Dutch Shepherd Forum

With everything I had going on, after the initial basic training class was completed, we haven’t returned to any classes.
I’ve been very lax and I feel that I need to return to class to sharpen up my training skills with Rogue.
Rogue is 18 months old. She is prey driven, toy and food driven. She comes to me when called, about 15% of the time. That might be generous. (I’m embarrassed to admit that).
She recently has grown more ready to bark at other dogs.
She cries and whines when I leave the room. Wants to be near me when in the same room but only to play for the most part.
She is loving and wants to please. Makes great eye contact, but easily distracted.
I’m a big mess.
I quit my job and have all the time to train with Rogue. I will be getting private lessons and returning to class, starting this week.
What advise or tips do you all have for me?
Thank you in advance.

get back to training and train at home as much as possible as as much as she can do with out making her sour. The crying when you leave is their attachment to you, they want to be with their humans, I cant go into the bathroom with out Sadie getting upset, If i go to the basement and close the door, Sadie barks.

For the reactivity workshop, we're doing very basic nosework, and holy mackerel both Leela and Radar love it.

Michael, what does their nose work entail?

Dutchringgirl wrote: ↑Sun Oct 07, 2018 4:46 pm get back to training and train at home as much as possible as as much as she can do with out making her sour. The crying when you leave is their attachment to you, they want to be with their humans, I cant go into the bathroom with out Sadie getting upset, If i go to the basement and close the door, Sadie barks.

Thank you Lisa, I will work with her as much as possible.

Right now it's just sniffing out treats in a small area, but it's combined with a decompression exercise to "empty their stress bucket" before any activity.

We do the decompression exercise constantly and mix in the nosework occasionally so they can remain relaxed and thoughtful for any activity.

Is the decomposition activity like chasing a ball, going for a run, or some other agility play?

It is literally putting a leash on and doing nothing until the dog fully relaxes

doing nothing???!!! Does that actually Happen? Kidding aside, how long do you do that exercise?

Joxgirl wrote: ↑Sun Oct 07, 2018 9:44 pm doing nothing???!!!

Yes! Nothing, including no eye contact with the dog.

It wasn't all that difficult with Radar. He seemed to know what to do because of the relax training we did early on to combat crazy hour when we first got him. Leela was another story, because we rarely work any training with her.

The goal is to consistently achieve relaxation within 5 minutes. That's down, hip-roll, chin on the ground.

It took some of the folks in the reactivity workshop 1hr 45m during first attempts.

BTW - there's no commands and no praise when relaxation is achieved. It's simply removing the leash and walking away.

I've got video on my home PC, and I'll share later today.

I would enjoy seeing that video Michael. I wonder how long it would take Rogue and I to achieve something like that.

I realized just how boring the full video would be, considering we're just doing nothing, so I am going to present a snippet of one exercise where Radar got a little vocal while trying to relax. I think you can see the full idea of the exercise with this.



After a couple of more minutes, Radar rolled his hip over and put his chin on the ground. I removed the leash and walked away.

We do this 3-4 times a day, but we've added additional elements and distractions like standing up or moving to the backyard.

Radar is a good boy. I will try to sit and do nothing just to see what Rogue will do. Either she will sit and stare up at me, or she will take advantage and run around looking for an item to taunt me with. I’ll update you later.
Thank you for sharing the video.

FYI - you should do this with a leash.

centrop67 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:34 pm FYI - you should do this with a leash.

And lose all the fun??? No way.
Hahaha. Thanks for the tip. I would have forgotten you had mentioned the leash in the OP ( I think you mentioned it)

ugh, I wrote a lot this morning but my post isnt here

Saralee - I just want to add that these decompression exercises are part of a set of rituals to de-stress Radar before initiating activities where he might become reactive.

They may be unnecessary for your average dog. I have a lot of work left in the workshop.

Do you give a reward after he settles and you take the leash off or just you’re done and walk away? I would think rewarding him for finally resting completely, but then I guess he would just start to lay down every time you put his leash on

No reward at first. Just remove the leash. Once he I got consistent relaxing I started doing simple find the treats nose work. There's a few behaviors to teach but I haven't got to them yet. I am weeks behind in the workshop.

I would do it just to do something different with Rogue.
Today when we played, I waited until she made eye contact before I threw the ball.
I need to change things up and keep my girl happy and stimulated.
I love this forum and all that it has to offer.
I glean many new ideas and insights. This breed of dog/bitch is amazing and I want to continue to do good by what they have to offer.