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I am moving into a home that has a two year old Rottie rescue. She is small for a Rottie, so I feel she was a runt of the litter - other than that, she looks purebred. She is very sweet.
I'd like some advice or links to websites that give solid advice on the following, preferably for someone with little experience in dog training:
1. When we walk (and I know she needs a lot of exercise) she pulls. How do you train an adult dog to walk with you?
2. When we let her out to go to the bathroom with the two boston terriers she can and does jump the fence. How do you teach a dog to not jump the fence?
Leash walking manners- get her a body harness; I like the Gentle Leader, worth every penny and will help with control while you work on training pup to have nice leash manners.
To teach leash manners- get high value treats, e.g tiny tiny bits of cheddar cheese or hotdog cut up into tiny pieces half the size of your pinky fingernail.
Do you want dog on right or left side? Start with dog hungry, start in a safe quiet place, stand and hold leash quietly, no commands or body cues, when dog moves into area by side of body give treat; repeat, move away from dog so they have to move back into the zone by your side, treat again, repeat repeat repeat with increasing levels of difficulty in terms of distractions. If dog pulls, stop, and don't move forward again until dog loosens pressure on leash. Don't expect too much too soon, it takes time and patience.
Another great exercise is to treat dog anytime they randomly look at you- reinforces that paying attention to human gets treats.
As for jumping the fence- train the above exercises in the backyard, especially the eye contact one. Keep dog on leash so they can't jump the fence.
Training sessions should be short and fun never longer than 5 minutes max, and always end on a high note.
A trainer told me you can't teach a dog not to pull, you just have to get the proper tools to prevent the pulling. Idk. Probably depends on the dog. The Freedom No Pull Harness works pretty well.
I am guessing she is very excitable when going for walks?? Be calm and ignore her excitement. When you get the harness and she knows she's going to go for a walk, just stand still and don't even look at her until is calm, preferably sitting. If she jumps on you just turn away. Give her a treat as soon as she sits and praise her. Put the harness on and wait until she calms down to open the door. You may have to open and close it several times before she settles down enough for you to go out. Do this several times a day WITHOUT actually going for a walk. Just take her out and hang around the front yard for 10-15 minutes then take her back in. If she doesn't expect to go for a walk every single time you walk out the door, she shouldn't be shooting off like a rocket every time you do. The first few times you do this will take a while and I find it annoying because it's tedious, but it works. Patience and repetition are key .
I've never dealt with a fence jumper, so I have no idea on that one.
I recommend that you check Rottweiler.net
they have all the expertise that one could want.
the site has been very helpful for me with our rottie
rescue.
one can find some of the best up to date dog advice
found anywhere on the web.
for starters you should know that there are ways to train a dog
not to pull.
good luck.
I have found what works with leash pullers is when they start pulling you suddenly turn and go back the way you came do not say anything to them. They will have to turn and go with you.A few of those usually gets a leash puller walking without pulling and if they start pulling again you change directions again, It also teaches the dog to pay attention and keep an eye on you.
Gentle leaders are great tools for pullers if you use them correctly.
I also will use a retractable leash and I will stop without saying a word but let them keep going they hit the end they stop and I wait and sometimes wait and wait when they turn to look at me I may smile but I say nothing but when they head back and come to me I praise them and will give them a little treat. Once again it teaches then to keep focused on you. Dash loved this game as he learned fast if he came back it meant a treat and he was a dog that never met a treat he did not like Dazzle is not that food motivated so he will try to out wait me so it takes patients to do this with him but he eventually caves and comes wiggling up to me
Once a dog knows it can go over a fence you usually have to find a way to prevent it as they can not unlearn that. If the reward of going over the fence is greater then staying in the yard they will go over.
First off thank you for rescuing and being willing to work to train your rottie.
Having had collies, beagles, shepherds, and labradors I found that training them to walk beside you is not difficult. We used a prong collar (only when walking) they found out quickly that pulling was not fun. Like the other reader said turning and walking the other way quickly works also, they have no choice but to follow you.
Have never had a dog jump a fence though they all could have but the beagle.
Good luck and be patient training does pay off.
In my experience, what works on one dog may not work on another. For example, our APBT will pull all day long with the No Pull harness. However, when we put a chain training dog collar on her, she is a completely different dog on a walk. She will stay right by my side and I have slack in the leash. One thing that I like about the chain dog collar is that it when it's properly positioned, it lets you control their head without choking them.
I'm not sure you can train her not to jump the fence if there is something she REALLY wants on the other side, especially since she knows it's possible for her to jump it. You may be able to train her to stay in the back yard if nothing exciting is going on but if there's something that's more attractive on the other side of the fence, she's likely to forget the training to investigate.
She needs a taller fence. I love rottweilers but if she's loose, because of her breed, she will probably not be given the benefit of the doubt by law enforcement. For her safety (and for your own potential liability purposes), you either need a taller fence or to never leave her unsupervised in the back yard.
I'm not sure you can train her not to jump the fence if there is something she REALLY wants on the other side, especially since she knows it's possible for her to jump it. You may be able to train her to stay in the back yard if nothing exciting is going on but if there's something that's more attractive on the other side of the fence, she's likely to forget the training to investigate.
She needs a taller fence. I love rottweilers but if she's loose, because of her breed, she will probably not be given the benefit of the doubt by law enforcement. For her safety (and for your own potential liability purposes), you either need a taller fence or to never leave her unsupervised in the back yard.
I agree with this. If you can't raise the fence or supervise her 100% of the time I would suggest putting up an electrical wire around the top. I WOULD TYPICALLY NEVER SUGGEST SOMETHING LIKE THIS BUT, she could end up in a dangerous situation if she escapes. My dad used them all the time for dogs and us kids to keep us contained or out of certain areas of our yards, and it does work. Even our beefy pit bull who was a trained gaurd dog steered clear of the wires.
Most dogs jump up and hook their front feet on top of a fence then pull themselves over if that is what your dogs does instead of just jumping it like a hurdle there is a thing called a coyote roller on the market. It runs along the top of a fence and is basically a wire running through bar (or pipe) so when the dog , cat what ever jumps up to hook it's paws the the paws grab the bar which then rolls and they roll back into the yard as they can not get a grip on it. You can google it. I have seen a homemade one using a strong wire and PVC piping. It not only keeps you pets in their yard but keeps other animals out such a coyotes.
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