Arthur Lopatin
Forum Replies Created
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Hi, Taylor,
I’m gonna get bak 2 u asap w/some more info/ideas. Allie McCain and I have been double-teaming re your situation. At some point, maybe the three of us can do a Skype session. Meanwhile, I’m gonna get back to you via this webpage.
Art
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Hi, Taylor
What I see is an excited puppy who loves you a lot doing what puppies do. It looks normal to me, even the peeing. The peeing could be pure excitement. That depends, at least partially, on how long he’s had to hold it in. Some questions: How old is he? How long have you had him? Who did you get him from? How long has he been crated when you get home? Do you, or someone else, take him out to pee just before you leave? Are you on a regular feeding and drinking schedule with him? Is anyone else at home during the day or is it just the two of you? Is the crate small (and without a soft blanket or pad) because you want to discourage him from peeing in it? Have you worked on Sit and Down with him? Is so, do you think he has a good Phase 1 Sit? Are you keeping a Habitation Chart? What are your goals for you and Nugget, going forward? Is it realistic/possible for you to come home and take him out as soon as you get home? I mean, just let him out, ignore the jumping as much as you can, clip a leash on right away and get him out of the house BEFORE he pees. (Even if he does pee, I’m wondering if maybe, after a few days, he doesn’t figure out that he’s gonna get a chance to pee very soon after you get home, and even sooner if he does not waste your time by jumping all over you. Then you could take him out to pee and do a little bit of training, maybe focus on Sit.
My big thoughts, for now: If you look at it from Nugget’s point of view, what he’s doing is perfectly natural. Puppy energy. Like kids released from school at 3PM. The pee might be annoying, but if it’s not health-related — i really doubt it is — ya just gotta wipe it up :-). (I’ve wiped up a LOT of puppy pee — and poop — in my time, let me tell you.) I hope you’re not getting angry at him. Easy to do. I’ve been there.
I’m wondering if it might help, for now, to manage the problem if you used an X-Pen with puppy pee pads for a while, til we get a better handle on the situation. But I’m unsure, til i get some more info. People do do that with young puppies. I’m not sure how old Nugget is.
Here are two links that I think are relevant, in case you haven’t seen them already:
https://dogtraining.world/knowledge-base/introduction-to-habitation/
https://dogtraining.world/knowledge-base/house-breaking-chart-habitation-chart/
Also, I strongly suggest that you review Mike’s lectures on Habitation and on Anxiety in the Intro Course.
Also, if you have any more vids re: you and Nugget, that’d be great.
If/when I find more info that might help you, I’ll post it here. Any way I can help you, pls let me know.
All the best and have fun!
Art
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Here’s one of Mike’s Q & A vids. It might help you. — Art
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngfYSgYBzf4
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I don’t know how far u r into Fdtn-Style training, Taylor. How old is the dog. Where did your parents get him? How old — and physically fit — are your parents? Without more info –in writing and / or a video — it’s hard to be really sure. But my hunch is that your parents got a fairly young, rambunctious, bored lab who is just doing what comes naturally. Lotsa young labs are rambunctio9us. Jumping on people is often a way of seeking attention. I tell you flat out: Your dad’s WRONG/MISTAKEN re punishing the dog. That will make things worse. Side effects ranging to cringing, submissive urination, fear aggresssion, all kinds of things that are totally unnelcesary and cruel to the dog + being ineffective. What you need to do is explain the Fdtn-Style Pyramid to your Mom and Dad and start working on it. Right now, focus on managing the problem, NOT punishing a dog. Have him on a leash or long line in the back yard. Don’t leave the 9-yr old alone in the backyard with the dog. See if you can fetch with the dog. Use two balls. One or more of Mike’s Phase two training videos shows how. Retriever’s like to retrieve 🙂 Also take teach him loose-manners and take him on walks. If it’s hot, you can soak him down before going and keep the walks short. Too much more to write about here, but right now you need to focues on management and leadership while you start on obedience training. To help you, here’s the introductory and phase 1 chapter of a manual i’m working on. Hope it helps. But, remember, the manual’s on obedience training. Obedience training is Level 9 of the Foundation-Style Pyramid. You need to expalin it to your parents and, right now, focus on management , leadership, habitation. Also, make sure there are no underly8ing health issues and that your dog’s getting a good diet and supplements like fish oil. Diet can incluence behavior, for sure. anyway, i’m attaching the manual
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sorry to have broken these comments up. busy w/storm preps. here’s a coupla more ideas: tug is prey. make it prey like when u present it and play w/her as much as possible. esp, when u present it, don’t push it into her mouth, which might make her draw back, discourage her. (this is esp imptnt, if i remember rite, when playing w/puppies, bec. a bad experience of bumped in mouth w/tug can discourage).
another suggestion re tug presentations: step back, sometime to L & R sides as you move it away from her, which will make her chase it more intensely. in other words, vary your presentation of tug to make it more interesting/prey-like.
if u haven’t already, please check out Mikes vids. the url for one is somewhere up above. also, be careful, it’s easy to trip, sprain a muscle, etc etc.
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try not to repeat ‘out’ because goal is to out the very first time. this becomes very important when/if u work w/a decoy.
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additional thought: when she knows out, premack it; i.e., make it a reward for outing. i think one way to do that might be to tell her to down or place and walk around w/the tug for a short while, then toss the tug away from you, keeping a firm grip on the long line that’s attached to the tug, as you tell her ‘OK.’ to let her know she can go for it. then move in, hand over hand, on the line attached to the tug, til you get to it. it’ll be in her mouth, so grab one or both ends of the tug (depending on what’s sticking out of her mouth) and play tug with her some more. just be careful not to accidentally get bit. ……another suggestion…..in addition (more important than ‘good girl,l i think form a protection pt of view), if you can tug with one hand as she’s pulling, pet her with the other. to let her know she’s doing good. then out again. …… but chek w/mike, pls.
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suggestion: make it go dead in BOTH your hands as you say “OUT” if you’re beginning, do this a lot, so she knows you are in control. i probably don’t need to tell you, but you own the tug and you determine when play begins and ends; ie dont leave the tug on the ground for her to play with whenever she wants to. you’re the dominant one. re: switching from holding it in one hand to holding the rope attached to it…..mike does that for a specific reason that i’ve forgottent (bad on me). i suggest you watch his training vids on you tube and/or in the protection class. if i find the urls, i’ll let you know. how about some grunting and yelling. or is that a guy thing??? this vid from the protection course might interest u if you haven’t watche recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn47825cpdI&list=PL8ECC0BA2C9F04B5C&index=2
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1. How much time did you spend on Leave It, Heel, Free, OK using Phase 1 and 2 methods before you began Phase 3? In other words, are you sure she understood this stuff under less distracting conditions before you started e-collar training. Stormy’s paying you a lot of attention, but at times she seems genuinely unsure about what you want her to do.
2. Several times (e.g., around 5:15) when you tell Stormy to Heel she doesn’t get into position, so you use the long line to help her. Have you tried Theresa’s and Mike’s (see the vids) method of prompting her bytaking a step back while making a backward down-up-down circling arm motion as you say ‘Heel.’?
3. I think you over-use your ‘Good Girl!’s. That might sometimes be distracting. You also mix in some other words, which can also be distracting. For example, at around 4:00 and 5:00. What’s more, IMO too much praise, especially if it’s not for something very specific, devalues the value of your praise. Praise should be information. Use it too much and it becomes noise. If my dog’s been real good for a while, I just stop and love her up and then continue the walk, or whatever else I’m doing w/her.
4. At around 4:42 you ‘Free!’ Stormy and then, as soon as she goes for the plate of goodies, you tell her to ‘Leave It.’ I’m wondering whether you might not be confusing her, because she still seems to be having trouble with ‘Leave It.’ + ‘OK.’ and now you ‘Free.’ her but shortly thereafter you tell her to ‘Leave It.’ I guess that’s OK for training purposes, but if I understand it correctly, ‘Free.’s are generally of longer duration. I think of ‘OK’ as recess and ‘Free.’ as school’s out. Of course, if I’m out w/my dog off-leash and she’s ‘Free.’ and goes for something in the distance that I’m not sure of, I tell her to ‘Leave It.’ But if I see there’s no problem as I get closer, I tell her ‘OK.’ so she knows she can go for it.
FWIW
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I’m super impressed. What level stim r u using in this session? Only thing I might add is more speeding up/slowing down/fast turns/steps to side, etc. but this is your first session. i am impressed w/the tricks. i’ve never done stuff like that. how long do you figure before you start working off-leash in your backyard? what’s your plan for ‘taking it on the road?’ basically, i mean are you gonna do something like make sure she gets (ie, proof) phase 2 avoidance heeling in more distracting environments and then go on to phase 3. and when you do go on to phase 3 are you gonna proceed step by step just like you did in your backyard. …… Inquiring minds want to know 🙂 I’m looking forward to more of your vids. Great stuff. Thanks.
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Looks like you and Blitz have a very solid relationship, with a lot of mutual respect. Blitz really looks to you for leadership. Here are a few questions, comments, & suggestions: Are you clear about the difference between Phase 2 Escape and Phase 2 Avoidance Training? I don’t always hear you using ‘No’ consistently. Sometimes you say ‘No.’ and other times ‘Eh-Eh.’ That’s not the end of the world, and using synonyms comes naturally to us humans, but if you can, it’s better to be as technical as possible when training, so I suggest you use one or the other word as your marker word. In the same vein, sometimes I hear you using ‘OK’ to release Blitz to do what he wants (that’s the way Mike uses it) and other times I think you are using it as the release word, instead of ‘Free.’ When you tell Blitz to Climb, I don’t see you Look, Point, and Step. That’s not a big deal, because he obeys. I’m raising it as a reminder, in case you train other dogs. When you say ‘Come,’ it’s a good idea to make sure your dog comes close enough for you to be able to grab his collar. That can be very important for safety in real–world situations, so the more automatic coming right up to you becomes, the safer you’ll be. I’m not sure why you begin so many commands from a Climb. That’s not wrong by any means, but it would be nice to see you doing more command without Climb. I may be being picky here, because you probably have space constraints because you are videoing this and have limited space. But this does bring up a larger point: As I understand it, Mike uses Climb as to teach command structure (first Escape and the Avoidance). That’s because Climb is very easy for both dog and handler to do. Then, once dog/handler know the pattern, he goes on to teach specific commands. I really suggest getting a 6-foot leather or biothane leash. It makes Leash Ninja stuff much easier, for both you and your dog. In that regard, Blitz certainly obeys your tugs on the leash, but I wonder how you would be if your gentle tugs weren’t working and you had to escalate to finger-pumps, or maybe even wrist-pump. When you’re in Heel and stop and then start again, technically your dog should know he’s in Heel until you release him, so when you start he should just start walking with you without your having to tell him to. That takes some doing, to be sure, but that’s what you should be aiming for, in my opinion. I hope I haven’t been too picky. That’s a great dog and it’s clear you two have a solid relationship and that he knows that you are the leader. Good luck!
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some people do. in the usa, last i looked one or more company made veggie kibble. personally, i think it’s crazy because dogs are primarily carnivores. most of the veggie nutrition they get comes from eating the insides of carrion or animal’s they’ve killed themselves. that’s life.
but if you wanna feed your dog veggie, you need to make sure your dog gets enuf of all the nutrients he/she needs in correct proportion. they also need exercise for their jaws and teeth, which eating bones supplies. chewing on bone (uncooked) also helps minimize plaque. while i’m ranting, it’s important to remember to keep your dawg’s teeth clean.
i wonder if chapatties, dal, dahii, saag, etc can keep a dog healthy. maybe so. i wonder if there are any reliable scientific studies about this. or maybe there are ashrams out there w/healthy, happy, long-lived veggie dogs. 🙂
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Here are some very detailed, step-by-step instructions. Tailor to your needs. I hope this helps
