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Question on generalizing behavior

Elizabeth Balcomb

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone.. I need some advice. Last Saturday I took Lupo to obedience training with the rottie club in the morning. We did some obedience and a bit of fun on tbe agility course. Lupo enjoyed it, although he didn't have his tail up. In my experience he has to be very familiar with a place before he holds his tail up.. he was very well behaved, tolerated all dogs and people. Only once with an unruly pup did he growl. Then to nosework. Again as I said before, very well behaved, very tolerant. I worked on his eyes command, he did very well.. and then the next day, a long walk on the beach, not one we go to often, and he wants to hunt dogs.. it actually feels like that, he stares intently and wants to go for them. I keep a big distance, him on the lead, and try leave that area. He is under control, hes not dragging me around, but I have to be on it...
Any advise much appreciated.. particularlyaround generalizing this behavior. we will continue with training twice every Saturday, I will continue with exercising him well.. I suppose this situation requires a friend with a dog at a far distance, and to keep asking for "eyes" .
What do you all think of Leerburg technique.. ?
Thank you ...
 

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Loverboy Skyline

Well-Known Member
My American Bulldog had the sweetest temperament around people. He was like a Golden Retriever but friendlier! He was also great with cats and small dogs. His only problem was with big dogs, and it was a big problem. I probably could have curbed that if I socialized him with other dogs early, but by the time I took him to a dog park he was already 10 months old, and I could see it was going to be a problem. I trained him at a Schutzhund club and their biggest worry was that he would be disqualified from trials if he ever attacked a dog during a trial, and the trial included doing a long down while another dog was doing his obedience. That thing we tried with the e-collar was obviously unsuccessful. We just quit doing that and worked on his long down while other dogs were practicing obedience. It worked well enough that he earned his BH and his BST. I probably could have put a Sch I or higher on him if I didn't have to move out of state. In the end, my dog was good enough for trials, but he was not a park dog.
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
I only have a minute and can't really reply in detail, but I wanted to give some quick opinions. Dogs do not generalize well. It's frustrating for us humans to see our dogs "forget" or "regress" in behaviors or cues we KNOW they know just because it's a new situation or place. It's normal. I won't comment on Leerburg until I know which technique you want to try. I disagree with some of his things and am okay with others. He's still pretty old school and sometimes what he advises just stops the behavior and doesn't change the mindset. Changing the mindset is what gives you a long lasting and more reliable behavior.

You have a reactive dog. You're ALWAYS going to have to be on it. No taking a walk and looking at your phone. (Not that you do that. Just an example.) You have to see things before he sees them. You want to make associations that all dogs mean great things happen - at a distance where he's not reacting. It takes time. A lot of time. It can be done, but you may never have a dog that likes other dogs. What you're looking for is that he be able to look to you for guidance and give his focus to you and ignore them. I just helped my daughter work with a dog reactive dog last night. I handled the decoy dog at a distance of ... I'm awful with distance ... a long way. Like 3/4 of a US city block. I was impressed with the improvement in only a few weeks. It can be done.
 

Elizabeth Balcomb

Well-Known Member
My American Bulldog had the sweetest temperament around people. He was like a Golden Retriever but friendlier! He was also great with cats and small dogs. His only problem was with big dogs, and it was a big problem. I probably could have curbed that if I socialized him with other dogs early, but by the time I took him to a dog park he was already 10 months old, and I could see it was going to be a problem. I trained him at a Schutzhund club and their biggest worry was that he would be disqualified from trials if he ever attacked a dog during a trial, and the trial included doing a long down while another dog was doing his obedience. That thing we tried with the e-collar was obviously unsuccessful. We just quit doing that and worked on his long down while other dogs were practicing obedience. It worked well enough that he earned his BH and his BST. I probably could have put a Sch I or higher on him if I didn't have to move out of state. In the end, my dog was good enough for trials, but he was not a park dog.
Thank you for this. I accept him, and will keep going.. thing is, I can introduce him to a new dog, if it's all well planned, he is on lead and we physically stop his initial response, we go for a walk where there are a lot of distractions, I surruptisiouly allow him to sniff new dog from behind a few times, and he gets over his aggro, we can actually let everyone off lead because at this stage he is trustworthy. Next time we meet dog, all totally fine. Thing is, he actually really likes other dogs.. what a ding wing..
I would love to see some video footage of your AB at work!
 

Elizabeth Balcomb

Well-Known Member
I only have a minute and can't really reply in detail, but I wanted to give some quick opinions. Dogs do not generalize well. It's frustrating for us humans to see our dogs "forget" or "regress" in behaviors or cues we KNOW they know just because it's a new situation or place. It's normal. I won't comment on Leerburg until I know which technique you want to try. I disagree with some of his things and am okay with others. He's still pretty old school and sometimes what he advises just stops the behavior and doesn't change the mindset. Changing the mindset is what gives you a long lasting and more reliable behavior.

You have a reactive dog. You're ALWAYS going to have to be on it. No taking a walk and looking at your phone. (Not that you do that. Just an example.) You have to see things before he sees them. You want to make associations that all dogs mean great things happen - at a distance where he's not reacting. It takes time. A lot of time. It can be done, but you may never have a dog that likes other dogs. What you're looking for is that he be able to look to you for guidance and give his focus to you and ignore them. I just helped my daughter work with a dog reactive dog last night. I handled the decoy dog at a distance of ... I'm awful with distance ... a long way. Like 3/4 of a US city block. I was impressed with the improvement in only a few weeks. It can be done.
Thanks for this boxergirl, its really helpful. Yip, I have a reactive dog...oh gosh... exactly what I was trying to avoid! I'm going to try the dogs at a distance thing.. thank you so much.
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
When my internet isn't going down every two seconds I'll find some stuff for you. There are some videos of my daughter working with Otis on his Otis in Training facebook page. It's not a training tutorial or anything, but there's a video of him working on the deck with another dog in the background. Something he wasn't able to do at that distance for a long time. He's also really handsome and I like to show him (and her) off.
 

Loverboy Skyline

Well-Known Member
Thank you for this. I accept him, and will keep going.. thing is, I can introduce him to a new dog, if it's all well planned, he is on lead and we physically stop his initial response, we go for a walk where there are a lot of distractions, I surruptisiouly allow him to sniff new dog from behind a few times, and he gets over his aggro, we can actually let everyone off lead because at this stage he is trustworthy. Next time we meet dog, all totally fine. Thing is, he actually really likes other dogs.. what a ding wing..
I would love to see some video footage of your AB at work!

Not sure how this works but here's a video from his BST trial that I saved in Facebook.


My favorite videos were actually his hog catching videos, but I removed them from the internet. He was without fear.
 

Elizabeth Balcomb

Well-Known Member
Not sure how this works but here's a video from his BST trial that I saved in Facebook.


My favorite videos were actually his hog catching videos, but I removed them from the internet. He was without fear.
Wow, what a dog. You must miss him! Lupo would be a fearless hunter, but we own a private nature reserve so are not allowing even a chance of hunting for him...
 

Loverboy Skyline

Well-Known Member
Wow, what a dog. You must miss him! Lupo would be a fearless hunter, but we own a private nature reserve so are not allowing even a chance of hunting for him...
Thank you. That decoy was a very sturdy athletic young man who was known for driving dogs hard. The goal there was to test the dog hard enough that a lesser dog would let go of the sleeve and run. That's exactly what happened to the majority of bulldogs in that trial. I didn't realize what I was getting him into until I arrived and everyone else either complained that their dogs were tested too hard or they were hardcore fans who loved how hard the dogs were tested! He always did have a hard bite and the catch dog trainers also told me he was one of the hardest biters they came across because it was so hard to get him off the hogs once he got locked in. I still miss him because he was also the most gentle and loving dog at home and was very well mannered around the house. True on/off switch.

My Bullmastiff has some really hard shoes to fill. He doesn't have as much drive, but I do like the fact that he is a great watchdog, which my AB wasn't because he trusted people too much.