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teaching old dogs new tricks

13 Feb 2011
2011-02-09-5952

I know it’s an expression for a reason, but I’m trying anyway: I need to teach an old dog new tricks. Cait’s dog e-v is a great dog – super friendly, sweet, and (mostly) willing to please/learn. I’ve been working with her to run through the basics that she had forgotten.. the usual litany of sit, down, up, come, and so on. She’s been doing very well, and as the weather has improved, I’ve started taking her out and working on heeling, which she does “ok” at.

But she was never trained with any strict obedience as a puppy, and she’s 7 or 8 now. She’s also very, very skittish – to the point of being scared of her own shadow. This makes for a pretty bad combination at times. And so we have the classic instance of a dog that is great and obedient when it’s convenient for her, but the first time there’s something more interesting (or worse, frightening), you may as well not exist Today represented a classic example of this, as I took her for a walk down to the greenway and back, and she was good, but easily distracted by the 8 bajillion other dog scents along the way. When we got back home, my landlord had some people there to look at the house (he is thinking of selling it), and she got so freaked by the people on the porch that she reeled back and actually slipped right out of her leashed collar and took off running down the street – literally right down the middle of the heavily-trafficked 3rd avenue north. At this point, I had literally no control – she wouldn’t come back, and was doing the “wait until you’re 3 feet away and then bolt off again” taunting thing that dogs do so well to infuriate you. Each time she’d bolt into the road. A very dangerous situation, and I had no control.

It’s this level of control with dogs that I am curious about how to achieve – some owners manage to put that fear of god into their dogs, where the dog can literally concieve of no higher power than you saying “Come.”

I realize that Rome wasn’t built in a day, so probably the biggest thing I need to work on is my own patience. But I don’t even know where to start with this level of training (i.e. obedience, specially). I’m trying to lean heavily on praise-training versus treats, though I do use a treat now and then. And like I said, she does great great: she’s very smart and a quick learner, but there’s just no discipline – and I am not sure how to instill it. Advice?

Comments

Sarcastro — February 14, 2011 at 00:23 · reply

Great looking dog. Any clue as to heritage? Looks Blue Heeler-ish. Try crate training and treats.

Sara — February 14, 2011 at 17:45 · reply

I’ve been really lucky with my pups, or maybe I’m doing something right, I don’t know.

To teach a “come” the cardinal rule is that nothing bad should ever, ever happen when you call a dog to you. It should always be positive and great. Sometimes with an extra treat to make it super-duper awesome in their minds.

Any dog that has “come’ and then been punished for running away, getting dirty, etc will likely play the get-away game. Same applies to anything the dog doesn’t like, such as bathtime, nail trimming, etc. You never call a dog to do something they won’t like, you go and retrieve them.

The few times I had a dog get away from me, I was panicked, scared and a little irritated. But as soon as the dog was in sight, I waved my hands in the air (one of which contained a whole slice of yummy bread), called and welcomed the dog back like it was the best dog ever and that was the end of the episode. You reward him for coming and just forget about the fact that the dog ran away or escaped in the first place. Those kinds of experiences will imprint and that is the basis of a solid recall command.

Good luck!

jscheel — February 14, 2011 at 18:20 · reply

Obedience school is where it’s at. Positive reinforcement is key. Tammy and I took our dog to school at Pet Smart. It was and 8 week program (I believe) and it really worked wonders.

cwage — February 21, 2011 at 01:29 · reply

Not blue heeler, no – but yeah, the coat reminded me of that too. We are pretty sure she’s either an australian shepherd or an australian cattledog (or likely, a mix)

Colin McCormack — July 13, 2011 at 09:07 · reply

Nothing like a blue heeler, looks a fair bit like a ‘barb’ kelpie.

Don’t know if this will help, YMMV, etc.  The kelpie is a sheepdog, and  they seem instinctively to like to round on things and herd them up.  I have observed that my kelpie in an open field will tend to range in whatever direction you walk in, and it assesses that direction by observing your shoulders.  I suggest you experiment with walking in a direction that takes your dog away from its distraction, then calling it to you.

Kelpies are wonderfully intelligent working dogs (mine was trained to sit on command on the second day we had him, as a tiny pup.)

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