# How to train me <sigh>



## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

Long and maybe confusing lol

First I am going to say I love our trainer. She is direct, straight forward and no bs. A good personality match for me.

Yesterday at training, she gave me a wake up call. Woolf is ready to move forward quicker then he is, but it appears I am holding him back  She did say that with the history that it is understandable that I am not completely relaxing with him. I thought I was.

Did I also mention Chris can also be sneaky? She proved that yesterday and made her point. The training session consisted of me just playing with Woolf, leash in hand and had to be almost dragging. No toys, just investigating scents, talking to him and scratches, random praising mixed in. If I needed him to go in a different direction walking, had to use voice only. About 20 minutes into it, changing direction seemed almost 2nd nature, he wasn't walking away from me to sniff but staying with me. At the end of the training session, asked me to sit for discussion. Gave Woolf the down command, and he dropped like a bullet, and was relaxed enough he went to sleep while we sat there. _He has never done this before._ Point made.

So my homework till next training is developing the mental leash. Keeping in mind safety, start exposing him slowly to more of his triggers after a few days of of the mental leash exercise.

BTW, his relaxation carried on through the rest of the day. Response to anything asked of him was immediate. Point drove home even more 

Please give me some more ideas for this mental leash, what you did, how you did it. My gorgeous boy is ahead of me and I need to catch up now.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

You have just made a very, very important post. I see over and over again so many people asking for help with their dogs, but not thinking they need to see a trainer. They feel they can do it on their own. 

As you stated above, there is so very much more involved with training then just teaching your dog to sit. 

I applaud you! Great Work! 

One of the things that my trainer had me do was keep my dog with me at all times while in the house. If i did laundry, he could hold a piece of clothing and walk with to and from the bedroom to the laundry room. If I was doing dishes, he stayed with me. When he was younger, I had to talk to him constantly to keep him with me. The idea was to try to keep him with me without calling out to him, or commanding him to follow. When he went out for a potty break, I was to go with him. I was also to keep my eye on the clock and give him breaks through out the day, at which time I was to kennel him. 

It was a lot more difficult then I imagined.


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## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

Thank you Lilie!!

Between working with Woolf's FA, celebrating each of his successes; I didn't really give a thought to questions asking how the bond is. Sure the bond is good but I had to learn the hard way, the bond goes far beyond the attachment. This dog is teaching me so much.

The description you gave is perfect for what I am asking for.

Maybe the quick change yesterday to staying with me was Woolf's way of saying it's way past time for that leash lol.


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## prockerb (Sep 3, 2012)

Wow sounds like the trainer gave good advice! I am so happy for you! Wohoo!


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## Jag (Jul 27, 2012)

Can someone please explain 'mental leash'? I think that part went right over my head.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Twyla said:


> The training session consisted of me just playing with Woolf, leash in hand and had to be almost dragging. No toys, just investigating scents, talking to him and scratches, random praising mixed in. If I needed him to go in a different direction walking, had to use voice only. About 20 minutes into it, changing direction seemed almost 2nd nature, he wasn't walking away from me to sniff but staying with me.


 
Here the OP describes how her trainer is helping her develope the mental leash. Note that she isn't utilizing the leash for control, but she does have it as a safety measure.


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## Kyleigh (Oct 16, 2012)

YAHOO for you! When I brought Kyleigh home, I had her leash attached to my waist for about 4 months (while we were in the house). A couple of reasons for this - I also have two parrots (one of which is flighted), and LOTS of wood in the house that I didn't want destroyed. Also, it makes it easier to know EXACTLY where she is! 

From 4-7 months she was great off leash in the house - stayed close to me, on her bed with a bone, etc.

During her lovely 8-10 month age she challenged those boundaries, and I would reinforce MY rules by putting her back on leash and having her beside me. Don't get me wrong, we had some lovely meltdowns. I always won - lord is it hard not to stand there and crack up laughing at your puppy pulling a fit because it wants to be THERE not HERE. (And there is at the bottom of the stairs chewing on the railing). 

Once I won that battle (on leash, at this place) we would be good for a couple of weeks, and then she tried it again. And I would win again ... patience patience and consistency!

Now, at 16 months that mental leash is PERFECT. It's somewhat elastic, depending on where we are. In the house, she's at my side all the time. Outside, she has learned that STAY CLOSE means within a couple of feet of me (if I'm on a hike and there's a curve coming up and I don't know if someone is around the corner). Heel, of course, means get over here quickly, in position. When I say ... GO PLAY ... she knows that she can extend her distance fairly wide (for me, fairly wide is about 50 - 100 feet). Her recall is absolutely PERFECT ... and I've tested it a thousand times. There is nothing more heart warming than watching your puppy come bounding back at you, tongue lolling, as fast as they can simply because you called!!!! 

Lillie hit it bang on ... we can't see / do / understand EVERY single thing about our dog, especially when we are the one working with them. I've enlisted friends of mine to help me out with a number of things, and to point out what I am missing - since I can't see me doing the actual act! You think you've got it all down pat and then your friend says ... well, actually you did this ... GASP the horrors!!! It is me!!! LOL I find that whenever most dogs "act out" it's 99.9% of the time the owners ... we've missed something somewhere along the way ... could be a big step, or the tiniest little thing that we didn't even think was an issue. 

Kudos to you, and good luck on your development, as well as your pup's!


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## Jag (Jul 27, 2012)

Kyleigh said:


> YAHOO for you! When I brought Kyleigh home, I had her leash attached to my waist for about 4 months (while we were in the house). A couple of reasons for this - I also have two parrots (one of which is flighted), and LOTS of wood in the house that I didn't want destroyed. Also, it makes it easier to know EXACTLY where she is!


How is your pup now around your parrots? Are they out of their cages when the dog is loose? Does he chase them? I always put my dogs away when mine are out of their cages... but I'm curious as to your dog's response...


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## Kyleigh (Oct 16, 2012)

OH WOW ... look at all your parrots! I'm in love!!!! I have a TAG and a quaker. 

Ky and the parrots? HAH not on your life!!!!

My last dog could be left out with them all the time. Abby used to be laying on the floor and my grey would fly down and preen her ears / head. I stopped Echo when she got a bit "aggressive" with the preening. Abby never once even snapped at them or anything. Once, my quaker (who can't fly) was walking on the ground, and the cat started walking towards him and Abby walked over and stood over the quaker. My cat just stopped and went, oops, and walked off! (Natually, I was ALWAYS in the room when they were all out together!)

I don't know if this will change as she matures / mellows. 

As she got older, her teenage years and older, she was A LOT more focussed on my grey. I was unemployed for 5 months (just got another job 6 weeks ago) so I got to really spend time with Ky ... but I noticed that she was REALLY watching my grey. 

She charged the cage ONCE. Echo was taking a bath in her water bowl (in her cage, door closed). I grabbed her mid air, and had her on the ground in about 1/2 a second. I didn't yell / scream or freak out BUT I did say in a very stern voice ... YOU DO NOT charge that cage ever again. She hasn't since, but I really don't trust her at this stage in her life. 

She's never shown any interest in my quaker, not sure if it's because she's never really "seen" her ... if you catch my drift. 

The downside for me is that my grey LOVES all dogs. My friend has a dane and a boxer (and a quaker) and when her dogs come over my grey is thrilled. My grey knows Ky's name and it doesn't help that she calls her name out (over and over), and says Kyleigh sit, Kyleigh down, Kyleigh come ... and SIGH, it's in my voice of course. 

My "living room area" is quite big ... 25 x 20. I've set a corner aside for both parrot's cages, used a wall unit as a room divider, and have a desk that's on wheels to block off the rest of that corner. This way in the evening, the birds are in their cages, and Ky can't get to their cages. She can hear them and see them, but not get there. 

At least I can leave them out of their cages all day while I am at work so they get lots of out of cage time!


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

I am curious about the "mental" leash. Stella is almost 16 months and I rarely have her off leash. She is always attached to a long line. Most of this is due to her dog reactivity, which we are working on and is getting much much better. At some point I would like to be able to let her off leash....so just how did you get that perfect recall?


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## Kyleigh (Oct 16, 2012)

I started at 9 weeks with Kyleigh. I had her attached to me in the house (for the parrots and her safety) and when we were in the backyard she followed me without the leash (as all puppies will do). At 11 weeks we left the backyard and started going to off leash dog parks ... there she was free to be a puppy and do whatever puppies do - rumble, tumble, etc. After we got home from the dog park I'd go for a walk around the block with her ... leash dragging. If she got a head of me I stepped on the leash. I picked up the pace, slowed the pace, stopped, turned around, etc. all with the leash on the ground. 

By the time she was 6 months she heeled perfectly. I've taken her EVERYWHERE and the leash is lightly held in my hands - no tension. 

We certainly had some challenges - those dang squirrels - and there around probably close to a million in my neighbourhood, but she's learned. A super hyper dog on the other side of the street? First step was to have her lay down beside me and I would tickle her or something - get her focus on me, not the dog. As she got older I put her in a sit / stay and we waited until the dog went by. 

Don't get me wrong, she certainly challenged me with all the new things, but a quick pop of the leash and then SIT and most times that worked. If not, I just turned the other way and ran. She followed!

Recall? My last dog? Recall didn't exist until she was 2 years old, so I certainly had LOTS of tricks up my sleeve to try. Kyleigh was MUCH easier with recall. 

By 5 months Ky knew sit, stay, come, heel, wait, down, up, off, on, stand, take it, drop it, leave it, find it, hold it and where's so and so ... 

She'd been going to the off leash park every single day since I brought her home and I would practice it there too. One day (she's about 7 months old at the time) I called her to me and she looked at me and went the other way. AHA ... testing time ... let's see if she means it, and can she catch me in 75 acres?

I didn't run after her or anything, I just walked the other way. She came running after me INSTANTLY. I clipped her leash on her and we walked back to where I had been when I called her and put her in a sit. I made her sit there with me for about 10 minutes. I literally added a minute to the original time of 5 minutes (that was my "plan") every time she popped her butt up off the ground. So she popped her butt up 5 times ... After not moving for 90 seconds, I let her off leash and told her to go play. She went. 5 minutes later I called her back, and she FLEW back to me. I've never had an issue with her since. 

Kyleigh is almost never on leash, and her recall is excellent. This morning my friend and I walked our dogs in a huge park. There were joggers, rollerbladers, kids, dogs, ducks, geese and a million squirrels. From the second we got on the path (the road was 15 feet behind us ... no fence) the leashes were off both dogs and they heeled until we said "go play." 

They were running like crazy. We kept our eyes out for everything. At one point there were a group of joggers coming down the path - we were on one side of the path, dogs on the other. Joggers were about 100 feet away. We both called our dogs and they were at our sides in about 10 seconds ... before the joggers came to where we were standing. Both dogs sat and waited until we let them go again (which was about 5 minutes because they all stopped to talk to us about the beautiful dogs!) Not once did those dogs move!

Katdog ... It took LOADS of work, practice, etc. I don't have much of a life LOL ... I have two parrots, a cat and a dog ... that's it. No boyfriend, no kids, etc. So all my free time is devoted to training Kyleigh.


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## Jag (Jul 27, 2012)

Ah yes.. gotta love the greys! I've seen the confused look come over Grim's face a couple times when Ziva says his name in my voice or whistles for him like I do. :headbang: Grim finally 'saw' Cricket the other day, and I told him 'no' just for the intense stare. He hasn't charged a cage yet, but that bath time stuff seems to get all dogs.  My grey's purpose in life is to harass my dogs, though.


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## Kyleigh (Oct 16, 2012)

Some days I wish I had a budgie and not a grey LOL ... Echo's 10 so she's got loads of words in her vocabulary and is not shy at all about using any of them. She'll call Ky ... here Kyleigh, here girl ... and when there's no response from the dogs (because the dog's outside LOL) she gets louder and louder and louder, and then she'll whistle. If there's still no answer she'll yell at the top of those air sacs ... COME HERE NOW. 

It's funny because I NEVER yell come here now so she learned how to yell on her own!


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