Comments on: Why I am a cold, heartless bastard. http://blog.torgodevil.com/archives/93 Crunky! This is a blog about an English teacher living in South Korea. Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:15:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: ::A Geek in Korea:: » Blog Archive » Not a way to start the day. http://blog.torgodevil.com/archives/93#comment-202 ::A Geek in Korea:: » Blog Archive » Not a way to start the day. Sat, 27 May 2006 12:26:28 +0000 http://www.torgodevil.com/?p=93#comment-202 [...] The day started out well, but that only lasted as long as the time it took me to wake up and pull back the curtains to our veranda.Our dog, Yoshi, who had no signs of illness when we put him in his bed last night, had soiled the floor of the veranda completely, with every possible bodily fluid known to dog-kind. It was foul, but worst of all was the look on the dogs face. He didn’t know what was going on either. [...] [...] The day started out well, but that only lasted as long as the time it took me to wake up and pull back the curtains to our veranda.Our dog, Yoshi, who had no signs of illness when we put him in his bed last night, had soiled the floor of the veranda completely, with every possible bodily fluid known to dog-kind. It was foul, but worst of all was the look on the dogs face. He didn’t know what was going on either. [...]

]]> By: Loopyseven http://blog.torgodevil.com/archives/93#comment-191 Loopyseven Thu, 18 May 2006 14:03:51 +0000 http://www.torgodevil.com/?p=93#comment-191 For the biting... just yelp, say ow, whatever. Usually a high pitched sharp noise will startle them enough to get the puppy to back off the biting. if you jump, pull you hand back, or do anything to interact with them they see that as positive reinforcement of the biting. They are getting your attention for doing it so they will keep doing it. If yelping doesn't help, stand up, leave the room, turn your back or whatever until the puppy settles down/sits down. They learn then that if they nip/bite they lose their plaything. It doesn't happen overnight, but it will improve quickly. As weird as it sounds.. I've learned you must think like a dog. :) Along those same lines is a Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF) approach. Before they get petted they must sit, before they get a toy they must sit and watch you, before they eat they must lay down and stay. It reinforces the pack mentality and that you are the leader of the pack. They must do what you want before they get what they want. Our biggest problem now is that my dog is going to be approx. 100 lbs when she is fully grown (she's 45 already) and hasn't figured out that everyone does not want her to run up and jump on them. When she's bigger she will knock people over doing that. She already can knock the neighbor kids down :). If you're really keeping the dog.. my boyfriend and I have been taking our puppy to obedience classes. You need to do 3 things to start training. get some treats. First, establish a marker word (we use YES said in a very happy excited voice). Do about 10 "yesses" or whatever word you choose and they get a treat each time you say the word. Then they associate the word with getting a treat and it's a good thing. You can do this a couple of times a day for a few days and then they should be good at it. Second, they need to learn their name. Call their name.. they look at you they get a treat. do it again and again. Pups have short attention spans. Do a couple of 2-3 minute sessions a day (waiting for water to boil, oven to pre-heat, whatever). Until they know their name you can't get their attention. We still do this sometimes with Autumn. Third, make them watch you. Sit em down and hold the treat out to your side. When the puppy looks at your face instead of the hand with the treat in it they get a treat. Gradually extend the amount of time they have to make eye contact before they get the treat. This establishes you as the leader. Then you can start working on Sits, downs, stays, comes (this one is HARD, especially with distractions) etc. Hope my comments help, even if they're a bit long. For the biting… just yelp, say ow, whatever. Usually a high pitched sharp noise will startle them enough to get the puppy to back off the biting. if you jump, pull you hand back, or do anything to interact with them they see that as positive reinforcement of the biting. They are getting your attention for doing it so they will keep doing it. If yelping doesn’t help, stand up, leave the room, turn your back or whatever until the puppy settles down/sits down. They learn then that if they nip/bite they lose their plaything. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it will improve quickly. As weird as it sounds.. I’ve learned you must think like a dog. :)
Along those same lines is a Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF) approach. Before they get petted they must sit, before they get a toy they must sit and watch you, before they eat they must lay down and stay. It reinforces the pack mentality and that you are the leader of the pack. They must do what you want before they get what they want.
Our biggest problem now is that my dog is going to be approx. 100 lbs when she is fully grown (she’s 45 already) and hasn’t figured out that everyone does not want her to run up and jump on them. When she’s bigger she will knock people over doing that. She already can knock the neighbor kids down :).
If you’re really keeping the dog.. my boyfriend and I have been taking our puppy to obedience classes. You need to do 3 things to start training. get some treats. First, establish a marker word (we use YES said in a very happy excited voice). Do about 10 “yesses” or whatever word you choose and they get a treat each time you say the word. Then they associate the word with getting a treat and it’s a good thing. You can do this a couple of times a day for a few days and then they should be good at it.
Second, they need to learn their name. Call their name.. they look at you they get a treat. do it again and again. Pups have short attention spans. Do a couple of 2-3 minute sessions a day (waiting for water to boil, oven to pre-heat, whatever). Until they know their name you can’t get their attention. We still do this sometimes with Autumn.
Third, make them watch you. Sit em down and hold the treat out to your side. When the puppy looks at your face instead of the hand with the treat in it they get a treat. Gradually extend the amount of time they have to make eye contact before they get the treat. This establishes you as the leader.
Then you can start working on Sits, downs, stays, comes (this one is HARD, especially with distractions) etc.
Hope my comments help, even if they’re a bit long.

]]> By: torgodevil http://blog.torgodevil.com/archives/93#comment-190 torgodevil Wed, 17 May 2006 14:04:03 +0000 http://www.torgodevil.com/?p=93#comment-190 Yeah, dog resisters unite! The dog lasted ONE day at her parents house, and now it's back with us, stinking up the veranda and generally doing puppy like things. It's extremely sensitive at the moment and wants all the attention. If we leave it unattended, it will tear up the newspapers we left for potty training. Right now the only thing it knows how to do is bite at clothing and use it's water dish. We bought some treats, in case we can find a need for positive reinforcement, and we bought a pillow and sort of crate for it to sleep in. Once the dog can go outside post-shots, I don't think I'll mind as much. Getting some exercise and walking the dog will be much better than the current game of "WHY ARE YOU GNAWING ON MY HAND!" I named the dog "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshi" rel="nofollow">Yoshi</a>". Yeah, dog resisters unite!

The dog lasted ONE day at her parents house, and now it’s back with us, stinking up the veranda and generally doing puppy like things. It’s extremely sensitive at the moment and wants all the attention. If we leave it unattended, it will tear up the newspapers we left for potty training. Right now the only thing it knows how to do is bite at clothing and use it’s water dish.

We bought some treats, in case we can find a need for positive reinforcement, and we bought a pillow and sort of crate for it to sleep in. Once the dog can go outside post-shots, I don’t think I’ll mind as much. Getting some exercise and walking the dog will be much better than the current game of “WHY ARE YOU GNAWING ON MY HAND!”

I named the dog “Yoshi“.

]]> By: Loopyseven http://blog.torgodevil.com/archives/93#comment-189 Loopyseven Wed, 17 May 2006 12:09:27 +0000 http://www.torgodevil.com/?p=93#comment-189 Amen... although I do now have a dog for the first time in my life. We just never had one growing up and neither did any of our close friends/neighbors so I wasn't exposed. It was more of a "you kids won't take care of it and your mother doesn't need the extra work" kind of thing at my house than a "it'll get hit by a car so why bother" kind of thing but still... No dogs. It's SO important to my boyfriend that he won out. I told him I'd allow one and we'd discuss the future in the future. While I'll admit she does some cute stuff and is at times not too bad to have around... she does tend to smell like a dog. (Our whole house is wood floor except an 8'x10' area rug. And she likes to lick my face (ick) and the potty training/housebreaking is going slowly at best (she doesn't poo in the house and never has which is a HUGE plus but still). There are many many times when I'd rather not be bothered but have no choice (relaxing on the couch gettign into the season finale cliffhanger and the dog decides that's when she's going to jump on you, need to go out, insert attention getting ploy here). No more sleeping in on weekends. Puppy gets fed at 7:00 every morning. Although, part of the deal was that my boyfriend does the morning feeding and cleans up the stuff in the yard. :). All in all.. dogs do some fun stuff... but they are a TON of work if you want a well adjusted, well trained one. Amen… although I do now have a dog for the first time in my life. We just never had one growing up and neither did any of our close friends/neighbors so I wasn’t exposed. It was more of a “you kids won’t take care of it and your mother doesn’t need the extra work” kind of thing at my house than a “it’ll get hit by a car so why bother” kind of thing but still… No dogs. It’s SO important to my boyfriend that he won out. I told him I’d allow one and we’d discuss the future in the future. While I’ll admit she does some cute stuff and is at times not too bad to have around… she does tend to smell like a dog. (Our whole house is wood floor except an 8′x10′ area rug. And she likes to lick my face (ick) and the potty training/housebreaking is going slowly at best (she doesn’t poo in the house and never has which is a HUGE plus but still). There are many many times when I’d rather not be bothered but have no choice (relaxing on the couch gettign into the season finale cliffhanger and the dog decides that’s when she’s going to jump on you, need to go out, insert attention getting ploy here). No more sleeping in on weekends. Puppy gets fed at 7:00 every morning. Although, part of the deal was that my boyfriend does the morning feeding and cleans up the stuff in the yard. :). All in all.. dogs do some fun stuff… but they are a TON of work if you want a well adjusted, well trained one.

]]>