# Tips on training my dog to ignore my birds



## ejoypousson (Sep 17, 2020)

I have 4 cockatiels. When I adopted my dog two months ago, I had them in pairs in two cages because one pair was newer. My dog was interested in them but didn't really bother them other than snoofing their cages occasionally. Last week, I put them all in the same cage, which is the big, more spacious cage. I suspect that because there's more movement in there now, and the two younger birds have more space to flap around, it gets my dog's attention more than when they were separate. She gets excited when they flap and stands on her hind legs/puts her paws on the cage/mouths the bars. 

She knows 'leave it' and 'watch' and is good with recall in the house. I trained her to ignore when my cat gets into things by doing reps with 'leave it' and 'watch' every time my cat was up to something, as well as rewarding when my dog would stay near me or look at me without a command instead of investigating what my cat was doing. That worked really well. 

However, I feel like it's kind of backfiring on me with the birds for some reason. After doing many reps with leave it and rewarding if she immediately turns around and looks at me, I get the feeling she is going up to the cage repeatedly because she anticipates being told to leave it and getting rewarded. Should I have phased out treats (her kibble) for leave it sooner? 

Right now what I'm doing is keeping her on a Mendota slip lead+extra leash attached for length (just when I'm on the couch and the bird cage is in the living room) and giving very gentle tugs when she goes near the cage without giving a command but not rewarding when she turns around, since I didn't give her a command. I'm also rewarding when she spontaneously lies down next to me with random rewards the longer she stays next to me, especially if the birds are moving around. I've also started to use 'watch' more when she starts to focus on the birds. Is this approach ok? Could I do anything to improve it, or anything else to help her?


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

You adopted the dog two months ago, how old is the dog?
Others feel differently, but people generally over treat their dogs to the point where it's not obedience but pure bribery. Yes, GSD are brilliant dogs and will learn to continue nay behavior that gets them treats. 

At some point, your dog needs to learn obedience, no bribery and leave it means leave it, period. Normally, you'd have a bind built up with a puppy from an early age and the reward should be simply be some praise and a pat on the head/ears rubbed. Knock down the treat level and knock up the tone intensity of "leave it". You know she knows better now and so does she.

But you have a newer dog to you but an older(?) dog so it will take a bit of consistency and persistence. Work at it and it will come but understand that many GSD have higher prey drives to investigate birds, squirrels, mice, snakes etc


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## ejoypousson (Sep 17, 2020)

WNGD said:


> You adopted the dog two months ago, how old is the dog?
> Others feel differently, but people generally over treat their dogs to the point where it's not obedience but pure bribery. Yes, GSD are brilliant dogs and will learn to continue nay behavior that gets them treats.
> 
> At some point, your dog needs to learn obedience, no bribery and leave it means leave it, period. Normally, you'd have a bind built up with a puppy from an early age and the reward should be simply be some praise and a pat on the head/ears rubbed. Knock down the treat level and knock up the tone intensity of "leave it". You know she knows better now and so does she.
> ...


Thanks for the advice. She's 3.5 years. Her prev owners had done basic obedience with her, but I had to teach her leave it and watch myself within the last three weeks so my slowness in phasing out treats most likely why she's gotten too used to getting rewards for them. But yes I think she definitely knows what leave it means now and I'll more aggressively reduce the frequency of rewards.


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

ejoypousson said:


> Thanks for the advice. She's 3.5 years. Her prev owners had done basic obedience with her, but I had to teach her leave it and watch myself within the last three weeks so my slowness in phasing out treats most likely why she's gotten too used to getting rewards for them. But yes I think she definitely knows what leave it means now and I'll more aggressively reduce the frequency of rewards.


The good news is you have a smart dog! That can be bad news too


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## JunoVonNarnia (Apr 8, 2020)

When I rescued my hound/ Australian cattle dog mix, I had two cockatiels. They were hand raised, and used to spend time outside the cage. I would sit with them in my lap and pet them while my rescue was watching. I would let him sniff, ever so cautiously, with my hands cradling the birds. He's got high prey drive, but he's very obedient inside the house.

One day, my male bird flapped away and Titus grabbed him in his mouth and took him into his crate. He didn't chomp down, just held him. It was careless of me, but that sudden motion got his attention. I was lucky. It could have ended badly. He got a timeout (I did not know how to correct then), I shut him into the laundry room for a few minutes. He never went into that room again.

He only ever sniffed the birds after that. As a matter of fact, whenever they flew off their cage, he would come and get me to tell me they were out of place and if I "lost" them, he would sniff them out and find them for me and wait at a distance when I gathered them up. Then he would come and sniff them.

Not sure how I would socialize my GSD to birds, probably similarly. I don't have them anymore. One passed away, the other I gave to friend so he could have company. My GSD Juno is stronger willed, but she has less prey drive. The rescue chases or wants to chase anything that crosses his path. It's the hound in him.

My housemate has cats and now I do something similar with the cats. The rescue is fine with them. The GSD fixates sometimes, but I am optimistic.

I am not saying that this is the best way, just what I did... But I do use "mine", cradling objects etc close to me tell my dogs they are off-limits.


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

i don’t think the frequency of the food rewards is the problem. i think she was inadvertently reinforced for the sequence, hence, is repeating the sequence. “leave it” gets the reward and “leave it” is contingent on her approaching the cage. i know that you also rewarded her for laying by your side, which is good, especially when the birds start flapping... but she seems to have separated the two things, leaving no clear opportunity to earn the reward prior to approaching the cage and no real measurable criteria for you to build on, meaning incremental learning / rewarding approximations, etc.

personally, i think what you’re doing right now (except i wouldn’t tug, just let her hit the end).... waiting for her to turn on her own w/no command - i’d be offering food rewards for that! utilize those moments of self discovery by capturing the behavior you want her to eventually do on her own.

using the appropriate length leash so she can’t reach the cage... first she’s rewarded for simply stopping when she hits the end of the leash (response to leash pressure), then walking towards but turning around before hitting the end / making it to the cage (5ft for example), then 3ft, then 1ft, then standing but immediately laying back down, then for looking and looking away, etc. you choose the criteria based on her successes. the key is not to let her practice the negative behavior, ideally at all, until you’ve got a good chunk of her doing the right thing.

now that she already knows “leave it”, reserve that for later, as more of a mild correction / interruption cue. don’t reward for “leave it” alone.... follow up with another behavior or obedience command or at the very least, a short period of lag time once she’s responded.

of course, that’s all assuming you’re interested in active training. in my own house, i’m a huge fan of manipulating the environment in order to ensure space and safety, then i just practice desensitization. i adopted a very fearful (ahem borderline feral) cat back in july and only this past week have i allowed her and my dog to roam the house together (and a full month before they even got close enough for nose-to-nose through a crate. by then the novelty had worn off). yes it took awhile but i wasn’t in a hurry and it resulted in a stress free process for all of us... my dogs got pretty decent prey drive and i didn’t want to spend weeks on weeks of set ups and corrections and all that. he’s also the type that becomes fixated on subjects the more focus and attention is put on them... even if it’s negative attention.


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## ejoypousson (Sep 17, 2020)

JunoVonNarnia said:


> When I rescued my hound/ Australian cattle dog mix, I had two cockatiels. They were hand raised, and used to spend time outside the cage. I would sit with them in my lap and pet them while my rescue was watching. I would let him sniff, ever so cautiously, with my hands cradling the birds. He's got high prey drive, but he's very obedient inside the house.
> 
> One day, my male bird flapped away and Titus grabbed him in his mouth and took him into his crate. He didn't chomp down, just held him. It was careless of me, but that sudden motion got his attention. I was lucky. It could have ended badly. He got a timeout (I did not know how to correct then), I shut him into the laundry room for a few minutes. He never went into that room again.
> 
> ...


Wow that is amazing and terrifying at the same time. I'd be freaking out if she ever got them in her mouth. I know she has a pretty soft mouth because she catches and carries her squeaky ball but hardly ever makes it squeak, but noooope don't try the birds  Your doggo was a very good and smart doggo.


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## ejoypousson (Sep 17, 2020)

Fodder said:


> i don’t think the frequency of the food rewards is the problem. i think she was inadvertently reinforced for the sequence, hence, is repeating the sequence. “leave it” gets the reward and “leave it” is contingent on her approaching the cage. i know that you also rewarded her for laying by your side, which is good, especially when the birds start flapping... but she seems to have separated the two things, leaving no clear opportunity to earn the reward prior to approaching the cage and no real measurable criteria for you to build on, meaning incremental learning / rewarding approximations, etc.
> 
> personally, i think what you’re doing right now (except i wouldn’t tug, just let her hit the end).... waiting for her to turn on her own w/no command - i’d be offering food rewards for that! utilize those moments of self discovery by capturing the behavior you want her to eventually do on her own.
> 
> ...


Thank you! I've never had to do this kind of training because my previous dog was small and senior and couldn't care less about my birds, so it's helpful to get an example of how to build up a behavior I want. I'll work on it and hopefully she'll get the idea as quickly as she usually does.


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## Bearshandler (Aug 29, 2019)

I agree with @Fodder that your rewards have cued the dog to the sequence. If I didn’t want a dog near something, he would get a correction for going near it. I do not think this is a positive reinforcement situation.


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