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Dogs - all types Jas, question for you
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Author | Topic: Jas, question for you |
goob Member Posts: 552 |
posted 02-16-2004 10:22 PM
In the AKC thread, you said you do tracking with your dogs, did you do the training yourself or did someone else do it? Annie (dachsie) is at the point now where she's go to start article indications, and we're havign a hard time with it. She doesn't seem to connect the "little square" with the fact that she's downing, even after doing 5-10 run throughs of sitting at each (with 8 articles) article every day or two for a couple weeks. She just blows right by them if I dont say something to stop her, and if I do, she just looks at me with the lightbulb expression ("Oh! That's what you want") as she falls into place, but seems to be going only of my cue and not connecting the action with the article. We are working with a trainer, and he's had us go back and work on downstays for the past two weeks, not even bother with article work (the reason being that we were going to use a sit to indicate, but with her being so short, it's hard to tell, so now we're using down, and she needs some work on her down before she's reliable enough for that type of use). She's been trained primarily with positive methods, though she's stubborn on the down at times (hates laying on wet or cold ground), so I have used some mild compulsion with the usual toy/praise motivation to get her more reliable on that (she's doing pretty well now). I'd like to use as little compulsion as I can, as she's a happy worker right now and I don't want to bring her enthusiasm down any. She's the first dog I've ever trained for this, so I have no clue if this is normal or not. If you have any ideas on how to make this stuff more interesting to her, or easier for her to understand, I'd really appreciate it. IP: Logged |
susan_cude@hotmail.com Member Posts: 813 |
posted 02-17-2004 01:51 PM
Jas, I wasn't being nosy, just didn't want you to miss seeing this, so I bumped it up. IP: Logged |
Jas Moderator Posts: 536 |
posted 02-17-2004 05:14 PM
Sorry, work has kept me busy. Hmm, this is a tough one. I'm not that experienced with tracking as its fairly new to me. I have a few puppy people who track with their dogs and are much more experienced than I. Are you sure you aren't missing her acknowledging the articles? It may be as subtle as a slight look which she thinks is enough. Sometimes its hard to tell with smaller dogs. How old is Annie? Sometimes its an age factor. I hear you about the laying on wet ground, my dogs have good "downs" but put them on wet ground and they look disgusted - "You want ME to lie there?" haa I know i always mention clicker training, but have you tried it with tracking? I find the whole clicker concept really changes the way they think. When it works it really sets that lightbulb off in their head and you know they "get it". I can't think of a more positive approach than clicker training. Is Annie food motivated? Do they allow you to use food? Can you use food jackpots on some of the articles? I think this is a prime motivation for some dogs starting out and once they understand I'd eventually wean off food. I think dachshunds hunt like my dogs - by both scent & sight right? Sometimes I think this presents more of a challenge then it would for a dog that is strictly a scent hound. IP: Logged |
susan_cude@hotmail.com Member Posts: 813 |
posted 02-17-2004 05:32 PM
Ok I am being nosey! I think dauchshunds hunt by scent, the reason I say this is: I have seen Casey catch the sent of a squirl long after it was out of the yard. I watched her run with her nose to the ground along the same path the squirl had taken. Once she got to the part of the fence that the squirl had run up and over, she began to bark like crazy..Of coarse I don't realy know for sure, but I know she didn't see it. just a thought! I think I'll go look that up on the web. Susan IP: Logged |
susan_cude@hotmail.com Member Posts: 813 |
posted 02-17-2004 05:41 PM
The Dachshund is a small, compact hound whose legs are short and body is long. The head is long and wedge shaped with pendulous or 'floppy' ears. The dachshund was bred to hunt badgers (a nasty, aggressive animal that lives in tunnels). Dachshunds are still used to hunt rabbits and woodchucks. They have a keen sense of smell. Their short legs can move amazingly fast. The dachshund is the only American Kennel Club recognized breed that can and does hunt above and below ground. IP: Logged |
susan_cude@hotmail.com Member Posts: 813 |
posted 02-17-2004 05:48 PM
OK One more... Train a Dachshund? Many would laugh. Many more would just ask, "Are you training the Dachshund or is the Dachshund training you?" Dachshunds rightly have the reputation of being self willed and intent on achieving their goals. It is these exact characteristics which made their help so valued by hunters. Independence during the hunt was required by these little dogs and although this leaves many with the opinion that they are difficult to train, regular sessions will be rewarding to both you and your dog. Admittedly, time, patience and firmness will be needed. IP: Logged |
Maisey Member Posts: 1387 |
posted 02-17-2004 06:37 PM
I thought many of the terrier breeds were bred to hunt below and above ground. IP: Logged |
susan_cude@hotmail.com Member Posts: 813 |
posted 02-17-2004 06:43 PM
I don't know Maisey, I posted that from the web. You may be right, that's just what i read and copied here. Susan IP: Logged |
goob Member Posts: 552 |
posted 02-18-2004 02:02 PM
From what I can tell, she gives no sign of having noticed the article, just keeps her head down and plows right over top of them. She's almost 6 yrs old. I let the problems with the down go for a long time because it's not a command we use a lot anyway (when you have a dog that stands 7" tall, you don't put them in a downstay at one end of a grassy field and walk off to the other side, at least not if you want to be able to find them to return to them, lol). She's a quirky girl, doesn't even like to walk in wet grass, but once it warms up a bit here, I'll have a hard time keeping her *out* of the water when we go to the beach. I've trained her with regular marker training (a short "good!") in place of the clicker, but did buy a clicker last time we were out to give it a try. They know what the click means, but we're just starting to work on learning new things with it, so I'm not sure how I would even go about teaching her to indicate using it? She's food motivated, and that's what we'll use when we start training for indications again (I generally use toy/tug as a reward, but that brings her really "up", and we don't want her forgetting about the track when it comes time to put the two together). I'm pretty sure that Dachsies are primarily scenthounds, but I've also seen that Annie works off both scent and sight when she's left to do her own thing and is looking for soemthing, usually scenting until she sees it, then heading off after it, so I'm not completely sure. Thanks again IP: Logged |
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