New Member with Questions

[chocodog]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and have some general questions. My doodle is 9 months and can be a bit of a terror. Nash is my first dog (I'm a college student that lives at home), so I've never experience raising a puppy and it seems that I didn't really know what to expect. Before I got him I read LOTS (over 20) of books about doodles and dogs in general, but despite all of that each new things seems to come as a surprise. He can be a monster sometimes, running around with anything, (clothes, shoes, bags, papers) like crazy and not listening to me and my family is not terribly thrilled with this. He has basic obedience training (sit, lay, leave it, paw, come, stay) that I did myself, but I am considering taking him to a more advanced class with an instructor. My goal for him is to pass him CGC test and become a therapy dog, but some days it seems that this will never happen. Every time he sees a person or another dog, he goes crazy trying to get to them. He has been EXTENSIVELY socialized since I got him at 12 weeks, but he still is pretty reactive. He does not show any signs of being aggressive, rather he is VERY friendly and wants to play (he thinks that everyone wants to play.) I thought that socialization was supposed to prevent reactiveness? Sometimes I don't even know what to do with him and can't take him out in public. Is any of this normal? I know it seems over-reactive, but I'm worried that I'm doing everything wrong and that I am going to ruin him. Basically, what I would like to know is does it get better (and by better I mean calmer LOL)? But, despite everything, I love him and I know he's a good dog. He's asleep with his head in my lap as I type.

[Moe]

Have you tried clicker training. It works great. It really helps the dog to mark the behavior you are trying to teach. It has worked wonders with my puppy. Going to a reputable class is a great idea.

Here's a link to the clicker book that I got.

Amazon

Amazon

[lindamarie]

First of all......WELCOME!!

Your doodle is 9 months, but how long have you had him and been working with him? This is kinda important before I throw in my 2 cents and try to help.

[deepnite10]

i don t think Nash is much different than any other puppy..

regardless of the amount of training they ve recieved..they re still puppies by nature and eventually mature out of that stage..at this time their attention span is short..and their need for attention is high..

it s difficult..but, try to keep conversations to one or two words.. i ve found much of the conversation s have been for myself..

My Toby is now 4 yrs old, a therapy dog..and very much still a puppy by nature..from this repect i think they just develope slower, though they respond very well to training..

im also, assuming that Nate has learn d the *stop command * in his beginner class..such as stopping at the front door..try extending this command to other areas..stop does nt mean never, just not now..

so allow him to be a puppy/dog..just as you would a child..but, there is a time and place for everything..when they re allow d to be themselves occasionally they ll be happy..and happy dogs are much easier to train..

just as happy children tend to learn faster than children that would rather be somewhere else than a classroom..

[chocodog]

Thanks for all the responses and suggestions! I've had Nash since he was 12 weeks and we've been training since pretty much the beginning. He learns very quickly and he will listen well, unless there is another person or dog. Those are really his only bad distractions. He couldn't care less about birds, squirrels, and all the other classic distractions, which is good I guess.

[deepnite10]

its important when the dog is working that he concentrates on your voice..

i work with Toby on this alot..i take a treat that he likes alot..usually a
salmon treat..i use a *hold it* command and have him balance it on his nose while saying hold it..finally i ll tell him to drop it and give it to him..

maybe 4 times a day i work with him on this..

befor going into a vacility..i ll say *time to work* and automaticly he ll
start listening to my voice while avoid any other distractions..

[chocodog]

I do something similar to the hold it. I'll have him lay and set a treat on his paw or right in front of him on the floor and tell him to "leave it" and make him wait for various amounts of time until I let him have it. How did you train him to balance it on his nose? I'd like to do it with it on his nose, but he's so busy trying to look at it that he ends up knocking it off. I've also started working on a "focus" command, where he has to look at me and concentrate, ignoring everything else.

[deepnite10]

if your dog is food driven..it might be a little difficult..

i held his muzzel still and placed a treat on his nose..held his
nose still and held my finger infront of his eyes while saying *hold it*

slowy id remove my hand from his muzzel still using hte *hold it* command with my finger infront of his nose..since he s not real food driven he learn d after a few try s..