Resurrected Post: Raving Over Training

I wrote this post back on June 23rd, 2006, when LJ was only FOUR months old. I don't know why I never published it, as it appears to be completed down to my "Until next time". LJ continues to be THE BEST dog my husband and I have ever owned.

When I was a young girl, we took care of a dog that belonged to some family friends. They would occasionally move someplace where they could not have a dog, and so he would stay with us for
a few months at a time. His name was Sir Duke Yogart something or other, but we called him Dukie. He was a golden retriever and he was very well trained.

Ever since then, I've wanted my dogs to be well trained and well behaved like Dukie was. I tend to think it was just me not being consistent with all the dogs I've owned as an adult, but also it seemed like the dogs I had were stubborn and didn't want to learn and so it was really discouraging to keep trying and trying and
getting nowhere.

But with LJ, he learns so fast, like I was saying earlier, it's a wonderful reward to see him learn new commands. I am also teaching him some hand commands, they aren't official hand commands, but I have three that I use so far. One is for sit, down and the last one is for "on your side". I was anxious to
teach him the "on your side" command, because I understand it is a bit difficult for a dog to do that one since it puts them into a submissive position. LJ appears to be a dog that may be a ladder climber, and so I am trying to teach him commands that will put him into submissive positions to help me keep him in his place. He adores having his belly rubbed, which I know is also helping me to show my dominance over him.

I read someplace that dogs learn hand commands quicker than verbal commands, so the "on your side" command I have trained him on that one without any words yet. I just take my hand, with my index finger extended and draw an "O" into the air about six inches in diameter. I eventually intend to teach him to lay on the side that I roll my hand in. If I roll it to the left, I
want him to roll onto his left side, and vice versa. But for now, whichever way he goes, he gets rewarded.

I am also working with the clicker a bit, and it was so neat to see his brain working, I mean it was like I could actually see him thinking about this command. He was very reluctant to lie on
his side for me. He tried shifting his butt one way or the other. He tried laying his head down between his paws. He would shift his butt the other way, lol. At first I showed him the command and laid him on his side, and click and treat. After 2-3 examples, I would show him the hand command, then wait, while he did all his butt shifting, etc. Then when I could see he still
wasn't understanding, I would finally tuck his elbow under -- he would brace his elbows way out - (so maybe he was getting it, just didn't want to comply), so it was not easy for me or him to
put him on his side. LOL. After tucking his elbow in, I would roll him over to his side, where he got clicked and rewarded with a treat. Then we worked on it again, and you could see it was
really a hard one for him to submit to. You see, one time, when I tried to put him on his side to rub his belly, he growled. I decided right then and there, that I would desensitize him to me
lying him on his side, and therefore, as I see it, his reluctance to submit to that command.

But he finally got it, and I was so excited. When I started working on the "sit up" command, he would frenetically sit, do a down, then roll over onto his side and wave his paws at me,
hoping that was what I wanted. When I had not asked for that at all, lol, but had held the food just above his nose and said "sit up". So I turn my back and walk away, then work on "come". Oh, I guess I have a hand signal for that, too. I think it is the official one, though. Isn't that one that you cup your hand with your fingers toward you? And of course, the hand command for
"stay" he is learning, too.

I have also found that he learns faster if the treat is especially delicious. He loves half cooked bits of hamburger, that one gets his brain working really fast, as does freshly cooked chicken breast. :-)

After he gets the command, I move to a less delicious treat to reinforce, still clicking, then once I know he knows it, I move to using the command without food or clicker, but maybe for
playing fetch. One of his favorite treats in the whole wide world is a fresh egg from the chicken coop, so that's an early morning opportunity to work with him. I have also begun to make
him work a bit more for a treat like that, where he might have to sit, shake, then do a down for the egg. He takes it in his mouth, runs away happily, then drops it to break it and licks the
yolk.

I think it is *especially* important, since LJ is an APBT which get such a bad rap nowadays. Prior to fostering him and falling in love with him, I was one of "those people" who thought people who owned this breed were nuts. So now I know how very important it is to train him well and hopefully portray the breed for what they can be.

Until next time.