Usually my dogs have free access to both the house and the backyard, through a constantly open back door, but while I clean the house I expect them to stay outside. Goshen always respected that, but Barak, he still never learned. He keeps trying to walk inside while I have soap all over the floor and it drives me crazy. Today was the first "cleaning house" experience for Pita and I began to ask both dogs to stay out. Pita was laying on her pillow on the porch, and she did not leave it until I was ready, while Barak tries to trespass as usual. I guess that it was not only my request, but also the fact that I was messing around with water, mop and a floor scraper, but nevertheless, I am very proud of her.
Pita being a good girl while Mummy cleaned the house.I prefer to educate my dogs with as little corrections and physical reinforcements as possible. The emphasis should be on positive reinforcement, but I am also aware that with a powerful dog you cannot avoid situations where things get physical.
Barak was 2,5 when he came to us, and poorly educated, alas, he has demanded quite some physical corrections to learn to respect our boundaries and integrity. Little Pita is a carte blanche, completely undestroyed, and however she develops, I cannot blame anybody else. She also needs physical corrections to learn not to jump, nibble, charge at the cat, and so on, but with the obedience it is different. I have taught her all the basic commands without touching her. No pressing on the butt to sit down, no jerking on any leash - only voice and treats. The only correction is that the treat/praise is withdrawn when she doesn't do what I ask of her.
I have made the family agree to not use certain commands with Pita yet, since I want to make them absolute. I only ever say these commands when I have her absolute attention and when I feel certain that she will obey, because every time you say a command and the dog gets off the hook, that command is weakened. I also only train these things in the kitchen, so far. Obedience commands need to be taught in several steps, and successively you increase the level of difficulty, by adding time and distraction. Taking a pup to the park to start practicing obedience is like putting a 9 years old kid in a PhD course - not fair.
So, me and Pita we still do obedience in the kitchen, but I started to increase the time she stays in a "sit" or a "down" before she gets the reward, which is the first stage of "stay", and in that moment she was showing attitude. She got pissed with me for not rewarding her instantly, but now I think that I got the point through that I just ask her to stay for a longer time in the position. Educating a pup means walking on a fine line. If she makes mistakes, you can almost exclusively blame yourself. Either you moved too fast, with time or distraction, or you simply did not register the signs that the pup has lost her motivation and attentiveness. A pup in Pitas age has a concentration span of 5-10 minutes, and after that you do more harm than good. Divide the training into many short sessions during the day, and never try to teach the pup something when it is tired or winded up for some other reason. It is useless. Pita gets three scheduled sessions every day, one before each meal, and also ongoing lessons about "who's in charge" during play.
Yesterday evening we took the dogs to the park and they ran around freely. Barak has not really figured out whether he can play with her, but she surely tries to play with him. He is slowly coming around, though, and he is not keeping her on the same distance anymore and his patience is expanding. During the night she even went to his bed once and laid down beside him, and although he finally moved away, he actually stayed with her for a moment. I am sure that she is breaking him down slowly, slowly... ;)
Barak was 2,5 when he came to us, and poorly educated, alas, he has demanded quite some physical corrections to learn to respect our boundaries and integrity. Little Pita is a carte blanche, completely undestroyed, and however she develops, I cannot blame anybody else. She also needs physical corrections to learn not to jump, nibble, charge at the cat, and so on, but with the obedience it is different. I have taught her all the basic commands without touching her. No pressing on the butt to sit down, no jerking on any leash - only voice and treats. The only correction is that the treat/praise is withdrawn when she doesn't do what I ask of her.
I have made the family agree to not use certain commands with Pita yet, since I want to make them absolute. I only ever say these commands when I have her absolute attention and when I feel certain that she will obey, because every time you say a command and the dog gets off the hook, that command is weakened. I also only train these things in the kitchen, so far. Obedience commands need to be taught in several steps, and successively you increase the level of difficulty, by adding time and distraction. Taking a pup to the park to start practicing obedience is like putting a 9 years old kid in a PhD course - not fair.
So, me and Pita we still do obedience in the kitchen, but I started to increase the time she stays in a "sit" or a "down" before she gets the reward, which is the first stage of "stay", and in that moment she was showing attitude. She got pissed with me for not rewarding her instantly, but now I think that I got the point through that I just ask her to stay for a longer time in the position. Educating a pup means walking on a fine line. If she makes mistakes, you can almost exclusively blame yourself. Either you moved too fast, with time or distraction, or you simply did not register the signs that the pup has lost her motivation and attentiveness. A pup in Pitas age has a concentration span of 5-10 minutes, and after that you do more harm than good. Divide the training into many short sessions during the day, and never try to teach the pup something when it is tired or winded up for some other reason. It is useless. Pita gets three scheduled sessions every day, one before each meal, and also ongoing lessons about "who's in charge" during play.
Yesterday evening we took the dogs to the park and they ran around freely. Barak has not really figured out whether he can play with her, but she surely tries to play with him. He is slowly coming around, though, and he is not keeping her on the same distance anymore and his patience is expanding. During the night she even went to his bed once and laid down beside him, and although he finally moved away, he actually stayed with her for a moment. I am sure that she is breaking him down slowly, slowly... ;)
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