mburtis Posted April 4, 2010 Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 Well ive been lurking here for a couple months but this is my first post. we got a border collie/mcnab mix when he was about 3 months back in January so he is now about 5months. Overall he is turning out to be a great dog. He picked up potty training pretty quick and has been almost perfect for like 2 months now. he has also learned to sit, down, and come pretty well even outside off leash. He is very playful and loves wrestling with the 9 month old lab of our roommates. Now for the questions -trying to come up with a list of commands to eventually master with sam. just basic obedience sit-sit down and stay till further command down-lay down and stay heel Right/left-walk right next to me freeze/wait-stop what ever your doing and freeze off-stay on the floor leave it- ignore something(dog,smell, etc) that'll do-free to do what ever calm down-chill out when to excited What are some more basic ones that most people consider basic obedience? problems Sam seems to be pretty protective of me and my fiance. He barks at a lot of strangers (not all though) but only around the apartment where we live till may when we move to a house with a yard. he doesnt growl or try to bite he just barks very loud which i would like to be able to stop. any suggestions on how to do this. maybe teach him speak for bark and that enough means be quite? Well thats my intro and feel free to give suggestions as this is our first puppy and we are training him entirely by ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Cressa Posted April 4, 2010 Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 Hi! So any pix of your baby? Not sure if its basic obedience or what you would call it. I try to make sure the pup is use to people handling them. Both of mine can give me their paws or give it to other people. That came in handy recently. Cressa cut her paw and I needed to treat it. Troy is my second border collie and with him I made sure he is comfortable with other people touching him all over. Cress is a little more stand offish but is getting use to it LOL **grudgingly**. Another thing is I do a "get back" command. Which means get behind me and stay there till I release you. They also know "go thru" when I want them to go in front of me in a tight situation. But mainly have fun!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mburtis Posted April 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 hey thanks for the reply. I have some pics on my email i will have to see if i can get them posted up sometime soon. and yes we are having tons of fun and we are going to get serious about training him now that he is used to us and starting to develop a little bit of an attention span, still not great tho. Like i said this is our first puppy so we are new to the total ground up training thing but so far its been rewarding. The thing about the barking is that its not consistent, some people he will run right up to and want attention (mostly nicer looking people who i would like if i was dog) and others he barks at (like the pot smokers across the hall) that and kids and elderly people and large groups make him nervous so he still has socializing to do. He never used to bark and then all of sudden he started but he is getting fixed next month so that might have something to do with it to. overall just keep any comment or suggestion coming and see if my pictures worked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alchemist Posted April 4, 2010 Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 Sounds like you're off to a great start! In addition to the commands you mention - have you added the "3 Ds" "distance, duration, distraction" (not necessarily in this order) to any of your obedience commands? For example: "distance" - can you get your pup to "lie down" or "sit" not only at your feet, but when he's at the other end of the room? (obviously, this is something you need to work towards, gradually). If he does it in the house - does he do it in the park when there are distractions around? "duration" - goes without saying; extend this gradually "distraction" - if your pup is in a "down stay" - can he hold it if a ball bounces right by him? (Hint: reward good behavior with "brain breaks" - you and the pup should take a break to play with the coveted toy after he's held the "stay"). If you've asked for a recall - can he come to you if a favorite toy has previously been thrown right next to the path he'd be pursuing? Or is he distracted by it? What sort of "door" manners does he have? I encouraged my pup to bark when someone knocked at the door/rang the doorbell when at home - but to then "go to his bed", and stay there until released. He comes to work with me each day, so barking when someone knocks on my office door is NOT a good idea (irritates co-workers). He needed to learn to distinguish between different settings. He knows to "go say 'hello'", but then to return to his bed, when requested, and to stay there quietly if I'm holding a meeting with someone in my office. If he's mostly on the leash during walks, and you do a lot of loose leash walking, how about "other side" (for those situations when he's walked around to the "wrong" side so the leash is beginning to get wrapped around you?). If you're beginning to let him off the leash, how about "find heel"? "Closer"? An automatic "sit" if another dog comes near that happens to be on a leash? For manners while walking - how about automatic "sits" when you stop? when you come to a curb? when you're picking up the poop? when a car comes by? When a bicyclist, or jogger, approaches? when you are about to go through a door, or when you first go through a doorway? does he forge on ahead, or does he sit and wait for you? Teaching him to "bark" on command is great - but that won't necessarily help him quiet when you want him to shush up. You can try putting some pebbles or pennies in a container, shake them when he's barking to distract him, then reward him for hushing. Eventually add the command "hush". (My pup knows I want him to be quiet when I say "that's RUDE!"). Don't forget the "fun tricks" to amuse the crowd or reassure children who may be afraid of dogs. Try teaching "roll over", or "take a bow", or "speak" or "sing!", or even adding "take it" to "leave it". (All of these are less threatening, in my opinion, to dog-leery kids than "shake" or "paw"). Don't forget, those children who think they're afraid of dogs could end up being the next generation of dog lovers... Finally - although I commend your bravery in training him entirely by yourselves - you may well find a basic obedience class to be well worth the cost, assuming you can find a trainer you like and respect. You can learn only so much from books. Having someone work with you, who can suggest worthwhile strategies if problems are beginning to present themselves, is worth a tremendous amount. But don't just sign up for any class. Some trainers use outmoded techniques; you may also find yourself in the midst of a very large class (or worse yet, in a venue where half a dozen classes are going on simultaneously, with at least one dog always barking) that is just so distracting that no one is getting anything out of it. Personally, for basic obedience, I'm in favor of an approach that uses rewards/treats to reinforce the desired behavior. My one-year-old pup has certainly enjoyed these classes much more than the ones where we were ridiculed for giving our dogs treats, or for even praising them at intervals more frequent than once every five minutes. And most of all, HAVE FUN!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Cressa Posted April 4, 2010 Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 Cute puppy!!! Neither of mine have a barking issue. But I don't mind or have a problem with my dogs barking at strange/weird/"bad" people. Troy was lucky. I work at with mentally retarded resident and could sometime bring him inside to say hi to the people. But Troy loves ALL people. SO I don't know if it help him or not. Cressa is more picky about people she likes. And also doesn't like kids. But It is just not an issue for me. LOL I am not too fond of kids either and most people I meet I don't like. I might suggest if you haven't already done it is find a puppy play group to socialize him with other dogs or bring him with you to friendly dog homes. Also for fun you can try "free shaping". It a ton of fun and its cute to see what your dog come up with. Its not much but here is a video of Troy at 5 months and some of his basic agility/obedience. http://www.youtube.com/user/sstuffy22?feat.../73/avRQYPRsUf4 Its a bad angle I had the camera on a small shelf and while trying to film our session. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mburtis Posted April 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 We are still working on or just introducing the three ds. he will sit or down stay while i turn my back and walk away and then while im a distance away just looking at him till i tell him to come then he will run to me. we are going to start to work on him listening from a distance and keeping focus. He does have a very short attention span sometimes especially outside but so far he has come pretty well on and off leash. Sam normally barks when somebody knocks(or closes a drawer to hard or somebody knocks on the apartment next door)which is fine as long as he will be quite when i tell him to (nothing drives me crazier than dogs who bark forever for no reason). when on walks and such i normally make him sit when ever we meet another dog or person (trying to teach him greeting manners(read no jumping)) he doesnt do it on his own yet though. he is very food motivated so we use lots of treats and Ive been working on him catching treats so we can move on to frizbee this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alchemist Posted April 4, 2010 Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 You might want to take it easy with the frisbee this summer. Before dogs are a year or so old, their growth plates haven't closed, and many people will advise you to avoid allowing a pup to jump. Some will suggest just rolling a frisbee. If your pup is a "hell bent for leather" kind of dog, however, there's a risk he'll injure himself pouncing on even a slow-moving ball or frisbee, especially if the grass is wet from rain or dew. A pup this age is bound to have a short attention span. And you may find he loses his brain when the hormones of adolescence strike. Just be patient if this happens. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scomona Posted April 4, 2010 Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 cute pup!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mburtis Posted April 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 oh ok i will definatley take that into consideration. he will sometimes chase a ball but he is not completely crazy about fetch yet so hopefully he wont overexert himself but we will definately take it easy till next year on the catching out of the air and jumping. thanks for the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in2adventure Posted April 25, 2010 Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 teach your pup to heel on both right and left side. This is helpfull down the road, IMO, for other things. Very cute pup, by the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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