Help Discipline Needed

DTJazz · #1 10-06-11, 12:17 PM

We need some help.... lots of help with Jazz but my simple question is... how do people discipline their dog? Behaviour such as jumping on worktop, barking at us in house for attention, stealing, chewing things that she knows are wrong just to get attention. Barking in back garden and wont stop when told, then runs away to avoid being brought in etc

Some would say timeouts (tried it and doesnt work) some say ignore her as she wants your attention but chewing cushion, paws on worktops cant be ignored. So what do people do to let their dog know its not acceptable without giving them what they want... attention!

some also say perhaps do obedience stuff if misbehaving but again is that not giving attention after poor behaviour. We need something to address and stop this

Arghhhhh!

As a secondary question.... does anyone have any experience of 'residential training'?

LOVEGSD · #2 10-06-11, 12:27 PM

If either of mine ever jumped up on surfaces I will tell them 'off' and then re-direct them onto a bone or toy so they forget whatever is up on the surface that they want. I would do the same if I caught them chewing something, I would give them something they can chew.

As for the barking I would teach the 'quiet' command and reward when they shut up

Beki went to a residential training course with Ellie, she would be a good one to talk to....I'll find the thread for you.

Here you go....http://www.mygermanshepherd.co.uk/fo...ar-choice.html
xxx

J&J · #3 10-06-11, 12:59 PM

In general yes I do the 'good' behaviour is awarded and the 'bad' behaviour is ignored but there are times when the this isn't possible as the behaviour needs to be addressed..

How long have you given the methods you've tried to start working and was every family member consistent with the methods?

Sometimes it can take several weeks before you even start seeing a glimmer of improvement, then months improving on this to get near to resolving an issue... And if one member of the household isn't being consistant with everybody else then it makes it harder and longer to achieve..

As to residental training

I'm opened minded on this I've never done it, and the only dog that I've met that had would be considered a failure, it was a lab brought by an elderly couple then paid a fortune for residental training, but then found it was still a nightmare with jumping etc it came into the rescue at the kennels I worked at as they couldn't cope with it!

With saying that this could have been them choosing a poor establishment, or it could have been that they were unable to do the necessary continuance or follow through training to make it work! Hence why I'm open minded on them

LOVEGSD · #4 10-06-11, 01:01 PM

The only thing with residential training is that you need to ensure you continue the methods and be consistant otherwise it's a complete waste of money imo.....

Vislor · #5 10-06-11, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTJazz

We need some help.... lots of help with Jazz but my simple question is... how do people discipline their dog? Behaviour such as jumping on worktop, barking at us in house for attention, stealing, chewing things that she knows are wrong just to get attention. Barking in back garden and wont stop when told, then runs away to avoid being brought in etc

Some would say timeouts (tried it and doesnt work) some say ignore her as she wants your attention but chewing cushion, paws on worktops cant be ignored. So what do people do to let their dog know its not acceptable without giving them what they want... attention!

some also say perhaps do obedience stuff if misbehaving but again is that not giving attention after poor behaviour. We need something to address and stop this

Arghhhhh!

As a secondary question.... does anyone have any experience of 'residential training'?

We do residential training which you can check out here, and we do it so that when you receive the dog we show you exactly what we've done (we can even film the training that they've had during their stay to show you) and help you to continue the training when they get home.

It can be a problem that a dog gets conditioned to react differently when they're staying somewhere new and go back to how they were when they get home. We have lots of different environments to train them in on our property which helps and we don't really go in for the gadgets thing because once you've conditioned a dog to behave differently using a gadget you'd have to keep using it forever to keep them how you want them!

Everything must come from the handler which is what we try to teach people.

sami · #6 10-06-11, 02:02 PM

Is this new behaviour, I notice she is getting near the dreaded teenager phase.

Also I think bitches are much more challenging in general but especially around food, which may be the worktop aspect. My bitch Sami will steal anything and she is 13 now and the only thing that has stopped her worktop surfing is that her hips wont allow her to get there.

Your dog sounds a bit like my little princess Sami (i.e a complete git to put it politely). She has been a challenge for all of her 13 years although once passed the terrible twos she was marginally better. We always say it has been nice to be owned by Sami. We do love her really.

That said to try and give you some hope, she is a chancer, she will get away with just as much as she can. A firm (or screamed) NO or OFF etc will stop her when she knows I mean it.

Good luck and dont despair.

Tracy

kita · #7 10-06-11, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTJazz

We need some help.... lots of help with Jazz but my simple question is... how do people discipline their dog? Behaviour such as jumping on worktop, barking at us in house for attention, stealing, chewing things that she knows are wrong just to get attention. Barking in back garden and wont stop when told, then runs away to avoid being brought in etc

When she puts her paws on the worktop I would tell her 'off' or 'ah', if I needed to I would gently nudge her off with my body (so not touching her directly). Then I would move whatever it was that was attracting her attention.

As regards stealing and chewing things to get your attention, one way of dealing with it can be to get her to 'fetch' the item to you and give her a treat for giving it to you. That way you are not rewarding the stealing or chewing, but you are rewarding the 'fetch'.

Do you do any mental games with her? Things like hiding toys/treats round the house/garden and getting her to 'find' them?

Could you build a small sandpit in the garden and bury some toys etc. in it, then get her digging to 'find' them?

All these things help tire a dog out mentally as well as physically and she is more likely to sleep rather than being constantly demanding your attention.

When she barks and won't come in from the garden say 'bye' and shut the door on her. Then rattle her food bowl or get her lead out, something she can hear. She will soon want to come in!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTJazz

As a secondary question.... does anyone have any experience of 'residential training'?

The thing is that cannot teach your dog how to behave in your house. Most residential training have the dogs in kennels and that is a very different life to living in a normal pet home. As well as that you never really know what methods or training aids they are using on your dog, or how they actually treat your dog when they have it.

The same as training classes - they can only really teach the dogs how to behave in a class environment.

You would be better off spending the money on someone who can come to your home and see the dog in its home environment and talk to everyone who lives with the dog.

Sue