Dog Training!

[downwithapathy]

If anyone knows of a podcast about feeding multiple dogs together in the same room, I'd like to listen to it. Thanks!

P.S. I thought Zoe wasn't built to "sit up." It turns out I was just luring her wrong. Yay for new tricks that most dogs get to learn in puppyhood?

[Dugan]

:lol: Good for Mr. G! A little jealousy and competitiveness can be great inadvertant motivators! I have to ask - what was Shiva's reaction? Did he look surprised?

Yay for Sonja & Zoe! By sitting up, you mean sitting, but with both front paws raised, yes? I've been wanting to teach Caboodle that - it's a good back exercise.

[vegankitty]

That is so cute KM! Kittehs has de brainz!

[bluedawg]

oh, mister gentleman!

[KaliMama]

Shiva's eyes got very big, probably because Mister G generally only gets that close when he's playing whack-a-dog, but he held his position. He then targeted perfectly (and quickly ) a couple of times before d put the treats away (ending on an up note, yay!)

Shiva tried to initiate play with Mister G the other day, too. Normally he gives the cat a lot of room, but he's missing his constant #1 playmate, so maybe a game of whack-a-dog is better than no game at all. /

[quagga]

I should not assume that the dog training thread is only about dogs...

That's a great story, KM!

[downwithapathy]

Originally Posted by Dugan

Yay for Sonja & Zoe! By sitting up, you mean sitting, but with both front paws raised, yes? I've been wanting to teach Caboodle that - it's a good back exercise.

Yes! Sitting with both paws raised! I've kind of been doing what I'm not supposed to. Luring both dogs in to the position simultaneously whenever I have a free moment and am near treats. Zoe usually gets my left hand and Annie my right. It's so cute seeing them both sitting up, shoulder to shoulder in the same position.

[Dugan]

Must see pictures! I love multiple dog activities!

[downwithapathy]

Must take pictures!

I also want to express some curiosity regarding a behavior of Zoe's.

The dogs of my youth knew phrases like "What do you want?" and "show me."

C.D.: Yo, I want something.
Mom: Show me!
*C.D. leads Mom to water bowl or door or bed (he somewhat dictated what time Mom went to bed, embarrassingly enough)*

Zoe learned similar phrases, but it was all a bit different having spent her formative years in a tiny apartment without a yard. She learned "Do you want outside?" early on, but she never had to lead me to anything else because whatever she wanted was probably already in the same room.

*Zoe paws at water bowl*
*Sonja gets Zoe water*

After moving into a home with hallways and a yard, she started asking the humans for things she never had to ask for before. For example, sometimes the water bowl goes empty without immediate notice. Sometimes Zoe wants to go out into the yard. Sometimes she wants me to open my bedroom door so she can rest in her room (under my bed).

How Zoe differs from the rest: If someone asks Zoe "What is it, girl?" "What do you want?" or "Show me!" Zoe immediately circles around directly behind the asking party as to say "okay, now lead me to the goods."

She doesn't tell me what she wants! She tells me that she wants something and makes me guess! I usually guess the door to the yard first. If that isn't what she wants, she'll stop in the living room all "no... not that." Then I'll move on to the water bowl. If it's empty, I'll fill that. Once I'm as far as the kitchen, she'll usually go ahead to either the door to the yard or to my room if that's what she wants. ...but starting out, I'm leading all the way. For kicks, I circled behind her once, she circled back behind me, so I circled behind her, so she circled behind me and I led her to my best guess!

Is this typical? I don't mind. Mom gave me some spiel about Zoe viewing us as pack leaders more than C.D. did. I just find the difference curious.

[vegankitty]

I'm no help- Bonnie shows us what she wants but again- small apartment.

Chuckles is really good at telling us though- he meows and we say what do you want and he goes over to what he wants- usually he wants us to turn on the water in the sink but he also does it for food and to be let into the cabinets.

[bluedawg]

maia never tells us what she wants, she is such a passive doggie. it makes me a little sad for her, because i'm afraid she doesn't understand that she can ask for what she wants. the only hint that i ever get that she wants something is that she might wander to the front of the house, then come back. then look at me, then lie down for a minute, then get up again, look at me, maybe wander to the front of the house... at which point i go, "maia, are you okay?" and then i immediately offer, "do you need to go potty?" and then sometimes she will walk over to the door, like, "yes, please."

she is SO not about asking for stuff. if her water bowl is empty, she'll just go in, lick it, and come back and lie down. i basically follow her around if she wanders because i want to make sure she's not missing something or wanting something, poor sweetie.

[quagga]

So sad.

There's gotta be a reward-type game that you can play to teach her that asking is good behavior. I bet once she gets in the habit, she'll be asking for all sorts of stuff!

Dog-training VRFers, can you solve bluedawg and maia's dilemma?

[bluedawg]

yepper, the few times that we've "figured out" that she was (maybe) asking to go out, we've made a really big fuss over her and told her what a Good Girl she is and we let her out immediately and all that... but otherwise, she just doesn't ask.

in truth, she's a really really really really easy dog 98% of the time... she sleeps all the time and we're home A LOT so we're pretty much on top of anything she might need, but still, in those moments where we see her do the equivalent of shrug and accept her lot, it gives me a little sad.

[KaliMama]

Awww...{{{Maia}}}

Does Maia target? You could try teaching her to ring a bell ta ask for things, and put a bell by the door and one by her water dish. Maybe she simply needs new language, and a bell may be non-aggressive enough for a shy dog to try.

Before we got a water fountain thingie, Shiva would lay down by the empty water dish and lick it very slowly and deliberately, stopping occasionally to look at me to see if I had gotten the message. I believe this is called "sarcasm." If that did not work, or no one was in the room to see him, he'd flip the bowl. Repeatedly. If he's hungry, he'll lay down by his food bowl with either a paw or his head resting on the rim. Play is requested by shoving toys at us or dropping them at our feet. <-None of that has to do with training or even being helpful.

[bluedawg]

Originally Posted by KaliMama

Does Maia target? You could try teaching her to ring a bell ta ask for things, and put a bell by the door and one by her water dish. Maybe she simply needs new language, and a bell may be non-aggressive enough for a shy dog to try.

we used "touch" when we took doggie classes and she learned it pretty quickly, but i'm ashamed to say that we stopped playing with that idea after we stopped doggie classes. maybe we could pick that up again and try the bell approach... although i've gotta be honest, i can totally see avery and/or finley ringing the bell just to get attention if we tried it.

...Shiva would lay down by the empty water dish and lick it very slowly and deliberately, stopping occasionally to look at me to see if I had gotten the message. I believe this is called "sarcasm."

that is so awesome.

when maia wants to play, she invented a game called Let Me Show You My Fish/Bone/Rope. You Can't Have My Fish/Bone/Rope! which goes like this... maia goes into the other room and starts to squeak a toy (or shake her rope) like crazy, having fun on her own. eventually she comes running into wherever we are with the toy in her mouth, with a glint in her eye, and then once i look at her, she turns and runs the other direction so that i'll chase her. after i chase her into the other room, she looks sideways at me like, "you're not getting this toy, man!" and then i run away. she chases me, shows me her toy, and then does the whole thing over again.

i am a total sucker for "chase" games (i play them with the cats all the time), so i always indulge her. she just really got into this game in the past week or so, and it's so cute.