Training a dog is much more fun than I thought

[Joemonkey]

Recently picked up a boxer/lab mix for my family (myself, wife, 6yo daughter) and we have been amazed at how good things are going. We picked her up at around 2.5mo old, and she took to crate training immediately. Last week (at about 4mo old) we started her with training at petsmart and she already knows 16 commands (8 total, each with a voice and silent/hand component)

Growing up I had smaller dogs, but they were never crate trained, never leash trained, and never command trained. My wife's family had Rotts that were crate trained, but not command trained and would jump all over you when you went into the house. We decided that if we were going to get a dog, we were going to be responsible pet owners and have it leash trained and command trained. So far it's working out great! Just watching my daughter interact with the dog is a blast, especially since the dog now responds to an "off" command when she jumps up on my daughter

We're thinking of taking the dog all the way through competition obedience training, not necessarily to compete, but we just want our dog to be that well trained. Anyone have any experience with agility/CGC/competition training? Did we pick a good mixed breed for such training?

 

[CRXican]

no

boxers are idiots

I was thinking that trolls are bigger idiots. The wikipedia article and other articles seem to dispute what you're claiming in this post. -Admin DrPizza

 

[VtPC83]

Thats great to hear. More people need to have their dogs trained.

Boxers aren't known for their incredible intelligence, nor labs really. They aren't at the bottom of the list though. Through enough repetition and training itself your dog will do just fine. It sounds like you're already off to great start.

 

[Ns1]

I do obedience training with the GF

got 2 dogs that might compete, both are tentative for obedience, one is going for agility as well, and the other is also on track to becoming a therapy dog

they're both CGC

post questions if you got em!

 

[cliftonite]

I do obedience training with the GF

got 2 dogs that might compete, both are tentative for obedience, one is going for agility as well, and the other is also on track to becoming a therapy dog

they're both CGC

post questions if you got em!

Whats a CGC?

 

[Joemonkey]

no

boxers are idiots

You sure the owners aren't idiots?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_(dog)

"Boxers are a bright, energetic and playful breed and tend to be very good with children. They are active, strong dogs and require adequate exercise to prevent boredom-associated behaviors such as chewing, digging, or licking. Boxers have earned a slight reputation of being "headstrong," which can be related to inappropriate obedience training."
"Many who have worked with Boxers disagree quite strongly with Coren's survey results, and maintain that a skilled trainer who uses reward-based methods will find Boxers have far above-average intelligence and working ability."

And as far as labs go...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrador_Retriever

"The steady temperament of Labradors and their ability to learn make them an ideal breed for search and rescue, detection, and therapy work. They are a very intelligent breed. They are ranked # 7 in Stanley Coren's book " The Intelligence of dogs". "

 

[Kyle]

I agree- I have a 1.5yr old golden retriever that I got @ 8 weeks old...there were def. rough patches during the training but now she's soooo well behaved and is very quick to pick up new tricks etc. Nothing like my childhood dog growing up.

 

[Joemonkey]

Whats a CGC?

Canine Good Citizen

http://www.therapyarc.org/AKC_CGC_Testing.htm

To receive the CGC award, dogs must successfully complete the 10 item Canine Good Citizen Test. Items on the test include:

Test 1. Accepting a Friendly Stranger
Test 2. Sitting Politely for Petting
Test 3. Appearance and Grooming
Test 4. Out for a Walk (walk on a loose leash)
Test 5. Walking Through a Crowd
Test 6. Sit and Down on Command/Staying in Place
Test 7. Coming When Called
Test 8. Reaction to Another Dog
Test 9. Reactions to Distractions
Test 10. Supervised Separation

 

[alkemyst]

The thing with dog intelligence and where the idiot humans don't get it is that any dog can learn all the basic and even advanced obedience commands. They levels of intelligence really relate more to 1st command acknowledgement or if you have to repeat the command more than once.

Going to competition level of anything is usually not so fun as a past time...the purpose to do it is to win. Your dog will probably be thrilled with the challenges regardless, you as the human probably not so.

Another important thing (which a class at a pet store does) is provide socialization to various pets and people. I love going to the dog park as well. My old job allowed me to get there everyday...now it's just weekends and holidays. They really look forward to it and it's fun to talk to people that are there.

Important things for the dog park is no treats, no toys unless you are willing to share, and no food. The treats and food thing are mostly because there is no telling what dogs have allergies, special diets, nor if some asshat is feeding chocolate or spoiled meat.

One couple actually pulled out mace when they decided to eat subs on the bench inside. Fortunately our park ranger was there and banned them.

 

[Joemonkey]

I do obedience training with the GF

got 2 dogs that might compete, both are tentative for obedience, one is going for agility as well, and the other is also on track to becoming a therapy dog

they're both CGC

post questions if you got em!

do you train with their actual food? first thing our trainer taught us was to make our dog "earn her dinner" and train with her food instead of treats. Every night our family goes thorugh 4 good sized handfuls of food, making Jackie (our dog) go through watch me, sit, shake, down, go get it, high five, come, and off when necessary. We plan on using our stairs in the routine soon too, once it gets cold outside. After the 4 handfuls we put one more handful in her bowl to eat at her leisure, but other than that we don't have any food out for her on a regular basis

 

[Joemonkey]

The thing with dog intelligence and where the idiot humans don't get it is that any dog can learn all the basic and even advanced obedience commands. They levels of intelligence really relate more to 1st command acknowledgement or if you have to repeat the command more than once. *SNIP*

One of the few times I have ever agreed with you. If you aren't going to take the time necessary to train your dog, you're not ready to get a dog.

 

[Ns1]

do you train with their actual food? first thing our trainer taught us was to make our dog "earn her dinner" and train with her food instead of treats. Every night our family goes thorugh 4 good sized handfuls of food, making Jackie (our dog) go through watch me, sit, shake, down, go get it, high five, come, and off when necessary. We plan on using our stairs in the routine soon too, once it gets cold outside. After the 4 handfuls we put one more handful in her bowl to eat at her leisure, but other than that we don't have any food out for her on a regular basis

we use training treats - we make them work for their food, but we also have designated training time. no free feeding, designated feeding times. When we're about to go "work" we give them partial meals so they're hungry when they're training.

every walk is a training opportunity. we go to obedience classes/training every weekend...it's a bitch! free time = gone

if you're serious i'd find a local dog club.

 

[Gunslinger08]

do you train with their actual food? first thing our trainer taught us was to make our dog "earn her dinner" and train with her food instead of treats. Every night our family goes thorugh 4 good sized handfuls of food, making Jackie (our dog) go through watch me, sit, shake, down, go get it, high five, come, and off when necessary. We plan on using our stairs in the routine soon too, once it gets cold outside. After the 4 handfuls we put one more handful in her bowl to eat at her leisure, but other than that we don't have any food out for her on a regular basis

That's actually a good idea. We got a chocolate lab/german shorthair pointer mix in July that's a little under 5 months now. She's picking stuff up, but we still have problems with her jumping on new people and getting too crazy on a regular leash. She does fine with a gentle leader. It would be great if she actually came when we called for her, too.

 

[Joemonkey]

we use training treats - we make them work for their food, but we also have designated training time. no free feeding, designated feeding times. When we're about to go "work" we give them partial meals so they're hungry when they're training.

every walk is a training opportunity. we go to obedience classes/training every weekend...it's a bitch! free time = gone

if you're serious i'd find a local dog club.

I haven't done much research myself, but the vet and trainer both said that we should feed her 2x a day until she is spayed (will happen in December once she's 6mo). So, in the morning she gets a couple of handfuls of food, if she doesn't eat it in an hour or so it gets put away. Then in the afternoon she gets trained with her dinner. It's amazing how fast she can burn through those 4 handfuls. It might be me looking through rose colored glasses, but I swear she acts like she looks forward to the training. We've messed up a couple times and left food in her bowl while training and she'll ignore it, only eating the food for following commands until we're done for that session.

The funny thing right now is that she knows if you have food or are just practicing with an empty hand. If she's in the kitchen and you don't have food and give her the down command she'll bow down a little then give that little "grroowwwerrrmowwwerrrrrr "noise until you either get food or move over to the carpet. Poor thing's tummy doesn't like the cold linoleum in the kitchen!

 

[alkemyst]

IMHO it's best to use praise than food.

 

[Joemonkey]

IMHO it's best to use praise than food.

we're using food to teach, and praise to reinforce.

 

[Ns1]

IMHO it's best to use praise than food.

while working, our tactic is praise until the end of this portion of training, then treat like mad

ie no treats only praise for 40-50 tasks, then 5-15 treats.


@JoeMonkey's current place in training, I think treat/praise as a reward is fine.

 

[Broheim]

I do obedience training with the GF

yeah you do

 

[Joemonkey]

yeah you do

I spend too much time on reddit, I was attempting to upvote this comment...

Anyway, here's a pic of Jackie going half derp

 

[gorcorps]

I do obedience training with the GF

Nice... does she bring a sammich at the snap of your fingers yet?

 

[FDF12389]

Nice... does she bring a sammich at the snap of your fingers yet?

Maybe she's been trained to respond to a different name too, that would be a mind fuck!

 

[alkemyst]

My dog understands Japanese and English.

 

[Murloc]

my dog:
Test 1. Accepting a Friendly Stranger
yes, but she'll smell your ass
Test 2. Sitting Politely for Petting
yes
Test 3. Appearance and Grooming
does look good
Test 4. Out for a Walk (walk on a loose leash)
as long as there are no aggressive or playful dogs
Test 5. Walking Through a Crowd
no problem
Test 6. Sit and Down on Command/Staying in Place
yes, but doesn't stay
Test 7. Coming When Called
sure
Test 8. Reaction to Another Dog
never aggressive
Test 9. Reactions to Distractions
if it's a cat, not good
Test 10. Supervised Separation
drama queen

EDIT: sorry I rerailed a derailed thread. What a buzz killer.

 

[Ns1]

Test 9. Reactions to Distractions
if it's a cat, not good

reactions to distractions = usually a metal chair dropped behind the dog

 

[OlafSicky]

Recently picked up a boxer/lab mix for my family (myself, wife, 6yo daughter) and we have been amazed at how good things are going. We picked her up at around 2.5mo old, and she took to crate training immediately. Last week (at about 4mo old) we started her with training at petsmart and she already knows 16 commands (8 total, each with a voice and silent/hand component)

Growing up I had smaller dogs, but they were never crate trained, never leash trained, and never command trained. My wife's family had Rotts that were crate trained, but not command trained and would jump all over you when you went into the house. We decided that if we were going to get a dog, we were going to be responsible pet owners and have it leash trained and command trained. So far it's working out great! Just watching my daughter interact with the dog is a blast, especially since the dog now responds to an "off" command when she jumps up on my daughter

We're thinking of taking the dog all the way through competition obedience training, not necessarily to compete, but we just want our dog to be that well trained. Anyone have any experience with agility/CGC/competition training? Did we pick a good mixed breed for such training?

I have my views on Pet ownership:\ but I must give you props for being responsible and training your dog. I wish more people did the same. Complete all the training you can get, especially with a kid in the mix. Good luck. :thumbsup: