AVOlio wroteThanks Draguen and toufic for your helpful guides!
Here's an update on the training of my dog.
She's sitting perfectly.
She's staying rather good,while me backing up, 80-90% of the time successfully the other she follows me.
And today, she learnt the word "down", where she'd sit on her 4 legs! I'm so happy with this one, and I'm so proud of her!!
But to be honest, she's doing all of this when there are treats involved! If she finally figures out that there are no more treats, she'd completely lose interest and go stubborn on me and doesn't pay attention to me at all.
Regarding potty training, that's a complete failure.
As when I keep her outside in the balcony, she has a spot to poop and pee and she always does it there.
But when she's roaming inside the house and she has to go, she's doing it in the house.
Even if it hit her on her behind and tell her a firm NO, Bad girl etc...
I had previously scheduled her eating times (3 times per day) at 7am, 3pm, 11pm.
And right after feeding times, I would take her out for a walk to try and make her do her business outside, but alas with no success (rarely a few times she did).
I started changing her feeding schedule today and make it only 2 times per day as per many suggestions I got from people.
What is the schedule that you guys use for feeding your dogs? And when do you take them out for walks for bathroom purposes?
I recently bought her a big bag of food, Taste of the Wild I think with the Buffalo and deer meat flavor.
What do you feed your dogs?
Also, is it normal that she is always jumpy and scared when she sees cats? And even dogs sometimes,smaller than her.
I think she's still oblivious of the world, and doesn't know much, an example is she tries to eat anything she sees on the road.
How do I change all this? Not getting scared of cats, and knowing what to eat and what not to eat?
And even though when she's scared form cats or other dogs, she acts tough in the house or with me! With her stubborn head lol.
She constantly bites us, and recently this has gotten very severe to the point that if someone sees her they would call her a savage or wild dog!
She keeps biting on other stuff as well and never letting go! Like her leashes when I take her for a walk, she would turn her head and grab the leash and start biting and never letting go even if I hit her a bit, doing that growling sound.
She destroyed two leashes already.
I don't know guys,
This is my lil pup and all that she does.
And I've grown attached to her so much, as a child of my own.
So, all your previous help and future guidance is very much appreciated. :)
Hey man,
I’m glad to hear she is doing the initial/basic commands and you got to be careful with the treat thing…. You need to start practicing without them and while using “praise” or “encouragement” or even “chew toys” rather than food as a reinforcer. Hugs can be used to (basically any show of affection).
Again don’t overdo the treat thing or else food will be more important than you or what you say.
You said that she looses interest / doesn’t pay attention, well she’s a puppy still, their attention spasm is driven by instinct and hence, love and food are basic ones for her so when she does, just give her a break. And try again in 15minutes or 30min.
At some point she’ll surprise you. More so, alternate between food and nonfood reinforcers.
Food eating times, again she is still a puppy so she hasn’t completely developed and this is something you will have to be patient about. Basically they told me when I first got my dog that don’t put the food in front of him for too long. So let’s say it’s feeding time, you call her and teach her a command for food (by now you should realize everything you do should be associated with a word so needless to say this over and over again).
So present the food and stay with her for a bit… 15min tops if she doesn’t eat you take it away. (HEADS-UP : do not make the mistake of feeding her dry food mixed with human foods, I did that and my dog now doesn’t eat it unless I put something with the dry food, it’s a hassle and I learnt my lesso.)
Until 6month I think, it’s 3 times a day… her vet should know (I don’t know where you live, but I know a really good one in Beirut/hamra who actually gives a fuck about the animal he treats and he’s well known/recognized and not too expensive)
For now, my dog’s schedule is feeding him at 14:00 and the water is there all the time. (with a couple of treats before I leave in the morning to work and after his walk)
Bags of food. On that end, in lebanon I had vvery bad experiences and some brands are said to be the best but in fact, worldwide they are considered as the worst.
Word of advice,don’t over pay and I know you think it’s a show of affection but bring her anything within budget. A 20Kg bags should last you about 3 months tops and it should be somewhere around 50 to 70$ tops.
As for what I feed my dog, its random dry food that I get from a place called Sinno in caracass
For the cats thingy, I have the same with my dog but good thing he doesn’t attack them (I know a guy who’s dog literally murders cats if she gets a hold of them). Cats can really hurt your dog in case they scratch his nose or eyes (be aware of that and specially when it’s mating season or when they have given birth to kittens because the female becomes super protective, a couple of times cats attacked my dog like literally they would jump on him and start going nuts trying to scare him off)
But again, she is a puppy still so give her time and just don’t make her feel tense around them. Remember you dogs pick up a lot of your caractere and your energy so be very confident and calm with them, and they’ll be the same, be anxious when you walk her and they’ll think there’s some kind of danger and they have to be on alert. Your energy is everything.
As for forbidding her from eating anything on the road: it’s a “no” command + “eat” command. (you should focus on those: so when she does something bad I guess you tell her no, and when you feed her, pick a word. For instance my dog when I tell him “treats” he literally has his ears ups and looks at me).
Oh, and do teach her the “look” command, super easy, you put the treat close to your nose and say “look”. Then more advanced you point with your fingers. Dogs have the capacity for what we all “joint attention selection”.
For the biting, remember children put everything in their mouth when they are a kid. Literally evevrything.
Hence, mouths are ways to explore the world around us.
So this is rather a fundamental notion : “Behavior correction”.
Very simple, if a child does something wrong and his parents hit him/her, the child would associate the bad behavior with the beating. But if you correct the wrong behavior AS SOON AS THEY DO IT, they will learn not to do what’s wrong.
Remember, dogs care a lot about how we feel, so you need to have a “sad face” or an attitude of “I’m upset with you”.
This means when she does something wrong, a no command is needed, an attitude, and remember, some kind of negative reinforcer/punishment (like time out or go outside). Yes, at some point with treats, it’s super easy to teach your dog these two commands: you point with your finger outside your doorway and when she sits, treats. Then you point inside and tell her insisde and when she sits, positive reinforcer/treat/praise)
So in these terms and going back to the stubbornness, she bits, she’s exploring and getting used to the world and objects of the world. Super easy: when she bite something she isn’t supposed to bite, you correct it by presenting a chew toy or an object that is good for her to bite on (this is how she gets her teeth to grow stronger).
And when she doesn’t listen keep repeating, eventually she will cave in.
But for the leash thing, super easy, you need to get a small metal one that kind a closes everytime she tries to pass you or not walk next to you. They cost around 10$ I think (but that was seven years ago so it might be 20$ now, fucking economy). Get her that and do NOT and I repeat DO NOT go easy on her when it comes to the walks, small room for her to wander if you want her but not too much and always next to your legs, when she passes you, stop walking and give her the command “heel”, ONLY when she comes back or walks back that you tell her “good girl” and start walking again.
Remember, it’s always about what you make her get used to.
So in other terms, if you don’t correct behaviors, no way in hell she’ll know right from wrong.
For the growling sound, eassy, associate it with a “command”. For my dog it’s “speak”. When she does it, use it to your advantage (it might sound silly but go like “speak?” in an interrogative way… eventually she’ll get that speak means barke. Because when she grows, she will barke in the apartment and you will need to shut her up for neighbours or when you’re asleep or when there are fireworks “NO + SPEAK”.
Lastly for the potty training, be patient man. Again, if she does it inside, you make her smell them and take her outside and get her to sit on the news paper or whatever you are using.
If you do not associate, as quickly as possible between the wrong behavior and the right one, you loose your window of opportunity and she wont learn a thing.
With my dog it was “poo and pee outside”. And off course, id leave him on the balcony alone without having the chance to see me visually for 5min or 10min. He would get sad but eventually when I do let him in, I remind him that “poo outside”. Eventually when I would take him out on his morning walk, I would tell him “we’re going OUTSIDE to POO”.
If there’s anything else you need, don’t hesitate.
Take your time and be patient with correcting behavior / teaching. Dogs are easier than humans:p this will prep you big time for later.
Cheers.