Confidence building during obedience

[haleigh]

Joy's been having some issues with confidence. I'll have Joy in a stay, walk across the room, and attempt to return to my dog. When I try to swing around her side to return to heel position, she puts her ears down and duck her head.

 

With her obedience (actually, ANY training) I don't use harsh discipline. I've been using a prong selectively since she was about 6 months. I only use a prong during training classes, so her lunging at other dogs is more controlled (more on that in minute), and when I go to visit my guy friends, because Joy hates skateboards and will try to attack them, and the majority of the time they're on their skateboards.

 

On walks she's on a martingale, as with stores. When we're out back or practicing at home she's on her normal leather collar.

 

I've noticed that Joy tends to swing to the side when I practice formal recalls, and avoids coming in close contact with me. Off the leash, she comes great and has no problem, just so long as she doesn't have the pressure of formal training on her back.

 

When we're at training, any dog in close contact with her is fair game for Joy. She starts lunging, snarling and barking. The prong makes the slightest difference with her pulling. I refuse to put a slip on her.

 

I don't know...Joy KNOWS the behavior, I know that because she does it perfectly at home, at my moms, in the yard, on the street...etc, but doesn't show it at training and some behaviors she shows avoidance.

 

 

Any ideas welcome.

[Root Beer]

I've found that with a dog that gets avoidy under pressure, it is important to avoid putting pressure on the dog - even if it means a less than perfect performance for a little while.

 

It might help you to break the behaviors down into smaller parts and practice them at class that way. Of course, you can only do this if your instructor is on board.

 

If my dog were ducking and putting ears back as I return around him, I would return to front and reward right there. After giving maybe two or three rewards, I would keep a piece of food on the nose and very gently circle around behind the dog to return to heel. If the dog were OK with that, I would do that about 20 times over the course of a week and then try it once without the food there. If the dog stopped cringing at that point, I would just use the food on the nose intermittently for several months. Eventually, when I could tell that the dog was extremely enthusiastic about me returning behind him, I would reward only back in heel.

 

For recalls, there is a game that you can play that might help. I would start this at home. Get some treats and get on a hard surface, like a kitchen floor. Toss a treat backwards between your legs and have her run through to get the treat. You could do this with a toy, too. Once she gets the idea, add a cue to it - something like "through". Once she loves that game, I would put her in a sit stay and call her, but not with the formal recall word, but instead with "through" (or whatever). And when she gets close, toss the treat or toy back through again. Once she is careening toward you consistently in this game, I would find a way to be able to play it at the training center. Maybe by going to class early, or arranging with the instructor for a separate time.

 

After she is very comfortable with that, I would retrain the formal recall. At home, call her to you informally by name or something. This time instead of tossing the treat back through, meet her with it at her nose level right in front of you. If she isn't avoidy with that, after a few times, cue a sit, reward heavily and release.

 

Over time, that would condition an enthusiastic recall and you could then transition that to the training class setting.

 

Even though she knows the behaviors in situations where she is comfortable, she needs to learn to generalize them when she is on edge, as it sounds like she is around other dogs.

 

I can understand your reason for using the prong in those situations (although I prefer alternatives personally), but the pressure on her neck could be part of the reason for her avoidance behaviors. I recommend increasing the value and frequency of rewards to try to counteract any negative impact that the prong could be causing in that environment.