Any Suggestions on Dog Training Commands DVD

[Marley Girl]

I'm working with my 18-week old BC and we've got most of the basic commands down. She's spot-on every time with Down. I raise my hand over my head and she immediately stops what she's doing and lies down. I'm very excited with her training. I've got a Paul Owens DVD and it was great with basic commands; however, it really falls short of my expectations. I want to move on to train her to "wait" and "release" (is this a command?), but I want to be sure I'm using the right hand signals that most trainers use and is common language amongst training dogs. Any suggestions?

[ziggzmom]

You can use any word and/or signal that makes sense to you and the dog. They learn what we teach them=) Have fun with your puppy!

[mum24dog]

We had someone come to agility training whose release off the start line was "that'll do". Conventional enough in the sheep world but not to get a dog to blast off the line as fast as possible. I tried so hard to get her to restrict it to occasions where it meant "Relax and do what you want" but without success. The owner didn't grasp the difference but I have no doubt that the dog would.

 

It wasn't so much the words she was using as the fact that she used them in the same way that the dog understood to mean she was released from the need to follow instructions. Dogs understand context very well and it's perfectly possible to use the same command to mean different things in different situations. However, you still need to be consistent.

 

For example, normally "Lie down" means just that to our BC. However, the same command in agility means "Check your speed and lower your body". The dog doesn't take it literally as if it understands English.

 

You will get some trainers tell you that you must always do a b or c and never do x y or z. One of the "nevers" would probably be using the same command for different behaviours. Such trainers tend to lack imagination and they underestimate a dog's capacity to understand us IME.

 

I'm not advocating having multiple meanings for the same command but you can if your dog can discriminate between them. What is important is to be very aware of what your dog understands by your command as it might not be exactly what you intend.

[Kian's Mom]

You might try looking at Bowwowflix. They have DVDs on about any subject on dogs and training. I have found a lot of agility ones that I will be training with this spring.

My release command is ok. We also have done obedience and for a hand signal to return to me on recall is to raise you right arm straight out then bend at elbow and bring your hand to your chest or stomach. For down its to raise my right arm straight up and then bring it half way down. I don't use lie down but I do use down in agility on the table as Mum24dog said, because I want her to drop on the table. Otherwise we over shoot up an over it.

We use watch me in obedience training to get the dog to focus on our face. It's called magic eyes.

I try to keep to one word commands. Off means get down, down is lie down, come is come to me and sit in front, heel is stay on my left side, here is come toward me an look for direction, swing is if in a front sit then she will swing to my left and sit so she is in heel position. Finish is where she is in a sit front position then moves around me on my right an ends with a sit in heel position. Go out is outside, out is to go away from me. I use pull instead of tug. IMO you can use whatever works for you and your dog. Just be very consistence no matter what you use.

Good luck and have a ball with her.

[Marley Girl]

Thank you all for taking your time to reply. I'm really looking for a specific dvd which will show me how to get my pup to do the commands. I do have a Paul Owens DVD but it only shows the basic commands where I am looking for something more comprehensive that goes beyond the basics. The DVD also doesn't get into "watch me." Would I look in her eyes and say watch me and then do it from further away? Perhaps I want to hire a trainer to take some one on one time to show me how to get the dog to learn to do what I ask? I'm thinking there must be a good dvd which goes beyond the basics of sit and down and heel.

[ziggzmom]

The DVD also doesn't get into "watch me." Would I look in her eyes and say watch me and then do it from further away? Perhaps I want to hire a trainer to take some one on one time to show me how to get the dog to learn to do what I ask? I'm thinking there must be a good dvd which goes beyond the basics of sit and down and heel.

Hi Marley Girl,

 

I use 'ready' as my watch command and any time my puppy gives me eye contact I tell him 'good ready' and give him a treat. If you use the clicker use that when he offers eye contact. I try to praise my dog any time he offers eye contact, even when we aren't training.

 

A fun game to play is to have him sitting in front of you and hold a treat in each hand. Hold your arms raised(think airplane wings=). The pup will want to stare at your hands because that's where the cookies are but you wait until the pup looks up at your face then click or praise and feed one of the treats you are holding. It may take a while for him to look at your face initally but eventually the pup gets really good about focusing on your face.

 

Also, if you can find a good trainer to work with that would be great! It's good to have some watch what you are doing and give you feedback.

 

Happy Training~

 

Janet

[mum24dog]

Just to say that dogs don't understand the concept of individual words, they just respond to a combination of sounds we use.

 

Traditional verbal commands used by shepherds are often more than one of what we call words eg lie down, away to me etc. I assume that longer verbal commands are more likely to be heard at a distance and in adverse weather conditions.

[Root Beer]

Thank you all for taking your time to reply. I'm really looking for a specific dvd which will show me how to get my pup to do the commands. I do have a Paul Owens DVD but it only shows the basic commands where I am looking for something more comprehensive that goes beyond the basics. The DVD also doesn't get into "watch me." Would I look in her eyes and say watch me and then do it from further away? Perhaps I want to hire a trainer to take some one on one time to show me how to get the dog to learn to do what I ask? I'm thinking there must be a good dvd which goes beyond the basics of sit and down and heel.

 

There are tons and tons and tons of DVD's out there that go beyond the basics, but most go off into specialized disciplines, so you really do need an idea of what you want to do.

 

You might want to consider one of the Control Unleashed DVD's or Leslie McDevitt's Pattern Games if you are looking for focus exercises.

 

Otherwise, you would really need to decide what area you want to head toward in your training.

 

You might want to browse the selection at Tawzer. They have excellent DVD's about a whole slew of training topics. They have a rental program, so if you don't want to commit to buying something you might be able to rent it. There are a lot to look through, but chances are something will catch your eye. They range in price from bargain to very expensive.

 

http://www.tawzerdog.com/dvds/all-dvds.html