Training pugs..

[Pug84]

I'd like to know your experiences with training.. Did you find it easy ? What tricks
Does your pug know? What treats did you use? What worked for you?


I've managed to teach minky sit.. So I'll keep working on that for now but she goes crazy over treats like she spins and does circles.. After she will sniff everywhere trying to find more.

[Nina_W]

Definitely easy, and an eager training partner.

She knows many tricks - the latest one has her lifting up a cardboard box and flipping it on to her head as a hat. Other notables would be pulling a cloth off of something (to reveal what's underneath) or being able to speak (whaf) growl (grr) and sing (awooo) as separate commands. She also sits, lays down, rolls over, walks in heel on either side, weaves between my legs in many different ways and knows a large variety of ways to take jumps. She can give high fives with either paw, and she can lift any of her four paws by name. She can balance on a yoga ball and 'surf' on a boogie board.

Part of the reason for this is that if I don't keep her busy, she keeps herself busy, and that's never a good idea O_o
...the other part is that I wanted to do dog sports with her. That didn't work out, but it did give me space and help to teach her a whole lot of things :)

Other pugs I've found can be just as eager (they adore food, this makes it easy to teach them), but they don't always get what you're after as quickly as little Talos does, which is fine :)

Positive reinforcement, and for me personally, a clicker (or a click sound made with my mouth, since she 'figured' out the clicker and tries to take it from me), works magic.

The idea is simple - when they do what you want, you give them good things - in this case, treats or play. And then, you get more of what you want. You can put words to these things, and then only reward if they do it after the word, so sit means sit, for example.

Here's a good website on clicker training - I'd really recommend it:
Clicker Training Basics | Karen Pryor Clicker Training

[Annabellam]

Glad you are making head way in training which is tricky and especially for a new pug owner. Of cause training is never easy even for the best of people who have had pets for ages. It requires consistency and determination. If you've trained him how to seat today you have to be willing to keep up with that. I think treats help in training and especiallly if you associate training with good behaviour. Reward her for good behaviour and with time it learns to associate that with the treat.

[Snifter]

Pugs have a reputation for being stubborn, which is rather unfair. They want to please their owners but they do generally need to be shown by their owners what is wanted. They don't in my experience try out all sorts of different things for a treat, unless they have been taught to offer behaviours. The clicker training book Nina recommended will explain more on this.

First and foremost be aware that the pug will absolutely know if you are becoming frustrated during a training session. In an effort to defuse the situation the pug will often sit down and yawn. Sadly, many owners mistake this for cheek or boredom. It is not. It is the pug saying "please Mum/Dad, I know you want something but I don't know what you want. Rather than do something wrong I'll just sit here". That is the moment at which you should end the training session, but always try to end on a positive note. Ask the pug do do something really easy (like "sit"), praise lavishly, treat, and end the session.

It's a good idea when training something hard to break up the session with some easy stuff the pug knows, just to keep the pug's interest. It keeps the easy stuff memorable, which is good. An arsenal of easy behaviours means you have a command readily to hand to stop the pug doing what you don't want. Yelling "no" when the pug is ripping up your couch is not really helpful. The pug needs to know what you DO want it to do.

One of the earliest things you should start to teach is a recall, and keep reinforcing it throughout the pug's life, but especially during the first couple of years. It could save the pug's life.

Training classes are a great idea. They socialise the pug, help it to learn to concentrate on you in the face of distractions, and teach you how best to reward to get the results you want. A classic error in reward timing often occurs when potty training. Owner stays indoors at the door because it's raining. If pug consents to go out in the rain without owner it then performs and runs back inside at which point owner gives the treat. Owner thinks the dog will get that the treat was for the potty. The dog has forgotten the potty and thinks the treat is for coming back indoors. The owner should have been out with the pug in order to praise and treat the instant the pug finished the pee or poo.

[Nina_W]

Pugs have a reputation for being stubborn, which is rather unfair. They want to please their owners but they do generally need to be shown by their owners what is wanted. They don't in my experience try out all sorts of different things for a treat, unless they have been taught to offer behaviours. The clicker training book Nina recommended will explain more on this.

First and foremost be aware that the pug will absolutely know if you are becoming frustrated during a training session. In an effort to defuse the situation the pug will often sit down and yawn. Sadly, many owners mistake this for cheek or boredom. It is not. It is the pug saying "please Mum/Dad, I know you want something but I don't know what you want. Rather than do something wrong I'll just sit here". That is the moment at which you should end the training session, but always try to end on a positive note. Ask the pug do do something really easy (like "sit"), praise lavishly, treat, and end the session.

It's a good idea when training something hard to break up the session with some easy stuff the pug knows, just to keep the pug's interest. It keeps the easy stuff memorable, which is good. An arsenal of easy behaviours means you have a command readily to hand to stop the pug doing what you don't want. Yelling "no" when the pug is ripping up your couch is not really helpful. The pug needs to know what you DO want it to do.

One of the earliest things you should start to teach is a recall, and keep reinforcing it throughout the pug's life, but especially during the first couple of years. It could save the pug's life.

Training classes are a great idea. They socialise the pug, help it to learn to concentrate on you in the face of distractions, and teach you how best to reward to get the results you want. A classic error in reward timing often occurs when potty training. Owner stays indoors at the door because it's raining. If pug consents to go out in the rain without owner it then performs and runs back inside at which point owner gives the treat. Owner thinks the dog will get that the treat was for the potty. The dog has forgotten the potty and thinks the treat is for coming back indoors. The owner should have been out with the pug in order to praise and treat the instant the pug finished the pee or poo.

This is fantastic advice! :)

[lostsoul60]

I'm not an hardcore dog trainer who will teach a bunch of tricks to my dogs but I like them to know to sit, lay, beg and to go in their traveling cage when requested (my dad doesn't want dog paws on his car seat when I travel with him )

Out of the three dogs I've owned, my pug Raziel was by far the most difficult to teach these commands, took him a while just to figure out what I wanted but once he did, it was it. I'm not saying he's less intelligent; my other dogs would get tired and sit (or w/e I was trying to teach) on their own then I could praise but Raziel never grew tired of simply standing to look at me and the treat I was holding xD I had to physically encourage him to sit gently of course, unlike my others and I think it's what made it slower. but he's doing very good on recall. Lilith is also decent on recall but if there's something distracting her she may ignore me

[Loconn55]

since she 'figured' out the clicker and tries to take it from me)

Oh, that Talos!

[Nina_W]

Oh, that Talos!

It was entirely my mistake.

I rewarded it once, when she took the clicker, from my hands, bit down and made a click. My training kicked in - click means treat - and I fed her, her cheesy bite. Thus ended my ability to use a clicker with her. In stead of reinforcing that 'when Nina clicks, I've done the right thing' I reinforced 'when this sound is heard, you get fed, no matter what causes the sound'.

But ok, I'm here for a purpose - Training treat recipes:
Liver Bread
500g of any kind of liver, pureed
250ml flour
250ml mielie meel
2 cloves of garlic crushed
15ml oil

Puree the liver and mix in the other ingredients. Spread on a baking sheet lined with oiled foil. Bake at 180 C or 350 F for about 25 minutes. Cool and break in pieces. Divide into bags and freeze. Use thawed or frozen.

Pureed liver is so sexy

Liver Treats
Boil any kind of whole liver for about 5 minutes in a pot of water (I go for a big one, chicken livers don't work so well here). Remove from water and cut into thin slices. Lay the pieces on a baking sheet and dry in a cool oven (100 degrees) for 2-3 hours. These keep well in your pocket or treat pouch.

Tuna Squares
1 can (3.5 oz.) tuna in water (do not drain)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 180 C or 350 F degrees . Lightly grease a square baking dish.
In a food processor, combine the tuna with its liquid and the eggs; pulse to blend. Add the flour and pulse until crumbly.
Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and press into an even layer. Bake until set, about 5 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes, then cut into squares. Once the treats cool completely, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.

[Pug84]

Thank you all that's wonderful advice :) thanks for the recipe to. I will check out the clicker link. she will be a house dog so I want her trained and just for when we are out in public or have to go to the vet for a check up or so forth. It will be good to keep her busy and try out new tricks later on. We've had other dogs in the past but larger breeds and they didn't get trained properly but it made things hard at the beach or vets.

[Loconn55]

So Talos has no bad reactions from flour or garlic? I have heard they are both verboten for dogs. Are the all-liver treats soft? I bought some online but they're very hard and have sharp edges that I'm afraid they'll choke on. Would love to find or make a soft liver treat...