# How to "tweak" this...



## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

When my pup gets loaded up about something, he will unload into his obedience behaviors so nicely. I just can't seem to figure out how to frustrate him a bit so that he puts that energy into obedience.

Tonight the cat started scratching at the door to the training room. Okay, death wish kitty. Hogan busted the door open and got the cat. No harm, just that German Shepherd sschmmoooosh the kitty to the floor behavior. I rescued the cat and set her up on top of the shelf nearby. 

Hogan was tweaked!! He did things in two minutes of obedience he has never done before. Grabbed DB and brought it to me, tugged with it and outed. Heeling like a bouncing maniac. Slammed into me on his fronts. 

Short of inviting the cat to each session for a spectator seat on the shelf, how can I load the dog up for obedience? He seems to thrive on a bit of frustration and I am not good at getting it so far. 


Any suggestions?:help:


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## Vandal (Dec 22, 2000)

What motivates him the most?


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Samba are you SURE Stark and Hogan are not littermates???

I usually can get him ramped up by playing "smack the puppy" or really rough housing with him. That works for Stark. I also do a bit of tug play with him and really tease him with it. 

The cat works too..


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Usually I start a session with something Ike knows well to warm him up. Well, last night I decided to go a different route and started with some marker capturing stuff (just rewarding him anytime he grabs the middle of the dumbbell) - which he is really bad at because his frustration threshold is so low.
By the time we were done with the dumbbell, he was so frustrated and has worked himself into such a pitch (and probably so happy we were done with that stuff) he did the rest of the exercises with an extra little bounce in his step ...


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

I think Ike 'wants" something though.. so you can get the frustration going. 

It's probably something I am doing or not doing.

Food is not terribly motivating. He is spoiled with his meals, I think. He has gourmet tastes anyway. Could alter things around that.

The toy is not over the top motivation at this point. Perhaps that is due to my not playing it enough with him. I do get it out pretty often though; and do short play sessions after also short training to try and develop the drive for that. 

I could "smack the baby" and get him going. If it caused him to hop around and bark like it does the Border Collie, I would find it more appealing. He likes it, but stands on his hind legs, holds me with his mouth and front legs and propells me across the room in reaction to some rough play. Oh that's pretty. I then have to get a bit of control of this... and we are back to control more than drive. 

He's nuts in protection the few times I have tried it, so its not like he is a dead head with no drive. It must be me. 

Perhaps I am in to self preservation and just have not engaged him enough. He is not aggressive with me, but he is very physical. 

Primary motivators: cat and helper. Me, not so much. 
Ha! I am neither cat-like nor helper-like!!


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## Vandal (Dec 22, 2000)

Well, I was going to suggest that whatever he likes most you can use in the same way you used the Cat. Tease him and then put it somewhere he can't get it. Maybe he doesn't get it every time you work also. I think people sometimes make the mistake of letting the dog have what they want all the time or they give it to them for every little thing they do, so, it becomes boring. 
Tying a dog out and teasing them, ( without letting them bite whatever it is you are using for that), is a great way to build drive and interest. Just don't dump all the drive you create by giving the dog the tug or whatever it is you are using. He wants the cat because he can't have the cat. Use the same idea with the tug or whatever. Just like the mailman, dogs want the mailman because they can't get to the mailman and the mailman "teases" the dog on a daily basis. People should keep that in mind in SchH protection also because they are giving the dog the sleeve WAY too much.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

I did just try some teasing and put the tug up with him still really trying to get it and then ran him to be put away... now boring. I think this may really help. I am going to have to do more teasing sessions though. I lost an undergarmet during this one. Had a sudden switch of tug item. Yeah, and I had clothes on! Don't hold the tug in front of you too close! 

Funniest thing. When I first started the play session, I got quiet and creepy. He got still and was watching me. I then "hopped" straight up.
Hoag threw his fronts legs out in play but the hop so startled him he had a sharp intake of air and went into one of those reverse sneeze, honking situations. Yes, me moving that fast is just that shocking. It was the laugh of the day.:rofl:


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## Vandal (Dec 22, 2000)

Don't have him do obedience for it until you have worked him for a couple of weeks with the teasing or until you see that he REALLY wants it. Then, make sure you don't go back to the old ways where he gets to tug for doing nothing. He has to earn it.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

Experiment on!

I am trying to think of ways to frustrate him in this. I took another dog down to train and made sure I was exhuberantly loud enough for the pup to hear. He did start crying and scratching at his crate. Perhaps this will help too. The other dog looked at me like, "I ain't gone deef, woman!"

The two rescues I have didn't even know toys. I "worked" outside their crates every day with toys for a long time. I played with the toy, threw it around, had a lot fun with it without even looking at them or trying to engage. It did take weeks, but they started to want that toy and now are very good with toys. Why I can't think of these things with the "special" dog, I don't know. The ones I am most interested in their performance, do the worst!


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## Fast (Oct 13, 2004)

Try paring the cat or dog training with the toy. Tie the dog out. Pick the cat up and put it on the shelve or play with another dog. When the dog show excitement and energy due to the cat or training pull out the toy and play/ redirect him onto the special toy. Soon when you pull out the special toy it should have an association with the cat or training the other dog and that drive/energy/excitement should carry over to a large extent.
Does that make sense to you? I'm having a hard time explaining it with outgoing into a lot of behaviorist babble


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

Yes, I think I get it. I will try to use those circumstances to "charge" the toy in his brain.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

I see the teasing is working. I am going to continue working on it as a separate thing. Not in a rush on this. 

I did try pairing the cat with the toy. The cat was safe out of reach and watching. It did bring his drive up regards the tug. But, it was kind of like one of those SciFi TV show brain transfer experiments gone bad. Sure the drive for the toy increased, but the drive for the cat got even greater. So, have to not do that to keep kitty out of danger.


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## Catu (Sep 6, 2007)

I use some compulsion to get motivation up. Which is NOT the same as corrections, but may look like that for the inexperienced eye. By example, if I want a super fast send-out then I ask twice as much perfection in the heeling as I usually do and I'm not afraid to give a soft slap or a pop on the prong for the slightest distraction. That does amp her up a lot. Diabla does look like handler sensitive but she's not, she just lies to me, lol, and she can stand a lot more pressure than I give her credit for.

Maybe the "rescuing the cat" and a more tense attitude after the in you after the event did the trick?


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

Nah, I wasn't tense after rescuing that cat. I have been doing it for 18 years. She has lived through a number of dogs.

Hogan was definitely revved after swooping in on her though. He doesn't hurt the kitty, so its not a bad "extraction" situation. 

He does respond to a bit of amp and, yes, motivational pops work pretty well with him. I haven't done those in everything though, just heeling. He is not a dog that lives on the edge, so it takes a bit more to get him ramped up. The "conditioning" continues..


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