Quote:
Originally Posted by MyPemCharlie
Well, I'm still having a hard time getting my arms around this one. Encouraging the dog to do something "bad" (try to get the treat), in order to teach something good (Off!) seems like the dog is learning a game of "Let me test you to see if you'll give me the treat by nudging and licking your hand." You say "Off!" and gently push the dog back, then give it the treat for giving up and sitting a few seconds. It seems like the dog just learned to nudge and lick your hand anytime you're holding something yummy.
I would have preferred for you instructor to teach "Wait", where you can actually leave the treat on the floor and make the dog wait (in Sit or Down) until you release him/her with "Free" or "OK".
"Off" is my cue word for "No jumping up on people", not "Nudge my hand so I can make you wait to get the treat".
I may be missing something here, and I do know that training methods vary. I never try to entice a bad behavior in order to train a good behavior...Charlie does the bad behaviors naturally without my help. LOL
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Well the instructors said the point of this exercise was to first teach the dogs that "off" meant to "back off." They want the puppies to actually take a step back eventually. They said that once the dog understands that "off" means they have to back up it will work when they jump up on people, because they'll know to "back off." I'm not a dog trainer and this is my first real experience with any sort of dog training, so I can't really say much about the method. What I CAN say is that it worked absolutely PERFECTLY for Waeryn. After a very short while of teaching her "off," she does it wonderfully. Here are a couple of examples:
She was laying on the couch with me and I was drinking a bottle of Dr. Pepper. She is usually very interested in anything that I'm drinking and tries to lick the bottle/can/cup (etc.). She got up and tried to put her nose on the bottle so I said "OFF" and she back up and layed down right away. She tested me for while, but soon she stopped trying.
Also, my sister has a kitten that doesn't run away or defend herself when Waeryn tries to play with her (and Waeryn can get a little too rough with her). Waeryn wouldn't leave the kitten alone so I said "off" and she backed off.