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Post by zahada on Jun 7, 2014 14:10:22 GMT
I wish I could say he was cured zahada!  He has definitely improved though  He has found a few tennis balls out on walks that I have been able to take from him. Asking him to drop them doesn't seem to work as they are just so high value to him; I have been trying but to no avail. But I am able to take them from him as I said, I get him on his lead and then take hold of it and he will let go in the end. Although I usually have to pry it from his mouth :/ There is no growling at least so I suppose that is a little improvement? I haven't been working on that as much as I should have though so it's my own fault. We are having much better progress in other areas though! If he picks up something in the house I usually intercept him before he gets to his special corner and tell him to drop it, he usually does it immediately. I usually don't even have to ask him to drop things when we are on walks now - as soon as I clip his lead on it's on the floor! Perhaps he doesn't know what you want when you tell him to drop? The clipping of the lead on seems to be conveying a message to him. I would start introducing a new command for dropping when the lead goes on. Maybe 'release'? Also I wouldn't be prying the ball out of his mouth. I would do one of two things. Just keep my fingers on the ball until you feel his jaws relaxing. Immediately I'd say good boy and let him carry on. You don't want him to think that every time you are near his mouth he will lose his ball. Second thing I would try would be keeping him on a short lead and not move until he dropped the ball. No command. Just wait. Then as soon as ball on the floor he would be told to go and play again. Is that workable? You've come so far well done, you can't have much further. |
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Post by alfiemummy on Jun 7, 2014 14:45:36 GMT
When we're in the house I don't use a lead, I just tell him to drop. I think he does know what I mean and just doesn't want to do it. When we were training outdoors he wouldn't drop it straight away but I think he has gotten used to me putting him on the lead before saying drop - I suppose he knows the game is up so just drops it right away now?
I don't really want to pry the ball from his mouth but it takes so long to get it from him otherwise, if I can get it at all! It's not possible for me to always wait that long as we walk with other people and their dogs. I have often been left waiting for him to drop something for 20 minutes or more (I can be just as stubborn!) and that has never been with a ball, that's just with sticks and bones and the like! I don't know if he actually would drop a ball at all, or if he did I would certainly be waiting for an extremely long time.
I think the main problem is my lack of training with the balls - I have been focusing on everything else instead so they are our next mission!
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Post by zahada on Jun 7, 2014 14:52:08 GMT
When we're in the house I don't use a lead, I just tell him to drop. I think he does know what I mean and just doesn't want to do it. When we were training outdoors he wouldn't drop it straight away but I think he has gotten used to me putting him on the lead before saying drop - I suppose he knows the game is up so just drops it right away now? I don't really want to pry the ball from his mouth but it takes so long to get it from him otherwise, if I can get it at all! It's not possible for me to always wait that long as we walk with other people and their dogs. I have often been left waiting for him to drop something for 20 minutes or more (I can be just as stubborn!) and that has never been with a ball, that's just with sticks and bones and the like! I don't know if he actually would drop a ball at all, or if he did I would certainly be waiting for an extremely long time. I think the main problem is my lack of training with the balls - I have been focusing on everything else instead so they are our next mission! What does he value more? The ball or freedom to run around? |
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Post by alfiemummy on Jun 7, 2014 18:22:34 GMT
The ball zahada, unfortunately! I'm not sure what to make of what happened today either. I was at his Springer friend's house again and he found a tiny piece of plastic from somewhere. I did what we do at home and asked him to let go but he was reluctant. He has started to paw and nuzzle at me (still holding the item), what's that all about? I ignored it and he let go after a few minutes. Should I ignore him when he does that? Is he trying to pacify me? We were just about to leave when he came in from the garden with a tennis ball. I wasn't in a hurry so I thought I would take the opportunity to practice. I waited for well over half an hour and he showed no signs at all of letting go. I was hoping to do what you'd said but he didn't even start to relax his jaws, he just looked like he was going to fall asleep. In the end my patience was running out so I tried a different tactic just to see what happened. I started to repeat 'drop it' (I didn't want to use our new command) like a broken record... 'Drop it. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it....' After I'd said it about 10 times he started to look a bit worried and confused, his grip relaxed a little. After about 20 times he suddenly dropped the ball and started excitedly licking my face and jumping on me. I think I freaked him out, it's like he thought I was broken or something as I definitely wasn't behaving normally. I'm not sure what to make of that either? |
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Post by zahada on Jun 7, 2014 18:36:24 GMT
He dropped the ball and that's what would matter to me the most. You probably showed increased determination as you repeated the command. It's impossible not to increase volume or assertiveness if we are repeating a request. The licking that followed was possibly an attempt to pacify you as you showed a side of yourself that he'd not seen before.
Re the piece of plastic - if he likes to hold things in his mouth, is he allowed? I wonder if you are getting a little uptight about him having things in his mouth and it's stressing him out? Just guessing here.
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Post by alfiemummy on Jun 7, 2014 19:01:18 GMT
I didn't actually realise he had the plastic at first but I hadn't seen him in a while so I went looking for him and found him hiding in a corner with it. He usually isn't allowed something small like that as I'm worried he will swallow it, if it's something big I generally ignore him and he will get bored. Ideally it would be nice if I could leave the smaller things with him too but he has brought pebbles in from the garden before and I tried that - he has swallowed some  I deliberately didn't increase the volume when I repeated it, it was a droning monotone voice. I didn't know what to make of it though, it worked so should I do it again? It's not something i've done or had suggested to me before. I was definitely pleased that he'd dropped it and he got lots of praise! It's the first time he's ever really dropped it just by me asking him to. |
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Post by zahada on Jun 7, 2014 19:17:13 GMT
I didn't actually realise he had the plastic at first but I hadn't seen him in a while so I went looking for him and found him hiding in a corner with it. He usually isn't allowed something small like that as I'm worried he will swallow it, if it's something big I generally ignore him and he will get bored. Ideally it would be nice if I could leave the smaller things with him too but he has brought pebbles in from the garden before and I tried that - he has swallowed some I deliberately didn't increase the volume when I repeated it, it was a droning monotone voice. I didn't know what to make of it though, it worked so should I do it again? It's not something i've done or had suggested to me before. I was definitely pleased that he'd dropped it and he got lots of praise! It's the first time he's ever really dropped it just by me asking him to. Use whatever works for you. In other words - use your gut instincts! |
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He has definitely improved though 
