Rango and I attended a training class yesterday with a few others from our group. It is a nice setup. A trainer out of Burleson has offered to hold free training lessons for fosters or rescue groups. This class is how to train you to train a dog...not to train just one dog but all that come through the door. I definitely had the most difficult dog in the place but he was learning quickly. This week we have to focus on sit, front (quickly come to me), front with a sit, and stay. All this preferably off leash. Rango gets so distracted and by the end of class he had eaten so many treats he didn’t care any longer. Who could blame him I was sick of touching the nasty things. We were using wienies since they are cheap and dogs love them. At least this way I can get more fat on him. The trainer told me how to handle his excessive barking, says he panics when I leave him. So I tested the technique and well, we will have to work more on that. He says to empty a tin of Altoids and put 4-6 pennies inside. Tape it shut. Then when he gets to barking through it at the door/kennel he is at. Well that stopped him at first but only a few minutes....We will keep working on this.
Hi Kelly! I just stumbled upon your blog because of our shared interest in dog rescue. I think it is great that a trainer has offered his services for free for your foster dogs! However, this method you mentioned about throwing the altoids can at the dog to stop the barking is quite adversive and could cause the dog to react aggressively if continued. I am a dog trainer and would suggest ignoring the barking to the best of your ability. The second he stops barking you can go to him say "quiet" and offer a treat or let him out of his kennel only to do this over and over again. I know it can be extremely trying to just let him bark, but throwing objects at his kennel to startle him will only interupt the behavior briefly and it will definitely return. Good luck!
ReplyDelete