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Originally Posted by QuickSilver  It sounds like Cooper guards "high value" objects, like food and bully sticks.
I would just separate them when they eat, and keep them separated if you give them bully sticks. You may want to consider not giving bully sticks at all if/until this behavior stops.
Separating them during those times may fix the problem right there. Also, I would start interrupting their play regularly so they get used to it. You can use the "Settle" command. You can try keeping a can of pennies on hand as well, or a cup of ice water.
A few things on Drop It:
- You can try teaching "Take It" first, and then you get Drop It for free when you give him a treat. Teach him to take his ball, then he has to drop it for food.
- You can simply increase the value of the treat you will give him for Drop It. Try tiny bits of steak, for instance.
- For the ball, don't reward him for hanging on to it. For most dogs, an ideal game of fetch is: you throw the ball, he chases it; you chase after him, he runs away; you and he have a tug fight over the ball; and eventually when he's ready, you throw the ball for him again. You need to teach him that if he doesn't Drop It, you don't throw it again.
- All that being said, if he really wants something, he may not Drop It, so I would consider management and other strategies to prevent fights. |
Max has been confined for 2 weeks because he hurt his leg, so their play is both very supervised and limited. Cooper is "coin can trained", but I wanted to try reward training with him. The other issue with the coins is that I cannot use that to separate them. It puts Cooper into a complete state of fear and does nothing for Max, so therefore I'm only punishing Cooper. It's not really fair.
Also because Max just hurt his leg I'm using bully sticks to keep them independent, which seems to be working except for the occasional fight.
Cooper's ball game is retrieving it and dropping it an inch from your hand while still keeping his chin on the ball. He's now trained to "back up" and he backs up so you can get the ball. It's a race to the ball.
I feel that is the game. He enjoys it, so we play it.
I will work a little harder with the training. I've been trying new techniques for a couple of days.