger. Reactive Dog: Foundation Exercises for Your Leash-Reactive Dog | Animal Behavior and Medicine Blog | Dr. Sophia Yin, DVM, MS

 

[Hector]

Is beef hide a hard treat or is it breakable into small pieces by hand? I would suggest you look into small training treats or make your own. The treats should be small, quickly eaten, and good enough so the dog comes to you for more. Also, in this video do you see your dog acting the same way ? Look at this video. In the beginning the dog is already ready to react: ears up, eyes see another dog, walking faster ahead. If you take action at this point, there is still a great chance for the dog to focus on the handler and walk away in another direction calmly. The man chose to walk towards the dog so the dog lunges. The poor lady probably peed herself. Don't let the dog get to that level of excitement. You can see signs of him redirecting at his owner. [video=youtube;fr0XS7WqXBU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr0XS7WqXBU[/video]

 

[Hector]

In addition to the different walking patterns, make sure the dog understands to follow the direction you pull the leash called turning off leash pressure. You pull the leash to the left and the pressure is applied on the collar, the dog should move to the left. This will allow you to communicate through the leash without saying anything, but make sure you teach this with lots of rewards inside and with lots of rewards outside until he fully understands what is going on. I find it better to use a leash about 8-10 ft, but 6 ft is fine. If you want some videos, let me know.

 

[EverythingEnglishMastiff]

I like your chart Hector. Pretty cool. It's not dissimilar to what we do on our walks every day. Every morning when it's feeding time I actually use their kibble to do training exercises, that way I'm not loading my pups up on treats and they are hungry and willing to work for their food. Also feeding by hand builds on your relationship with your pup. Through classical conditioning they start to realize that you are actually a pretty awesome person. My wife works with Hank inside because he is very distracted (bitch in heat across the street) and not used to being handled by her. Roxy and I have graduated to off leash and working outside. We of course still do our walks on leash and I still am walking first one then the other so as to give each of them my undivided attention. We switched up our route today and learned a few things. Both Hank and Roxy are afraid of the sound of nail guns. Hank startled for a second then fell right back into heel. The first time Roxy heard it (about 35 yards away) she got whale eyes and totally freaked out trying to take off in the direction of home (opposite the way we were walking). I got her attention back and we were working on commands but she was so scared her whole body was shaking. I settled on simply holding a sit/stay and even that was very difficult with how scared she was. Then the air compressor kicked on lol. I decided to just move on. Today was also the first time we've ever had a bicyclist ride past us. Hank just kept his sit/stay like nothing was going on. Roxy? Surprised the shit out of me, she lunged! Good thing I'm a leash ninja, that cyclist could have been in for a surprise lol. First time I've seen her react to anything by lunging. Usually kitties and bunnies alike are all non-events with her. Not this morning. So, we are going to be taking that route more often now and hopefully we can get her used to cyclists passing us by. She used to be afraid of passing cars. We started by sit/staying for every car that passed. Now we can just continue our heel and she doesn't react. I initially decided on the new route because there are plenty of dogs that we aren't already used to walking past. These new ones turned out to be little more than semi-distractions. All this to say, dogs are dogs. They can't learn if you don't work with them and teach them. Don't get discouraged when something happens. Use it as motivation and a sign that you need to work more on a specific thing. Practice practice practice...

 

[al capone]

Hector,I've been doing the sit command when walking with leash outside since about 5-6 days , I've had an improvement from repeating the command 2-3 times to 1 as today in 8 occasions. We met a guy with 2 dogs leashed. Today is Holliday,so around home everybody walks leashed his dogs and we enter a street without way out and met the dogs,the guy crossed street so I thought no problem but it happened!Al Capone started barking,the others dogs also and I started jogging to get away from the situation. Again I didn't do the right thing, I should have turned back and leave to avoid the situation.
My dog isn't that sharp doing commands as Dr. Yin ,so I can't do her exercise right now,it has to be latter. And yes,Al Capone acts like the dog in your vid,exactly like that.
And yes,I'll be very happy with more videos.
I cut my treats because they are no easy to swallow,but he only wants them in the first 2 stop- sit,then he doesn't want it. I give him for food Prescription Diet from Hills and he loves it,that's I'm going to start using as treat. It's meet very easy to swallow.
I noticed the signs you mention but I was wrong thinking they're crossing street this going to be fine,no way.


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[al capone]

EverythingEnglishMastiff,I got the idea from you to give him that food as a treat.
Thank you man


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[EverythingEnglishMastiff]

That's what we are here for friend. To help and support each other through the hard times. To share our joy and our victories. You two will get there. It will just take time and effort.

 

[tmricciuto]

I really need to work with the girls on heel.


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