Age of Training and Methods

MikaAndMe

Hello again everyone! I just wanted to ask a couple of questions since I have been doing a lot of reading lately on these forums. I subscribed to the Whole Dog Journal as well. That's how much I trust your opinions.

Nevertheless, back to my original thought. Mika is 9 1⁄2 weeks old now and I have taught her to sit very well so far. She will do it with or without treats now, though she still looks for a treat every time. She will always stay and wait until the treat it right up to her mouth before she bites it. These are fairly easy tricks to teach I know but I was proud of her anyway, haha. What I am wondering is what age is best to start teaching a dog more complicated tricks (preferably a Shiba Inu)? She seems to be a very smart dog and she hold my attention well. I wanted to consider Clicker Training as well since it seems to be highly praised on this site. I am a little timid, though, as I'm not sure if I have the patience. How difficult is it? I am a good leader with confidence but Mika has a mind of her own sometimes. Some advice here would be greatly appreciated.

I must admit that I used to believe you had to spank your dog to get it to listen. I don't mean hit hard enough to hurt them, simply get their attention. However, thanks to many great people on this site I now know that you shouldn't ever spank your dog. If you can train them with positive reinforcement instead of punishment then your bond will be so much stronger. I never actually owned a dog, besides our family dog when I was growing up, but that doesn't truly count for ownership. I just always knew people that spanked their dogs but thankfully I discovered this website a few days after I bought Mika so I was informed on the right way pretty much at the beginning.

Please pardon my long, rambling, unorganized post. I did have some questions in there so if you can fish them out please offer advice and guidance. I confess that I lost my temper with Mika today and yelled loudly at her. She was scared and it made me feel terrible. I want to do this the right way and have a loving yet obedient dog. It's not often that I lose my temper, especially with her, so I knew it was time to ask these questions and never let it happen again. Thanks!

MikaAndMe

Sorry folks, I have something else to add that I forgot but is equally important to the rest of my post. Mika does this thing when I take her outside to potty that drives me insane because I don't know what to do to correct it. I am in a wheelchair and I have a 16 foot loose leash that I let her roam the yard on since I can't go in the grass or off the concrete driveway. She likes to sniff around before doing her business and I just can't be any closer to her really due to the circumstances. Now, when I proceed to take her in and get her to come she just sits down. I try to get her to chase my chair, which sometimes works, but usually she just tugs and pulls in the other direction. I hate pulling her to make her come to me but I can't simply go pick her up and carry her in. This usually results in me literally having a puppy fighting the leash as I slowly reel her in without hurting her. Any advice on what I should do here? Thanks!

ljowen123

Maybe an easy walk harness?

kwyld

Regarding your last post, bring super yummy treats and coax her to come to you when she is finished doing her business. She'll also learn to potty quicker and stop sniffing around for 3 hours because she will know the quicker she goes, the quicker she'll get a yummy treat. Only offer the treat after she is done going through.

StaticNfuzz

Super good that you have gotten your pup up on some skills already! It is also good to know where your threshold is as far as temper and patience. Since you have a Shiba know that there will come a time when your dog will have selective hearing. Around 16 weeks/four months or even at eight months they may pretend they have not learned a thing. This is where real patience comes in trying to remain cool and collected. They have a nack for humbling you at the most inappropriate times.

Anyway, since Mika is 9.5 weeks and hopefully had a first set of vaccinations it is time to get your pup socializing and playing with other vaccinated pups at a qualified training center.
A tired puppy is usually a good puppy. At this age socializing with peers of its own age is the most important thing you can do along with habituating it to many things in the world such as walking by trash cans, strollers, kids, strange people in big coats, or funny hats, umbrellas etc without scaring your dog. Fun outings at friend’s houses and safe places are a good start.

Also it might help to get your pup crate trained or used to an x-pen, if you are not doing that already. Shiba puppies are bound to pluck ones nerves at some point or another. If you need a break use the crate for some down time for your dog. Counting to five and moving away can help too. Avoid yelling if possible since you inadvertently will be conditioning yourself to use that to relieve stress rather than remaining silent during high threshold times when you need full control of your senses.

Clicker work is one of those “show me” skills you want to watch and learn by getting coached by a good instructor with your own dog. Done incorrectly (although not intentionally) you can sometimes cause a bit of confusion down the road for your dog so it’s best to start the right way with a good professional.

If you are in the U.S. I would recommend selecting a trainer from
http://www.trulydogfriendly.com/ and specifically look for a puppy class that has and instructor that uses the clicker. Call around and ask how they teach and go visit the center without your dog. It will give you a better perspective on how they operate before you pay or your dog plays.

Snf

PS: About your wheelchair. I am glad you mentioned that . It sounds like she is not adjusted to the leash yet or the motion and movement of your chair. So I suspect you will have some difficulty with an easy walk harness at her age. Your pup is very young so she/he is not going to have a concept as to what she is doing with her own motion in relation to yours . At this point you are going to need to reward her for coming to you. That means you will have to give treats each and every time she voluntarily comes up, even if you have not called her. For example yo can use rolled peanut butter bits and place it on the wheels of your chair. You will have to teach her a fun word to come up and then treat. This is where your clicker is going to be so much help. What location of the country are you in. I will see if I can find a contact for you maybe in your region that works with assistance dogs. You can whisper to me if you wish. I may not get back to you right away so be patient. In the duration here is a link to some good stuff that may help you in your situation.
http://www.workingdogs.com/book001.htm

kwyld

Clicker training is very easy, basically as soon as the dog does the behavior you want, you click and treat. For instance if you are teaching the dog to sit, what I did was hold the treat over the dog's head and move it back slightly so the dog has to look up and then eventually it will sit. As soon as the dog sits it's butt on the ground, you click then treat. You can wait maybe 1 or 2 seconds to treat, but the click has to be as soon as the desired behavior happens. I usually add the cue word "sit" when the dog is offering the behavior. So as soon as the dog begins to offer to sit before you even put the treat above it's head, and the butt is on it's way down, you say "sit", when the butt hits the ground you click then treat.

StaticNfuzz

Kwyld ....perfect description! You click as the rear rotation begins as the dog starts to sit.

Snf

kwyld

Something you can try regarding getting her to come to you. Have a friend hold her and you can wheel away from her calling her name and maybe dangle a super fun fluffy toy, and make silly sounds and have treats with you too. Have the friend let go with her facing you and when she gets a few feet from you, click then treat and you can alternate and let her play with the toy instead of the treat after the click. Each time your friend lets go, click and treat in little increments when she gets closer, so the first time 8 feet, then 6 feet, then 4, you get the picture. Do it a few times and she'll learn very quickly that it's a lot of fun to come to you because it's fun to chase things!! What I did was gradually get the dog to sit in front of me and wait in the sitting position for longer and longer periods(make sure your dog has a solid sit first though). I would click when the dog sat in front then make him wait like 10 seconds to give the treat.

MikaAndMe

You guys are priceless! I can't thank you enough for this vote of confidence I now have as I begin doing these things. I am purchasing a clicker tomorrow so that I can go ahead and start training her with that. I appreciate the creative ideas as far as her leash circumstance. I will definitely try them out and keep you posted. Also, to answer a few things. Mika is already 95% potty trained. She does very well with it. She also sleeps in a crate at night and during the day I usually either lay her bed on the floor or keep her crate in the floor with the door open. She often goes in there on her own to sleep. And to Snf- I am located in Dunlap, TN. It's in between Knoxville and Nashville, TN if that means anything to you. The location of Chattanooga, TN would be good as it is the closest big city to where I am at. Thanks again and keep the suggestions coming!

MikaAndMe

I just wanted to write an update and let you know that I tried your methods and they have worked perfectly! I now take just half a treat out for Mika whenever we go potty and she has learned in just one trip to go potty right away and then return to me. I click and give her a treat and then do this once more when we get to the top of my wheelchair ramp and inside. She has learned to associate the click with good things so quickly and I'm so proud of her. She sits just by hearing the click now. She seems happier overall too since we aren't having a tension filled potty break every few hours. Thanks again for all of your help and once again you guys hit the nail on the head.

StaticNfuzz

Howdy Nathan:

I am wanted to get these resources back to you so you could check out the info if you need it. You probably will have to call around to see what they offer. Some assistance centers actually have regular dog classes to compliment their less disabled handler dog pairing, so it is worth a shot checking it all out. Clicker training is a new phenomenon for some training assistance dogs, so again I would check it out first to make sure it fits you needs and how you really want to train your Shiba. Note: Traditional methods used to train Labs and Goldens are not always conducive to training Shibas, so weigh your options carefully.


Canine center: Retrieving Independence
Karen Langer
900 Carter Hollow Road
Linden TN 37096
Country: United States
Phone: (931) 589-3838 / Toll Free: 1-800-347-6050
Fax:
E-mail:info@retrievingindependence.org
Web Address:www.retrievingindependence.org

Membership status: Provisional
Dogs trained: Service, Hearing, Social, Therapy
Geographical area served: 150 mile radius

Also check out:
http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org/membersstatecountry.php#TN

http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org/servicehearingproviders.php