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  #1  
Old January 29th, 2007, 10:09 AM
Seiya Seiya is offline
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Is Anyone Familiar With The "can Of Coins" Training Approach?

I was recommended once to never scold my dog with anything that could seem like physical violence, instead, you can use a sound that gives them the picture while saying firmly the word NO, I trained my dog this way, and it worked like a charm…but I have never hear anyone talk about this method again…so I was asking myself…if anyone has heard about it, used it, and if it worked?
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Old January 29th, 2007, 10:11 AM
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I have heard about it, but I haven't used it
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Old January 29th, 2007, 10:41 AM
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It is popular with some trainers and tossing a 'bag of chains' at the dog is used by a certain training franchise. The effect is to create a startle which can be done with the clap of your hands or the stomp of your foot or your voice saying 'hey!' abruptly.

The problem with tossing a bag of chains at the dog is you could hit him and create bigger set of problems - including creating a fearful dog.

Simply shaking a can of coins has a startling effect - but how often do you have your can handy? and if you do it too much you are desensitizing your dog to the startle, and highly senstive dogs can be frightened by the whole thing. Also - is he respecting the can or you? If you rely on any device your dog does too. I would rather be able to affect my dogs behaviors with just me and not have to rely on cans, or clicks, or chains etc.
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Old January 29th, 2007, 11:35 AM
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Personally, I'm against "shocking" the dog into stopping something, but I did (as a last resort) use the can once.

My dog, as a puppy, for MONTHS, had a toilet paper obsession. It seemed to be a daily routine, every chance he got, sometimes several times a day, he would try to play with the roll. Over and over and over I would try to untrain this, but let's face it... toilet paper is FUN!!

On two seperate occasions, I even kept the bathroom door closed for about 3-6 weeks at a time, hoping he'd forget or grow out of it. One day I said "Let's go to work! We're going to be late! Come on!" and as he ran to me, he got this look on his face and ran back to the bathroom (this was after the second time it was closed). He took the roll in his mouth and ran past me, around the kitchen and down the stairs, through the front door. How that roll didn't break is beyond me (and I was laughing too hard to even attempt to discipline).

So I set him up by placing an old pop can filled with pennies on the roll, and waited. Sure enough, the next day I heard the can fall and my dog scatter out of the bathroom. He never went back for it again. There are no words to express my joy over this. lol

Now this worked for me (setting him up), and I'm SURE there was another way to train him not to do this (this was the ONLY problem I had with him as a puppy), but I tried every technique I knew of, and nothing worked... so I set him up. If another way worked, I would have done it.

Now having said that, I would never, EVER throw or even shake a can at my dog. It worked because I was completely out of the room when it happened. The toilet paper roll scolded him... not me.

Then again, I think most of us have seen this at some point. lol (I was desperately trying not to laugh, hense the horrible quality)

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Old January 29th, 2007, 11:46 AM
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I'm reading this post laughing so hard, I too had this experince, where my dog loves toilet paper. up and down and around the house, I never tried the can of coins myself so we put the paper on top of the counter so she would not get at it in time she forgot about it. this bring back memories of my dog being a puppy again.
the pic is very precious, it makes me smile just looking at it.
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Old January 29th, 2007, 01:30 PM
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Barking isn't all bad

We bought new trashcans with lids because ours used to go in and shred used tissues and sometimes paper. We never had the toilet paper issue luckily.

As for the coin trick with barking, I haven't done it but I know people who have done it and they said it worked. My issue is I don't want my dog to think barking is bad and never do it again. Instead, I want to be able to have the barking stop on command. I taught my dog the word "quiet" and she knows that's when to stop. If she doesn't, I make her come to me and sit quietly until released (sort of a time out).
I'm against the sprays and shocks and anything else designed to stop a dog from EVER barking. If someone comes to the door or if one day someone lurks around the house possibly looking for a way in or anything else nefarious, I want my dog to bark.
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Old January 29th, 2007, 02:08 PM
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I used it with Soozie as she would go absolutely crazy when she saw someone outside the window. She was allowed one or two barks to warn the pack and then she got the can treatment. Within a month she only barked once or twice and stopped. In Soozie's case we were extremely consistant and she never desensetised to it (neither did we) and it was successful. She gets a lot of "good girl"'s now when she warns her pack and seems happier not to have the compulsive behaviors she used to.
Love the picture of the pup with the toilet paper. Bugsey used to do that too and we would laugh so hard I'm sure it only encouraged him more, but how can you not laugh.
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Old January 29th, 2007, 07:33 PM
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Spirit, your dog is absolutely ADORABLE!! Its hard to get mad when they look that cute, eh?

I tried the can of pennies once and it didn't do anything really. I agree with tenderfoot that its not always practical. I use my voice instead to interupt whatever naughty thing is going on (e.g., Ah! Ah!) and then immediately give Toby something better to do that he can earn praise for (a positive replacement behaviour), like a sit command.

When Toby was little, he too went after anything paper - toilet paper, mail, cardboard. A real paper fetish. He eventually 'grew out of it' (or we managed to somehow change the behaviour) and now he only rarely nibbles the corner of the mail - once in a blue moon. The mail comes through a mail slot in our door in case anyone is wondering why he always has access to it
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Old January 29th, 2007, 11:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by breeze View Post
I never tried the can of coins myself so we put the paper on top of the counter so she would not get at it in time she forgot about it.
I did that too (kept it out of reach). There would be weeks on end where the toilet paper would be out of reach, or the door would be kept closed, and he would always "rediscover it" within about 2 weeks after placing it back on the roll and leaving the door open. The last time I think it was out of reach for about 2 months, and the door closed for 1... But as soon as he wandered on back in there and saw the roll, it was happy days all over again.

Months and months of this nonsense and I couldn't stand it any more (seriously, it wasn't just once a week... he would go in there SEVERAL times a day).

The other problem I had was his love of throwing things down the stairs and watching them bounce. He really was one of the best puppies I've known (obedience-wise), but he had just a couple little quirks that drove me quite mental. His passion for putting out invisible fires in my fireplace was another. He'll still occasionally test me with this one by throwing a ball or his kong in it. He'll look at it, then look at me, then look at it and decide if it's worth it or not to go in after it (because he knows I no longer play that game).

He's never boring, my dog.
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  #10  
Old January 29th, 2007, 11:26 PM
Seiya Seiya is offline
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Spirit!!!...what a wonderful picture!!!...we just love and hate these behaviors so much...it is hard to find the balance between encouraging them and training them when we have such a big smile on our faces while saying BAD DOG!!!... They must get awfully confused!!

I agree with the de - sensibilizing theory, our Milo has already gotten that way...you can so much as dance around him with a can of coins and he does not seem to react to it. My boyfriend and I were reading and having so much fun with your comments, and reminded ourselves how the training method started strong, but eventually the voice got louder, and the penny shaking smother...this way, now, he reacts to the voice and the penny can has been forgotten.. I wonder if it works that well on boyfriends too???

Last edited by Seiya; January 29th, 2007 at 11:29 PM.
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  #11  
Old January 29th, 2007, 11:32 PM
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I call this one "Fireman Ben". (picture taken post bath. Soot is NOT easy to wash out)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...i/IMG_2146.jpg

(okay, back on topic now, please)

(edited to fix link)

Last edited by Spirit; January 30th, 2007 at 10:35 AM.
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  #12  
Old January 30th, 2007, 09:19 AM
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I was advised to shake a jar of pennies to stop Lukka from attaching herself to my pant leg during a jog. She was a very young puppy at the time and I didn't try it for several reasons.
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Old January 30th, 2007, 10:19 AM
4thedogs 4thedogs is offline
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Shaking a can of coins and setting them up with a trap are two different things. I find that setting the dog up if needed is far more successful when dealing with an undesirable behaviour out of sight. The correction doesn't come from you. If you are there they will know that you are the cause. The dog must be ok to take a startle without completely freaking them out.
If you are using the shake can then you have to have one at an arms length at any time or on your person which can be difficult. In order for it to be successful at all times your dog can't see you do it. If they do you may be able to distinguish the behaviour when you are present but your dog may continue the behaviour when you are not right there.
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Old January 31st, 2007, 09:03 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spirit View Post


I call this one "Fireman Ben". (picture taken post bath. Soot is NOT easy to wash out)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...i/IMG_2146.jpg

(okay, back on topic now, please)

(edited to fix link)
Okay, Spirit....you must immediately report to the photos section and post tons of pictures of your adorable goldie!!!! This kind of cuteness should be outlawed!!!
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Old January 31st, 2007, 10:35 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TMac View Post
Okay, Spirit....you must immediately report to the photos section and post tons of pictures of your adorable goldie!!!! This kind of cuteness should be outlawed!!!
LOL! Okay.
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  #16  
Old February 2nd, 2007, 12:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spirit View Post
My dog, as a puppy, for MONTHS, had a toilet paper obsession. It seemed to be a daily routine, every chance he got, sometimes several times a day, he would try to play with the roll. Over and over and over I would try to untrain this, but let's face it... toilet paper is FUN!!
My old kitty used to unravel the toilet paper roll on a regular basis. My solution was to put the toilet paper on the counter - and we had to do this for most of his 14 years! He was never really broken of the habit - we would have guests who didn't know of Oracle's little fetish; they would see the toilet paper on the counter, and "kindly" replace it on the empty roll holder. Oracle had some sort of toilet-paper-on-the-roll sixth sense, because no sooner than it was on the holder, Oracle would have the entire roll unravelled on the floor.
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