[ecolover]

We recently adopted a puppy her name is Sienna. I was wondering if any body any tips on leash training or biting and nipping. Also, please look under dog breeds and read What breed is she, that is my puppy to. Here is a link to her pics ignore the first link. Thanks!
http://www.i-love-dogs.com/dog-pictures/showphoto.php?photo=763&cat=500"]http://www.i-love-dogs.com/dog-pictu...to=763&cat=500[/url]

[opokki]

Here is an excellent article on teaching bite inhibition:
The Bite Stops Here

For walking, it would be best if you could practice without holding the leash first. Have the puppy drag the leash in a safe area and encourage her to follow you and walk close to your side....you can reward her with treats each time she is in the correct position. If she gets ahead trot off in the opposite direction, clap your hands and/or make kissy noises to encourage her to catch up again.

Since she is a puppy, I recommend using an Easy Walk harness or a SENSEation harness for real walks while you are in the process of training her. These harnesses clip to the front of the chest to discourage pulling. On real walks you can follow the same process as I mentioned above. Reward her for staying close by and change direction whenever she pulls or gets ahead of you.

Here you will find several articles on loose leash walking:
ClickerSolutions Training Articles Contents

[sibebaby]

Great article, I used the ouch method with mine and it worked great for me. the only thing I did different is my dogs are not permited to mouth humans at all. I have small children and always worried that if I allowed this, things could possibly get out of hand. I have a new puppy now and am actually doing the shake can method with her. She is a little more stubborn then the other 2.

[opokki]

Originally Posted by dumdog1964

treats can work, but, thats cheating and what do you do when you run out of treats and your dog is running loose like a moron? most dogs will do what you ask if you just ask and praise the crap out of them.

When treats are used properly in training, this is not an issue because treats come after the behavior is performed rather than before it is performed. Treats are then offered intermittently and in combination with a variety of other rewards and can easily be faded out.

Think about it this way... do you see the alpha wolf handing out snacks to his sub members? No. you do see him wagging his tail and mouthing or rubbing shoulders with them when they are behaving or submitting to him...

Do you see the alpha wolf walking sub members on leashes? There are numerous things that we do that you might not see an alpha wolf or even another dog do. Why? Because we are not wolves, we are not dogs and dogs are not wolves.

pats and scratches work better than treats.

Maybe for your dogs but certainly not for all dogs. Not all dogs are that motivated by pats and scratches. Motivators can vary from one dog to another.

why bribe your dog?

Bribe? I don't believe anyone suggested bribing the dog. There is a huge difference between a reward and a bribe. When used as a reward, the treat is NOT used to initiate the behavior but is given after the behavior is offered.

Think about the way you use pats and scratches....
Your dog performs a desired behavior and you reward him with pats and scratches. If the dog is motivated by pats and scratches then pats and scratches work to increase the desired behavior. Are you bribing the dog with pats and scratches?

he should want to please you out of respect, not food...

IMO, this is a huge misconception. Through training and repetition dogs learn to respond out of habit, not out of respect.

that waslike... the onlysmart thing this person said.
yeah teach them playfighting if you want, but its NOT wise to allow them to do that with your hands... unless your dog is a five pound chihuahua or something. its just safer to use a decoy, a rope, old towel, etc.

Maybe you misunderstood the point of the article....
The article is geared toward teaching the puppy to inhibit the force of his bites before teaching him not to bite at all. You can't teach bite inhibition if you never allow the puppy to bite in the first place.

Since large dogs can do more damage, the larger the dog the higher the importance of teaching bite inhibition IMO.

The author of that article is Dr. Ian Dunbar, a well known and highly respected veterinary behaviorist.

[opokki]

I appreciate you taking the time to clarify. And while I don't completely dismiss "pack theory", my training is based primarily on learning theory. IMO, behaviors observed in wolf or dog packs can be easily misinterpreted and are often applied inappropriately and/or incorrectly when humans try to mimmick them.

There are many things that I didn't/don't use treats for but I have great success using treats when teaching new behaviors. Praise/petting is often combined with all of the rewards I use. I too, get fast reliable results and my dogs comply whether or not I have treats on me. Regardless, I have nothing against any one who prefers not to use treats during training.

What i said that was overlooked was NOT using your hands as toys. i've seen more dog trainers say that than not.

I agree with this but I don't think thats really what the article was suggesting. It seems that the only purpose of calling the puppy a jerk in regards to the article is to make the human feel better without feeling the need to get rough with the dog. Saying "ouch" works to interrupt some pups and also becomes a signal that they are playing too rough. Leaving the room is a form of punishment...social isolation.

[opokki]

My bulldog isnt mouthy, but she licks constantly... beats the alternative i guess. no bulldog was ever in the paper for licking someone to death....

LOL. Gotta love the mad lickers.

and i guess people could missuse the "pack" behaviours, but i dont know how. its all pretty basic

Maybe I am thinking too deeply into this....
I'll give you one true extreme example:
Q:"My GSD just bit the back of my leg when I walked past her while she was chewing a bone. She broke the skin and there are puncture wounds."

A:"Give the dog a bone again and if she tries to bite flip her on her back, stare directly into her eyes and growl in her face. This will show her that you are alpha, its what the alpha wolf would do in the wild."

This is just one example. Some go as far as actually biting the dog back. Others have been injured attempting to "alpha roll" their aggressive dogs. I could go on for hours with all the bad advice I've seen given and the countless behaviors that are blamed on the dog trying to be dominant.

Dogs use a lot of body language when communicating with each other that we, as humans, are just not physically capable of mimmicking. Because of this, and often a lack of understanding, we skip many of the steps intended to avoid conflict between dogs in the first place. We also often fail to recognize or don't pay any attention to all the signals dogs give us when they are trying to communicate with us, which could lead to them taking it to the next level. Normal healthy dogs don't just go around alpha rolling and biting each other for every little thing.

[opokki]

Originally Posted by dumdog1964

I believe what you say about behaviour marking. i've done that before with some dogs.. it just depends on their personality. Trying to put Ben into a sitting position is like trying to shove a car sideways into a parking space. it IS possible, but you have to use every ounce of muscle to do it, which is counter productive for him.

You don't actually have to mold the dog into position though. You can wait for the dog to offer the behavior on his own and then mark it.

[opokki]

Sorry, I misunderstood. And I agree that maybe we should start a new thread.