Two weeks ago, I adopted a french bulldog mix who’s about 10 months old. He’s definitely a sweetie and while I’ve had a couple accidents on the floor a couple times, that’s definitely more my fault as I’ve never had a dog before and am starting to learn the signs (and watch the clock, 15 minutes after drinking water and it’s time to take him out).
He’s quickly learned two commands. “Sit” is the first one and his weakness is definitely turkey meat. He’ll do anything for turkey meat. The next one is “focus” which is me telling him to hurry up and go potty as it’s winter in Minnesota and neither of us want to be out there. (He used to trick me into thinking he didn’t have to go potty by just shivering outside for two minutes and staring at me, then immediately relieve himself on the floor when we got back in).
As for the leash, I’m not sure about how to get him leash trained. He is pretty much afraid of it. I put the leash on and he’d rather cower in fear which makes me wonder what the previous owner had done to him. I’ve been starting slow with trying to walk around the living room (the only carpeting room, he almost refuses to go on the hard wood floor). And had a little success. I’ve also carried him half way around the house and walked him back home with no problem (he won’t walk there, but is ok walking back). Still, it’s been only two weeks and I don’t expect overnight success.
Right now, he’s also in a crate while I’m at work. I go home and we play fetch over my lunch hour but I feel bad that he’s stuck in there for four hours at a time. Unfortunately, he is possibly not completely housebroken and has an affinity to chewing on wires. (I’ve been puppy proofing as I go and finding new things to prevent him from chewing on that could be dangerous). So how long to go before I can leave him out of the crate?
So tell me about your dog training. How’d it go? What’d you teach? Funny commands? Neat ideas/tricks? (Trying the bells to be rung when he needs to go outside)
The previous owner probably never put him on a leash - or had him outside on a leash all day long. The latter, most likely - considering his housebreaking troubles. What kind of leash are you going with? Try just going with a slipknot rope leash for now. They go on quicker than snot.
Four hours really isn’t a big deal to him in a crate. Sure, he’s pleased as punch when you let him out, but that’s because YOU’RE HOME (ohboyohboy!). Don’t be too quick to trust him. Start out slowly (like, out the door for 5 minutes, and return with some turkey for not peeing on the floor). Extend that 5 minutes every day or so. Some dogs never catch on, and have to be in the crate all day.
Try clicker training. That’s how I trained my current dog. There’s loads of reading material out there about it written by real dog trainers, but the gist of it is one click = one treat. A treat can be a raisin-sized piece of turkey meat, because you’ll be feeding a lot of treats. The click works like a verbal “good dog”, but it’s easier and the dog will pay attention. It is also know as positive reinforcement training. When the dog makes a mistake it doesn’t get a click or a treat, and that is his punishment. When I first got my dog I went to a pro who taught this way and she could get her dogs to do almost anything with clickers.
Pleased to see this thread, 'cos I have an issue with our pup at the moment. She’s a jumper, and as she’s growing it’s causing problems of course.
She’s 4 months old now, sits, stays and comes on command, drops the ball when instructed, but I CANNOT seem to convince her to ‘get down’ when she’s excited to see us or any visitors who arrive. What’s the best way to do this training?
Turn your back and ignore her when she jumps. Tell others to do the same thing (this is hard). Don’t let others greet her until her butt is firmly on the ground. Even then, don’t let her jump to greet. You should see my dog - he gets so excited he just wiggles his whole body, while sitting, when I get home. I don’t like the “knee them in the chest” approach. I’ve seen too many people get rough with their kneeing, and that just makes the dog afraid.
