posted 02-07-2004 04:27 AM         

What are you using to motivate them? Treats? Praise? Toys? What do they seem to respond to best?

Please answer these questions and then we might be better able to help you.

If you can't go to obedience school, please make sure that you take the dogs out to different places where there are a variety of people and dogs. It is critical that the dogs be socialized.

posted 02-07-2004 08:13 AM         

"How to Teach a New Dog Old Tricks" by Ian Dunbar, and "The Power of Positive Dog Training" by Pat Miller.

The first book goes into housetraining and socialization as well as obedience training. The second book tells about positive training based on the clicker method and gives you step-by-step instructions to follow and troubleshooting tips if your dog is not responding well.

In the meantime, here are some things you can try.

For housetraining. Are they only having accidents at certain times of day or in certain places?

You might consider crate training them, even though they are not little puppies. You would confine each one to their own crate that is just big enough to turn around and lie down in - no bigger. The idea is that a dog will not soil his own bed.

You confine the dogs to their crates when you cannot supervise them. When you can supervise them, have them confined to one room of the house or tethered to you so you can watch them. Watch them all the time! The key is to not let mistakes happen.

If the dog is starting to squat or lift his leg, startle him by clapping your hands or yelling "HEY!" or something and then hustle him outside. Go outside with him. Bring him to where you want him to go and tell him "Go potty." If he goes, praise him while he is in the act of going - but don't get him TOO excited or he will not finish! You might want to bring a cookie out and give him the cookie as well as using verbal praise. You must go out with your dog EVERY TIME he has to go.

If he does not go within a reasonable amount of time (a few minutes), bring him back in and crate him or watch him closely. Take him out again in 10-20 minutes. Keep repeating until he goes.

Since they are older, they should be able to hold it for a long time. But in the beginning, you might want to take them out every hour or two anyway, just to get them in the habit. Before you go, ask them "Do you have to outside?" and then take them out and say "Go potty!" That way they will learn what the words mean. Always use the same door to exit the house to take them outside.

Dogs needs to go potty after they eat, sleep, drink water, or play. Take them outside after any of these activities.

If an accident does occur, don't punish the dog. Interrupt him if he is still going and take him out. If you didn't catch him in the act, just clean it up - it was your fault, not his. Make sure you use a cleaner such as Nature's Miracle that neutralizes the odor or the dog will think that is his bathroom spot.

Dogs get used to going on a certain surface, so the more accidents on floors you have, the more likely the dog will go there again. The more times they go on the grass, the more they WANT to go on grass.

I'll start another post with training tips...

posted 02-07-2004 08:27 AM         

In fact, I prefer training my dogs off leash. It is more spontaneous that way. Our original trainer told me this was bad and it really inhibited our training sessions.

So anyway, either get yourself a clicker, or decide on a word to use instead - like "Yes!" or "Good!" and then always use that word.

What you want to do is to mark the proper behavior with a click or your word and then immediately treat the dog. Since your dog already knows "sit" start there. Tell him to sit. As soon as his rear end hits the ground say "Yes!" (or whatever word you are using, or click) and treat him. Do this many times to get him to start associating the "Yes!" with treats.

From then on, whatever you want to teach him you can do it in one of several ways. You can wait for the dog to do the behavior all on his own and then mark the behavior with a "Yes!" and then treat. This can take forever if it's not a common behavior, though.

You can lure the dog with a treat into whatever behavior you want - like from a sit, hold a treat in your closed hand in front of the dog's nose and bring it straight down between his paws, and then move it along the floor away from the dog. This should lure him into a down. As soon as he is lying down, click or say "Yes!" and treat. Do this many times. When he is doing it consistently, add the word "down" as he is on his way down, click, and treat. After a dozen or so repetitions, start saying the word "down" first. Hopefully he will respond by lying down, then you click and treat.

Anything you want to train can be done this way. Capture the behavior or lure the dog into doing what you want. Mark the proper behavior with a click or "Yes!" as it happens and treat. Add a command word while the dog is doing the trick, and then move the command word to before the trick to get him to do it in response to the word.

Start phasing out the lures and treats as soon as possible. If the dog backslides, back up a few steps and give it more time. Treat occasionally but not every time once he knows the behavior. But ALWAYS treat after a click or your marker word.

Give it a try and let us know how it is going. Definitely get those books if you can.

Jamiya