# Obedience Training Advice



## Ty

Hello All,

We are wondering what a successful strategy is for obedience training for a Vizsla. Our 5 month old V is very sweet and full of energy, knows sit/stay/lie down and responds to these very well. However, our biggest concern with her is jumping up on people. We have worked with her on this tirelessly (ignoring/putting knee up/sit before attention/never touch when she jumps) but any time a new visitor comes to the house she is all over them. We are also working with her on heeling/not pulling when on leash. We are considering getting her into either classes or working with a trainer- all the recommendations we have had are for choke collar or shock collar training and we are hesitant- does anyone have experience with either of these? Or any suggestions otherwise?

Thanks a lot!


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## DixiesMom

Get into a class. Please don't even consider using a shock collar on a puppy!! Jumping up and pulling on the leash are the 2 main problems that we see in dogs coming into our training club. We offer a Pet Manners class that prepares you and your dog for CGC testing. Look for something similar in your area. 

You can train it on your own, but you can do it quicker and have access to more resources in a class. Plus you get to meet other people who "feel your pain" with dog behavior.


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## gunnr

Your Vizsla is very much still a puppy, and her behavior is perfectly normal.

When visitors come to the house,a nd she begins jumping, immediately put her away. every single time. If you have a few friends they can even help you by coming in and out of the house as a visitor.
As for the heeling. She needs to be taught to heel, not just expected to do it. Heeling is control of the dogs mind and body. It's not something a 5 month old is going to get right off the bat. She's too young mentally.

My personal opinion is that both choke collars and eCollars are tools of advanced trainers. They are highly effective tools, but if introduced and used incorrectly, they will only set you back and leave holes in training and development that you will have to overcome later, if they can be. They are not "required equipment" no matter what the "local obedience trainer" says. A 1", D-Ring, safety collar is more than adequate.
A Vizsla hunts off the leash.There is no place for a choke collar, or an eCollar, in most instances.


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## SweetCaroline

I agree with Dixiesmom!

Classes + trainer definitely worked for me. 

Rome wasn't built in a day and puppies don't learn to walk calmly beside you overnight. It takes a lot of patience on your part but if you know that going in, that it can take 1 - 2 yrs before you have the walk you dreamed of, it will be much more tolerable.

I couldn't personally couldn't stomach the idea of a prong collar or e-collar and ended up getting an Easy Walk harness by Premier (http://www.premier.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/collars/easywalk/description). 

My Vizsla is now a little of 1.5 yrs old and still pulls occasionally but generally is improving every week and is night and day compared to last summer (a.k.a. Summer Of The Crazy Dog).

p.s. our dog school uses the clicker method - it's awesome!

Hope that helps! Don't give up!


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## laurita

Ty,
One thing I can recommend with the jumping up on guests is what we've been doing with our pup (8 mos). At first you feel like you're getting nowhere because it takes a while, but it is so worth it. We ask our dog to go lie down away from the door. As soon as he lies down, he knows that the guest is coming in and will go pet him (hugely reinforcing for him). With time he's come to realize that the faster he goes and lies down, the faster he gets a belly rub. It's awesome.

To start, you want to ask your dog to lie down and ask him to stay as you open the door (no guests). Open the door, keep your hand up and stay looking at him, close the door, walk back to him, release him from the stay, and treat. Let him go see the door if he wants-- mine always wanted to see who he missed, haha. When he has that down, have your partner or family member knock on the door. This is going to be more tough and your dog will probably break the stay. When he breaks the stay, have your partner walk right back out the door and work on getting him to lie down again. Just try it a few times per day until he can hold that stay until your partner gets to him and scratches him. Make sure that you, as the person opening the door, keep your eyes on the dog at all times to start out with, keep your hand up if you need it, and the second it looks like he's going to stand and break it, step forward and make a little noise reinforcing the down. Luckily your guest is your partner, so you can totally focus on your dog. Each time one of you walks through the front door, you can knock first to practice this. Once he gets that, make it a little more difficult-- have a neighbor try it. This one is going to be pretty hard. Just keep working on it- it'll come with time. Make sure the neighbor doesn't pay attention to the dog as long as he breaks the stay and have him/her leave the second that he does. It's easier for the dog to not break the stay if the neighbor isn't looking at him.

If you can't work on this each time a guest comes, put your dog away before hand. With all training, it's going to take time to progress, so just keep it up and you'll see that your dog will rush to get into place when someone's at the door as to not waste time for some scratching. I love that the dog lying down quickly is in both of our best interests.


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## BamBam

you could try pet corrector for jumping up and then always asking for a sit when greeting people


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## datacan

My idea is to stay away from electronic collars and choke chains. As Gunr mentioned these tools are for advanced users. The electronic collars are not for teaching, just for reminding or reinforcing something the dog already knows very well.

From Sportdog brand:
"_Simple repetition is the only way to properly condition a dog. Simple repetition to the tune of around 1,000 repetitions per command will do this nicely. That might seem like an impossible task but if you will train consistently, it will take only a short time._"


The other day I met a gentleman with a spaniel type dog walking off leash. I asked him if it would be OK for Sam to join off leash. He was very proud of his dog's behavior. The remote control hidden in his pocket, no one could notice except when he gave a command the dog would floor itself and shake for a second or two. Tragic.
Sammy (our 6 month old V.) was stunned as well. I think the dog would even anticipate a shock and just freeze, cower and shake a little.

Also, electronic collars used too frequently on higher settings tend to scar the neck tissue.


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## redbirddog

Puppy classes and lots of on-leash walking. LONG on-leash walking.

There are many puppy classes available. These are very important.

As someone who enjoys field-trialing , I use professional dog people in training quite often. It is completely normal. 

DIY is fine, but why not use folks who have spent 1000's of hours learning and training dogs and are very good at it? 

Good luck.

redbirddog


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## sarahaf

If you are uncomfortable with any training method, don't do it, no matter who recommends it. Listen to your instincts. Training can be done for the most part without use of force or aversives, or with only mild aversives (like a squirt of water) used as a last resort. But it takes a lot of work. 

I also recommend classes. There's nothing like the structure of coming in each week and showing the results of the exercises you've been doing with your dog at home--forces you to stay with it. We plan on signing Rosie up for a 2nd class for that reason. We've taken all of our classes at our local SPCA, and they are excellent. If you are good at self-motivating, I highly recommend a DVD called "perfect paws in 5 days" by Jean Donaldson. I think you can now get it for about $10 on Amazon. And don't be put off by her overly cheerful voice narrating the DVD...she really knows her stuff.


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## datacan

check this out, it's free. He uses a GSD (our previous dog so I like it). GSDs are responsible for most bites if not trained properly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QonpHq930Rk&feature=related


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## laurita

Wonderful video, datacan! I think that recall advice is as good as it comes!


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## datacan

He made other vids as well, not bad, IMO. 
I just had to link to it, I remembered a post - recall disappearing act


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## laurita

hahaha, your memory is way too good!  thankfully, things are greatly improved. these dogs and their phases...


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## sarahaf

Here's a clip of Jean Donaldson, for a sample. You'll see what I mean about the somewhat overly cheerful voice. I don't mind it, actually--but I wonder if this might have been her first training video, and she may have been trying to use a lot of inflection and enunciate clearly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US--_X5aQ9E


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## laurita

Coincidently, I was just searching for Jean Donaldson videos on youtube last night, thank you! I can see how it might irritate some, but I don't mind her enthusiasm/inflection. I can look past those things to extract the valuable info. She really got us over a huge mountain with the resource guarding, she's the bomb! Thanks again!


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