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  1. #1
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    What does "daily training" look like in your house?

    Stormy is almost 9 months and she's a little wild. She gets a lot of exercise- multiple walks plus either one or two playdates/dog park playtimes each day. To help with mental stimulation, she gets at least one meal per day in a food toy, like the Wobble kong or tug-a-jug.

    I think she could use more training, though. We did puppy k and level 1 obedience, so she learned the basics. We practice NILIF. In the evening, I usually run through all the commands she knows (sit, shake, down, circle, spin, wait, stay, come, crawl, leave it, where's [insert toy name], bring it), but even mixing it up, that only takes 5 minutes total. On the other hand, that seems to be her attention span.

    So fellow lab owners, what do YOU do for daily training?
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
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    Mr Kleb (06-12-2019)

  3. #2
    House Broken Jen5200's Avatar
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    Well Bella is a bit over 6 months now, so I totally get the “wild” comment. Bella does a puppy class one day per week and we’ll keep doing that for a while yet. She goes to a training-based doggie daycare 1-3 days per week so that she’s not cooped up while I’m at work (this helps a bit with the energy for us - 8 hours of running with other hounds). We do a couple of walks/ball/fetch/training sessions every evening. I try to mix them up since she has the attention span of a fruit fly - 5 minutes of training practice, fetch and bring things back, walk/run around and sniff for a few minutes and then back to some more focused practice, then more fetch or walking. Weekends there’s more opportunities for walk/play/train sessions, and walks at new places thrown in. I think she’s doing pretty well for her age, and hoping that the attention span continues to expand a bit with age . We also use the Kong wobble for some meals and try to give her problems to solve like hiding a few kibbles under/in something and letting her figure out how to get them.

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    Mr Kleb (06-12-2019)

  5. #3
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    Well, given I compete in Obedience we do a lot of training, but not necessarily every day. We do train a lot of things - each exercise has multiple components and we work on all of it. Sounds like she needs a job to do ... have you considered dog sports of any kind?
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
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    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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    Mr Kleb (06-12-2019)

  7. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Annette47 View Post
    Well, given I compete in Obedience we do a lot of training, but not necessarily every day. We do train a lot of things - each exercise has multiple components and we work on all of it. Sounds like she needs a job to do ... have you considered dog sports of any kind?
    Eventually, agility. Right now we practice “out”, “through” for gates, and the small tunnel. No jumping, obviously. We’ve been having rotten weather, though, which has restricted the agility.
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
    Birthday 9-13-18, Gotcha Day 11-11-18
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    Mr Kleb (06-12-2019)

  9. #5
    Real Retriever Murphy030813's Avatar
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    Sounds like you need a second dog?
    Just kidding....
    Murphy & Mayson

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  11. #6
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Henry is about 11 months old now- almost. We've done a couple rounds of obedience training so he knows those "tricks" but most of the training we do each day is more of a reinforcement of what he already, supposedly, knows. I have him do some of those for treats when he comes inside after playing outside for a bit. We do a few walks each day working on not pulling and just being chill when walking by other dogs in yards or on leads. We practice "wait" several times through the day, wait for me to put your food bowl down, wait until I tell you to go through the door to go outside, wait until I tell you to come out of your crate (whether in the house or in the car).

    I need to ramp up the training on coming when called. In the yard he'll come, especially if I say come in for a treat or come and get some cheese. I want to be able to let him run on the beach without terrorizing walkers or other families so he needs to get his act together on that front. We have a couple of beach trips coming up. I've got the book Snowshoe frequently recommends, Control Unleashed, but I seriously need to work on training MYSELF to accomplish that.

    Maybe the hardest thing right now is to help him understand he doesn't get my undivided attention at all times. To me this is also a form of training. I want him to be able to relax in the house without having to be put in his crate. In our obedience classes they started right from the beginning having them on a leash that we were sitting on but basically ignoring them as much as possible, so that they would learn to lie quietly beside us. Initially this involved a lot of jumping up on me, yanging this way and that on the end of the lead, going behind the chair and under the chair, barking, pulling, jumping again. Aside from pushing them down if they jumped up, we were to try to ignore them and not give them specific commands to lie down, just let them learn to be ignored for a bit without having anything to entertain them, no bones, no bully sticks, just lie there quietly. We also practiced "go to your place" with the dog going to their bed and lying down and staying there for increasing periods of time. I don't expect him to just lie around all the time but if he's walked, played outside and done some good running around, done his puppy push-ups or other obedience type activities some, he's eaten, he doesn't have to go to the bathroom, then for goodness sake, just chill the heck out buddy! This gets practiced every day, too. To me, having him be able to NOT do something for a while is about as important as being able to do all the tricks I want him to do.

    Speaking of which, I should go do a little practice on coming when called- the weather today, or at this moment, is pretty spectacular.

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    Mr Kleb (06-12-2019)

  13. #7
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
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    With Barley we work on everything he's learned so far. Admittedly I do it less so with Thor, but he's 5 1/2 years old. Barley is still 'attention span of a flea' years old so I like to continue to work with him. We practice NILIF for both of them, so Thor still gets reinforced behaviors, just not as much 'training'.

    Just recently we've started adding to his trained behaviors by observing some things he does naturally and giving it a name. For example, right before dinner he gets really excited and runs in circles. We've started naming that behavior ('twirl') and reinforcing it, and now he'll do it on command.

    I also completely agree with Smartrock about training the ability to relax and be ignored. This used to mean forced timeouts in the crate, but now Barley has learned to relax on his own. It helps to be on a somewhat regular schedule. For example, right now is when I'm usually catching up on email, bills, news, getting my day organized. The dogs have had breakfast, been poop'd, had some morning belly rubs and attention, and had a first round of biteyface. Now they are both snoozing on the floor under my desk. Typical morning routine. Up until a few months ago I'd have to crate barley at this time to get him to STOP DEMANDING MY ATTENTION.

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    Mr Kleb (06-12-2019)

  15. #8
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    The griff will be a year at the end of the month. Right now daily training consists of one jerky stick and us on the patio practicing small components of larger exercises. Maybe it's heel, one step, sit. Maybe it's sit, walk around. Maybe it's a sit/stay where I do a recall or possible return to her. Sometimes it's just walking her at heel with a treat in my left hand to keep her right at my side. Othertimes it's just about stand and look pretty for conformation. Her house manners are going to be what they are, but we plan on competing in Rally and Obedience and whatever I can solidify now in small bits will help us later.

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  17. #9
    Senior Dog bmathers's Avatar
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    What does "daily training" look like in your house?

    I walk him pretty much every day, at least once and sometimes twice. During those walks, we are almost exclusively working on loose leash. He is getting better, but still has moments where he lunges at a smell or a dog (totally for play.) I recently switched from the gentle leader nose harness back to the Balance IT body harness and it seems about the same in terms of helping me handle his pulling. During walks I also work on not jumping on people, as most of the time we encounter other walkers (adults and kids) who want to say hi to him. He is getting better at that too, but every so often jumps up and kisses someone’s face before I can react.

    I try to do training every day in the house. We practice things we are learning in his weekly Attention class, so sit, down, sit/stay, down/stay, heel, front, heel and walk, heel from front, stand, backup, getting up on bosu ball and turning around, going around a chair in both directions, touch, and roll over.

    We do dock diving practice once a week and Attention class once a week. I am also doing a private lesson once a week to work on general obedience things, working towards his CGC.

    My biggest thing I wish he could do more is play with other dogs. Since he got kicked out of daycare for humping, he hasn’t had much opportunity to play with dogs, which he would love. Trying to find some dogs that live close, but all his dog friends are far away. We do encounter a lot of dogs on our walks, but after they say hi, we keep on walking. I do have a weekly walk with his sister, but they’re on leash.
    Last edited by bmathers; 06-11-2019 at 07:08 PM.

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  19. #10
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bmathers View Post
    My biggest thing I wish he could do more is play with other dogs. Since he got kicked out of daycare for humping, he hasn’t had much opportunity to play with dogs, which he would love. Trying to find some dogs that live close, but all his dog friends are far away. We do encounter a lot of dogs on our walks, but after they say hi, we keep on walking. I do have a weekly walk with his sister, but they’re on leash.
    So many dogs hump, including neutered females, you'd think a doggy daycare would have the skills to deal with that behavior. Are they concerned that he's humping and not neutered or do they kick out every dog that humps? Seems like they'd have a rather limited clientele. My daughter's female dog humped other dogs and she was neutered at 4 months of age. Henry occasionally tries to hump Lark but he's been corrected so many times, by us, not by her, that he's trying that much less frequently. I'm not certain how Henry is with other dogs off leash although he does go to a kennel occasionally where they do play times with other dogs and I've never been told he has a humping issue. I used the same kennel with our previous lab who was not neutered until he was 3 years old, Henry isn't neutered, and they don't seem to have a problem with their behavior or neutering status. Is there another DDC close enough for you to try again?

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    Mr Kleb (06-12-2019)

 



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