[nagdu] Krokus's first big event

[Tracy Carcione]

We just got back from a big harp festival.  It was Krokus's first big event.
He did real well, working through crowds, attending concerts, and working
17-hour days. One of the concerts was quite loud, with electric harps, and
he didn't bat an eye.  He lay quietly in all my workshops and jam sessions
late into the night.  The only bad thing he did was snatch a brownie off the
edge of the registration table.  If I'd known it was there, I would have
kept him away, but I didn't.

I took his Nylabone and his rope, so he could play a bit.  And, when one jam
session was just getting started in one of the rooms, I took off his harness
so he could relax, and he climbed into my lap for a couple minutes happy
patting. But, even with long days, he never did what Ben did-get up and
point to the door as if to say "Bedtime!"

Overall, he did real well.  I was proud of my big puppy. 

Tracy

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Catherine Getchell [mailto:cgtrumpet at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2015 4:48 PM
To: Tracy Carcione
Subject: Re: Click to Guide- Animal distraction

 

Hi Tracy,

 

I usually stop and tell him to look so that I can put my hand down by his
nose and get him to touch my hand with it.  Guess I'm not coordinated enough
to do this while walking.

 

On 7/29/15, Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net> wrote:

> Hi Catherine.

> Thanks for the thorough description of your solutions.  Do you stop 

> and tell him "look", or do you just say "look"?

> Krokus is becoming somewhat dog-distracted.  People-distracted 

> sometimes, too; must be his inner golden.

> Tracy

> 

> 

>> Hi Jan,

>> 

>> Your dog and mine must be related.  Though mine's a cross.  This has 

>> also been a major issue for us.  He doesn't bark at them, but he does 

>> (or did) often lunge and get very excited.  Though I absolutely 

>> resisted the prong collar and have used other methods to manage the 

>> behavior.  The first thing I did that worked was to use the gentle 

>> leader consistently for several weeks.  With the gentle leader on, 

>> Miles responded to lighter corrections and did so more quickly.  It 

>> also gave me more control over his body movements.  I gradually 

>> tapered off the gentle leader use, but using it was helpful as a 

>> training tool.

>> 

>> The second thing I did that worked was to use the clicker to distract 

>> him from the dog.  I used the "look" command, paired with click and 

>> treat, to get him to understand that when I said "look," he was to 

>> look at me, taking his attention away from the dog.  Basically, I 

>> wanted to get across that I was more important than the dog.  I first 

>> practiced Look with C&T for several days so he got the idea of what 

>> the command meant.  Now I can use it on the street even without the 

>> clicker, at least for only mildly distracting dogs.

>> 

>> I'd say it was a combination of these two things, plus very firm 

>> corrections, that got him to eventually realize that he couldn't 

>> lunge at small dogs.  Now he sometimes still does get distracted, but 

>> he has not lunged at a dog while working in a very long time.

>> 

>> Another thing that happened, and I honestly cannot take credit for 

>> this, is that he somehow decided he should slow down when he spies a 

>> dog up ahead.  I think he figured out that slowing down would reduce 

>> his temptation to lunge at the dog, and he knew what would happen if 

>> he lunged.  So now he basically signals to me that he sees another 

>> dog, and I choke up on the leash a little bit, just to remind him 

>> that no misbehavior will be tolerated.  Almost all the time when this 

>> happens, we are able to go past the dog with minimal issue -- Mostly 

>> a firm hop up or leave it.

>> 

>> I'd say that of all the strategies I've listed, the one he developed, 

>> slowing down when he sees a dog, has been the most helpful.  I have 

>> no vision, so often times that's the only way I know about the dog 

>> distraction possibility ahead of time.  So I can't take credit for 

>> that strategy.  He came up with it, and it works for us.  But it had 

>> to start with intervention on my end.

>> 

>> Stick with your gal and keep at it.  But if you feel that her 

>> behavior is putting your safety in jeopardy, it's time to call Seeing 

>> Eye and get them to come out and evaluate.  Like if she would be 

>> liable to pull you into traffic or something in pursuit of another 

>> dog, it might be time for a career change.  Good luck!

>> Catherine

>> 

>> On 7/28/15, Janet Brandly <jbrandly at shaw.ca> wrote:

>>> Hello everyone,

>>> 

>>> My dog, a 2.5-year-old GSD, is very distracted by small dogs and cats.

>>> When

>>> we're working, she will bark and lundge at them. I can control her 

>>> using the prong collar prescribed during our training in December, 

>>> but her behaviour does catch me off balance and I'm having do to 

>>> damage control with the animals' owners. Does anyone out there have 

>>> any suggestions as to how I could use clicker training to break this 

>>> cycle?

>>> 

>>> Thank you,

>>> 

>>> Jan

>>> 

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>> 

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> 

> 

>