Dog Health Questions: Dog Training Question?

My eldest dog is about 6 years old and was never really trained. Just the basics .. but then I never really 'trained' him after he learned them. So, I'm trying to re-inforce his training. He is VERY food oriented. So I use his dry food as his 'cookies' (as we call treats in my house).

I taught him how to "Stay" and "Come" .. which I could NEVER do before! It only took 3 days to learn. He can also "Speak" and "Dance" .. but he gets "Sit" and "Lay Down" mixed up. When I say sit .. he lays down .. and when I say lay down .. he sits! When I put the treat up a little above his head (like to teach puppies how to sit) .. then he will sit. But if I'm standing up and I say "Sit" .. he will lay down.

So, Questions: How do I get him to Lay down and Sit right? Should I use the word "Down" instead of lay down? and I can't get him so listen to me WITHOUT food in my hands! Or anywhere OTHER than my living room.

Any advice would be great. I taught my 10 month old pup everything without treats.

Boxer Dog Training Tips and Ideas That Are Critical to Effective Instruction

Recommended Answer:
So he has mixed up sit and down. You can straighten that out. Tell him to "sit." When he lays down, don't give him a treat. Wait a few seconds, then put the treat above his head (like you were saying works to get him to sit). As soon as he sits, treat that. You may have to repeat this many times. But if you consistently don't treat him for laying down, and do treat him for sitting, he will see that is what you want. You might have to keep going for a week or two. Don't worry. He will catch on. And do the same thing with "down."

One thing I did in my obedience class was "push ups." We would tell the dog to sit, then down, then sit, then down, etc. It has the effect of looking like the dog is doing pushups, and teaches your dog the difference between the two commands.

One person suggested hand signals. This may be a very good idea for you because the dog has the words mixed up. My sit hand signal is my cupped hand, palm facing up, sort of like I am holding food in it for my dog. This is similar to the way you teach a puppy to sit, so it was very natural to me and my dog for it to mean sit. My down hand signal is just me pointing down at the ground with my index finger.

To teach a hand signal, give your signal, wait a beat, then lure the dog into the position. (show him the food over his head for sit, move food toward the floor for down -- or whatever you used to teach down). Do NOT use the words sit or down here since your dog is mixed up about them. Use the signal as his only cue. It is important to wait a beat after giving the signal, and not move directly into luring the behavior. This will give your dog time to think. Your dog will begin to "guess" what you want him to do next, and try to do that. You need to give him time to think.

Anyway, sounds like you are making real progress with Gizmo. It's normal for him not to perform his commands very well outside of the room you taught him in. You have to take him to every different room in your house and reteach him the commands. Don't worry, it will not take as long! But you will have to refresh his memory. Dogs don't understand that "sit" when you are in the living room means the same thing as "sit" when you are in other places. You need to do it in many different places -- outside, across the street, in the park -- before your dog will start to understand that "sit" means the same thing everywhere.

And start fading out the treats. Only give him a treat for every other sit. Or only give him a treat if he comes to you really fast. You can't quit treats cold turkey or sometimes dogs refuse to do the behavior. But you can fade it gradually. Also, don't always have the food in your hand. That should be only for training a new behavior in the beginning. After that, have it where your dog can't see it. Then pull it out at the appropriate moment. That way your dog won't rely on seeing the treat to do the behavior.

And you can keep using kibble if that's what he likes. Usually kibble works well in the house when there aren't a lot of distractions. If you take him to the park to work on things, kibble may not do it for him. When you work around greater distractions, bring more special food. Like cut up chicken or meatballs or cheese. Anything your dog goes nuts for.

Dog Training Ideas

• USE HAND SIGNALS. u have to use hand signals. for and example to lie down, my dog responds to a face down flat hand by my chest and a little outwards. make sure u say the word with the hand signal. this is vital. and for the treat problem, you have to vary the times when u give him treats. for an example. have the food in ur hand and make him do a trick. and give him the treat, the next time, however, DONT give him the treat. make sure the order is completly random otherwise the dog will find out the pattern and use that to his advantage. yes dogs r smart too. if u have any more questions email me at rhakadna@yahoo.com. make the subject dog help


• Say down, and when he sits, gently press him down and say 'good down' over and over and only give the treat when he is doing what you want. Then when he lays down instead of sit, pick his front up so he is in a sit and say 'good SIT' and then give the treat. He will eventually learn the terminology.
  To get him to do what you want without treats, you need to slowly wean him off of the treats. Give him a treat for every other command, and then after a while, give a treat for every third command, and slowly get him used to doing what you want everytime, with or without a treat.


• Dont say "lay down" or "sit down" use Down and Sit respectively. Alot of people mistakenly say Sit down, and laydown this confuses the dog. Saying down as part of 2 commands is confusing. Also watch your hands when you are giving him commands, you might be giving the sam hand gesture for both commands which is also confusing. Make sure to have 2 seperate and distinct hand signals for each command.. for sit I use one finger held up, for down I use a flat palm. Even if you dont notice the hand signals you are making the dog does and he watches them to see what you want.. dogs are very much concerned with body language. So pay attention to what you are doing when you tell him things.. make sure you arent doing th same hand gesture for different commands.
  
  Also just because you have food in your hands doesnt mean you HAVE to give it to him every time. Try alternating, give him treats sometimes but not all the time. The treats are yours make him work for them! Another thing is, if you want him to listen elsewhere put treats in your pocket, he will think they are for him and will be more motivated to find out HOW to get you to give them to him.. make it so that you only give them to him if he performs out of the living room.


• Hi. First thing to do would be to keep his treat food completely separate from his dry food and make sure it's something he really likes. And use the treats for training only. I use only Possyum (possum meat) for training and my dog will do just about anything. Use just the 'down' word on it's own, as you suggested. Singular words are less confusing for him and more direct. When you are standing and say 'down', bring the treat to the floor and only give it, with praise, when he lays down. He should do this to get the treat. To sit, you are doing the right thing by bringing the treat up, but maybe try to bring it at little more over his head so that he has to tip his head back to get it. Again, only treat when he does it. Lots of praise when he does it right will also instill it in him.
  I also train one of my dogs in obedience. I started with treats from the start, but am also having trouble weaning him off them, as we can't use treats in competition. I try doing a couple of things with a treat and then some without. But it's hard work. Perserverance is the key. Good luck.