New to NDT

[krusewalker]

Hiya folks

read kevin's book and was very inspired.

i have a couple questions re training my GSD.

she is a 15 month old girl.
pretty hyper, she lived with an addict and was allowed to stray latchkey most of her life and find her own entertainment in the woods.

consequently, she is very highly strung and is pretty much an adrenaline junkie.

i have managed to get thru to her re some obedience.

the most pressing issue is lead frustration: when she sees another dog she screams and flails around...she isnt very strong but is very flexible!

she isn't dog aggressive, and is fine with them off lead, albeit a bit ill mannered and in need of guidance and interruption if she becomes too pushy.

My questions are:

1) Has anyone actually dealt with the same sort of dog, tried the pushing technique when they were about to explode at sight of other dogs, and come out the other side with a 'cured dog'?

2) As she is a small shepherd and a bit flexible and doesnt have much strength behind her, she tends to fall over quite a lot when i do the pushing.
Does this matter?

3) Whats the actual protocol for introducing pushing?
Do you start off with small pushes and build up, for example?

cheers in advance

[Indy]

She sounds quite like my dog Nelly who is also very reactive on lead around other dogs. Pushing has been very helpful with her reactivity, and most of the time if we see a dog, she will look to me to give her an outlet. In some cases, I can just give her a pat and tell her good girl, and on we walk.

When we started pushing, I first just got her used to eating out of my hand for the first few days. Then, I touched her neck with my left hand while she ate. I started keeping my left hand stationary, and ever-so-slightly moved my right hand back so she encountered a little resistance to get to the food. I increased the intensity from there gradually. Now she loves pushing and will push so hard it makes my arm hurt.

The key is to introduce it slowly enough and at your dog's own pace. Just judge her reactions when upping the ante to see if it's too much too soon. You definitely want her to be able to sustain contact with you when pushing, so I'd figure out why she's falling over and readjust. Pushing is a dual effort-- you are pushing against your dog, but your dog should also be pushing hard into your hand. If she's falling over, it could be that you're putting too much strength into it and need to back up for a bit. Another thing you can do is walk backwards while she's pushing which will get her driving into you and may help her focus more.

She should be pretty comfortable with pushing before you expect any success around other dogs. It also helps if you skip a meal or two, or feed a bit less before you try. You want her to try to go after another dog while on lead.. let her experience the full panic because that gives you access to channel it and ultimately solve it. It took me a couple of months of *daily* pushing to get any real progress, so keep at it and don't be discouraged. Nelly is by no means cured, but she has improved significantly in this regard.

Good luck!

[Sang]

Yep, Indy is spot on. One other thing you can do in addition to skipping a meal or two, is to also keep your dog isolated for a bit of time before you engage with her outside. There are a number of ways you can do this. If you work during the day and she stays at home, then take her out immediately when you get home to do some pushing, as her energy will be stored up and needing a channel. If she stays in a crate during the day, all the better. Don't let her out of the crate as soon as you get home. Wait until you're ready to take her outside to push for her meal, since this will also help store up more energy to give you once you get her pushing.

You can also tie her up outside on a short line in an isolated area where she won't get stimulated. Leave her there by herself for 10-20 minutes, or until she looks "bored". Then go outside and zing her a couple of times with some food, just so she feels some success of getting food. Then tease her a bit with the food, holding it just out of her reach, and see if she'll pull against the line to get to the food. As soon as she puts any tension on the line at all, zing her with some food. You have to be ready to zing her fast, so that she's getting the food when she's at the end of the line, and not when she's going backwards. Once she's pulling on the line, then start slowly introducing your hand against her chest so she gets used to that feeling. A lot of dogs experience a lot of resistance when you first start putting your hand in front of them and they sort of shut down. This gets them used to the feeling of pushing through resistance to get what they want. As they become more comfortable with this, then the hand on the chest doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore, because they've experienced the feeling of success already.

Hope that helps. Good luck

[BrownieNJoyce]

Hi. I'm a fellow NDT-er about 8 months in. My dog was all about chasing squirrels and cats and weaving all over on leash when I got him. Now we can really enjoy our walks. He's still often on high alert but stays next to me mostly and only occasionally pulls toward something. But then I can redirect him if I wait for a break in his focus. The relationship feels magical at times and I enjoy the process.
I've found that I've really benefited from a combo of the modalities offered for learning NDT: watching Neil's DVD, reading his blog posts, practice-practice-practice, posting on the forum, reading the forum posts, watching the DVD again...phone consult with Neil...

Have you considered getting Neil's DVD? I really needed the visual demo to feel comfortable about what I was doing. Each time I watch it I seem to get a new awareness about my own technique. And reading Neil's blog and the forum posts is entertaining as well as very instructive and inspiring since learning is not without occasional frustrations.
And do keep posting! The support here is amazing.