Training Advice - 5 month CKCS

Hi All

I'm looking for further help, please, with training Scarlett my CKCS.I've had dogs in the past but she's my first puppy.We have started with sit and her recall is good,though she does have a little "selective hearing" We play "find it" with her ball and pieces of carrot in the house and the garden.

With the sit we have been having small,5-10 min sessions,a couple of times a day.

Like most pups, Scarlett likes her food (she is wormed up to date, so I'm putting it down to pup greed) I use nibbles of chicken and JWB crackerjacks as training treats.I quarter up the JWBs for speed purposes.I call her calmly and try to make sure she doesn't see the treat.She has a tendency to leap and paw at it on the sit.I'm sure I'm not holding it too high but I could be in hindsight Could someone kindly advise me on how I can tackle this, please?

I'm quite confused with the different advice I have read from various places.By this I mean the case of when to say sit :- as the legs begin bending, when the bottom touches the floor...As soon as Scarlett sees the treat, she almost just folds up like a deck chair so the sit it quite immediate with those Cavie back legs

Also, when comes the point when Scarlett will know to sit without a treat? I know at 5 months it may seem like a long shot asking that and I'm patient of course with her training.We always end on a good note and usually go for a walk to the park or to the disused pit near my village which always makes for a lovely walk

Thanks for reading, I'm sorry for the essay just trying to get everything down so we can start making a little more progress.

Lilly

x

Aww she sounds cute
I would get rid of the treats in your hand ASAP as she will get so she wont do anything without seeing a treat
I would do a couple of normal sits then pretend you have a treat and ask for a sit and reward from your other hand

Also try some different tricks too - a down or a spin or something else you will get stuck with just sits
A training class is a fun way to learn differnet things - or head onto you tube theres lots of fun training tutorials there - look for clicker or free shaping or positive training and you will have so much fun

At five months their brains are like little sponges and they can learn so much - just so long as the main thing they are learning is that using their brains is good and working with you is fun

How about training the stay?At the moment it sounds like she s just conditioned to sit as soon as she sees you reach for a treat (clever girl) but is not actually listening to the command. I would introduce a series of commands like , sit , stay , heel etc then a treat the the end somewhere or even at a random point that you see fit to give it....
have fun!!

Add a down and a stand to her traning sessions.

Down is when you move the hand with the treat onto the floor between her front legs, she will be sitting for this anyway as she will have seen the treat (G)!

Stand is the treat moving from her nose forward att eh same height as her nose. I am finding this hard with the pup I am training at the moment so I have resorted to rewarding when she is standing and I'll put the word in later.

Don't say the down or stand words until she is doing the action for the hand 10 out of 10 times---then add the word.

Once you have added the word don't gve her a titbit f she does it off her own bat----only when you ask her to do it.That is called putting it on cue---the cue can be word or action but you want words.

For the titbits I'd use tiny bits of cheese, chicken roll and other tasty stuff mixed with her usual food.

You would have fun in classes I expect as well, and learn loads.

rune

I just remembered I had these vids o Ben when he was 6 months old
a bit embarresing now, but you can see some of how he was trained

http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t...rdentrick1.flv
http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t...rdentrick2.flv

- he can do them all now without treats infront of his nose

Many thanks for all your replies.I'm very excited about trying some out tonight

We have been learning sit firstly as I wish to take her to Training at our village hall, though they need to be able to sit on command before joining.

Ben - thanks for the vids, Ben is a cutie.I'm thinking of looking into Clicker training.Could you advise me on perhaps introducing this at some point, please?

Rune - so asking for a sit ten times and then rewarding afterwards? I sound so dim

Thanks again

Not what I meant, sorry not to be clearer.

The sit is fine, for the down and the stand, don't put the word in until she can do it 10 out of 10 times just for the hand action amd the titbit.

The clciker would be good f you can cope with it, its easier of someone can show you how it is done.

Its odd that the class want you to have a sit before you start---have you been along and watched them at all?If not I'd go as a spectator one week and make sure you approve of whatever methods they use.

runr

Thanks for that Rune.I think it was me either reading what wasn't there or just not engaging brain


Its odd that the class want you to have a sit before you start---have you been along and watched them at all?If not I'd go as a spectator one week and make sure you approve of whatever methods they use.


Sorry, I meant to add, John and have agreed we would go along and watch a session this Wednesday evening as I understand a lot of trainers don't always used the best methods.I wouldn't be happy joining anywhere where myself or Scarlett wouldn't be happy Thanks though, I wonder how many owners go and just follow suit

Clicker training should really be used to teach the dog to use it's brain, not used an a"tool"for training at a later stage.

Basically you use the clicker before the verbal command as the noise the clicker makes is constant.

I use Karen Pryor's clicker methods, you can download them from her site.

I forgot to add
at one point I had Ben up on his back legs - I didnt know better at the time and should not have done that trick till he was much older - thankfully I dont 'drill' tricks and had only done it for a short time