new doggie - training advice
I am looking for some advice in a few different areas. We adopted a 9 month old chocolate lab/irish wolfhound cross 3 weeks ago. She doesn't seem to have been trained at all, besides minor crate training and kind of house breaking.
First - I am a gentle person and I believe in positive reinforcement and gentle training. I would prefer to try methods that don't involve physically hurting her. So far the advice I have been given mainly relates to shock collars and physically hurting the dog when she does something wrong. I would greatly prefer advice that concentrates on gentle training. She has been excelling with positive touch, which she apparently never received before! :\ (Her previous owners...well, lets just say I'm happy we adopted her. If we didn't, I would have called the humane society because the poor thing wasn't treated very well. Things COULD have been worse, but there were stupid things they did. The father PRESSURE WASHED her instead of bathing her.
1. Leash walking / leash chewing - How can I go about discouraging leash chewing? She was never on a leash - in fact she never wore a collar - prior to us picking her up. Her previous owners had 2 acres and she was a 'free range' doggie. She was allowed to do whatever she wanted, whenever she pleased and to suddenly wear a collar and be actually walked (never happened before) has been tough going for the both of us. I bought her a Gentle Leader to help with actually walking and it has made it so she no longer drags me across the highway. ;) However, there are two problems I am having a hard time discouraging.
a) how do I stop her from chewing the leader and/or leash? (She's on a 6' leash to allow some wiggle room for her, but I request she walk 'by me' and shorten it so she has to walk beside me at road crossings and while people are near.)
b) how do I discourage her from trying to scrape the leader off her snout and rub her face in the ground? She HATES the leader, I would too, but I physically cannot hold her 80-90lb body with just a collar or harness. She drags me.
2. She's playful and very 'mouthy' - afterall, she is part lab. How can I encourage gentle play with others, as well as with our family? I have been requesting that she grab one of her toys whenever anyone comes to the house because she does like to nip a little bit. This is one thing she CANNOT do - we have a 1.5 year old daughter. I'd like to discourage the nipping ASAP - any advice would be greatly appreciated.
3. Jumping up on people - the previous owners did a number on this poor dog. The used to knee her in the chest and it didn't work. It made her more playful or angry. She seems to think that it is a game to jump on people. For the time being, whenever someone new comes into the picture, I have been standing on her leash but allowing enough room for her to just sit or lay down, but not enough for her to jump up. Is this a good idea? Is there something else that is more affective?
4. General household chewing and bad behavior - I keep rawhides around in the house at all times since she has such a high desire to chew. (Previous owners told us she always had them without troubles so we buy the natural and undyed ones.) Well, she has a thing for my underwear and it's getting REALLY old. Every time I turn my back, she finds a pair of underwear (she can get into my closet!!!) in the 'to be washed' laundry and chews them. 10 pairs in three weeks. I am now putting my dirty clothes directly into the washing machine to sit until they are ready to wash...but is there anyway to discourage this? My mother in law told me to crate her anytime she does something bad. (my MIL used to breed English Springer Spaniels years back.) Now, how long should I crate her for or is there a different approach to use with this? I HAVE to crate her while we go out or at night (thankfully I am a stay at home mum and am home most of the time) because she CHEW CHEW CHEW CHEWS. She likes to eat furnature for a midnight snack. ;) Byebye little Cars chair of my daughers. :\
5. Mealtime manners - Since she doesn't exactly understand 'stay' yet, and she likes to jump up to put her front paws on my counter and table, should I just crate her during mealtimes? She really gets in your face with food and likes to steal it. Ideas??
6. Is there any great training tips in literature that I should know about?
7. What can I do to discourage barking at strangers?
I'm really happy with her in general. She's a GREAT dog and has progressed very well in the past three weeks. She has learned a few basic commands, 'sit' & 'lay down' and we are working on 'by me', 'come', 'off' (drop it) and she's really starting to get it. Her house training has been tiring at moments, but we are working together on that one. She doesn't seem to know how to let me know she has to go to the bathroom, so I've been treating her like a little puppy and letting her out for a pee at least once every hour. She drinks A LOT of water so generally pees every hour at least too. She is no longer afraid of the hose outside (likely fear from the whole pressure washer experience) and she loves car-rides which will be great for taking her camping with us. I'm willing to put a LOT of work into her; she's a wonderful dog but needs some major training.
Thanks in advance for advice!
First - I am a gentle person and I believe in positive reinforcement and gentle training. I would prefer to try methods that don't involve physically hurting her. So far the advice I have been given mainly relates to shock collars and physically hurting the dog when she does something wrong. I would greatly prefer advice that concentrates on gentle training. She has been excelling with positive touch, which she apparently never received before! :\ (Her previous owners...well, lets just say I'm happy we adopted her. If we didn't, I would have called the humane society because the poor thing wasn't treated very well. Things COULD have been worse, but there were stupid things they did. The father PRESSURE WASHED her instead of bathing her.
1. Leash walking / leash chewing - How can I go about discouraging leash chewing? She was never on a leash - in fact she never wore a collar - prior to us picking her up. Her previous owners had 2 acres and she was a 'free range' doggie. She was allowed to do whatever she wanted, whenever she pleased and to suddenly wear a collar and be actually walked (never happened before) has been tough going for the both of us. I bought her a Gentle Leader to help with actually walking and it has made it so she no longer drags me across the highway. ;) However, there are two problems I am having a hard time discouraging.
a) how do I stop her from chewing the leader and/or leash? (She's on a 6' leash to allow some wiggle room for her, but I request she walk 'by me' and shorten it so she has to walk beside me at road crossings and while people are near.)
b) how do I discourage her from trying to scrape the leader off her snout and rub her face in the ground? She HATES the leader, I would too, but I physically cannot hold her 80-90lb body with just a collar or harness. She drags me.
2. She's playful and very 'mouthy' - afterall, she is part lab. How can I encourage gentle play with others, as well as with our family? I have been requesting that she grab one of her toys whenever anyone comes to the house because she does like to nip a little bit. This is one thing she CANNOT do - we have a 1.5 year old daughter. I'd like to discourage the nipping ASAP - any advice would be greatly appreciated.
3. Jumping up on people - the previous owners did a number on this poor dog. The used to knee her in the chest and it didn't work. It made her more playful or angry. She seems to think that it is a game to jump on people. For the time being, whenever someone new comes into the picture, I have been standing on her leash but allowing enough room for her to just sit or lay down, but not enough for her to jump up. Is this a good idea? Is there something else that is more affective?
4. General household chewing and bad behavior - I keep rawhides around in the house at all times since she has such a high desire to chew. (Previous owners told us she always had them without troubles so we buy the natural and undyed ones.) Well, she has a thing for my underwear and it's getting REALLY old. Every time I turn my back, she finds a pair of underwear (she can get into my closet!!!) in the 'to be washed' laundry and chews them. 10 pairs in three weeks. I am now putting my dirty clothes directly into the washing machine to sit until they are ready to wash...but is there anyway to discourage this? My mother in law told me to crate her anytime she does something bad. (my MIL used to breed English Springer Spaniels years back.) Now, how long should I crate her for or is there a different approach to use with this? I HAVE to crate her while we go out or at night (thankfully I am a stay at home mum and am home most of the time) because she CHEW CHEW CHEW CHEWS. She likes to eat furnature for a midnight snack. ;) Byebye little Cars chair of my daughers. :\
5. Mealtime manners - Since she doesn't exactly understand 'stay' yet, and she likes to jump up to put her front paws on my counter and table, should I just crate her during mealtimes? She really gets in your face with food and likes to steal it. Ideas??
6. Is there any great training tips in literature that I should know about?
7. What can I do to discourage barking at strangers?
I'm really happy with her in general. She's a GREAT dog and has progressed very well in the past three weeks. She has learned a few basic commands, 'sit' & 'lay down' and we are working on 'by me', 'come', 'off' (drop it) and she's really starting to get it. Her house training has been tiring at moments, but we are working together on that one. She doesn't seem to know how to let me know she has to go to the bathroom, so I've been treating her like a little puppy and letting her out for a pee at least once every hour. She drinks A LOT of water so generally pees every hour at least too. She is no longer afraid of the hose outside (likely fear from the whole pressure washer experience) and she loves car-rides which will be great for taking her camping with us. I'm willing to put a LOT of work into her; she's a wonderful dog but needs some major training.
Thanks in advance for advice!