We're trying to learn Candy to "Come" (SW=Kom) and to make eye contact when his name is spoken. We first practised a little bit indoors so that he would know what we meant by "Kom", rewarding him with little slizes of ham. Then we went out doors and practised in an enclosed area without a leash. He responded well to that without any distraction (in this case peeing or sniffing). Then we took a little walk with the leash on and he responded very well to that too. Here he is running towards us, or should I say flying? :)
We're also using his obsessive peeing as a reward for eye contact. Which means: when he wants to pee, we stop him until he gives us eye contact and we release him with the words "Var så god/Varsågod" and since he's on a flexileash he also release the button at the same time.
The next time we practise we will use some "Leverpastej" (EN=Pâté made from liver) because that is his favorite in the whole wide world, hehe. To reward him properly when he's a bit distracted but listens anyway or comes really quick.
Some other good news is that he's now eating something other then kibble - although I'm not quite sure what. We'll have to work on that. He chews real bones (the little bones in the cow's tail) with a little meat still left on them. And he really gnaws.
And then he is so happy and satisfied afterwards!
How very clever to use obsessive peeing as a reward! I'd never heard of that before but it's a perfect example of using a "life reward" to get a dog to do good behaviour! You're a great trainer! And I think Candy is so lucky to have you working with him and training him. I'm sure he is much happier also to be working and using his brain and getting more attention & bonding time with you!
SvaraRaderaHsin-Yi
That's exactly what I intended :) It's inspiration from a book that says "use whatever the dog likes to do as a reward" with the examples; Playing, Eating, Humping, Sniffing, Etc, etc... (it's about klicker training) :)
SvaraRaderaThank you very much! My boyfriend was really working against me in the beginning saying "we can handle him as he is now." When he doesn't listen to anything they say, get aggressive with almost all other dogs (even at a distance), etc etc. So reading that he's lucky to have me feels nice :)
I'm gonna do an update soon :)