Natasha Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 Back in October some friends of mine had a dog dropped off at their farm . I decided to adopt her as i had just lost my dog. I have come to the conclusion that she is a mini Australian shepherd and was about 6-7 months old at the time. for the first few weeks I didn't really try and train her or anything... I wanted her to just get used to her new situation and family. One thing that I did notice about her was that if for some reason you reprimand her she flops right on to her side and acts very submissive , even though she really wasn't being... Then when I started working with her on a few simple commands such as sit, stay and lie down she would flop on her back. It was like she had a very short attention span... Although once she got what you wanted her to do she learned quickly! But even now if I say sit sometimes she wont and when I repeat the command she will flops over..... Since she has been with us no one has ever hit her a a punishment so I don't understand it... I would greatly appreciates and responses or ideas you might have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoZo Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 Our recent BC, that we got a few months ago, would mostly lay down when I tried any training on him. I was getting the feeling that no one had ever done this with him before and that this was his "I'm confused, why are you making me think?" reaction. It's frustrating for me because I can see he's a very intelligent dog. He's improved on simple commands, he'll sit, lay down and tap a touch stick, but it's slow going on more advanced things (our other dog knows all her toys by name and will get or search & find them when asked). It's like learning in general is a new concept to him. Patience and short training sessions everyday seem to be the best thing for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninso Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 I had the exact same problem with my dog who I adopted in October. He got really stressed during training sessions and would lay down, look away, or just walk away and lay behind a piece of furniture. It seemed like learning was really stressful for him and he was afraid of making a mistake. What helped us was really short training sessions with lots of extra-yummy treats. Now he is much better, but he will still get stressed when he is learning something new and offer me a behavior that he knows better instead or just go to his bed and lay down. He is lots better about bouncing back right away and trying again, though. Just go slow. It sounds like its getting better and it will continue to improve with time and patience (even though sometimes it doesn't feel like it!). ETA: Even if a dog knows a command, he can still get confused, which may account for the inconsistency you have seen. If your voice is a different tone or your body is in a different position or you are in a different place, all of these things can be "mixed signals" to a dog, so check to make sure you are being consistent with your tone and body language. Even if you are being 100% consistent with your signals, sometimes dogs are just having a rough day or not feeling well. Dogs have off-days just like we do and in those cases they may revert to their default-response, like laying down in your dog's case. I have seen both of these things with my dog too. Patience, understanding, and consistency will help to minimize them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natasha Posted March 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 Ok, so pretty much "slow and steady wins that race" with these dogs? Thanks for your speedy replies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninso Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 Yep! Its frustrating sometimes, but on the other hand your patience will grow by leaps and bounds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northof49 Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 One thing that can help with these dogs is to reward any kind of behaviour that the dog offers that you like. i.e. she comes up to you and doesn't jump on you - reward reward reward. She comes and finds you in another room - reward; She follows you around the yard - keep rewarding. The other thing that I find that really boosts the confidence of dogs like these is clicker training and freeshaping of simple tricks, to begin with and then more complicated behaviour chains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diane allen Posted March 7, 2008 Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 Have you ever done any clicker training? It might be just the thing for you and yours! Given her submissiveness, I'd start by feeding her her dinner with the clicker - click, one bite! click, another bite! etc. She doesn't have to DO anything at first - you're just teaching her that the clicker is the thing that means GOOD FOOD is coming! If she isn't thrilled with dinner, you could skimp on a meal, then work with really yummy treats - chicken, cheese, liver, anything she really likes. There's lot of info out there about clicker training - it just might work faster than the patience thing! Good luck. diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.