Training challenges

[Donna Collins]

My goldendoodle just turned one and took her to training class starting at 10 weeks old all the way to advanced classes. She knows basic commands and will do them with minimal distractions. The problem I have is when we are out and there are other people and animals around she will not listen to me at all. I would love to start agility training with her but she must have a reliable recall which we can't seem to master. I'm considering E-coller training and would love to hear your thoughts and opinions. Thanks

[Christy&Riley]

Interesting. Looks like she is about an hour away. If our trainer can't fix it maybe we can try her. Thanks for taking time to recommend!

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

Check into the prong collar very carefully.  I know they are banned in the UK and several other European countries.  And there is a move to get Amazon to ban selling them in the US, so there is obviously a history of people using them incorrectly on their pets.  I've never tried one, so I'm not sure what is involved, but maybe they are being put on incorrectly and used incorrectly, so definitely seek advice on the safest way to use them if you go that route.  

I did switch from a body harness to a "choke chain" when I walk them per the suggestion of my trainer.  And I've had great luck, but I agree with Adina....you can't ever let them get to the end of their leash in front of you.  The choke chain is great for a very quick but small correction the instant they start moving from your side to out in front of you.  80% of the time, there is always a little slack in the leash as they walk on my left, and the second they take up the slack and give a quick correction, and it's back to slack.  But this took many walks before I got to that 80% mark.  I'm still shooting for 100%.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We got this one for our Springer:  http://lolalimited.net/secret-powers/

You put it on wrong side out and flip it when it is on.  We really like it.  Gordie gives little jerks - we never were able to train it out of him and  when we walk multiple dogs we needed a bit of assistance.  And that is why we finally got a prong.  You need to make sure it is properly in place when you walk - as you can see here he was just standing and we were seated.

[Kyoko]

I would practice simple command first inside of your house with the door open ( leashed ), and move out to the front yard when it is quiet outside, and gradually increase the level of distraction, eventually moving to the place like shopping center parking lot. My old trainer talked about 3 D's - distraction, duration and distance. she said to increase the level of it one of the D's at the time. So, for example, if you are increasing the distraction, keep the duration and distance the same. ie. don't expect for her to sit for long period of time, and don't expect her follow directives from the distance / keep the proximity. I was taught with positive reinforcement only method, so I am not familiar with e collar, and not much fan of it.

Even the recalls, I would practice it indoor first and gradually move to the more distracted areas. They can move from indoor to the playground for example and perform the same all of the sudden.

Also when you increase the level of any of the D's, I would up the value of the treat as well. ( Very small, like a size of a pea.)

[BG and Gavin]

Gavin was so situational in his training that he behaved differently everywhere we went lol.  He walked perfectly in one downtown where he had been before and was totally distracted in the downtown of a neighbouring town.  Perfect at Petsmart, distracted at the other pet store, etc. His curiosity really gets the better of him. I really just had to go everywhere with him.  We took a "street safety" course which really helped because we worked outside in a different location (downtown, parks, around people) including some off leash work, twice a week for 8 weeks - plus homework in between. We did a lot of urban agility and follow the leader type of things that kept the dog interested in you and made him work his brain and stretch his limitations a bit.  Now that I understand him better, I know that it is best for both of us if I let him get oriented to a new place (stopping, sniffing, looking around) before I work him.  When we do therapy work in a new settling, I always ask to do a walk through with him to get familiar with the surroundings before we dive into visits.  There are lots of discussions on recall training here.  I think it needs to be done systematically with a long line and don't say come unless you can enforce it.  I would hold off on the e-collar.