[nagdu] Barking

[Cyndy Otty]

This sounds like what Fidelco calls "*targetting*" — I know a few other
schools are doing similar commands, too. The way Fidelco teaches it is that
you have a treat in your fist and when your dog hears its name, she should
touch her nose to your hand and she gets the treat. You start out with the
dog right in front of you in a *sit* and then work up the complexity, such
as making your dog touch an empty fist first then the fist with the treat
(before getting the treat) or being further from the dog and making her come
to you, sit and touch your hand before getting the treat. Anyway, the basic
idea is that you get your dog's attention via positive reinforcement. It has
practical applications, too, such as being able to recall your dog or get
them into harness or in conjunction with *leave it*. When using it with *leave
it*, you call the dog's name when she's distracted (or doing something she
shouldn't be) and if she doesn't respond *then and only then* do you correct
with a *leave it* and call the dog's name again.

As for using it with the aggression issue, well, I can't say much on that.
Aggression is an issue all onto itself and my personal opinion is that
you'll need more than just yourself to deal with that. I would definitely
insist an instructor come out to observe the dog or as Julie suggested try
and get a local behaviorist or trainer to help you out.

Regards,
Cyndy

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 8:18 PM, AnnaLisa Anderson <annalisa at sector14.net>wrote:

> Hi Lora,
>
> I'm sorry you're having trouble.  Another girl from Leader that's on the
> email list was having a similar problem with her dog.  She had a trainer
> come work with her on it, and this is what the trainer suggested to her.
> I'm repeating it second hand, so forgive me if I don't describe it very
> well.  She called it the name game.  You have to have lots of high value
> treats on hand for this, like cooked chicken or cut up hot dogs--something
> Myrtle really likes, not just kibble.  Reserve these special treats only
> for
> the name game, she never gets them any other time.  if Myrtle starts to
> lunge or bark at another dog, call her name.  As soon as her head turns
> toward you, give her a treat and praise her up real good.  Keep doing this
> again and again until she gets the idea that when you say her name,
> something really good will happen.  You will want to practice doing this in
> your house where it's nice and quiet, with no other distractions at first.
> Then when she is consistently responding well to her name by turning toward
> you, if you know anyone else with dogs that are friendly or that Myrtle
> likes, have them help you set Myrtle up so you can try it that way first
> before you meet a strange dog.
>
> Hope that makes sense.  This girl said that worked very well with her dog,
> and she hardly ever has aggression problems at all now.   It was a lot of
> work though to get to that point.
>
> Write to me off list if you want more clarification on this.  Good luck.
>
> AnnaLisa and Sundance
>
> <annalisa at sector14.net>
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