Anushka's been with me about two weeks and already has mastered the following commands;
sit, shake, speak. We're currently working on lie down and stay. The problem we're running into is she gets so excited about what she thinks I'm going to ask her to do that she anticipates the commands and will speak and sit and try to shake all at once. Amusing but not right.

How can you get around her trying to guess what I want while she's awaiting the command? Pretty sure having her do 50 pushups like they did to us at MCRD isn't going to work.

Also on the stay command she's great about it for he first 20 seconds and then gets antsy. Any suggestions?

Also when she knows she's done something wrong she gets as close to me as she can and rams her head into my chest and just leaves it there, staring at the floor with her head smashed into my chest. My retriever does this too. Anyones elses dogs do this when they're in trouble?

Lol too cute! I would try either exercising her before you guys work on any training to tire her out that way, or I'd feed her a little portion of her food so that she's not super hungry and crazy over the treats. My Koda used to do that whenever I'd try training on an empty stomach, but if he was too full he wouldn't want the treats.

With teaching the "Stay" command, you need to help your dog build her patience. Using large increments of time randomly will do that. Start pretty small first: once she masters 5 seconds, then go up 7-10, then 10-15, then 20, now add distance, etc. If you see her about to break concentration, just treat her at that moment. She'll get it down in no time as long as you're consistent!

Psht lol no way, he knows not to come near me when he's done something bad. Koda will most times go inside the bathroom and lie down on the tile giving me puppy dog eyes, or along the wall to the left of my door frame and peer in at me lol. When I'm not upset anymore, he'll come back and put his head on my lap. Sucker lol.

That't too cute about when she gets in trouble! Ghost will do that sometimes too.

As far as the stay, you have to build up constantly with that, and then reinforce it constantly. Ghost was horrible with stay when she was first learning, so we make her stay for lots of different things, and you can even do it when she's leashed so she gets the concept. We make Ghost stay before we let her in any door and before she's allowed to eat. The food thing is a real test for her... We will make her either sit or lie down and then stay, walk a few paces with her food, remind her that she's in a stay, set the food down, and walk just out of her sight (but where we can still see the food). Once she gets that and can stay put staring at her food for a few seconds, we release her to eat.

Another method that has helped us greatly is the Nothing in Life is Free method of training. There are a lot of folks who talk about it on here, and if you're not familiar with it google. It really helps reinforce the different things you're trying to teach, and it gets them in the habit of "working" for everything.

Decuervo wrote:

Anushka's been with me about two weeks and already has mastered the following commands;
sit, shake, speak. We're currently working on lie down and stay. The problem we're running into is she gets so excited about what she thinks I'm going to ask her to do that she anticipates the commands and will speak and sit and try to shake all at once. Amusing but not right.

How can you get around her trying to guess what I want while she's awaiting the command?

Sabaka does this because he doesn't WANT to do "down". It's his least favorite so he's probably thinking "Down? Are you sure you would not rather give me high five... See me do high five! Okay, so no high five?... Perhaps I could speak? You like that??"

He still does this some, but I just say "No" and turn away while making it obvious that I have a treat but he's not getting it. In only a few seconds I will give him the command again.

A trainer told me to stare at him after saying the command and just wait until he obeys. You should not have to repeat yourself. If you get in a habit of repeating the command, the dog will learn to wait until you say it a second time before he does it. I try to do this as well, but I really think sometimes my ADHD boy has forgotten what I told him to do. "She's telling me to si.... OOOoooo, shiney....!"

I agree with what others have said about teaching "stay". Try to allow her to always succeed. If you know she will break the stay in 20 seconds, release her before then. We make ours stay before getting food, going out doors, getting in and out of the car...

Good Luck!

SabakaMom wrote:

Sabaka does this because he doesn't WANT to do "down". It's his least favorite so he's probably thinking "Down? Are you sure you would not rather give me high five... See me do high five! Okay, so no high five?... Perhaps I could speak? You like that??"

That's totally Ghost too!

Decuervo wrote:

Anushka's been with me about two weeks and already has mastered the following commands;
sit, shake, speak. We're currently working on lie down and stay. The problem we're running into is she gets so excited about what she thinks I'm going to ask her to do that she anticipates the commands and will speak and sit and try to shake all at once. Amusing but not right.

Chili does this too. He gets soooo excited and wants the treats that he'll just do everything he knows.

I've been told to keep mixing up the commands and not to do them in the same sequence. Really keeps me on my toes everyday since I have to rack my brain to remember how I did it yesterday and how to do it today. And like Eurith said, try it after exercise to take the edge off.

Glad to know mine isn't the only one that spaz's out.


https://i.servimg.com/u/f41/16/91/73/56/101_5211.jpg

This is her third day of crate training. I thought it was prudent to get started as soon as she decided to eat a chair. She's taken to it well. If I'm not with her she just heads into the crate. I think it helps that her human brother and sister (2 and 4 y/o) think its a fun place to spend the time.

When Kale gets really excited and starts anticipating commands, I stand very still and don't say anything, I don't acknowledge him at all. That's always worked with him, sometimes it takes a little while, but once he figures out that he's not going to get any treats or attention with that behavior, he starts to listen lol

That's really cute about the head butt lol Kale sulks or lays down on his side and gives me the "im sorry, i love you" eyes lol It's usually too cute that I can't stay mad lol

hollywoodhuskies wrote:

I've been told to keep mixing up the commands and not to do them in the same sequence. Really keeps me on my toes everyday since I have to rack my brain to remember how I did it yesterday and how to do it today.

I do this with Drogo as well. If I don't, he'll sometimes anticipate what I'm about to say and do it before the command leaves my mouth. He only "jumps the gun" so to speak with the "roll over" command.

Like Brooke said, I've also refused to acknowledge Drogo if he decides not to wait for a command. I've also put down the treat and stopped the training session entirely. Doing both of these seem to redirect his attention and "force" him to listen if he wants a reward at the end.

And NILIF training (Nothing In Life Is Free) is a wonderful thing. We started learning the "stay" command before being allowed to enter the apartment. I'd get him to sit and slowly scoot past the door, telling him to stay as I did this. For the first few times I would reward him almost instantly so he'd understand that "stay" pretty much meant sit here and do nothing. I also wanted to reward him BEFORE he broke from his sitting position. I didn't want to give him an opportunity to fail in the beginning stages of teaching something new. Little by little I would increase the time he'd be required to stay before getting a treat. Now, I can drop his leash and he will stay from a very long distance until he's called. Always practice distance sit/stay/come somewhere contained and safe. I've heard of people losing their dogs practicing these commands in an open field or meadow.