Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

How Do You Train Two Dogs?

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Part of the new training program Delilah and I are taking is to practice at home what we learned in class.

Here’s the problem I’m having.

Every time I pull out the treat bag, both dogs run over and sit in front of me.

I say, Delilah wait and walk about six feet away.

I look at Delilah and say front.

Both dogs run and sit in front of me.

You called?

I say yes and give the treat to Delilah.

I say Sampson wait and walk about six feet away.

I look at Sampson and say front.

Both dogs run and sit in front of me.

How do people with multiple dogs train?

I had this post all planned out and then….

I saw a video by Pamela at Something Wagging This Way Comes.  It seems Pamela is always helping me out with something!

Pamela was working with Honey while Cherie stood on the sidelines cheering them on.

Suddenly it all made sense!  Separate the dogs!

Why didn’t I think of this?

My house is fairly open, so I can’t gate one-off, but I can put one in the bedroom while I work the other or leave one in the house and work the other outside.

Thanks Pamela, once again you’re a lifesaver. 😉

Of course when we are out on the trail and both dogs respond you won’t hear me complaining. 🙂

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Comments

    • The house is really open so hard to gate off. I would have to go into another room, which I don’t know why I didn’t think of it! LOL

  2. LOL we separate the dogs for training too. Less frustration. 🙂 Once hubby and I took an obedience class together. I had Storm. He had Thunder. It helped both of them understand that they may each receive separate training and to be patient.

    • And we have done that as well, but for some reason they both respond! LOL Rest assured we will be separating them for future training.

  3. What we’ve done is set up some separate verbal cues between Alma and Moses. Obviously their names are separate, and some words like sit and stop are the same for both, but we’ve separated them so that they each have their own recall cue and their own down cues. That way if they’re both maintaining a sit-stay, and I say “Moses, hustle in”, Alma has no association with those words, and stays put. It takes a bit of extra practice to get them used to following their words only (practising with them together and separately), but it’s very handy when working with them in the same vicinity or just in everyday life around the house.

    • Thanks for that, I think that’s a marvelous tip! Delilah’s recall is here and Sampson’s is come but I didn’t do that intentionally. Who knows maybe I actually AM doing something right. 🙂

    • Jan my dogs are not competitive with obedience and may I say, Delilah is one pushy dog. If she wants something she just pushes her way right in. It is somewhat difficult with her personality.

  5. Separating them out is certainly the easiest solution. There was a book I read on living with multiple dogs…by one of the positive training gurus, can’t remember which one…that talked about using their names to let them know when you’re talking to each dog. Kind of like you’re doing. Sounds like it could be pretty tricky though–the easier solution may just be the best one!

  6. LOL. Awesome! For me, dog training has been a long series of “duh” moments just like this one. I can only imagine how hard it would be to work with two dogs at once and have encountered some of that while training with my cat. So many times I’ll be in one room with him and then I’ll go back into the living room and see Shiva sitting in the middle of the floor, completely focused. It’s good to know she listens even when she can’t see me! 🙂

    • It is a lot harder for me than I thought it would be! Especially with the crazy one that I have!

      It is good that Shiva is so focused, how in the world did you perfect that?

    • It is a lot easier to work one dog and one dog only! LOL I’m lucky that Sampson is a really good boy and catches on pretty quickly.

  9. I train separately also and once they know the behavior individually work them together. But I always have the dogs doing something like a stay if I am doing something with the other other dog rather than just being loose in the area.

    Have you tried putting them both in a wait and then calling them in individually? It can take some practice, but it’s fun to see how they learn to pay attention to what you’re saying.

  11. I use to have the same issues with my dogs. Then my husband told me to leave one inside and take the other outside. Interesting concept he had there:)

  12. When I was reinforcing Doggy’s training at the park and I would pull out the treats whenever he would come when called, it was pure hell, all dogs would circle around me waiting for treats, I had to make each and everyone sit and then give a treat, some of them never received any kind of training and don’t even know what sit means so I had to kinda teach them. What was surprising is how fast they learned, imitation perhaps?

    • You are right and it is working with the here command. I think my biggest problem is I really don’t practice as much as I should. 🙁

  14. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I’m having the same problem with training during walks. Cherie is not in tune to getting treats on a walk; she’s easily distracted. So Honey often gets them for doing nothing. 🙁

    Yes, I guess I could walk them separately. But then I’d never get anything else done.

    Glad the video inspired you to find a solution to your problem. Now if you have any suggestions for my walking issue, I’ll gladly accept them. 🙂

    (BTW, my husband thought I was stupid for leaving Cherie up on the porch while working with Honey. He said it would distract people watching the video. I guess that was a good thing.)

    • I struggle with both dogs on the walk. Most of the time I am alone on walks. I’ve found that the YES marker is excellent. Since Sampson is off-leash most of the time I’ve noticed when I say ‘here’ and use yes as the marker both dogs are responding better. I am assuming of course you are using the magic meat?

  16. Just now catching up on blog reading for the past 2 weeks!

    I have loads of experience training multiple dogs. 🙂 I do separate them when working on something new or difficult – with the exception of when I’m teaching Maggie something new that Hurley already knows. She definitely learns by watching so I use Hurley to show her what’s new and then when I practice alone with her later, she seems to pick it up faster. In these instances, I am just asking and rewarding her and Sadie for stays while Hurley shows off the new command.

    I do try and practice with all 3 from time to time but we practice really easy stuff – like sit, down, go lay down, stay or touch. These are all things that all 3 know very well and I use the simple stuff to work on them taking their turns & practicing staying while another dog touches, for example. They’re never perfect when I work with all 3 at once but slowly they’re getting better. Hurley’s great at waiting his turn, Sadie’s good most of the time unless I’m asking for a touch, which is her all-time favorite command and she can’t contain herself in her stay. Maggie is terrible about waiting her turn. She also has a distinct sense of fairness and I swear she counts the treats as they are distributed. If someone else gets an extra or I go out of turn, she’s right in my face to let me know it’s her turn. Gotta love her!

  17. We’ve had to do that when we train Felix as Koly is always QUITE eager to please. It’s impossible to capture a behavior in Felix when Koly has done it 3 times before Fe even tries!

    Another advanced technique we’ve tried? Putting Koly in a Down/Stay and THEN giving Felix commands. If you try it, start off with a behavior Delilah already knows. No need to make this harder than it has to be!