Dog Training Help

Bubu · Post by **Bubu** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:18 am

My dog, a pit bull named Maggie, already knows quite a lot, she's fairly easy to train and picks up on things quickly. The next thing I'd like to teach her to do is to pick things up and either bring them to me or put them somewhere. (Think of an actor dog, they pick things up and put them somewhere in movies, etc.) She already knows "get your leash", and she's quite well at it. I think its the whole "get your..." something, that she knows. Does anyone have any tips on how I can go about training her to retreive things? Or any websites that might also help me? I've googled Dog Training and didn't really come up with much that would help. Thanks!

KittyCaller · Post by **KittyCaller** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:43 am

Well, I honestly know nothing about dog training (heh, the only animals I've trained are cats, and only one of them's really caught on to everything that I've tried training) but it seems to me that the first step would be teaching the names of the different objects. My dog, a lab/retriever mix, gets the retrieving thing really well, and knows what "bring me your toy" means (and he is NOT easily trained since he's got a pretty bad memory and seems to space out a lot) but I'll bet you can teach Maggie individual names of things. Maybe you could throw the object you want her to get at first, while saying the name over and over. I dunno, just an idea. My cats just do their "tricks" for cat treats.

rottiegirl25 · Post by **rottiegirl25** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:47 pm

First off this type of training takes quite awhile.1. Pick an item only one or too at a time.2. sit it on the floor and show it to her3. tell her to get _________ 4. If she doesn't ppick it up then pick it up hand ot too her and tell the name of whatever it is5. reward her lots of love lots of goodies 6. Repetas she gets to know the various object you can introduce her to more items.Basically the training you are trying to achieve is helper dog training. This takes a great deal of work on the owner and handler. MAke training sessions short and frequent and alway always have fun. If you or oyur dog is not having fun don't press it move on to something else. Also has she passed a canine good citizen test that would be a good thing to do if she is a well mannered well temererd girl pits are so often labled as mean whent hey aren't this type of certification can be useful for showing that the aren't all mean for more information on the go to the american kennel clubs website there is a list of tasks the dog has to do. ALso if she is that well behaved why not try therapy dog work with her that test is a real challange. If you need help locating info on these or othe dog training subjects let me know and i will trry and help you out as much as possible feel free to e-mail me anytime.rottiegirl25@aol.comGood Luck

Bubu · Post by **Bubu** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:59 pm

Thanks a lot, both of you. I'll try these starting tomorrow. I don't think she'll have too many problems with this, she also knows "get your toy" and almost will bring it to me. I have not put her in any classes due to the fact that she doesn't like other animals, especially dogs. I fear she wouldn't do well and that would just knock the pit bull name down even farther. I'm her teacher lol I'll give it a shot and see how she does, like I said I have total faith that she'll do so well in it. She's an awesome dog to train, she does little obstacle courses in my backyard that I make for her, like jumping over hurdle type things and going under/through stuff. She's so awesome lol. All this talking about her makes me want to show her off: Hee hee okay anyhoo thanks for your suggestions, lets see how she does!

JojoA · Post by **JojoA** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:59 pm

What is a canine good citizen test? Is there training manuals for it?I saw you said that Maggie is not freindly to other dogs, that is why mine has never been to formal training either.I have a 7 1/2 year old, 110 pound yellow lab who is great with people, as long as we are around, but always tries to scare off other animals. It doesn't matter if its a small cat or a Rott that's twice her size, she is so territorial and always barks and growls and shows her teeth. I used to be able to let her off her leash and she would be in the garden with me when I was weeding. I would throw the weeds and she would put them in a pile, pretty cute! But now I don't dare because if some one walks by with a dog she will try to "attack" it. When I say "attack" I mean the growling and snarling, not actual biting, but I wouldn't put it past her either. She has only done this to one person, and it was a meat saleguy that was overly aggresive and I think she could tell I was leary of this guy to begin with. But anyway...people always think labs are so friendly..but mine's not. Any ideas? Maggie Mae is a beautiful dog! You must be very proud of her!! I think any dog can be mean, look at my "friendly" lab...As far as training goes, I have only trained my dog to do a few tricks. She just seems to pick up on stuff, like the piling of the weeds. Its like she saw me piling them and just knew to do the same. Although before I throw a thistle I yell "no" and she lets it lay where it drops. It only took her picking up one thistle to learn that lesson! LOL!!

rottiegirl25 · Post by **rottiegirl25** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 5:03 am

On the Akc's website the is a section on the test. Unfortunantly I don't think ethier of these two dogs would be able ot test for it or for therapy dogs. The test is very intensive and includes a section where they are around another dog they are not allowed to resoond to the other dog. They also have to be left with the tester for five min while the owner is out of site "trust me this is the lingest five min i can remember". With my Harley i started him at eight weeks old training. He is now 3 he was constantly socialized with people oother animals i even took him to festivals and would stand close to the noiseiest games so that he wouldn't startle around loud noises. I also worked on him with theraputic massage so tha areas that were very sensitive to touch weren't. Harley has never been in the hands of a proffesional trainer or in any classes all he has been tought was tought by me. His training never stops there is always something new he can learn. here is a shot of my Harley boy.Harley the day of his therapy and CKG tests [IMG]HArley waiting for his new toy to come in the mail.http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y300/r ... CF0015.jpg[/IMG]This is harley at eight weeks old wasn't he a cutie pie

Bubu · Post by **Bubu** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 5:44 am

Awww he is very cute! Maggie was a stray that I found in our backyard 4 years ago. It was the same day we put our house up for sale, then later found out she was 2 weeks pregnant with pups lol. What an insane time that was! The vet guessed she was around 2 then, so I never knew what had gone on before that. But like I said I tried to train her with as much stuff as I could get her to do, she already knew how to shake her paw which kinda led me to teach her other things. Today was the first day I tried teaching her to pick things up, I used a tissue which was kinda dumb on my part since she shredded it after a while lol. I couldn't find anything else at the time lol. She picked it up a few times then started to ignore me so I figured that was good for now. I think I need a harder object lol.

rottiegirl25 · Post by **rottiegirl25** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:33 am

Sounds like a great start. Yeah try something a little harder. My boss taught his shephard to be a helper dog and all u have to tell her is take it and whatever the object is and she picks it up and brings it to you its really cool she stayed with us for almost 9mth and she was quite helpful around here lol. she was great at taking the remote controll and giving it to whoever asked for it.

JojoA · Post by **JojoA** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:49 am

He is very cute!!My lab doesn't startle around any noises. She's a hunting dog, used to gunshots, and she is the only dog I've ever seen that loves fireworks. She gets excited about the bottle rockets and tries to chase them. We have to keep her tied up when we shoot them or she will knock the bottle over and then pick the rocket up in her mouth and throw it. She's had a few blow up on her, but it doesn't bother her at all, she loves it...I'm afraid that my dog is too old for the socialization to have much effect. She's never been around alot of dogs, just a few, but she's always been around people. I'll agree that a test like that would probably be a disaster waitng to happen for my dog. I'm so glad for you and your dog! He's so lucky!

Bubu · Post by **Bubu** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 1:49 pm

Oh my dog is afraid of just about everything. Fireworks, thunder, if you flap a towel or clothes, anything that makes a sound, whether its loud or not. She shakes and quivers like crazy. Poor little thing

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 6:57 am

The A.K.C. Does not have the best dog training. I have a dog school and it is pretty simple. First, you have to give everything you want your dog to pick up a name, then pick up one of the toys you named, lets say you called it frog for now. Try playing fetch with frog and saying pick up frog when you throw it, when your dog brings frog back, praise them. After you have tried that a few times, try putting the toy down and saying pick up frog! That should work, but if it doesn't, don't go back to fetch, just wait and repeat pick up frog about every 30 seconds.