teaching puppy to relax about people coming to house

Hi,
I've invited a friend over to start filou getting some practice relaxing about having people in the house. And to test out his barking training
My plan is have my friend to ring the bell, come and ignore the dog.
I'll have Filou on a lead and will hopefully be able to be successfull with shush. He does it very well for me otherwise, and to get him down as often as possible
I was going to give my friend some very special treats that she can drop on the floor around her, still without saying anything to him.
He's very suspicious about anyone not in his "family" even if he's met them before, and will bark alot and be very skittish.
Any suggestions welcome or if there's already an article about this maybe.
many thanks,
jen

Comments

Aidan's picture

empty door knocks first

Hi Jen, start with "empty" door knocks first. "shush" is good if you have trained it as I have suggested, but really your best bet is usually to just click for say, exactly 3 barks then quiet.

The full instructions are in the Barking Dog E-Course.

By an "empty" door knock, I mean you knock on the door and no-one comes over at first. When you get EXACTLY the behavior you want after doing that, then introduce a helper.

If you have visitors in the meantime, just keep an eye out and let them in before they knock on the door if you can.

Dropping treats is a very good idea. Basically you are building a positive association - visitors=good things - very powerful!

But be careful - make sure you are reinforcing calmer and calmer behavior. Don't just indiscriminately drop treats.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

empty door knocks/overweight puppy

Hello Aidan,
Many thanks....I had come to the same conclusion after running the exercise. He actually did pretty well, he has learned "shush" well, and I told the guest to wait until he was calm and lying down. But I didn't really have what I wanted. So I thought of same friend coming by and ringing the doorbell and driving away. I was thinking I'd like him not only to stop barking, but to be a ways back from the door, either down or sit as well, to give incomers some space and time to get in the door. So that's another reason to do the dummy knocks. He can bark 3 times then go to the spot I've chosen and wait while I open the door. Does that sound too ambitious? He does know requests, like "go to your bed, crate, pink towel" and so forth," especially if I point.
It's just another thing when he's excited.
So maybe I could break the steps down even further-work on the dummy knocks until he's solid on that routine and then have a friend knock, me open the door, then say goodbye. Am I making too complicated?
I appreciate your input. Sometimes I get discouraged, since he's not my dog, so your feedback is very helpful.

Hope you don't mind another question.
I'm afraid Filou at nearly 16 lbs is too heavy- mini doxies should be 12 lbs max. The doctor is doing a check on monday, so I'm sure he'll say something. Any ideas for lowest possible calorie clicker treats? I have been using kibble and no more than 1 ounce daily of lowfat cheese or ham(cut really tiny). I actually measure and write everything down. I ordered Kong TOTs from the clicker site, rice krispies? apples? I really don't want to discontinue the clicker training. It's possible the owner will ask me to stop.
Many thanks again-Jen

Hi Is the owner cutting down

Hi
Is the owner cutting down Filou's daily food ration to compensate for the treats? If she is not that is no doubt the reason for the weight gain. It would be worth talking to her about it. With one of my dogs she is quite anxious and doesn't like to meet anyone male! With her it makes it worse if someone tries I find better to get them to ignore her and if she wants to be friends she then will make the same move. My other dog is always happy to say hi. When i was teaching door manners I kept treats and clicker by door so I could reinforce events that were real and not set up.
Is the owner following what you are doing because if she isn't asking for the same behaviour he could be getting confused with mixed instructions.
I applaud you for your dedication you obviously really care,I hope the owner appreciates you.

Aidan's picture

"So I thought of same friend

"So I thought of same friend coming by and ringing the doorbell and driving away"

-- good plan, even better if the friend just doesn't come in, waits a minute, then knocks on the door again. You'll get many more trials in this way.

"He can bark 3 times then go to the spot I've chosen and wait while I open the door. Does that sound too ambitious? "

-- Not at all, and the fact that you've already trained it in a controlled set-up means I'm sure you'll be able to keep raising the criteria until it's real life.

"Any ideas for lowest possible calorie clicker treats?"

-- flytiki99 hit the nail on the head - is his owner cutting down his meals by the appropriate amount? It's not unusual for small dogs to get 100% of their daily rations in training with NO MEALS AT ALL. It's not uncommon for big dogs, I've done it with my own dogs many times. I did it for weeks with Sabella when we had a lot of work to do.

For people like you who train every day, I recommend just taking a portion of a normal daily meal and using that for training. There are no extra calories in that, and the dog will still be hungry enough to train.

For low calorie extras you will need to experiment. Some dogs love plain popcorn (no salt or butter), raw diced or cooked mashed veggies would be great - but he needs to enjoy them enough to want to work for them.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

knocking/food

Hi,
Thanks to both of you. Great ideas. I like the multiple trials.
Actually I did find an ultra thin sliced chicken, 10 calories per slice that i can cut up into 10 pieces. I was going to combine it with the Kong Tots, but after hearing from the owner that she mostly feeds him treats and table scraps in the evening, because he wont eat dog food!,
I may just use kibble, so at least he can get some nutrition, and throw in some lo-cal chicken now and then. Or I may just take a break from intensive training.
It is a complex situation with the owner. She has called a professional trainer to help with housetraining and barking, so maybe that person will be of some help to her. It would be nice if we could be on the same page!
Thanks again! Jen