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  • 67 Comments
Joined 5 years ago
Cake day: December 18th, 2021
  • ashenone@lemmy.mltoAsklemmy@lemmy.ml•I have an Australian cattle dog with a biting problem.
    11·
    21 days ago

    This is pretty standard cattle dog behavior. They herd and feel everything with their mouths. My best advice is to try to exercise that herding instinct in your dog to release the need to herd (read bite and nip). My go to with my cow dog is playing soccer, and playing monkey in the middle with a tennis ball. Not only are these great exercise but also mentally stimulating in a way that fulfills the herding instinct in your dog.

    Cattle dogs can also be not so social at times. I like to have guests greet my dog with a treat immediately whenever they come over as a sort of tribute and acknowledgement that they are in HIS home. Its also a good positive reinforcement that when people come over you get a treat and make people a good thing rather than scary. This isn’t sure fired though, but combined with exercising their herding instinct could do a lot to keep that unwanted behavior under control.

  • ashenone@lemmy.mltoAsklemmy@lemmy.ml•What are your dog training tips?
    8·
    2 months ago

    Dogs learn through pattern recognition. If they get a reaction they like after an action they will repeat that action. Attention (eye contact) and physical touch as well as treat rewards will reinforce behavior. My pup was very very vocal and barked for all his needs when we brought him home from the shelter. We had to avoid eye contact, and not give any physical attention when he was barking to show this is not behavior that will be rewarded. After a while he’d get board of barking, and would let out a whine. When he whined we would look at him and ask what he needs/wants and try to give it to him. This taught him that barking is not what you do when you want/need something. He still barks when we play but it’s no longer his main form of communication.

    When leash training, be consistent with your expectations. We stop at every single curb and we give the release (saying “OK”) before we allow him to step off the curb. It didn’t take long before he was stopping at the curbs and waiting for the release without any input on our end.

    If your dog is pulling while walking on leash hold onto the leash and come to a stop (do not yank or pull on the leash) and wait for the dog to let the pressure off by moving towards you. And stop like this every time they pull on the leash, it’s annoying to the dog because they can’t get to what they are pulling towards. After they release the pressure let them go smell what they were pulling towards as a reward for good behavior.

    Using treats can make it easy to mark behaviors you like, but you need to adjust feeding to make sure your dog isn’t getting too many calories.

    I’m a big believer in positive reinforcement and mark and reward training, I suggest looking into how those work.

  • ashenone@lemmy.mltoAsklemmy@lemmy.ml•Question about exercising
    17·
    3 months ago

    Start slow and build up. 15 minutes of elevated heart rate is a good starting point. Don’t kill yourself when your starting out, you’ll either burn out or injure yourself.

    Rest days are important, this is when your body rebuilds and gets stronger whether that is your heart and lungs for cardio or other muscle groups for weight training.

    If your baseline exercise is zero it might take longer than you want to build up your stamina to where you don’t feel exhausted all day. BUT it will get there.

    Motivation is not reliable DO NOT rely on this to keep you going. Determination is the key to consistently exercising. If you don’t want to do your exercise one day do it anyways. Even if you half ass it. A half assed day is better than a no assed day.