My apartment complex is overrun with lizards, frogs, and small turtles. Naturally, my dog Shortcake (6 year old golden mix) finds them fascinating. She usually just stands and stares at them, but she will occasionally go after one and sort of pounce on it. She hasn't hurt one yet, but I would really rather she didn't, because I feel bad for the little guys and I also don't want her to be potentially exposed to disease by getting one of them in her mouth.
Can anyone recommend a good training exercise for this situation? I thought about 'leave it' but didn't know if it would translate to moving animals once she got outside and I don't want to risk practicing with an actual frog!
Thanks!
Going after small critters.
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Re: Going after small critters.
If she knows the command leave it I would definatly use that..I know some frogs can be poisonous or at least give them an upset tummy so it would be good to for her not to even get a taste of one..You can always try one of those mobile stuffed animals at a toy store to try to teach her..Just make sure she already knows what leave it means... Good luck because I'm sure she thinks this is loads of fun...
Re: Going after small critters.
Practice your 'leave' command in and around the house, teach her that 'leave it' means 'you can NEVER have that but I do have something better'..
You need to start this process easy, ask her to leave something boring (easy) in return for a visible delicious treat (easy).
Then when shes great at that all over the house and outside, you ask her to leave the boring thing (easy) for the not so great treat (not so easy).
When shes great at that try leaving the boring thing (still easy) for the treat she CANT see in your pocket (harder).
When shes great at that try leaving the interesting thing (harder) for the tasty treat she can see in your hand (easy).
Each stage you go on to, change ONE aspect of difficulty - so if you are asking her to leave a more interesting item you make it more obvious whats in it for her. If you are asking her to leave a boring item you can reduce the level of direct bribery so shes working more on trust.
By changing just one aspect of difficulty each time, practicing in a variety of locations, you will eventually have a dog who generalises that leave it always means leave it, no matter how interesting, no matter where, and no matter whether you have a treat on show or not.
This is all important - bribery IS a useful tool but in emergency situations we rarely have half a roast chicken in our pockets so fading out the bribery over time is necessary. Dogs tend to be quite context specific about their learning, which is the reason why you will find dogs who behave PERFECTLY in the training class, in the agility ring, in teh show ring - but like absolutely untrained nutters at the park or in the street! We all need to life proof our dogs and that means training has to be done in the real world, not just in your living room or in a training class hall.
You need to start this process easy, ask her to leave something boring (easy) in return for a visible delicious treat (easy).
Then when shes great at that all over the house and outside, you ask her to leave the boring thing (easy) for the not so great treat (not so easy).
When shes great at that try leaving the boring thing (still easy) for the treat she CANT see in your pocket (harder).
When shes great at that try leaving the interesting thing (harder) for the tasty treat she can see in your hand (easy).
Each stage you go on to, change ONE aspect of difficulty - so if you are asking her to leave a more interesting item you make it more obvious whats in it for her. If you are asking her to leave a boring item you can reduce the level of direct bribery so shes working more on trust.
By changing just one aspect of difficulty each time, practicing in a variety of locations, you will eventually have a dog who generalises that leave it always means leave it, no matter how interesting, no matter where, and no matter whether you have a treat on show or not.
This is all important - bribery IS a useful tool but in emergency situations we rarely have half a roast chicken in our pockets so fading out the bribery over time is necessary. Dogs tend to be quite context specific about their learning, which is the reason why you will find dogs who behave PERFECTLY in the training class, in the agility ring, in teh show ring - but like absolutely untrained nutters at the park or in the street! We all need to life proof our dogs and that means training has to be done in the real world, not just in your living room or in a training class hall.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Re: Going after small critters.
Thanks for the advice, guys! She doesn't know 'leave it' yet because she's naturally pretty good about leaving things alone if I give her an 'ah ah' when she goes for something she can't have in the house. There wasn't a problem over the winter because even here in FL it's cool enough to keep the cold blooded critters from moving around too much, but now that it's spring, they're out and crawling/hopping all over! It's probably bad that I've sort of allowed her to chase squirrels because I know she'd never catch one, she's not very fast - but you don't have to be fast to catch a frog or turtle! I'm glad to know that she should be able to generalize the command eventually, though!