Dog training gadget

[shorthorsemom]

Hi all. I rarely buy into buying dog training "gadgets" but simply have to share one with you all I recently purchased. It is called the "Manners minder" and it is a remote controlled treat dispensing training device. The possibilities are endless as to what you can use this for in training your dog, it is especially great for training OCD and mindless crate barking, and for dogs that rush the door, bark at visitors, or when people are visiting... etc etc.... It also works for good dog training, teaching a down stay, obedience training etc... I watched a trainer friend use this for her new puppy and was very impressed with how well it worked, so I purchased one for our rescue bassett hound...

My boy has a bark that rattles the dishes in the cabinet, he wolfs down his food and barks constantly until all our other dogs finish their food. He barks when people visit, he barks like breathing, he crate barks... woof woof woof. He surfs for things he can steal and chew up and he recently ate my bluetooth earpiece when I left the room for just a minute. I love him to pieces and he is a great dog, but he needs supervision and loads of training and I have been working very hard with him, but he is as stubborn as a hound too. Anyway.. fast forward.. I get the manners minder. I LOVE it. For now it is in his crate. I remotely dispense treats when he is quiet and happy. He thinks this is a totally cool thing and he does a down stay next to it. He doesn't bark in his crate anymore. He doesn't bark when we have company. He loves his crate. You can set it to automatically dispense dog food a few at a time, you can vary the times of dispensing so the dog doesn't start obesessing on the treat time, you can trigger a remote control that you can carry to dispense the treat. You can train your dog to lay on a mat and you can greet someone at the door and you can treat your dog for staying back and laying on the mat and not rushing the door. I could go on and on, read up on it, you can watch youtube videos on training your dog with one. LOVE IT, Love my quiet house. wow.. PS, Amazon seems to be cheapest and with Amazon Prime you get free shipping. Mine was $87 and it was well worth the money in peace. YIPPEE. This is a great thing if you have a dog that is food motivated. It can work well for dogs that have separation anxiety. Cheers Adair

ps this works with crate door open, crate door closed , on the floor in the kitchen. It gives a tone before it dispenses. Or you can silence the tone on sensitive dogs. I have only just started using it, but WOW. this thing is cool. Comes with instruction video. whoo hoo. I may just have to buy another, Fred needs his very own, mr. slobber face.

ps here is a link and video. The red thing is just a target and does not dispense the treats, just teaches the dog the touch command.. enjoy. ps, amazon is much cheaper.

http://landofpuregol...e/p-manners.htm

you tube on using manners minder to keep dog from barking at doorbell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqjajMYJTIU

 

[billiethekid40]

I've wanted one of these for a while, we have a young male who guards the door and is hard to handle when we have company. Let us know how this works for you and maybe I'll have to look into getting one for us again!

 

[shorthorsemom]

I will let you know. I plan to train my collie to it too, she boom barks to the door and is hard to get her back to open the door. For my bassett hound and his barking with visitors, it was an "out of the box fix" ... nobody can believe how quiet he is now. He is also content, no stress training. Once I establish a pattern with him, I will move on to the other dogs, might even buy a second unit. They come with 4 channels so you can use more than one and cue the right one with the remote. Totally worth the money, and if you see this thing, you will be surprised it doesn't cost more. Very durable looking too.

will keep you all posted. Check out youtube. There are dozens of videos of people doing training with this thing.

 

[Catsie]

I'm a professional dog trainer and I LOVE the Manners Minder. Several of my clients have purchased them. The possibilities are really endless. I took the bowl off of mine and set it on top of a wire dog crate, so I can feed one of my dogs treats for being calm/quiet in the crate while I actively train the other one. It's like having a training assistant!

 

[anoki]

This might sound like a dumb question, but my brain is a bit fried tonight...so bare with me

Does one unit work for several dogs at once?? Or is it better to have several of them??

My guys go nuts barking when people come to the door, then a couple of them jump all over people. They settle down easily and very quickly once they greet whoever is at the door, but it's breaking the habit of them getting soo excited to start with that I'd like to help!

~kathryn

 

[shorthorsemom]

This might sound like a dumb question, but my brain is a bit fried tonight...so bare with me

Does one unit work for several dogs at once?? Or is it better to have several of them??

My guys go nuts barking when people come to the door, then a couple of them jump all over people. They settle down easily and very quickly once they greet whoever is at the door, but it's breaking the habit of them getting soo excited to start with that I'd like to help!

~kathryn

You know Kathryn, I was wondering the same thing... I have 6 dogs. I tried it in the kitchen first with three dogs loose and my tiny tibetan spaniel alpha female decided it was "hers" and she did a down stay next to it, but tried to "kill" anybody that came over and tried to sniff it. She is never crated, so any unit I have out for multiple dogs would be a problem for her guarding, so I am still thinking that one. I need to train individually I think. One video I checked out, the lady was working with one dog to desensitize the dog to the door bell and you could hear her other dogs barking in another room, so I am going to try working one dog at a time. I don't have a doorbell, but when somebody knocks, our house erupts in total caos, so I am going to try to time it so we get a warning bark, then reward the quiet on command or something like that. i already want another unit, but can't really justify the money in my brain to get two. I love it for the obsessive barking my bassett was doing. he would gobble his dinner then rattle the dishes barking until all the other dogs finished their food. He has to eat in his crate because he really tries to eat everybodys food. He is a rescue dog we adopted last summer and I have no idea what type of background he has. I wondered if somebody had used a shock collar on him because when he first heard the beep of the unit, he gave me a funny look as if he was expecting getting shocked. Now he gets happy tail when he hears the beep. This thing has endless possiblilities from a training point of view.. Teaching the "away" command in obedience, target training, touch, being able to treat a dog waiting in a crate while you work another in the same room... very cool. very sturdy too. take care.. Adair

 

[Catsie]

If you want to use it for manic doorbell barking, remove the bowl and set it up high on the edge of a table or shelf so the treats scatter on the floor. Have someone ring the doorbell, then press the remote a couple of times so it spits out a whole bunch of treats for your dogs. (Obviously, do not do this if you have a dog that resource guards/fights over food!)

 

[shorthorsemom]

oh, thanks Catsie for pointing out the obvious I didn't think about...that is a great idea! I do scatter treats by hand now, so my tibbie is used to running after scatter so i don't think it would be a problem...

I will try it with the bowl removed and up on the counter like you suggested. I haven't tried removing the bowl but was going to to figure out how to get it off and have the unit on top of the crate instead of inside the crate too as somebody else suggested for another training idea, (crate barking by one while training another). Cool beans. stay tuned, will try this new idea for treating multiple dogs for not rushing the door thanks, Adair.. This new toy has such possibilities... I really like it.

edited to say... I took the bowl off (easier than I thought, it just popped off) and I put it on the counter. Light bulb... the dogs are figuring it out and I am taking the unit clicker outside with me and triggering treats to cue the dogs to go to the mat, rather than rushing the door (yes they rush the door when I come in as well as strangers) haha. I can't wait to see if I can totally stop this. Might have to get a second unit on a different channel for the crate barker to have his own. if this quiets my house down, I am going to love it.

 

[anoki]

Cool!!! Thanks for the tips!! I'm going to start looking for one up here....see how it works....just might not be able to afford it for awhile, after the week I've had

~kathryn

 

[shorthorsemom]

I did the elevated training of the unit, spitting off multiple treats and using the clicker and signaling when I want the dogs to go away from the door. I had a target mat under the unit and my alpha tibetan spaniel peed on the target mat last night to mark it as hers. LOL, little stinker. Ok, we are not using a target mat now, I don't think they need it anyway. It is easy to move the unit to on top of my bassets crate for the crate barking during feeding, and when I am leaving, I leave the unit on a table, bowl off and take the clicker with me and signal and treat before I enter the kitchen. Boy I wish I had before and after video with audio. My house is soooo much quieter, the dogs are less stressed and they think this thing is very cool, after all, it spits out FOOD.

Anoki, I hope you can get one, I think you will love it. I lost my job in December and bought my unit with severance money. If it quiets my house my husband will be tickled pink. I am the dog nut in the house and admit that adopting the unruly bassett rescue has been a bit nerve wracking at times on noise level. He is a great dog, just a typical hound. Now I found out I have a "hound silencer",.. very cool. It also is helping my collie find her silencer. She is a spinner and barker and has been known to circle the table and keep all the other dogs contained under it... Last night she was laying and relaxing and I went over thinking something was wrong with her... LOL

Anoki...I have a friend Kathryn in Delaware that is very much into welsh corgis and herding. Someday I hope to own one of her dogs, but right now I have reached my doggie limit. I thought of her when I saw your avitar.

Take care Adair

 

[bevann]

Thinking about getting 1 of these for my soon (I HOPE) to be adopted dog from out local shelter.I have been trying for almost 2 weeks to get him out of there.Getting frustrated, but I keep pushing, calling and visiting.Can't seem to get much info about the dog's past except that he was owner surrendered after passerby reported bad situations.We bonded immediately .Maybe this week.Nice big dog for some protection here on the farm.My Corgis would open the door and help someone find all the good stuff.I have Pembroke Corgis and live in DE and have a friend Sophie near Lewes DE who has Cardigans.Kennel name is Kimberwicke.Small world.