Thread: Dog training problems and answers

Worth a thread for one thinks given we have some people on here that train their dogs to a reasonable level and of course Ruff being a dog trainer -will he cough up his tit bits ??? lol

We all face different difficulties when training dogs so let here them and see a few methods used .

My expectation for my dog when training is high but in reality my dog has very few commands .Well whilst it looks alot below it isnt really

voice commands Sit -come -fetch it up --

hand commands =High hand open palm means stop -high to low hand means drop , open palma close in means stop .

Whistle commands -one peep means move -long peep from high to low means stop and drop --two peeps means come
underbreath low chchc sound means road forward

My training with a young pup all starts with happy happy everything !!! Feed with a small shot of the cap gun directly before a feed to get the dog used to the shotgun in the future .

Most puppy's learn pretty quickly when it comes to training "IF"you are consistent -the most important thing with training is CONSISTENCY OF SOUND TRAINING PRACTICE .

Anyway a little oultline of what commands I train into my dog .
As I am at work I cannot expand further till a little later in the day or night into what I do which is nothing more than basic

I would be interested to know what a typical training session for you involves? What sort of routines/excercises do you do etc?

Luke whats probably more relevant is what type of dog you personally have and what do you do with him -gun dog -trialing -just a pet ?? What expectation do you have with your dog in the field ? Also age and where your at with him currently

I have a 16 month old GSP bitch. I use her for deer indicating at the moment as that is my main target. Basically I expect her to indicate the animals and preferably take me to them , but she hasn't taken me in onto one yet, but she will indicate it beforehand. She hunts about 1-2m ahead of me when in the bush. She has indicated alot of animals and knows what they are, I have shot about 7 with her.
She knows the basics, come & sit (whistle), down and stay. I have been adding in hand signals as well. I have been trying to get a sit at a distance with a whistle and ideally a hand signal but its not happening. Mainly because i don't know how to train that. Bear in mind this is my first dog so have stuffed alot of things up. Is that what your after?

Not trying to make an argument here at all, let's get that straight first. I am just interested: how have have people taught their dog to down/sit? Do you add a verbal cue or visual cue first?

verbal first as your hands would be tied up making the dog sit

Originally Posted by Kaimaicockher

verbal first as your hands would be tied up making the dog sit

Hmm, what I thought. Oldschool thanks.

na thats new skool


my voice commands sit, come , dogs name as a release

hand commands arm hand straght up means stop ,, arm motion kinda like hitler salute means back ,, arm hard right/left ect...

whistle commands one long peep is stop two short peeps is turn lots of short peeps is come

Originally Posted by Kaimaicockher

na thats new skool


my voice commands sit, come , dogs name as a release

hand commands arm hand straght up means stop ,, arm motion kinda like hitler salute means back ,, arm hard right/left ect...

whistle commands one long peep is stop two short peeps is turn lots of short peeps is come

pretty much the same.. but three short for come...but the odd extra peep slips in... and wait is a verbal I use and Ok when feeding,

Worst thing in training is kids..... they never run the true commands and can undo lots of good work......

But everyone has a different use for the dogs and different training method so I can see some debate coming in a thread like this....

Yes Dougie I also give the comand sit then make the dog sit, or lay down so she knows what I am on about.

leathel you're spot on with the kids, same goes for boyfriends

Originally Posted by Kaimaicockher

na thats new skool


my voice commands sit, come , dogs name as a release

hand commands arm hand straight up means stop ,, arm motion kinda like hitler salute means back ,, arm hard right/left ect...

whistle commands one long peep is stop two short peeps is turn lots of short peeps is come

I am presuming this is only for continental dogs LOL

Sit lesson for me . I use the word sit to the puppy and push either his butt to the floor or whole body down on the ground depending on which you prefer.
Again sit -push down --he moves --sit push down -- after a time ,maybe a week or two he does what he is told but one needs to be vigilant in doing this often and consistently with how you want your dog to go down butt or belly

I know I am not a hunting dog owner here, but does nobody using luring for position instruction? *awaits smiting down from the heavens of hunting dog trainers*

I know Ruff thinks that my methods are 'bribing' but teaching hand targeting has been a great tool and my own personal dog is toy motivated (game of tug on a rolled up tea towel, think back to those episodes on TV with drug/bomb/search dogs etc) and used hand targeting for a large number of behaviours - sit, down, back up (at a heel and in front of me), crawl, moving rear end only in either direction, jumping over stuff, getting under stuff, climbing across beams/trees, recall, look left, look right....then all of the 'trick' behaviours where I use paw to hand targeting (the others are nose to hand targeting)

Again, I don't know anything about hunting dogs, but surely a sit or down for a hunting dog is just the same for a pot licker, obedience dog, agility dog.......?

I don't use any form of "Lure" but then my dog is eager to please and does what she is told (not asked ) pretty quick. The only thing different about sit for hunting is when hunting its hand signals only...a click of the finger equates to a stern voice if she isn't paying attention

No difference Dougie in any dog .Clear precise objectives carried out in a fun consistent manner.Whilst I recognize yours methods are vastly different to Ruffs model if yours is working its working .I dont do treats , if I had them I would fight the dog for them and end up eating them myself

There is no single method in training just some that may work better than others and one needs to objectively sample those methods to make an informed decision.