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  1. #1
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
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    Focus in distraction

    Last night we went to adult training class. gigi struggled alot with the distraction sections.
    the trainer spread the floor with toys,treats and then was bouncing balls . she had alot squeaking toy. she has a toy puppy doll she was cuddling and making noises with
    gigi was suppose to focus on me . lets say she was very excited and want to play with the trainer , toy puppy doll has to be sniffed. treats she got the leave it command as she is used to .

    She also had a tough time to just lay touching another dog. it took a quite a while to get her to relax touching another dog.

    So i have a week and i want to work on focus.
    i tried riding my stationary bike today with the squeaker ball which i was making noise with. i kept calling her name and everytime she made eye contact i threw the ball for fetch.
    some more ideas .

    we will be dog sitting another dog so i will have a chance to work on calming down with that dog this week too.

    being the first class, she did the akc test of somekind. gigi failed as she could see me walking around and cried. she was very good in far of commands and sign languages.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    This was your first class? If that is the case, the building, new people and new dogs alone are enough distraction even for a trained dog. Distraction takes time to work up to and should not be added (at least, not on purpose) until the exercises are solid.

    There are three D’s to dog training: duration, distraction and distance. All teaching begins with duration, what the behavior looks like and how to do it. Then you build on duration. For example, the stay. Stay starts with one second and builds slowly to several minutes, but one second at a time and if the dog fails at three seconds, we go back to two seconds and we don't move forward until it is easy for the dog. This builds a strong foundation for stay. You want to build duration with every exercise you teach your dog. This will prepare her to remain engaged when faced with distractions. Just like humans, we start easy and build on that knowledge, whether school or work or a hobby. With dogs, we often expect them to go from kindergarten to high school in one six-week class. Inch by inch it’s a cinch, yard by yard it’s hard – for both you and your dog.


    Once you have duration and this is easy for her in your regular training place, you add distraction at home, maybe with toys or food and then by practicing in all kinds of places. But, you start easy. Let's say your dog has a perfect three minute sit-stay in your house with distractions and now you want to practice outside of the house, say at a PetSmart. You might have to start in the parking lot, asking for a few seconds, then build that behavior until you have duration in the parking lot. Then maybe you move to the sidewalk in front of the PetSmart. Again, you start with little duration and build on this. Then, you might make it into the lobby...then the store...then the store in front of the parakeets. It all depends on the dog, of course.

  3. #3
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
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    Thanks . So i can ask her to sit,down and stay and walk away. She will hold it till i ask her to release. I even go around the house closing doors and even squeaking toys. I will return and she will be waiting . But the trainer told me she wants to see what is the baseline before starting . But i felt gigi was just overwhelmed with the surrounding. toys , bouncing balls, squeaking toys , a puppy doll and other dogs with cookies all over the floor. The trainer and her co trainer where hopping around in the floor too.

    The other dog which came there, went swimming before the class and was calmer. I wonder if i should walk gigi maybe 2 miles before the class. Maybe she was pumped as she did not get walked as i wanted her to be not tired.?. It is a 8 pm class. so is it better to take a couple mile walk before training to get the edge off or have them rest all day .

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  5. #4
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
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    that was class 1? that's bit insane for beginner obedience to be honest. as mentioned the room and new people/dogs ALONE would be pretty distracting. Even dogs used to classes tend to be a bit off on the first class with the "newness". Heck I think even if I went with Rocky my senior he'd be like "OMG" by that. Penny would have been a nut.

    Yes you want to exercise before class. Not so much that's she is exhausted because it would be hard to concentrate that way but take the edge off.

    Practice in other environments (with a leash - you won't get as much distance but that's ok because you are changing the distraction level). don't go right into a park but even just the front yard; ask for a sit stay and back away with the leash. If the backyard is fenced you can try there too. Again you are increasing distraction so don't go as far or expect as long a stay.

  6. #5
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
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    Last night she did excellent..She was on a 30 ft Leash and off leash training on heel , long sit ,down and stay . Alot of distraction with people shopping and other dogs and she was solid .
    We even did some far where I was out of site on a curved.wall.

    We did try a Herm Spengler collar and she was good.i ended up double clipping so it acts like a regular collar.

    She is getting better off leash. Even though all has been in dog parks.i will take her off leash in the woods in spring with her GPS tracker on.

    I am being asked who is the breeder is all the time now to get another pup. I tell them to get a pure breed lab, not alot regular lab owners can tell she is a mix .

    Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

  7. #6
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
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    Got to say letting the dog off leash with a 25 foot cord to track it down and then train is a little stress er.

    The trainer used a paper string which can easily be torn when the dog pulls as the only attachment to the dog .We worked on heel,turn, sit and walk with a paper leash. Then the dread 8`s. we did 8`s where the 2 cones were other dogs sitting with there owner. first the 2 dogs where 10 feet apart , then 4 feet apart . tough part was the paper leashes. any pull it rips.

    gigi ofcourse did good, especially a tonne of exercise where she had to read my command through people and other dogs in the way . she had to do front where she will come to me from 20 feet away but criss cross other dogs and there handlers. On some exercise i will signal a down and she will do a down and then proceed to come to me on command. the key is to hold eye contact through all the distraction. She even did touching other dogs with hand signals. Touching other dogs and ignoring them was tough on the 2nd class.

    proud of my little lab mix. I am getting a 50 ft leash and working more off lease stuff.

  8. #7
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
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    This class is done /complete and i got to say she performed even better .

    last class before certification, her test was to laydown next me sitting on a chair except facing backwards. she was surrounded by cookies , bouncing balls, squeky toys which the trainer was playing with, other dogs walking by me so by her back.
    she wanted to see so kept looking around but laying down. then a group of kids and there pets showed and these were very loud . she held her spot .

    this was more hectic then the first class by a long shot but she did well... next i think i will do agility or rally. can some one point to an rally exercises, her drive has increased - she needs to play with a chuck it tool to fling the balls far for 4-5 sessions of 20-30 minutes of hard running now. She also is running at the dog park and i take off leash jogging in the woods where i do 2 and she probabily runs like 5 miles. Is it even normal for a 1 yr old lab mix to be this high drive i have no clue. every lab i meet is sweet and calm. Gigi is sweet as long as she gets her drive satisfied.

 



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