Dog Question?UPDATED!! 9,30,11

[Rennie Heuer]

Two things I remember from when we trained Lokai.
1 - Dogs have to do something about 100 times before it is engrained in their memories. (that includes learning commands)
2 - the reward is praise, not treats. You won't always have a treat in your pocket, but you will always have praise. There will be many times you will call him to come and he will always expect a treat if that's how he's been trained. Don't give him a treat a few times and the reinforcement disappears, as might the training. (Now, if I could just train Jan not to give him treats all the time. )

This has worked for me. It's been 13 years since Lokai was trained and he can still heel, stay, come, and sit with the best of them.

[ken werner]

Excellent points Rennie.

[Jonathan Shively]

AND, he chases cats with the best of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I had Randi tell Lou Ann about that incident! We laughed so hard we cried!)

[larry merlau]

it rained at my place and now i got my own plumber dog we tried to get the cat and the dog together last night it wasnt pretty.. but it did show signs that we might have a chance..

well today i took some time in the shop, and we both were out here for around two hours plus, ran TSaw, Jointer, air gun, and air nailer as well as the sander..and as you can see he was really worked up over it so he gained another point today,, now to get the bad ones gone

[Toni Ciuraneta]

I'm not a dog expert, but I've read quite a lot about training and educating dogs.

I would suggest you use positive reinforcement techniques rather than negative ones. You can use a clicker or only treats, but any technique requires time and patience. You don't educate a child in two weeks, neither a dog.

I would suggest you download and read the free books from Dr. Ian Dunbar. and look at the different videos in http://www.dogstardaily.com/, or if you go for the clicker try http://www.clickertraining.com/. They are all for free and both are recognized pet trainers

[larry merlau]

well here is the latest on charlies report card..
didnt eat the SIL or his wife and just sniffed the little one thats 2 months old.. still hasnt made friends with the cat, and ate a grapefruit sized hole in a quilt that was on the bed and the one under it as well..smaller hole though.. took one of the deer antlers on the wall off to use for a chew toy,,stole toast off the table after breakfast and got scolded.. ,so how do you use positive re enforcement on cleaning up the left overs??? had been telling him no while casing the table while eating and told him to sit and then go into a down position but he had gotten up as we all had then..so i think he is gaining but he still needs more etiquette

[Bob Gibson]

my dog just turned into a counter surfer as well i've been scolding him when I catch him doing it and it seems to have helped. you have to catch him doing it though otherwise he has no clue as to why you are angry at him. mine rips up mail, magazines, newspapers, paper towels and dvd's when I leave him alone in the house. is charlie alone in the house when this happens? could be he misses you and is just trying to teach you a lesson

Forgot. How ofter do you feed him? maybe changing to twice a day would help.

[Jay Caughron]

Have also used mouse traps on edge of counter I use the plastic kind not the old fashion wire type

[Jonathan Shively]

Have also used mouse traps on edge of counter I use the plastic kind not the old fashion wire type

Now that would be instantaneous!!! I like that idea!!! Plus clues us humans into when the situation happens!!!! We then become the "heroes" because we take off those darn things!!!!

[larry merlau]

so what traps are you talking about jay??? and we fed him twice a day early am 5am and then again around 4pm.. on wknds it might be later in the am.. he likes apples he was eating the ribbons from the apple peeler last night and the cores to if they hit the floor and not the barrel... so he got his fiber and natural sugars last night he was one tucker fella though even snored for a bit while sleeping on my legs ,, i was watching the game for awhile and he went to sleep