How to proof your dog's obedience. (Obedience training for dogs)

2/6/2013

There is no better sight than that of an obedient and respectful canine companion following its owner's command out in public. The understanding and clear communication between handler and dog is a sight to see, something highly valued and unfortunately quite rare these days.

So how does your average pet owner achieve this level of obedience in their pet? The answer is simple: time and effort! You need to put the work in to enjoy this level of trust and reliability in your dog. The result, however, is more than worth the time. The product of spending the time to properly train and reinforce obedience is a well trained, reliable companion you can count on to behave appropriately and follow orders willingly.

We achieve this level of training first by establishing a good foundation in obedience. Start in your home and in your backyard where there are minimal distractions. Teach the basic commands and ensure your dog understands what is expected of him when you give the verbal cue. Once you can be certain your dog understands what the commands mean, you then move on to adding distractions. Try training outside in a quiet park or in a parking lot that isn't busy. Over time, as your dog succeeds, add more distractions. A busy park or the pet store contains a higher level of distractions. Only move on to these higher levels of distractions when your dog is consistently succeeding in the previous and current phase of training.

Don't rush. Rushing your dog through training can create issues and be frustrating for both you and your dog. Move forward only when you both are ready for it. Be patient and set your dog up for success.

Be creative with your distractions. Have a friend train their dog close to you and yours, or train outside of a busy dog park. Use other dogs and owners to your advantage by training wherever dog owners take their pets. Training near other dogs and very exciting, stimulating situations allows your dog to learn how to ignore those distractions and focus on you and your commands. It teaches them to work under pressure and understand that no matter what is going on around them, they must always obey your command and behave appropriately.

My own dog, Hunter, is currently at the stage where we work with the highest distractions surrounding him. Although he is still a work in progress, I trust him 100% in public and can rest assured that he will obey any commands given to him. That is the result of time and effort, and I am happy to say it took me less than a year to get him there! He is currently only 20 months old and is very trustworthy and reliable.

It is so very worth it to proof your dog's obedience. There is no better feeling than being out in the world with your dog and having them do as you ask when you ask it. Regardless of what is going on around them, you have established a powerful working bond and clear communication between you and your dog.

Lead and they will follow you.

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Angel
K9 Instinct
www.k9instinct.com

23 Comments

Gail

2/6/2013 01:09:55 pm

dog commands link

2/15/2013 11:18:28 pm

Establish an ideal schedule, then be prepared to compromise Let's face it, the vast majority of dog owners would prefer their dog to be walked around the middle of the day, which generally means between 11am and 3pm in the dog walking business.

Wendy

5/6/2013 01:00:20 am

I have a question.. in April we had adopted an approximately 2yo female GSD from a rescue group. She is doing very well with training (I am limited to what I can do because she is HW positive and going thru treatments), anyway, for some reason about 80% of the time when my youngest son comes in the room, she will bark, growl and lunge at him. This weekend she even ran after him barking. I usually hold her when he comes in the room but a couple of times she was closer to the door than I was and he forgot to announce his arrival so I could get her quick enough. Now the good thing when I tell her no, she will stop and come back to me. but I am not sure what to do to stop her from doing this at all. Once he is in the room and sits down, she comes over and loves on him, but until he sits down, she watches his every move. I have him doing some of the training with her, and I have told him to carry a treat with him, and if she does not react negatively to her, to reward her with a treat and give her praise. I don't think she would hurt him, but obviously I don't want to take a chance since I do not know her history. Any suggestions?? She only does this to him.

Mary O'Connell

5/6/2013 03:18:33 am

You are flirting with danger for your child here, you need to get rid of that dog before he hurts him. I have had dogs and children in my life always and I would never ever have a dog that ran and barked and growled at anyone much less a child. We had a dog like that once and put him down before he hurt anyone. You can never trust a dog like that and shouldn't pass him on to anyone else. Sad, very sad, but some dogs just can't be fixed. No one should ever have to be "announced" to a family dog.

Zabrina

5/6/2013 03:36:10 am

I don't think destroying the dog is the best bet. Find someone who will help you. Or someone who will take the dog and help her. Not worth risking your child's health but its a shame to put her down for any reason. If you look for help, someone will help you.

Wendy

6/18/2013 01:49:16 am

Just an update for you Mary -- no need to put down my dog. After taking the advice from a local trainer -- she has done a complete 100% turn around. She now is excited every time my son walks in the room and they now play together. He even takes her outside to play and she has not shown any aggressive actions. She and I have also started obedience training at this same local trainers facility and makes no attempt to do anything to anyone else or their dog. She sits by me with perfect behavior even when several of the other dogs are not so quiet. We will go for her CGC in a few weeks.

K9 Instinct link

5/6/2013 03:46:16 am

With behavioural issues that target another human being with any form of aggression (fear, reactivity, instability, etc), you need to see someone professional in your area. The dog needs a solid one on one plan from someone experienced in working with such issues. Unfortunately I cannot offer any advice to you because I cannot evaluate the dog myself in person.

You may need to do a combination of behaviour modification, obedience training and management. Management means the dog is crated or safely contained when people are around to prevent any negative experiences for dog and person. Some dogs simply require management because the behaviour is so deeply ingrained and instinctual and there is not an experienced enough handler present to correct the issue and work with the dog.

There is no need to rehome or euthanize the animal, I definitely do not recommend either. Crate or confine the dog when you know he will react negatively towards someone and muzzle while outdoors if you must until you can get into a program with someone experienced in working with problem dogs.

Good luck!

wendy

5/6/2013 04:05:36 am

Thank you. I was thinking the same thing. She is crated or I keep her on a leash but not always, but it seems that I should maybe keep her contained a little more. I will also look into the professional training in our area when she is well enough to do so. We have till mid June before she is able to have exercise due to the Heart Worm treatments. He will play with her and she just loves on him, is the reason we cannot understand why she does this and it is not all the time. Yesterday, she was perfectly fine with him?? but again, yes, I will get her into training as soon as she can and I will contain her more in the mean time.

Wendy

5/24/2013 12:37:32 am

I have an update on the behavior problem we spoke about earlier this month! (my GSD going after my young son). Well we found a very good training locally, she comes highly recommended in my area. She does all kinds of training and Agility. Anyway, I took my GSD Jeni and my son to her facility for an evaluation on her behavior. She not only gave me some suggestions to correct the behavior, but also verified that Jeni would be perfectly ok and welcome to come to her obedience training in the group setting. She tested her with her own dogs, and Jeni stayed in her sit position that I gave her and just watched the dog, never showed any aggression. We started the behavior training immediately when we got back home and she has shown amazing results -- she forgets sometimes, but I know it is a work in progress, and we will not give up on her. She is soo spooky smart that I know she will figure out really soon that she cannot act that way. We start "school" as I tell her on 06/13. I cannot wait! We hope to progress all the way to agility training. But my goal right now is proper behavior and then try for her good citizenship award. Thank you again Angel and Zabrina for helping to ease my mind!

Wendy

5/6/2013 03:53:39 am

thank you Zabrina. I was thinking the same thing. I have asked a couple of people (very well known trainers also) who told me to do a lot of supervised time with both of them together. And they all have agreed on letting him do some of the training with her (supervised of course). It is very possible that she was not around children or was around a child that was mean to her. Well I appreciate the suggestions of Mary, I too have been around dogs and children all my life as well, and I have had GSD's before. I do agree that he should not have to announce his arrival, I was merely looking for some other suggestions. Once she is clear of her Heart worms, she will be able to go outside and get more exercise, and also be able to go to some training classes. I would of course never let her hurt my child or anyone else for that matter. I do believe that dogs can be retrained as they do it all the time. She does very well with him when he is training her.

Zabrina

5/6/2013 08:12:39 am

Have you noticed a pattern about this? You said your youngest son? It is only your youngest, and how old are the other kids? Is your son generally happy, bouncy energetic? Is he afraid of the dog at all after these experiences? I'm interested in this because it is a such a shame when we can't live happily with what should be our dearest friends (dogs of course!) Are you in Ontario by chance where you could meet with Angel for an evaluation? I'm in Newfoundland Canada and I wish I could help!

Wendy

5/6/2013 09:53:40 pm

Zabrina, She only does this to him. Yes, he is my youngest at 9 years old, but he is very small for his age. Yes, he is always running around and pretty active. The very first time this happened was about a week or so after we first got her. Jeni (GSD) and I were coming out of the kitchen, and he ran past us up the stairs. She then charged up after him barking. I told him to not do that because in her mind he has just become like a little squirrel. No other pattern to this what so ever. When she is in her crate it even happens. It is only when he comes in one of the doors to the living room, but not everytime. And once he is in and sits down she will go up to him and start licking on him. He does play with her a little (we just have to not let her get excited b'cuz of the HW), and even last night he did a little training with her and she was perfectly fine. I kept her on the leash for most of the night. Yes, he has become afraid of her, but we want him to work through it. No sadly I am in Georgia -- trust me the first thing I did was see where Angel was. Yesterday I found 3 or 4 places in my area that do behavioral training, I just need to find the best one.

Zabrina

5/7/2013 12:33:42 am

Well good luck! I'd like to know how things go:)

K9 Instinct link

6/18/2013 01:50:19 am

Great job, Wendy!! I am so happy to hear that!

Melissa

5/6/2013 01:18:47 am

Great article and so true 2 of our 3 large rescued dogs are at the highest level of distraction as well. One area in our neighborhood is a great spot, on one side of the street is a spastic border collie that hides and sneaks up on you then barks and runs back and forth his eletric fence sometimes even breaking through also in same yard is an active barking Wireimier. On the other side is a shepherd mix that lundges and barks at a full glass window many time I feel he is coming through it. Also, the house next to shepherd has a small white dog that is tied out in its driveway and barks non stop. With our Kahlua a 17 month old Anatolian Shepherd mix and Kane a 3 1/2 year old Presa Canario Mastiff (which we adopted just under 10 months ago) I put them in sits and downs as well as drop their leashes and call to come from a distance in the middle of all this commotion. It is so rewarding to see how far they have come in their obedience since we just started this high level in the last 2 months. Kozmo our 15 month old American Staffordshire / Standard Poodle mix is also just starting his high level and preforming very well. I do this with all 3 of ours at the same time as well as each one individually at times. Well behaved dogs are a true blessing and joy to be around!
I don't see it as hard work since I live being with our 3 dogs and we have such a great bond. I'm also having our sons give the dogs commands so they listen to the entire house and not just my husband and I.

Zabrina

5/6/2013 02:11:21 am

Sound advice! Many people don't realize how important it is to perfect the first time, instead of rushing it than having to go back to start again if there is a problem. I have a question for you Angel; I am showing a young female at our limited local dog shows, and as I'm sure you know when showing GSD's they are supposed to be ahead of you and "appear to be pulling" to give you a better idea of the dogs gait. My problem is that I can't get Layla to go ahead of me. I have been teaching her basic commands except "heel" because I didn't want her to do this, now when we show she runs perfectly beside me :) looks fantastic but not quite what the judge or owners want to see. any tips on training her to "un-heel?"

K9 Instinct link

5/6/2013 02:26:11 am

Zabrina,

In the German SV Ring (The German show ring for the German Shepherd Dog) we teach a verbal command to gait the dogs.

My male Hunter is taught precision heeling in correct position for Schutzhund/IPO (protection sports) and I had to teach him a separate command for showing. We teach the command with the word "hup hup", and use double handling to encourage the dog to gait at the end of the leash without breaking out into a run. Here is a video describing what I mean when I say double handling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KjD4iPMXtJ8

Since this isn't allowed in the CKC ring, we only use it to train them with a word command so when we step into the CKC ring we can give them the command, and they know to trot at the end of the leash.

Instead of un-training behaviours, it is easiest to train the opposite of what they are doing and attach a verbal command to it.

Zabrina

5/6/2013 03:33:40 am

Yes I had considered training her to go ahead and to heel but was really unsure about how to get her to go ahead of me as she stops and turns to me when she gets in front:) a handler friend suggested that I use pegs and rope to make a square inside a square and get her to run in the frame of it to try to teach her to go ahead and still take the corners properly.
I also considered pretending to toss a ball (she's a ball nut) to get her to move ahead of me but she knows if I don't actually throw it.
I guess the best bet would be to teach her the opposite command (i.e. "sit" than "stand") as I did because her default reaction was to sit while waiting and this is also obviously not what's wanted in the ring. So you think someone standing to the side that she wants to see, calling her, will help me get her to the end of her lead? Than I can put a verbal cue on that behaviour? I think I wrote this more complicated than it has to be. But thanks either way.

K9 Instinct link

5/6/2013 03:40:41 am

Creating a clear path with the rope square is a good idea. What I would do is have your double handler hold a ball and just walk ahead of you both far enough that she is in correct position. Then I would give your command, have her move for several long seconds, then have the double handler toss the ball at her and reward with a "GOOD (COMMAND), Good girl!"

For stacking I taught Hunter the "wait" command, which means I will manipulate your body and you are not to move until given your release command. All dogs are different, but this worked well for my high energy, high drive working dog. He knows when I say wait it is time for me to stack him and he must hold position for me until I say otherwise. He has never tried to sit. That being said, I stack him so often that he has gotten used to it. Any dogs being shown in the ring need to be stacked and trotted around the ring very regularly so that they grow accustom to this. You know how chaotic is gets in the ring, they need to have a firm understanding of what is expected of them in the ring.

So, double handle with someone to encourage her to the front of the leash without running (the double handlers enthusiasm will determine how hard she pulls/fast she tries to run, so if she is getting too excited and running have the double handler calm down, go slower and perhaps just display the ball for her and walk ahead) - attach a verbal command to it. Then teach a separate command JUST for holding a stack.

Zabrina

5/6/2013 08:14:33 am

Sounds great :) thanks darling!

Chloe

5/25/2014 12:39:27 am

Great read. Learned a lot. Thanks! Anyway, I do believe that one of the important keys to a successful <a href="http://www.myobedientk9s.com"target="_blank">Dog Training </a> is making yourself the pack leader. Establish first your role as a leader and everything will be easy. Best of luck! :)

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How to proof your dog's obedience. (Obedience training for dogs)

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