Training Your Rottweiler

You might think it's odd that I recommend using food as rewards to train dogs, but it really does make a lot of sense. Dogs want two things from us humans: food and attention/companionship. We can use those two things to our advantage to shape dogs' behavior.

I could go on and on about how to train dogs with treats, but other people have done it so much better than I ever could, and they've made their methods available to us via bookstores. I heartily endorse the methods used by Jean Donaldson. I recommend her book The Culture Clash which you can get at some local bookstores and at Amazon.com. Please don't put a choke chain or prong collar on your rottie. If you have trouble controlling your dog on a leash, ask a trainer to teach you how to use the Gentle Leader head collar to get the dog to walk nicely on leash without the choking and pain that the other collars inflict.

Basically, food reward training goes like this: dog offers a behavior that you like and want to see more of, such as sitting before getting petted. The exact moment the dog's butt hits the floor, you "mark" that behavior (the sit) with a sound, such as a clicker click or a "Good" or "Yes." I like clickers because the sound is short and crisp and consistent, and it's easier to time them to occur the moment the correct behavior happens. Voice markers take too long and the dog could already have stood up by the time you finish saying it. Once you've marked that behavior, you give the dog a treat. The dog soon learns that if you say "Good" or "Yes" or if he hears that click, he'll get a treat. (Even if he stands up right after hearing the marker, he already earned that treat so go ahead and give it to him. Later, you can wait longer and longer to give the marker to get a longer sit, but remember that the marker also "releases" the dog from the command.) He starts to pair the marker with the treat in his mind, and will do whatever he can to earn the marker. It becomes a "secondary reinforcer" and that is a powerful thing! Dog will tend to remember (or try to figure out) what he was doing at the time the marker came, and he'll do that again and again. If he thinks it was the jumping up that got the marker and subsequent reward, he'll keep jumping up, so DON'T REWARD the jumping up! Just ignore that behavior and he'll try something else, eventually the sit again. Dogs don't keep trying things that don't work (unlike people!).

Repetition and timing are key. Adult rotties have brains about the size of a lemon. They need a lot of repetition before they will figure out what you want of them. Try to be patient and positive, and you will see great results! The earlier you can catch a behavior the easier it is to reinforce or extinguish. If you mark and reinforce a behavior 5 minutes after Dog does it, he'll have no idea what he did to earn the reward. If you mark and reinforce a behavior the instant he does it, it'll be much easier for him to figure out what it was that earned him that treat.

Once the dog starts giving you the desired behavior consistently (80% of the time or more), you can start backing off on the treats: instead of giving a treat for every correct response, give it for 4 of 5 responses, 2 out of 3, then for every other correct response, etc.. The idea is to gradually taper down to where on average the dog gets the treat for 20% of his correct responses. Don't make the mistake of counting them and rewarding every 5th response ("no treat, no treat, no treat, no treat, TREAT") because the dog will learn to count them too and won't perform when he knows a treat isn't coming. Think of the slot machines at the casinos – it's their unpredictability that makes them so addicting – and make the pay-out seem random to the dog.

Here are some specific problems you may encounter, and some tips for solving them. If you ever have any questions or need help with your Rottie, write to me. I will happily recommend an excellent trainer.

A word about the "Alpha Roll"

Some "old style" trainers recommend doing what's often called an alpha roll on a dog that is exhibiting some types of aggression. Not only is this a REALLY bad idea (many people have been attacked by their own dogs for it), it doesn't work.

The theory of using this maneuver on a dog is based on the observed behavior of two dogs who are fighting for their social positioning. When two dogs fight and one is victorious, often the loser will roll on his back to show his belly. This is believed to be a submissive gesture on the part of the losing dog - a plea for the victor to cease hostility. Proponents of the alpha roll believe that forcing a dog onto his back is like making a dog submit.

It doesn't work because a) the dog must choose to submit, otherwise it's not submission. An alpha dog never forces its subordinate onto its back. The subordinate dog always volunteers the behavior; and b) a dog that is exhibiting aggression is obviously not willing to submit. Such a dog may become even more enraged at having been so roughly handled and may attack the person performing the alpha roll.

If you have aggression issues with your dog, whether the aggression is directed toward a person or another animal, please seek help from a behaviorist. If a trainer suggests that you perform this maneuver, RUN (don't walk) to a different trainer.

(P.S. Sometimes female dogs are the "alpha" dog in a pack. The term "alpha male" is a misnomer.)

The Greyhound At Heart

Pulling on a leash is one of the most common behavior problems in dogs, and one of the easiest to fix! When you look at it in terms of what the dog wants and what he's getting rewarded for, it's easy to see that he wants to go forward, and he's getting rewarded (with forward movement) by pulling.

When your dog pulls on the leash, stop. Don't do anything; just stop dead in your tracks. Dog may turn and come back to you, or he may turn around and look at you, in which case you can call him to you. When he does come back, try walking forward again. If he pulls, stop. Repeat. He soon learns that a slack leash means he moves forward, a tight leash means he has to wait. Be sure to bring food rewards with you and reward him for coming to you and for walking on a slack leash! You won't get anywhere very quickly at first, so practice when you don't necessarily have any place to go. It's fun to track how far you get on each trip, as your dog learns how to walk nicely on leash.

Standing Smooches

Many dogs jump up on people, and it wouldn't be a bad thing except for the fact that many people don't like it, and it can be scary for someone to have a strange rottweiler leaping at their face, even if it's just to give kisses. Jumping up is a normal dog social behavior they learn as puppies. Baby rotties jump up on adults to lick their mouths. We just have to teach them that jumping up is not something they should to do us humans.

We work for a paycheck, dogs work for rewards. Their rewards can vary depending on the situation. For dogs that jump up, what they are usually seeking is attention and petting. If we give that to them when they jump, they have no reason to stop. If they get ignored when they jump up and petted when they sit, they choose to sit more and more until soon they don't ever jump up because it never gets them what they want.

If your dog jumps up, don't knee him in the chest or step on his feet or scream in his face. Just turn your body away from him, maybe cross your arms so you don't accidentally pet him, and wait for him to get down. When he does, tell him to sit. The moment his butt hits the floor, give your sound marker ("Good", "Yes" or a click) and give him the reward he wants: petting or a treat. It's not uncommon for the dog to get excited at this point and leap back up on you. Just turn away again and wait for him to settle back into a sit before you give him the attention he wants. If he's overly persistent and doesn't get it, leave the room.

I like to teach dogs to sit for everything they get. It's the doggie way of saying "please." Dogs who sit nicely are more pleasant to have around, and our friends are more likely to come over despite us having "one of them rockwilder dawgs." Dogs with serious problems (such as aggression) who are taught to sit before meals and other rewards make great improvements in their problem behavior. Sit works!

The TV Remote Hog

If your rottie is stealing your belongs for his chewing pleasure, the easiest way to fix the problem is to supervise him constantly. If he takes something that's not his, take it away, give him a treat for letting the object go, then give him something he's allowed to have instead. If you can't watch him and you think he might get a hold of something he shouldn't have, put him in a crate.

The Couch Potato

Some people don't mind their dogs being on the furniture, and that's fine. You might want to keep in mind, however, that it's easier to teach a dog its place in the family (as subordinate to the humans) if they are not given every privilege that the human family members have. People whose rotties begin to growl and snap at them often have permitted the dog to sleep in bed with them. In the dog's mind, the roles have become confused and they aren't sure where they stand in the grand scheme of things. Now, not all dogs growl and snap at their owners if they're allowed in bed, but some rottie personalities do better when their role is made clear to them in every day life. It's just something to consider.

To train a dog to stay off the furniture, start by telling him No and pulling him off. Don't scream or use too much force, just be decisive about it. When he's sitting nicely by your feet, reward him. Make being next to you on the floor something worth doing. When he starts to get back up, try to stop him before he gets there: once you see the front foot come off the ground and toward the couch, tell him "Ah!" then call him to you or tell him to sit to get his reward for staying on the floor. If he does get up, just tell him No in a neutral voice and push him back off. Show him where he can lay down and still be close to you.

The Sanitation System Treasure Hunter

One of the most disgusting things a dog can do is dig for hidden treasure in the cat's litter box, and then wolf down the "cookies" before you can fish them out of his mouth. It's harder to teach a dog NOT to dig for those little treasures than it is to not give him access to it to begin with! If you can't move the litter box to a more secluded area, ask a behavioral trainer for help. (Write me for a referral!)

The Counter-Surfer Dude

Mom or Dad isn't looking…? Surf's up! Try the hind-leg stance, dude! You score more that way! Why is it that they only do things when we're not looking? Actually, that's pretty easy to answer. Some behaviors are safe and some are dangerous. Climbing into Mommy's lap for hugs and kisses is safe. Chewing on Dad's new leather shoes is dangerous. But sometimes the lines are a little fuzzy. If Dad isn't home but his new leather shoes are, does that mean shoes are fair game? In the eyes of a dog, yes! Dad needs to store them where they will not fall victim to curious teeth. Putting them on the counter won't help... dogs are up there anyway, hunting for succulent things to eat – but only when we're not looking! How do we stop the evil beasts?

One answer is TAPE. Lots of it. Wide clear strapping tape. You'd take a long piece of tape and lay it sticky side up on the edge of the counter where the dog's paws would surely touch. Then you put two empty soda cans, dried, on top of the tape. Stick them down nice and good, or even use more tape to tape them to the long strips. Next, put a few pennies in each can. When dog goes surfing, his feet stick to the tape, which startles him and he pulls back. That pulls the cans/pennies down with him. He'll get a big surprise with all that racket. CAUTION: Don't do this when you're not home. Dog could get tangled in tape, panic and hurt himself. Besides, you want to be there to be the Hero and free him from the evil mean tape-monster. If the dog gets on the counter when you're not home, either clear everything off the counter that you don't want him to get, or put him in a crate.

The Rebel With Four Claws

If your dog ignores you when you tell him to do something, don't keep repeating the command ("sit" "sit" "sit" "sit!" "Sit!" "SIT!"). He heard you the first time. Some dogs who are trained with repeated commands come to think that the command is not "sit," but "sit sit sit sit sit sit sit" and he will wait until you say all the "sits" before he does finally sit. What you need to do is convince him that it's in his best interest to do what you say the first time you say it! For example, when dogs are outside and want to come in, they must sit first and wait until Mommy tells them "Come In." If they stand there pawing at the door, Mom just stands there watching them. They finally sit and the door starts to slowly open. If they stand up before she says the magic word, the door closes again before they can come in and we start over. Soon they'll realize that they get in more quickly if they sit and wait for Mom to say "Come In" than if they try to push their way in and behave like jerks. You can use this example for so many things: meal times (make them wait before they are allowed to begin eating), walks, going out the door – anything they want is something you can use as a reward to teach them to obey your commands. You just have to be consistent about the routine (don't sometimes let them rush in the door, always make them wait for the invitation).

Once they get used to deferring to you in this way, they will be more likely to obey your commands during other times as well. A deference program like this sets into your dog's mind that you are the leader, not him. Practice makes perfect!

Also, some dogs will eventually get around to following your commands, but take their own sweet time about it. With a small bowl of treats nearby, you can practice having your dog respond quickly by counting silently to ten after you give a command. If Dog does the command within the 10-count, he gets the treat. If not, take your treats and walk away. In time, when Dog responds consistently within the 10-count, shorten it to 8, then 5, then 3. Soon your dog will be performing as quickly as you can say the word!

Another game to play, if you have more than one dog, is Who's First? With both dogs attentive to you (and your treat bowl), issue a command. The first dog that does it gets the treat. They will start to compete with each other over who can do it faster. (If one dog always beats the other, try teaching the slower dog a special command that the other dog doesn't know, such as High Five, so he can win sometimes, too.)

Potty Training Made Easy

Adult dogs learn more quickly than puppies. While puppies have mush that we call "brains," adult dogs have actual synaptic activity going on in their noggins. You need to realize, especially with puppies, that the dog has no idea why you would even care where he goes potty! When he was with his mommy and the litter, nobody had any requirements about where he could and couldn't go to the bathroom, and in fact, mommy just cleaned it up. Now that he's older, especially if he was kept in the backyard in his previous home, he may be used to going anywhere he pleases. It's up to you to watch him like a hawk and get to know his pre-potty body language.

For example, mature male dogs that lift their legs to urinate usually sniff something, move slightly ahead of it, and then hike the leg. You can easily recognize that "lining up for the shot" behavior (or whatever your dog does just before using the bathroom) and stop him before he makes the mistake. Just clap your hands or somehow get his attention, then call him to go potty outside. Use lots of happy happy voice to encourage him to come to you, and even more when he goes in the correct place. When he's in the right general vicinity for going to the bathroom, tell him "Go Potty" or "Hurry Up" or any other phrase you'd like to use to prompt him that this is the right place. Once he starts to pee or poop outside, start your praising and continue until he's done. You want to make sure that he knows exactly what you are so happy about. Not about his walking to a spot, not about sniffing the tree, not about grabbing the Marigold on the way, but the elimination itself. Yippee!! Puppy went potty outside like a Big Boy or Girl!

If you miss your chance to catch your dog in the act and he goofs on your carpet, it's not his fault. It's yours. He doesn't understand what you want, so don't get mad at him. Just watch more closely and remember, with consistent watching and rewarding, he will get it pretty soon. (Until then, keep plenty of Nature's Miracle on hand!) Do NOT under any circumstances punish or yell at the dog for using the bathroom in the house. Yelling at him might make him afraid to use the bathroom when you are nearby. Punishing him after the fact will only work to destroy your relationship and won't teach him anything except that you're unpleasant when you're mad! (And if he does make a mess on the carpet, try Pet Force from Flint River Ranch to get the stain and smell out!)

Time Out with No Dessert!

There will undoubtedly be times when you will catch your dog in the act of committing some atrocity against mankind. The method you use to discipline him will leave a lasting impression on him, either in a positive way or in a negative way.

Remember that if you have a rescue dog, he may have come from a less-than wonderful home. Rescues can be fragile and lack confidence. They are often insecure, too, and they really need our understanding and patience. We should avoid yelling and screaming at them at all costs. If they do something wrong and you get really mad, put them in a crate for a while until you cool off. Then sit down and devise a way to train them not to do whatever it was they did wrong. Remember to motivate them to want to do good!

Hitting your dog is unacceptable. Do not "smack," "tap" or "spank" your dog for any reason. Ever. Or else! It can scar the dog for life and teach him that humans cannot be trusted, especially you. He can even become aggressive and more unruly.

Choosing an effective method of discipline is easy when you keep in mind the two things that dogs want most from humans: food and companionship/attention. Dogs who must earn both of those things generally behave better than dogs that get whatever they want whenever they want it. To encourage your dog to offer behaviors you want, use yummy treats (hot dog slices are a favorite) to reward good behavior. To encourage your dog to STOP doing something, take away the companionship or attention.

For example, say you're watching TV and Dog nudges you for petting. If you pet the dog now, you are rewarding the nudging, which is rude dog behavior. Tell him to sit. If he does, he gets petted. If he doesn't, cross your arms and give him NO attention, not even a look. You could even go so far as to get up and leave the room. OK, so then Dog sits and human pets Dog. If Dog stands up or does something else that's rude, the petting stops. Dog soon learns that if he sits, he gets petted. If he doesn't sit, he doesn't get petted.

Refer to the section on jumping up ("Standing Smooches") for another example of how removing attention gets dogs to stop misbehaving.

This method is often used by behaviorists to rehabilitate aggressive dogs, too. Dogs who know that Human has Food find that Human and Food leave if Dog bites, but Human and Food stay if Dog is nice. The nicer Dog is, the more food Dog gets. He soon chooses to offer nice behavior more and more consistently.

Social Butterfly

If your dog doesn't get along with other dogs (or cats), you should seek the help of a behaviorist to help him learn the social skills that will make him a better companion and neighbor. For those dogs who DO like other dogs, there are some terrific places to take them so that they can keep their social skills finely tuned. If you live in the USA or Canada, visit www.dogpark.com for a list of dog parks where you can take your dog to play OFF LEASH! Many have separate areas for smaller dogs so they don't feel quite so overwhelmed by the gargantuans of the dog world.

Serious Problems

If you have serious behavior issues with your dog, find a behaviorist who can help you correct them through positive reinforcement. Beware of trainers who use force -- they can (and often do) make things worse. I know someone who refused to listen to this advice and took his aggressive lhasa apso to a choke-n-jerk trainer to be "fixed." The dog became even more aggressive and had to be put to sleep. A qualified canine behaviorist could have worked out the aggression issues and the dog would be alive and living peacefully with his family now. Visit THE ASSOCIATION of PET DOG TRAINERS web site to find a behaviorist in your area.

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