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Mud Bud & King(er dinger)

Posted May 8th, 2009 by animal motel
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So when I am trying to work with mud bud, king always gets in my way (jealousy). What do I do to get him out of the way other than tie him because I feel that will cause more problems. They both sit and one lays down but only when yelled at. I can not even play catch with mud without king interviening, and king does not even like catch. I would love to use all my retriever qualities in a positive manner but I can not get the other dog to leave us alone. Hoe do I train my dogs to listen and do tricks is there any speical key to this.

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re: Mud Bud & King(er dinger)

Aidan's picture
On May 8th, 2009 Aidan says:

It's not as hard as it may seem but you have to lay the groundwork.

Tricks are fun and surprisingly easy once you get started. They also have some value in remedying more serious behavior problems (I won't go into detail as to why, but trust me that it can work).

I always start with each dog isolated from as many distractions as possible, and that includes other dogs in the home. You have a better chance of the dog listening to you if there is nothing else to take his attention.

At a minimum, train in a room with a closed door and your other dog/s shut out from that room. Later, when the basic behaviours (sit, drop, stay, wait on mat etc) are well learned you can progress to working with distractions including other dogs.

I would begin by teaching King to "Go to Mat", because this is one way you can keep King out of it when you are working with Mud Bud later on. The instructions are found in the Training Levels program found in full here:
http://www.dragonflyllama.com (an excellent resource!)

When I started training I had a puppy and a cat. I trained the cat to wait patiently while I worked with the puppy and vice-versa. This didn't take long to teach but you need to start with the basics, working each animal alone in a low-distraction environment.

The key is to always set your dogs up for success. If you have to train in your bathroom with the door closed, train in your bathroom with the door closed. In the long run it's always quicker to set your dog up for success and use good planning and preparation than it is to try and do too much all at once and expect a miracle.

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

Mud Bud and King

On May 11th, 2009 bluefilly says:

Obedience, tricks, manners, call it what you want, but its all training. When I owned a pony I taught him manners like lifting a foot when I said Pick Up, and putting his own head in the halter. Some people would have called them tricks, but it made my life easier. You can do the same with dogs, and can start small and seemingly minor.
For example, "sit there and wait until I give the command, only then can you stand up, walk to your food bowl and eat." Very useful training. The dog listens to you, knowing that not paying attention may mean a delayed dinner.
I also use Wait a lot. It means "stop right there, and don't go anywhere." I let my dog move his feet, as long as he only moves a few steps.
I taught it fairly easily - blocked him from going out the door with my body, and associated it with the word Wait. Then stepped aside as if to let him past, but continued to say Wait, which meant "don't go out that door until I say OK." It actually saved his life once when he was darting towards a busy road, even though he was on a (long) lead.
Dogs really do want to please you. If the motivation of playing with another dog is stronger, then back off and, as Aiden says, make it easy by removing the second dog, for now.
Then you can work on giving the second dog a job to do, while you work with the first.
With two dogs, you could eventually get them working together as a team, doing tricks or even obedience, each dog obeying the command aimed at them only. Preceding the command with their name from the beginning could be useful.
Keep a journal, of what you want to achieve, what you tried, and what did and did not work. There is more than one way to train a dog, and if one method does not work, try another. I saw a TV segment the other day where dogs are only ever rewarded with play, not treats. Just one example. Anyway, the journal plots your progress too, which may surprise you when you look back later.

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