German Shepherd with Distractions

Janette · Post by **Janette** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 2:28 am

Hi all I have a 3year old german shepherd, who is soooo good training on his own, but with other dogs he forgets Im there and goes deaf he lunges to get at the other dogs to Play hes not aggressive at all, I go to training classes but this problem does not go away, also when we walk through the town he is sooo excited I have trouble controlling him again turns deaf i have some tasty treats on me but the distractions over take the treats Please please can anyone help me

andym · Post by **andym** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 2:55 am

hi janette

sounds like my dog tho mine is aggressive with it

suppose just looks a bit more scary to others to have a german shepard in a playful mood than a collie.
i'm gonna try walking her on the lead round the village today, if she pulls i make her come back to me and sit with no attention, sorry i aint much help just thought i let you know i read it and wasnt ignoring you.

Sam-chan · Post by **Sam-chan** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 3:59 am

I think what you need to do is to find a way to get your dog's attention. When I find my Dal is not paying attention I get him to do a 'watch' command. This means I give him a treat for making eye contact (but only briefly, staring is impolite to dogs). To do this hold a treat at the side of your face and give the watch command, and reward him for looking at you. If you do this randomly around town, he'll realise that he gets something goof if he pays attention to you rather than the distractions, which may look interesting, but may not necessarily be rewarding.

Combine this with andym's idea and you should be on the right track.

Janette · Post by **Janette** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:02 am

Hi i have tried that and I can do it till blue in the face getting his attention but he just turns completely deaf,

Sam-chan · Post by **Sam-chan** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:22 am

Then try using a sound. On the show on last night Victoria used a whistle instead of her voice for recall and it worked wonders. Also, what does your dog like most? Our Dal can't resist bread for example, and that never fails to get his attention.

andym · Post by **andym** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:27 am

i know how ya feel, my dog usually goes nuts for a bit of cheese but with another dog on the scene she aint bothered one bit tried beef and tiny treats, have borrowed a friends dog at the moment and take them both out if mine gets to aggressive hoping to socialise thing is i have no idea of my dogs history so dunno if she had a bad episode with another dog ot bad habits, repetition and reward for good and ignore for bad i think is the key

Aidan · Post by **Aidan** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:45 pm

The trick with distractions is to work at a distance where you can get your dog's attention. This is known as working at "sub-threshold".

Sub-threshold varies from dog to dog and the degree of the distraction. It might be anything from 12 feet to the length of a football field. Sometimes you can use set-ups to vary the degree of distraction, e.g if your dog can't focus while another dog is chasing a ball, just work with someone tossing a ball into the air without a dog in your view (you can add the dog later).

When you can successfully reinforce behaviour such as Loose Leash Walking, Sit, Down, Watch Me - at sub-threshold, try pushing the threshold a little. Over time your dog will learn to pay attention to you amidst distractions.

Remember - always set your dog up for success. Without success you have nothing to reinforce. If you can't reinforce it - you won't get more of it.

Pupster · Post by **Pupster** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 11:32 am

Hi,

My dog Benny used to be like this and would run at other dogs & ignore me completely. I used the term 'leave it' & got Benny to sit & look at me then gave rewards when he listened. Didn't take long for Benny to associate the term 'leave it' with positive reward. I no longer need to use treats and my tone if firm but calm & I never yelled.

Hopefully you will get more ideas as I ain't the best trainer as he still has some issues but at least these ones are at home & I am starting to work on them (have asked for help here too).

Josie · Post by **Josie** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:57 pm

Dogs dont' generalise very well, and what they seem to understand in training class might not apply when they're on a walk. Especially when you consider that they are not verbal creatures, their cues tend to come from the enviroment as much as from what we do/say.

You might need to train behaviours from the beginning as you increase distractions, not because your dog is stubborn but because he might genuinely not understand what you want of him.

He sounds like he's more likely to be motivated by toys than food, have you tried that?

You can also try introducing something called the Premack Principle. That's basically a posh way of saying 'if you want something you'll need to earn it first', it's sometimes referred to as 'eat your greens if you want your pudding'.

If you can set up a situation with a dog you know is safe to play with, you can ask your dog to do something for you (sit/down/watch me/recall etc) and if he does it, his reward is to play with the other dog.

You can have that on a long line as well, so he has some freedom, but what he wants is further away than the long line reaches. The only way to get you to drop the long line is for him to come back to you first.

That takes a bit of practice for the dog to realise what you mean. You can practice it at home a bit, sit before you open the door to the garden, wait calmly while your lead is attached for a walk, sit before the lead is taken off etc etc.

I would also work seperately on your bond. Try to play lots of games and really show your dog that YOU are the most interesting thing on the planet.