Today we learned how to alarm

[vizzla]

I went to a really usefull cours today with Alf.
The goal is for him to tell me when other dogs or people are nearby - by him comming to me and wait for a treat instead of launching at the dogs.

The method is in for steps:
1= rewarding the dog when he is LOOKING at another dog
2) rewarding when the dog is LOOKING at another dog, and turns to me for a treat
3) rewarding the dog when hes LOOKING, TURNING and COMES to me (two steps)
4) rewarding when the dog, from a distance, LOOKING, TURNING and COMING to me!

The other dogs made to nr 2 in todays class.
Alf, on the other hand, had much more trubble with other dogs than I knew. He is just scared of other dogs, and when he has been stairring at me and waiting for a treat - wich I interpered as him being attentiv to me - was him beeing to scared to even look at another dog. So we have to be on level 1 for quite some time.

We have to make him feel good about LOOKING at another dog, before we can expect anything else. Ive got a big "aha" moment today!

Now I will really try to make every dog-meeting as calm and positive as possible for little Alf so he doenst have to be scared any more! Poor boy! I didnt know he was so fearfull!

What have you learned on a course?

 

[DeafDogs]

That's actually a great method for helping fearful dogs. I use the "look at that" game ALOT when working with my fear aggressive boy, Oliver

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuV3MOvvyr4]Yoshi Plays Look At That (using a clicker) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Inkeri]

Good luck with training!! There's so much to learn when it comes to our dogs, I guess.

We just had the first long walk ever with our younger dog without him pulling the leash! Even when there was other dogs he didn't pull the leash or start barking. Wow. Great success.