Train n Praise Archives

In 2014, I ran a series of “Bark Week” posts (total, shameless play on Shark Week, of course…) that detailed how we were mitigating the insane amount of barking that was going on around the house.

In one of the posts, I wrote about the front door insanity that ensued every. single. time. someone walked up our front steps. Luckily, we hit up on the Train n’ Praise from PetSafe as THE solution. Seriously, it worked wonders. You can read all about what I did to curb door barking crazies here. We used it for the holidays–even flipping Halloween–and it was magic.

Shortly after the new year 2015, Newt knocked it off the mantle and shattered it into a few dozen pieces.

I wrote on some to do list somewhere, “Order new Train n’ Praise.”

Then we got Lukey’s diagnosis (so many things, I’m realizing, are now divided into two categories: before and after) and that list of random to dos became inconsequential and lost in the fray.

In March of this year, I attended Global Pet Expo, and I visited the PetSafe booth. My friend Meredith asked if we still used it, and I told her what happened. End of story. Or so I thought…

Sweet Meredith knocked my socks off when, a few weeks after I returned home, a brand new Train n’ Praise appeared on our doorstep! SO nice!

Then April hit, and I put in just over 70 hours per week of work all month long. No joke. Wish it were a joke. Not complaining because I love what I do and am grateful for extra work, but the Train n’ Praise sat sadly in its box on the counter. Along with piles of mail and fur and dishes that I would get to someday. (Like blog posts here! Sigh…)

Last weekend, it finally happened. As I opened the box, I said these words to John, “Do you think they’ll remember what this is?”

Well.

“Guys! Guys! The Magic Box is back!!! Look!!!! LOOOOOK!!!!”

{Note to self: When the missing to do someday list resurfaces, add “learn how to take a decent photo” to the top! Or, maybe just “buy a camera.” HA!}

Anyways, yes. They remembered it. That first night, Cooper stayed stationed underneath, just waiting. {“I forget… what makes this thing spit treats?”} Emmett parked himself across the room, but we quickly discovered that the key element to The Magic Box isn’t exactly effective for an increasingly-less-hearing dog…

It operates off a tone. It’s a super-specific trill of maybe four or five quick notes. It can’t be mistaken for any other sound, which is the whole point.

Unique sound + treat dispensing.

Positive reinforcement at its finest, and I don’t even have to be there in the room. I just have to have the clicker in my pocket.

We use it like this:

The clicker sits on the kitchen counter (the center hub of the house). Cooper spots a dog/person/bike/squirrel/funny-looking-car out the window and starts to have a minor meltdown. BEFORE it can become a major meltdown, one of us clicks the button on the remote–>the unique sound trills–>Cooper SPRINTS to the Magic Box to collect the treats as they’re dispensed.

Poor Emmett, meanwhile, continues his nap.

The idea and hope is to get him to associate dog/person/bike/squirrel/funny-looking-car going by to getting the noise/treat combo.

So far, so good… and utterly amazing to me that after more than a full year without hearing that noise, he knew exactly what it was the second he heard it!

Powerful stuff!

Now, to keep Newt from breaking this one…

Here it is: The final day of Bark Week! And this one’s a biggie! Today I’m sharing our biggest barking problem, what we’re doing to combat it, and a giveaway of the most fabulous anti-barking tool ever!

If you’re just joining us, so far we’ve discussed: how to get your dog to stop barking on cue, how to curb demand barking, and the easiest solution for eliminating excited barking.

But if your dogs are anything like mine, none of those problems even compare to what happens when – cue horror movie music – a stranger rings the doorbell. Dun dun dunnnn.

So, today that’s what we’re discussing: the insanity of barking at the front door and my new strategy to work on it!

Whenever someone rings our doorbell, it’s like unleashing a pack of gamma-irradiated-werewolf-zombie hybrids. They fling themselves at top speed into the door, barking like deranged, rabid monsters. Then, inevitably, Cooper turns that huge amount of frustration onto Lucas. Then, trying to actually get the door open and welcome our guest/sign for a package is an epic feat of wrangling them either behind the sunroom gate or into the backyard.

Does anyone else experience something like this? Please tell me this isn’t just me…

OK. So, clearly a problem. We decided to tackle this head on a couple years ago and tried so many strategies. We tried sending them to their beds whenever someone came to the door. They nailed it when we practiced – even when other people helped us practice – but these guys have done so much training that they quickly figured out practice vs. a real stranger at the door. They would either not go to their beds, or they would but would pop up the second I turned the deadbolt. Fail.

We also tried associating the doorbell with a “place” that came with treats. We rang and rang and rang and rang the doorbell, sending them to their place and raining treats upon their heads. And then we did it some more. Yet, again, they would do it perfectly… until a stranger actually came to the door, then they were like, “Doesn’t apply! This is a real threat! Abort training!” Fail.

New plan! (And this one’s working!)

When we visited PetSafe way back in the summer, they generously gave us a Train ‘n Praise, which I promptly put in the closet and forgot about because… what did we need that for? We weren’t potty training or anything, so??

Little did I know until in a random Facebook discussion, Jodi from Kol’s Notes mentioned how she was using it, and LIGHTBULB!

We went through quite a bit of trial-and-error, but here’s what we hit on as THE solution:

The Train ‘n Praise is on top of the fireplace, across from the front door (in the pic above, I’m standing in the doorway). When we push the little remote button, it spits out treats that scatter all over. The button also comes with a really specific noise to signify that treats are coming. So, what we’ve been doing is pushing that button every single time the doorbell rings and every single time someone comes in the house through the front door.

Are they 100%?

Nope!

Not yet anyway, but it’s working better than anything else we tried. The boys are OBSESSED with Ann, their pet sitter, and she told me that when she came in, Lucas ran right over to the Train ‘n Praise to collect his treat… without her pushing the button. My mom and her friend stopped by, and Cooper was so busy gathering treats, he barely had time to clobber them. Barely. Sigh.

Anyway, it’s a work in progress. We used it on Halloween, which was a seriously high-intensity practice session, and they did great. My ultimate goal is to have them just assume that when the doorbell rings, they need to run over and collect their treats, rather than barking their faces off or clobbering guests. We’re not there yet, but we’re working on it!

Sound intriguing? Want to try it with your dog?

Well, guess what! You can! I had a PetSafe gift certificate, and I used it to purchase TWO Train ‘n Praises for two of you! This is a Rafflecopter giveaway. The widget should load below in a few seconds, or if you’re reading via email or feed, you may have to click the link.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’ll keep you posted on our progress. But, for now, Bark Week is a wrap!

Do your dogs go nutso barking at the front door? Have you found any other solutions that work? If you win the Train ‘n Praise, how do you envision using it?