How Can I Get My Dog To Pay Attention To Me When I Am Trying To Train Her?
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
We have a 5 month-old Yorkie/Pom/Havanese cross, and we have only had her for 1 month. She was a pet store dog, and she was really sick when we got her, and was difficult to train once she got better, but all of her bad habits have been resolved…except for 2! One is that she does not make eye contact or respond when we get after her or call her name. We have tried EVERYTHING, from a horn to a clicker, to that “psshhht” noise that the Dog Whisperer (Cesar Millan) uses. Most dogs would cower when they are getting in trouble or know they are doing something bad. She just thinks it’s funny, and tries to engage playing. That is the other habit that we are having a problem with. She is really “bitey” all the time, moreso than just regular puppy play. If we are on the phone or walking out of the room, she follows us around and bites us on the back of the legs! And if we get after her, she snaps her teeth and jumps up to bite our faces! It’s not an aggressive bite, but we’ve tried everything
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You don’t need eye contact to train successfully. Getting her attention is as easy as having good rewards (this is whatever the dog will work extra hard for – it can be food, toys, play time, attention, whatever does it for your dog) available and using them generously. A high rate of reinforcement for desirable behaviors shapes behavior much faster than punishment for undesirable behavior.
Aversion to eye contact could mean several things but I am willing to bet it is probably a calming signal (in other words she is trying to get you to back off – it is quite rude in the dog world to make direct eye contact and she may be trying to let you know that). Not responding to her name – how do you know for sure she even knows her name? It usually takes most dogs hundreds of repetitions, paired with a good reward, to respond on cue to name. If you are using her name in a harsh tone or for punitive purposes, of course she will not respond – she is not being disobedient; again, just trying to appease you. Trying to engage you in play is, once again, appeasement behavior. You are assuming she knows she is ‘bad’. All she really knows is that you are angry and she is trying to defuse that anger.
The biting on backs of legs is probably for attention – don’t give it to her (don’t even acknowedge it – that still gets her your attention). When you chastise her for it and she snaps and jumps toward your face she is probably overly aroused. If you try to think of reasons for her behavior from natural dog behavior rather than from a human perspective (dogs really are nothing like humans when it comes to behavior), you may be more successful in understanding and therefore re-shaping her behavior.
Visiting some websites on how dogs communicate may be a good start. Some good books on how dogs learn and natural dog behavior also couldn’t hurt. I highly recommend Jean Donaldson’s The Culture Clash.
You may also want to consider enrolling in basic obedience classes that use positive reinforcement (clicker type classes).
I have one word for you – No, err, two words?
I have one hyphenated word for you…
Water-pistol.