We had our first private training session last night with our dog trainer. I am so excited about this new change in our lives and to FINALLY get our dog in our control! It is going to be so much calmer and enjoyable when we are home. However, it is going to be a ton of work on our part until Cooper catches on. Needless to say, I now have 2 children to feed each night (we have to hand feed Cooper for his evening meal) and I will have to carry around dog treats in one pocket and cheerios in the other for Connor! Ha! It will be so worth it though in the end! I was very impressed by her knowledge and how simple things really worked! She teaches a type of discipline that she calls "dog speak". It focuses on rewarding your dog for behaviors that you like and want him to continue and ignoring the ones you dont. Here are some things that we are changing at our house, with the advice of our trainer.
1) Changing Coopers food to a more nutritious selection. (FYI- Pedigree is the equivilent to McDonalds; Nutro,Science Diet, Iams are the equivilent to Applebees...) She has recommended we feed Cooper a food called Canidae or Solid Gold. You cant buy these at PetSmart or any specialized pet shop, we will have to go to a Vet Clinic in Cool Springs to get it. You are probably thinking that it will cost us a fortune, but actually it isnt that much more expensive than Nutro! Also, we are to feed Cooper twice a day in 20 minute sessions. If he doesnt eat, the food goes up until the next feeding. Also he has to wait for us to say the command, "OK" until he starts eating. This is going to teach him that we are leaders of the pack and in control of his food.
2) Cooper can not lay under beds or any other place that might be a safe haven where it might be difficult to get him out. (For those of you who dont know he has a biting problem that we are trying to correct, and the times he has biten have been when he was under the bed) This will help with his fear and self confidence.
3) We have to throw the word "NO" out the window. We are only to reward good behaviors and ignore the ones we dont like. Once he learns this he will want to do what he gets rewarded or attention for. If we ignore him when he is barking excessivly then he will learn it gets him nothing.
4) Go back to using the crate when we arent at home and Cooper is in the house. He is outside most of the time, except in bad weather. This will prevent him from getting on furniture when we arent around, which we are going to break him from. He will also sleep in a crate instead of wherever he chooses.
5) He cant go outside or through doors without us telling him, "OK". Another way to establish being the leader of the pack.
6) Dont talk to much... We have to remember not to tell Cooper what we want him to do. He needs to learn the good behaviors on his own and use his brain! Cooper is very smart and we know he can do this, we have just not been good parents to teach him how.
7) When we play with Cooper, we start and finish the game and always WIN!
Those are most of things (excluding a few) that we covered, although with more instruction of course. I am being careful not to give away her "secrets" because as someone who also gives design advice and a service as a career, I have to respect that she does this to make a living. I cant wait until it gets warmer and we get to have some outside sessions around other people and animals. That is where it will get very interesting! We are meeting her next Thursday, so I hope to make this a series of posts after each one.
1) Changing Coopers food to a more nutritious selection. (FYI- Pedigree is the equivilent to McDonalds; Nutro,Science Diet, Iams are the equivilent to Applebees...) She has recommended we feed Cooper a food called Canidae or Solid Gold. You cant buy these at PetSmart or any specialized pet shop, we will have to go to a Vet Clinic in Cool Springs to get it. You are probably thinking that it will cost us a fortune, but actually it isnt that much more expensive than Nutro! Also, we are to feed Cooper twice a day in 20 minute sessions. If he doesnt eat, the food goes up until the next feeding. Also he has to wait for us to say the command, "OK" until he starts eating. This is going to teach him that we are leaders of the pack and in control of his food.
2) Cooper can not lay under beds or any other place that might be a safe haven where it might be difficult to get him out. (For those of you who dont know he has a biting problem that we are trying to correct, and the times he has biten have been when he was under the bed) This will help with his fear and self confidence.
3) We have to throw the word "NO" out the window. We are only to reward good behaviors and ignore the ones we dont like. Once he learns this he will want to do what he gets rewarded or attention for. If we ignore him when he is barking excessivly then he will learn it gets him nothing.
4) Go back to using the crate when we arent at home and Cooper is in the house. He is outside most of the time, except in bad weather. This will prevent him from getting on furniture when we arent around, which we are going to break him from. He will also sleep in a crate instead of wherever he chooses.
5) He cant go outside or through doors without us telling him, "OK". Another way to establish being the leader of the pack.
6) Dont talk to much... We have to remember not to tell Cooper what we want him to do. He needs to learn the good behaviors on his own and use his brain! Cooper is very smart and we know he can do this, we have just not been good parents to teach him how.
7) When we play with Cooper, we start and finish the game and always WIN!
Those are most of things (excluding a few) that we covered, although with more instruction of course. I am being careful not to give away her "secrets" because as someone who also gives design advice and a service as a career, I have to respect that she does this to make a living. I cant wait until it gets warmer and we get to have some outside sessions around other people and animals. That is where it will get very interesting! We are meeting her next Thursday, so I hope to make this a series of posts after each one.
2 comments:
I have to say Mama read your post before I did and she said...we are doing everything wrong with our dogs! It's so crazy how wrong we have raised them! I don't think there is any turning back with them now! ;-) I wish you lots of luck with Cooper...he is still young and trainable!
Tara, that is so great. Our trainer had a lot of the same ideas and lessons. It really does work. Stick with it. Beamer was a changed man by the time our sessions ended. The only problem we had is that it took a while to get him to eat on his own again once we started hand feeding him.
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