Written and Posted by: David Harris
I recently got this question from a very thoughtful reader who is planning to purchase a GSD puppy in the very near future and has concerns about his older dogs teaching his younger dog bad habits.
Here is his question:
Hi Dave, I have two small dogs and am planning to get a GS puppy soon and I’m just trying to soak up information so I can do everything right for her arrival and her training.
My two small dogs are good indoors, on and off leash, but when we leave the front door they pull and ignore commands, trying to train them outdoors is impossible because they won’t respond to treats, when I yell out “come” they will come running back but right past me. Sometimes I worry about letting them off leash in a new environment. I just don’t want the GS puppy to learn from the others and drag us around when we go to walk her as she gets older and bigger. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Joe
Joe, first and foremost I want to applaud you for taking the time and making the effort to research and ask questions. If more people would do their homework before purchasing a dog they would find the end results to be much more satisfying.
Now to the question of your two small dogs apparent lack of hearing when they go outside. This type of SELECTIVE HEARING is caused by a lack of focus. They are well behaved when inside the house because they are familiar with the environment and there are no distractions. You did all of your puppy training inside, so they are conditioned to behave where they know they stand a chance at getting a reward. I will hazard a guess and say that you rarely worked with them outside, very little as compared to what you did with them inside. Inside they get attention and treats for their attentiveness (FOCUS) and outside they get nothing but you yelling at them to pay attention. When I raise my puppies I keep them right on the edge of hungry and ALWAYS have food and rewards on hand when I go outside, to the park, to the vet or any new location. I want my puppy to believe the possibility of reward is not contingent on location, time of day, what is on T. V., how I am standing or whether or not I have food in my hand. I want them to know that they are in control of getting rewards and that the possibility is always there if they behave well.
So STEP ONE in getting Itch & Kabbible to pay attention to you at the door and outside is to work with them in that location. Take up their bloated food bowls, remove all their play toys from the floor, stop giving them lavish attention and treats for nothing and start asking more from them. Ask and you shall receive (read my article on Expectations). Taking away all of their taken for granted pleasures will give you a source of MOTIVATION. Without motivation your training will not proceed very far. And as I have discussed previously there are only two sources of motivation. One source of motivation is to gain something. For example you go to work to gain a monetary reward at the end of the week. Another source of motivation is to avoid something. For example you pay your taxes to avoid conflict with the IRS which I hear can be very unpleasant.
So, I am suggestion you find something that will motivate I & K to WANT to pay attention to you outside. It could be food, a toy or anything that they find enjoyable. Remember that positive reinforcement is in the eye of the beholder. I once trained a Golden Retriever puppy that had little interest in food, showed no interest in a ball, didn’t really care to be petted, but was simply crazy about small sticks. I was about to give up training this puppy until I fell upon this source of motivation that really worked for her. After that she was fun and easy to train.
Start with small steps. Do not expect them to stay focused for more than a few seconds at first and then slowly ask more and more from them outside. You will soon see your efforts starting to pay off. Right now they don’t even believe that it is possible to get treats outside. I think you will see their greedy little eyes light up once they realize that the training game has moved outside.
Remember, if you cannot get their attention outside ask yourself what would motivate them? Once you figure out what will motivate them to pay attention you will be on track to getting a handle on this problem.
After a few weeks of this type of training let me know how they are progressing and I will tell you what your next step should be. I never think or want to suggest that a problem like this has a one dimensional solution. Training with food and rewards is just a start. We will have to bring the other motivation into play if you want to be 100% sure your beloved pets are safe when they get loose outside. They will not only need to learn that it is good to come, but that they must come. More on this later.
Thanks for your questions. Keep them coming.David Harris
www.doggiedogblog.com
502-542-9747
Midway, Kentucky
9 responses so far ↓
1 Joe // Dec 6, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Thanks for the great advice Dave! True, I didn’t work with them as much outside as I did inside, this is something that I will work on with the new puppy as well as “I&K”. I will try and figure out what will motivate them, so far I’ve tried 3 different kinds of treats but they still just ignore it. We were thinking about boiling chicken and seeing if they would pay a little more attention to that. Hopefully I will find something as you did with the Golden retriever.
I will keep trying and keep you posted on any improvements.
Thanks again,
Joe
2 Lee W. // Dec 7, 2008 at 10:09 am
Joe , you can also grill the chicken, gives it a little more flavor. If that doesn`t work try cheese, or even hamburger. Fry it up in the skillet. There are many different things to try.
Not all dogs are turned on by normal grocery store dog biscuit type treats, but none of my dogs turn down the items i mentioned above.
Good luck
Lee
3 David Harris // Dec 7, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Joe, don’t forget that every calorie the dogs gets counts no matter what form it comes in. I have no problem cooking for the pups in the short term to get the started, but you need to cut into their food bowl and get them hungry. They might even have to miss a meal, but that will hurt them a lot less than getting ran over by a truck and will speed up the process of convincing them your serious about this focus issue. Never forget Doggie Rule #1 Whomever controls the food is the boss.
4 Joe // Dec 7, 2008 at 6:19 pm
“I&K” have never been apart since I brought them home, I tried taking them out seperately today and they don’t pull as much. Seems like when they are together they try to get ahead of each other, everything is competition. I think it would be better if I kept training them seperately, but it feels like when they see each other again all that training just goes right out the door. I’m just going to have to be patient I guess.
5 David Harris // Dec 7, 2008 at 8:42 pm
When pups are raised together it is common for them to start taking behavioral cues from each other. Since they speak each others language much better than they communicate with humans that is understandable. But, it does often create problems when it comes to the human trying to take over the leadership role. Seperating them to work is a good first step, but at some point we will have to address this issue and teach both dogs that you are top dog and they have no reason to compete with each other since you are the boss of both of them. Then they will both look to you for direction and no longer feel the need to via for rank. In part two of this discussion we will get into the meat of how to train these guys to focus regardless of the distraction. Keep up the good work.
6 Joe // Dec 9, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I went to pick the puppy up yesterday, and the difference between her and when my older dogs were puppies is un believable. “I&K” pulled on the leash like crazy but the new puppy walks right beside us. The first night wasn’t too bad either. The puppy cried when she was put in her crate, we ignored her, and one of the older dog started growling at her and she stopped whining and went to bed. She woke me up a few times by crying and I went to her crate and turned my back to her, when she stopped crying, I waited a few seconds and praised her and let her out, then I took her out to pee. The only way to get her to be quiet was to turn my back to her. Will she learn without the verbal command?
“I&K” listen a little bit better since the new pups arrival, especially “I” (the male) he does everything right on command when we are infront of the house but as we go further he stops listening again. “K” kind of mothers the puppy following her around and making sure she doesn’t wander away.
7 David Harris // Dec 9, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Joe, I am happy your new GSD puppy is doing well. I think you will be amazingly suprised how much easier he will be to train than your two small dogs. Ask me about PURPOSE some day and I will explain why GSD’s and other herding breeds are typically easier to train that other breeds.
Keep working with I & K. They are very trainable too. You just need to find that source of motivations they require to give you their full attention. Keep looking and you will find it.
8 Joe // Dec 21, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Hey Dave,
Just thought I would let you know how things are going. I still haven’t found anything that will motivate “I&K” and outdoor training is difficult at the moment because it’s -35 degrees celsius outside!
The puppy is learning really fast, but we are having difficulties getting her to respond to her name. Also she keeps bitting my girlfriend and snapping at her, she doesn’t do this to me though.
She is a little rough with the older dogs and bite them really hard when they are playing. Even though they squeal the puppy keeps doing it. How do I stop this kind of roughhousing?
She walks well on leash but I would also like to teach her to walk off leash and stay by us. How do I go about on teaching her? and is she too young for that?
Thanks,
Joe
9 David Harris // Dec 22, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Hey Joe,
I am with you on the out door training. It’s not -35 here nor will it ever be, but 4 degrees and twenty mile/hour winds will definitely get ones attention!
I & K are not hungry enough. Cut into their chow. Once they are hungry try this little exercise.
Do this one dog at a time. Put half their food in a bowl and put the other half in a baggie for you to hold. Put the party of the first part on leash and approach the bowl. If they are hungry they will attempt to eat out of the bowl. Verbally tell them to “LEAVE IT” and give a mild snap on the leash. If they come away from the bowl immediately praise them verbally and give them a few pieces of food from your baggie. If they do not leave the bowl immediately then use the leash to snap their collar a bit harder and a bit harder until they do leave the bowl and come to you. Praise and treat with the food from your baggie. Once you can walk the dog around the bowl and they do not immediately pounce on it go ahead and encourage them to eat from the bowl. Tell them it’s OK in a happy voice and pet them on the side. Really encourage them to eat from the bowl. Once they are eating from the bowl allow them a few seconds of uninterrupted eating and then command them to “LEAVE IT” as before. If they leave the bowl, praise and treat as before. If the refuse to leave the bowl use the leash again to affect a correction via their collars. Always starting with a mild correction, but working your way up with increasingly harder snaps until they avoid the snap and respond to your voice only and do not require any physical correct at all. That is your goal. Compliance to your verbal command and avoidance of corrections. As it stands now both Itch and Kibble have no respect for your voice or your authority. Until that changes you will continue to have issues with them outside and under distractions. This is just the first of many lessons I teach to build 100% focus under distraction. But, it is a good place to start. Good luck.
For the rough housing apply the information in this article on play biting. Your puppy is not to young to learn to keep her mouth to herself.
http://doggiedogblog.com/play-biting-puppies-link/#more-64
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