Dog Help

First off, this is for help with real life dogs, not the ones on this site.
I live with four dogs and three of them are driving me insane.

I have never had this many problems with dogs in my entire life, I think my parents just stopped caring about actually training them. My main issue is that two of them bark, all of the time. (To the point where we cannot leave the windows open and I fear that someone might call the police.) Both of these dogs belong to my father, who believes that they can do no wrong. My mother screams at them, which, frankly, does nothing.
My next issue is with my mother's dog, who has made more training. She hates to be outside. She calls up the side of door if she is out there more than a minute. We actually were starting to train her and she got better. However, one day she started clawing and my mother went out to work with her to find blood all over the door. The dog had hurt herself clawing on the door. Now said dog has to be let in the moment she even touches the door, or else I get yelled. I know that she is worried that the dog will hurt herself again, but I really think it would be better to just train her not to.
I know for a fact that neither one of my parents will help me train them as we once took the dog in the last story to obedience school. Where my father claimed that the dog listened better me and my mother lost interest. So, I ended up being the one that had to work with her. While I do not mind training, I really think my parents should have don more with her.
I thought about doing basic training with all three of them, however this is where I need help. One of the ones that barks all of them time is a Border Collie and I know that they are very hard to train. What advice would you give me when it comes to her? The other is a Golden Retriever and samoyed mix, who my father has give so much freedom to that he only tend to listen to my father. How do I go about getting him away from that/earn his respect?
My mother's dog has already had basic training and listens fairly well. So, what would be the next step for her? Please note, that she does not like the clicker (it scares her), so I cannot clicker train her.

I apologize for my rambling, but I have only ever trained two dogs (my dog and my mother's), who were both fairly eager please me. Thank you for any help and please let me know if you need any more information. I tend to ramble and not make a lot of sense when I have just woken up.

Replies

dogfancy0

#46715 • 2011-07-18 06:47:10

#46715

I can't say i recommend any method, i personally use voice and hand signs with my dog. It's what ever works best for you, your parents and the dogs. ^^ Along with what everyone else said, i'd first sit down with your parents and figure what you are going to do. Then i'd start building a relationship with all the dogs if you are the one to train them. Feed, them walk them, pet them ect. Then i'd find out what motivates them, food, toys, belly rubs ect. Then start training and fixing the bad behavior. If you don't get a good foundation it will be very hard =)

Horseman Dos

#46713 • 2011-07-18 06:23:33

#46713

For the barking dogs, maybe you should try to turn teaching them not to bark into a "game". On a dog training show called "It's Me or the Dog", the lady dealt with an excessive barker by turning obcessive barking into a game. She rewarded the dog with yummy food for barking on command. Once the dog learned to bark on command (which was very easy), she would tell the dog to bark and then teach it to stop by rewarding it with the same food when it stopped on the command. She got the dog hooked on a certain treat and the dog was willing to play the little learning game with her for the food. Also, I think the majority of the behavior issues do stem from your parents. Unless you have a dog that has bonded to you as its master, your parents will need to get on track if you will be able to fully train the dogs. For example, our mastiff gets more lax treatment from my dad and very lax treatment from my mom. Because he sees me and my dad as his "masters", he gives me the most respect and acts up a tiny bit around my dad because he can get away with a few things with him. So you might want to strike up a bond with your dad's dog before you can reach it effectively in training. As for the spaniel, I'm not sure if you can get anywhere until your mom will let you have your way with it being left outside. I would reccomend whenever you take it out, pause for a moment before you let it in. Time it just enough so it only claws sometimes and not at others. Then, give it a reward of some kind that it really enjoys (ex. cheese, pettings, scratches behind the ears, etc) if it doesn't claw at the door. Once the frequency reduces for the first pause time, extend it in steps, building up the training. And whenever you let the dog out, come out with it, turn around and go into the threshold of the door, give it a piece of food and go inside. This might associate being left outside by a human with goodies. I'm no dog trainer, but I hope these tips will help. I'm going off of what I've learned training our mastiff, who is the first dog I really seriously trained.

Sync

#46564 • 2011-07-17 00:13:11

#46564

I doubt that the one is bored, highly doubt it. The other one probably is. I am aware of that.

Steaks

#46556 • 2011-07-16 22:05:16

#46556

To be quite honest, your dogs sound very bored. "My main issue is that two of them bark, all of the time. (To the point where we cannot leave the windows open and I fear that someone might call the police.) Both of these dogs belong to my father, who believes that they can do no wrong. My mother screams at them, which, frankly, does nothing." Yelling at a barking dog causes it to bark more.

Sync

#46549 • 2011-07-16 20:01:30

#46549

Ah, okay, So, I could train them, but I have to make sure that my parents say.do the same thing that I do? My parents prefer training them with words/using words, while I trained my dog with sounds. (A certain clapping pattern means come.) Do you recommend one method over the other? I figured that it would be better to word train them as my parents prefer that method. Haha, great. We started asking her to sit before throwing the toy. Is that a good idea? Okay, thank you.

dogfancy0

#46548 • 2011-07-16 19:47:20

#46548

Well i am not saying your parents have to do the majority of the training, but when they correct them, it has to be the same thing you are doing. Oh it's a toy dog x3 haha usually they are difficult. Honestly, i would start with getting them all to respond to basic commands first. While just reprimanding them for their bad behaviors. I am no professional either but i know some other people here are so maybe they will help out C=

Sync

#46545 • 2011-07-16 19:30:27

#46545

They do get walked, but not every day. On day that we do not walk them, we take them outside to play. I know the Border Collie loves to play, but our Golden Retriever is starting to not like it too much. He might work for food, though. I know, that is part of the problem. My parents will start off really in to it, but then give up, especially if the dog does not respond to them quickly. I know that the Golden ignores my mother and me for my dad (his favorite person). My mom's dog is King Charles Cavalier mix. I have no idea what else is in her. If it makes a difference, I can link you to a picture of her. Both the Border Collie and the Golden are my father's dogs. My dog is not listed here, he has his bad traits, but he's trained enough to stop when asked. (For example, when he breaks, if commanded to stop, he will.) He's a Collie/Husky, if knowing helps. The Golden only breaks when things pass our house, if that makes any difference. As stated, I have only trained two dogs, so I do not have much experience with it. Please let me know if you need any more information.

dogfancy0

#46542 • 2011-07-16 17:50:43

#46542

First of all, do any of these dogs get walks or exercise? The border collie especially, will start showing destructive/annoying behavior if they have no where else to put that energy. Also, Border Collies are one of the smartest dogs out there. You just have to figure out what keeps their attention and train them. Same with the Golden Retriever they are very easy to train once you figure out what makes them tick. And if you really want to make any improvement with these dogs, your whole family has to be on the same page. If you do one thing, your dad does another, and your mom does something else, the dog will either know who they can get away with stuff with, ignore two of your for it's favorite person, or just plain get confused. Dogs like consistency and routine. And so let me get this straight you have a Border Collie-No training-Barks all the time Golden x Sammie-No training- Barks all the time ??(mom's dog)-some training-can't be outside and which is your dog and which is your dad's?

1 2

Login
Username:
Password:

Dog Help

Replies

Login