Ruud wrote in
trotter.net:

Hi Child,

snip
I would be training the kids to train the dog too!!

Certainly plan to do that, of course, but I figured it was better
to do that in, say, 6-8 weeks. That way Amarok is trained to
understand "heel!" and "on by!". In the beginning I would accompany
the kids to make sure they do things right as well as to instill in
Amarok the understanding that I agree with them mastering him.

I agree that its best to have the dog have a clue before you confuse him
with the training of the kids!! I would work on "drop it" with the kids
quickly - its sometimes a problem that the pups sees kids as food
competition



On the web on leash traning pages I don't really find anything
saying one thing or the other. The seem to assume one person is doing
all the initial training.

Its imperitive that everyone use the same command words and try to train
the same way. We have a horrible "Down" problem at my house - the boys
dad uses down to mean GET OFF and I use down to mean lie down.

So we have this scenario:

mike is eating peanut butter crackers in bed. Dog hops up and blocks
tv, trying to get close to peanut butter. Mike says DOWN. Dog lies
down on crackers. Mike gets mad . DOWN, he says louder. Dog jumps up,
spins and lies back down on crackers. Before Mike yells, I remind him
the command is "off". Dog, upon hearing "off', hops onto the floor.


--
BethF, Anchorage, AK

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 22:29:42 GMT, Ruud wrote:

Hi!

This is a *fine* group to be in! Thank you all for all the
excellent advice and the great links.

Amarok is about 2-3 months old. We have him since a couple of days
now. I'm the one feeding him. I'm also the one taking him out and
walking outside with him. Naturally the kids want to as well. My gut
feeling tells me he should be trained by one person, then afterwards
we can all walk with him.

What's your take on this?

I disagree. It's fine to involve the whole family in training Amarok,
so that he'll behave for everyone, but just make sure that everyone is
consistent in approach. For example, it's common in our household for
my husband to use terms that the dogs haven't been taught and then get
annoyed when they don't do what he wants them to. Also, he tends to
tell them "sit sit sit" rather than "sit". That kind of thing. Make
sure everybody uses the same words, that the words mean the same thing
for everybody, etc.

Mustang Sally

sighthounds etc. wrote:

I disagree. It's fine to involve the whole family in training Amarok,
so that he'll behave for everyone, but just make sure that everyone is
consistent in approach. For example, it's common in our household for
my husband to use terms that the dogs haven't been taught and then get
annoyed when they don't do what he wants them to. Also, he tends to
tell them "sit sit sit" rather than "sit". That kind of thing. Make
sure everybody uses the same words, that the words mean the same thing
for everybody, etc.

I was appalled at myself after reading Patricia McConnell's "The
Other End of the Leash." Her description of the different
numbers of words people use to issue the same command to dogs
really hit home.

"whistle Come, Oppie. Oppie! Come! Come here! Now!
whistle Over here! Oppie come come come come! Get over here
NOW! whistle" Meanwhile, Oppie meanders around the yard
checking out the perimeter, marking here and there, investigating
an interesting smell, barking at a passerby...

Groan. I've become much more aware of it and am currently
training myself to use one commmand per action. It's difficult!

All this is related in order to emphasize the importance of
consistency. I'm starting from scratch with a new, SINGLE,
command for recall with Oppie.

FurPaw


--
There's no reason to give credence to anything spoken above 90
decibels.

To reply, unleash the dog.

Handsome Jack Morrison said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

You'll learn a lot, even if it's not to stay here for very
long.

Wrong. The more opinions, the better. Bad or good, I think
that it's a good idea to hang out for as long as you can.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

Ruud wrote:
My gut
feeling tells me he should be trained by one person, then afterwards
we can all walk with him.

What's your take on this?

It depends on how consistent everybody else can be with him. If your kids are
old enough to be competently consistent, they can join in on the training. In
some cases it depends more on natural instincts and interest than age. I've
seen some young handlers who did very well. I had one 8-year-old girl in class
who was a better, more consistent handler than her parents.

If he has no food-guarding issues, I'd suggest allowing the kids to feed him.
That's one way of letting him know they are also humans in charge, not just
play-mates.

If you're training for competition, you need the conformity of one handler.
For a family pet, you have the option of allowing everybody to get involved
with the training. It may come along a bit slower, but the benefits are worth
it, IMHO.

PetsMart Pet Trainer
My Kids, My Students, My Life:
http://hometown.aol.com/dfrntdrums/m...age/index.html
Last updated June 27 at 10:00 a.m.

Handsome Jack Morrison said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

I think
that it's a good idea to hang out for as long as you can.

Too much of anything isn't good for you, particularly
*this* place, which tends to bring out the worst in each of
us.

Critical thinking helps tons.

And I've learned tons here.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.