Prioritising training needs?

wheresmymojo · 2021-12-06T19:27:26+00:00

We have a rescue 8 month old GSD cross coming to us this week...we are very excited [grin] There are a few training needs that we feel like we need to get on top of fairly quickly but is there a limit on how many things you should be trying to train them on in one go? Like...will she get overwhelmed? How long should we give her to settle in before we start training? As an idea the things are: - To get over serious fear/anxiety of car travel and motion sickness - Walking to heel - Recall - To not chase or bark at the cats (she's already very calm with them when we had her for a few hours yesterday but when they stared her out she barked a couple of times)

muddyford · 06/12/2021 19:39

Recall is top priority. You must be able to get you dog back to you reliably. You can start that around the house and garden straightaway, lots of praise and high value treats.

Walking to heel would be next as it makes walkies so much more pleasant.

The car thing would, I think, be a little lower in the list, just because your dog already has a problem and a stronger bond of trust from the previous two training situations may help.

The barking at cats wouldn't trouble me if it deters them from my property, but if you bundle him inside each time it happens, he will soon get the message.

Original poster

wheresmymojo · 06/12/2021 19:49

The cats are our own cats

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lingus · 06/12/2021 19:50

I would start on focus with you

So reward all eye contact
Hand touches
Reward proximity to you
Reward for walking in heel position off lead in the house
Magic recall game - throw food out and as the dog turns back to you, mark and reward with food and repeat.

If you have focus and orientation to you recall and lead walking will be a breeze. All the above can be done with daily food allowance.

I would not be doing any "formal" training for a few days to let them settle in.

Keep the cat away for a week or so until you have build up relationship with the dog, then you can begin gentle introductions

If car sickness is an issue speak to your vet and ask for cerenia - a great drug that often stops car sickness in dogs after a couple of journeys.

Original poster

wheresmymojo · 06/12/2021 19:51

The reason for the car thing is that we're quite rural so often in the car at the weekends going to places we'd want to take DDog with us...

I've read up about it though and the first few steps are just to get her next to the car, then in the car with all of the doors open, then with doors shut, then with engine on.

All of that before we actually go anywhere so no reason I can't do that before or after our walks.

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Simonjt · 06/12/2021 19:51

8 months old? My dog was a wanker at 8 months old.

Focusing on you, hand feed, if you are the only source of food obedience is much much easier.

Original poster

wheresmymojo · 06/12/2021 19:52

@lingus

I would start on focus with you

So reward all eye contact
Hand touches
Reward proximity to you
Reward for walking in heel position off lead in the house
Magic recall game - throw food out and as the dog turns back to you, mark and reward with food and repeat.

If you have focus and orientation to you recall and lead walking will be a breeze. All the above can be done with daily food allowance.

I would not be doing any "formal" training for a few days to let them settle in.

Keep the cat away for a week or so until you have build up relationship with the dog, then you can begin gentle introductions

If car sickness is an issue speak to your vet and ask for cerenia - a great drug that often stops car sickness in dogs after a couple of journeys.

Thanks for the tip on Cerenia.

She had a 23 hour journey from Cyprus to her current home (they have small children and it wasn't a good match) so that's where the sickness comes from I think.

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AwkwardPaws27 · 06/12/2021 19:59

I'd say chasing the cats; a bark is ok but chasing is self rewarding so once they start it's much harder to get them to stop the behaviour. Baby gates etc to give the cats safe places to retreat to from day one.

Recall would be my next priority - you can start playing games in the garden to practice this. A longline (on a harness, never a collar) was invaluable.

Is the car sickness definitely still an issue or was it reported to the rescue? I only ask as our dog was car sick until he was around 6 months old and he grew out of it. He wasn't keen on the car after that still, so we did lots of v short trips to the local park to make it an exciting destination. I'd probably leave tackling this for a few weeks until pup is more settled.

icedcoffees · 06/12/2021 20:32

The most important thing is to focus on her settling into your home - I wouldn't even think about training for at least a month. Just let her settle, get to know you and relax.

certainshepherdpups · 06/12/2021 21:31

I would definitely keep the pup separate from the cats at first and introduce them slowly. I don't really see that as a training issue.

As for training, I'd start with the basics like watch me, touch, etc. I wouldn't start with recall or walking to heel, though some games in the house or garden can lay the groundwork for those things. Training is such a great opportunity for bonding so I'd start right away. But I wouldn't do long sessions, just a minute or two here and there throughout the day. Then in a few weeks when he becomes more settled I'd work toward longer sessions (5 minutes or so of focused training a couple of times a day) and build on that in the weeks/months to come. Even though he's 8 months old I'd probably treat him like a much younger pup for a while. He's been through a lot and will need time to settle in.

Of course, it all depends on the pup! You will learn soon enough how he responds to training, whether he's motivated by food or toys or whatever. Good luck and enjoy!

certainshepherdpups · 06/12/2021 21:32

Oops, I referred to your pup as he when it's obviously a she! Sorry about that.

SexyNeckbeard · 06/12/2021 22:02

She's been through a lot of changes in her short life - I have 2 Cypriot rescues myself so I know how hard the journey is on them! Don't try and do walks or formal training for a couple of weeks just let her settle in, find her feet and let her know this is her home.

Do reinforce boundaries straight away like my newest one was terrible for jumping up so we had to nip that in the bud and we taught him his name but don't be in a rush to treat her like a regular dog. Just lots of time. Good luck!

Original poster

wheresmymojo · 07/12/2021 19:40

@AwkwardPaws27

I'd say chasing the cats; a bark is ok but chasing is self rewarding so once they start it's much harder to get them to stop the behaviour. Baby gates etc to give the cats safe places to retreat to from day one.

Recall would be my next priority - you can start playing games in the garden to practice this. A longline (on a harness, never a collar) was invaluable.

Is the car sickness definitely still an issue or was it reported to the rescue? I only ask as our dog was car sick until he was around 6 months old and he grew out of it. He wasn't keen on the car after that still, so we did lots of v short trips to the local park to make it an exciting destination. I'd probably leave tackling this for a few weeks until pup is more settled.

Definitely still an issue! I've never seen anything like it.

We had her for a few hours on Sunday - 30 mins drive to ours and it was like a waterfall of dribble. Actual massive pools of dribble and full body shakes, and she doesn't dribble normally.

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Original poster

wheresmymojo · 07/12/2021 19:42

@SexyNeckbeard

She's been through a lot of changes in her short life - I have 2 Cypriot rescues myself so I know how hard the journey is on them! Don't try and do walks or formal training for a couple of weeks just let her settle in, find her feet and let her know this is her home.

Do reinforce boundaries straight away like my newest one was terrible for jumping up so we had to nip that in the bud and we taught him his name but don't be in a rush to treat her like a regular dog. Just lots of time. Good luck!

Thanks!

I will post the mandatory pic in a second

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Original poster

wheresmymojo · 07/12/2021 19:42

Here she is 😍

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SexyNeckbeard · 07/12/2021 20:17

Aw how lovely is she

dustofneptune · 07/12/2021 20:40

She's so damn cute. I'm excited for you! (And a bit jealous ahaha)

I went through this with my dog too. So many things to train, no idea what order. I also adopted him at 8 months! Wild times... :D

I'd say give her a few days to settle in first, then you could start focusing on basic things like eye contact, touch, etc. If she's doing well and doesn't seemed overwhelmed by too much attention, then you can start working on everything, in little bits.

For instance, I still train my dog with my cats in the evenings, or just whenever I'm sitting in my chair and he's lying on his blanket next to me. Whenever one of our cats walks by, he gets treats. Whenever he looks at the cat then to me, he gets treats. I just try to capture moments.

Still working on him not leash pulling - I focus on that in the afternoons.

Basically, you can start working on multiple things. Just keep things short - like a few mins per day - so as not to overwhelm her.

You'll probably find multiple issues come up, and then you'll be adding to your list. At least that's the case with my dog. Like right now, I'm doing all of the stuff, then also need to muzzle train him, and so on.

If the "various things in small doses" doesn't work for you, then it makes sense to focus on the cats first, as you want home life to be peaceful for all of you.

Then walking to heel / not pulling - as you'll have her on lead while you work on recall.

Then car. Meanwhile, assuming you have a garden, you could make do for a couple of weeks if you needed to.

Then recall. The stronger her bond with you, the better the boost to her recall anyway.