Peace… and a Brief Lie-In

Charlie & Champa’s training is coming on very well. We’re not obsessive about teaching them every little command – I never see the point in getting them to ‘roll over’ for example. But the toilet training seems to have finally sunk in, so to speak, and we can now think about getting the carpets cleaned! Meal times are a great example of refined dining… at least until we let the puppies actually at the food – they sit peacefully next to their full bowls until the ‘ok’ command is given, when they dive in and guzzle their food as if their lives depended on a clean bowl in under 60 seconds. To avoid the inevitable hiccups and upset stomachs that they get after such a frenzy of activity, they are even good enough to pause eating on command too – though they don’t look overly impressed at being asked to do so.

Next challenges are the walking to heel (before Charlie gets too strong for us to be able to pull him back) and the barking from Charlie. Training to stop barking is a difficult one, I find, as ‘respected wisdom’ says that you should first teach them to bark on command, then to stop – which not only seems a little backward to me (not to say confusing for the dog) but is also not an easy challenge. Charlie and Champa rarely bark, and most of the time when they do, it isn’t a problem – when they are very excited playing or when they need to go outside first thing in the morning, for example. Dogs need to be able to bark naturally, and it is right that they should be allowed to do so. But Charlie also decides he wants to bark as much as possible between being first let out, and when we feed them. As this generally corresponds to around 6am – 7:30am, this is not a very social time, and is unlikely to endear us very much to the neighbours (or, as they get louder, the entire neighbourhood).

So – how to stop this barking? We can’t go down and tell them “No!”, as the fact that we have come when ‘called’ backs up their barking. Shouting from a distance is a bad idea as it can be seen as joining in with their noise, and whispering from a distance has no use at all (after all, a very loud whisper is a shout). Waiting until he stops and then going in and praising him is the usual positive training method, and we have tried that for the last month, but the waiting can be half an hour or more (at 6:30am, 30 minutes of dog barking can seem a lot longer!) and it didn’t seem to improve matters anyway.

After some debate about the humane aspects of the solution, we have recently tried out a collar (no, definitely NOT an electric shock one!) that sends out a shot of citronella scented water when it detects a bark. We figured it was no different from us doing something like a short spray of water manually when they bark, which is another method of training, and we were determined to monitor its use and stop using it if Charlie seemed in any way distressed by it. While it isn’t quite the positive training method that we try to adopt for all other practices, it isn’t a painful punishment and is designed to deter rather than scare.

Well, 2 days in and it is looking promising. We put the collar on after we have taken them out to the garden when they first wake up, then on again after taking them for their first walk, while we are getting ready for the day. Charlie doesn’t seem to mind the collar (other than the first 10 minutes when I put it on, when he tried his best to get the collar off, then just decided it was too much trouble and gave up). Aside from the odd small yelp, which I think Charlie has worked out is the loudest thing he can get away with without setting the thing off), we have peace and quiet. He doesn’t seem at all bothered when we come in a take the collar off, or when we first put it on. He is only wearing it for 30 minutes a day and both the neighbours, and us, get a little peace, and hopefully Charlie is being well trained that he doesn’t need to bark, and he will still get fed! So far an excellent buy at £30 (Petsafe Anti Bark Spray Collar – Citronella, http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000H3VAQ8). Being citronella based, if it doesn’t work and Charlie keeps barking, at least our kitchen will be mosquito free in the summer!

I just can’t wait for the time when Champa realises that when Charlie wears the collar, if she gets close and barks, Charlie will get a squirt of water on his chin! It will be great fun for her!

So, How’s The Training Going?

A question regularly asked of us. The question usually relates to how well we are training Charlie & Champa. Perhaps a better question is how well they are training us!

We are now trained very well at leaping from our sofa the moment either dog shows any sign of wanting to go outside. I’m sure they wind us up by just circling around a couple of times and sniffing the carpet to see how quickly we can jump up and rush to let them out while they seem to smile and settle back down in front of the radiator. Luckily, ‘accidents’ are now becoming rare (finally!) but both Charlie and Champa make sure they give us no notice whatsoever of any such slip up on the toilet training!

They have also trained us well into getting up at 6:30am. Or rather 6:20. I’m sure Charlie knows our alarm is set for 6:30 and decides to wake us up with his barking instead, ten minutes earlier, knowing that our concern for our neighbours means we will rush downstairs to let them outside.

The arm muscles are coming along well – Charlie is making sure that his pulling on the lead, leading to us having to regularly stop to ensure he stops pulling before continuing on for 2 paces before he is pulling again, is better than any gym workout. And for a 4 month old puppy, he is getting very strong!

Both Emma and myself are very good at fetching the ball too. We throw it for the dogs, they run after it. Champa drops down next to it in classic border collie pose, and Charlie plods up a few seconds later, picks it up, wanders off with it for a few paces, then drops it when he finds something more interesting to sniff or eat, and they both lose interest in the ball until we fetch it for them, at which point they pester us to throw it again.

Lastly we are getting very well trained in patience.It is the key to our supposed training of them. Patience and consistency. Not easy things to learn. That’s why dog training is more often than not, owner training.