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Post by RealPitBull on Dec 23, 2007 10:45:58 GMT -5
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Post by pettoprincess88 on Dec 31, 2007 12:59:18 GMT -5
shocking sounds just too harsh for me. the only harsh thing i have used was a strangle collar and i found i couldnt use it effectively, only practicing in my yard going around keeping my dog at a heel and positive reinforcement was the best  . i have learned from my mistakes with my lab mix, poor dog  , and can now start a better way when I got my doberman puppy and pinch collars look horrible, i see pics of them on dobermans and i have never found a need to used one on my bruce the only thing i have used on him was a gentle leader, that was great but now i find I can get him to heel, least for some short distance, without a gentle leader but then he gets the urge to pull again. -_- i think my 4 yr old grew out of pulling or something because he doesnt pull unless, in the beginning of a walk, he as alot of excited energy. and my chihuahua mix, he walks perfectly if only he could pass that along to Bruce! |
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Post by RealPitBull on Dec 31, 2007 13:13:02 GMT -5
Sadly, our dogs are the ones who have to put up with our training learning curves. My Luca is the reason I switched to all dog-friendly/painfree training, but in his early years I was still using prongs, chokes, etc and he had to endure all that while I learned new, kinder techniques. Lots of dogs still suffer because of overly harsh training, and my mission in life (besides preaching the Pit Bull Gospel) is to educate on alternative training methods.
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Post by AmyJo27 on Feb 8, 2008 22:06:02 GMT -5
What are some good alternative training methods? I dont use shock, choke, prong, or any other tools. So is the buckle collar and leash is this ok? Also where is the dog supposed to walk, beside, behind, in front. When I dont let my dogs walk in front of me and have them on a short lead, I feel like I am deprieving them. What is the right thing to do?
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Post by RealPitBull on Feb 12, 2008 14:20:39 GMT -5
Here are some good choices for basic training - lots of goodies in them for even seasoned trainers!
Power of Positive Training by Pat Miller
Complete Idiot's Guide to Positive Training by Pamela Dennison
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Post by windowdog on Apr 17, 2008 16:06:35 GMT -5
My friend's step-mother in law bought a little rat dog for her son two years ago. I think it's some kind of small terrier breed. Anyways they "trained" it using a shock collar, only they are really sloppy people so it usually took them a while to find the remote when the dog did something wrong. So they'd go search, find the remote, then walk back into the room 20 minutes later and shock the dog. The poor thing never had any idea why the hell it was being  . My friend finally took the dog (which was declared untrainable by the step-mother in law). It used to be spastic as a puppy, but it has calmed down a lot in the last couple of years (as you'd expect.) Anyways this dog has ISSUES, it just freezes randomly and runs aways into a hiding place randomly, with no apparent stimuli to cause the fear. It also is afraid of everything and everyone to such a pitiful extent it breaks your heart. I don't like small dogs, but he really is an ok little thing when he's calm. Unfortuneatly the previous owners just ruined his poor mind. So anyways, giving everyone the option to shock their dogs guarantees some idiots are going to misuse it. That's reason enough to ban them IMHO. |
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Post by RealPitBull on Apr 18, 2008 8:19:38 GMT -5
I'm totally pro-banning of shock collars. At the very LEAST they should NEVER be sold over the counter to any Joe Owner that walks into a pet store. These things, to be used scientifically/properly, take EXTENSIVE human training. But they are sold as a quick/easy fix that anyone can use. Pretty sickening.
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Post by bullymommy25 on Apr 18, 2008 12:28:10 GMT -5
I'm still using the chain collar and I would like to get away from it as soon as possible. I have not had too much exposure to dog owners who have successfully trained without it. It seems like if there is a better way to do it, I owe it to my dog to figure it out. I've had to slack a lot over the past 8 months, this pregnancy has been hell and Stella is only 14 months, so we have some catching up to do. I think it's a great opportunity to learn a way of training that's worthy of my awesome little girl!!
Oh and I am so against the shock collar too, it seems barbaric! Also, a neighbor has voice boxed their beautiful Husky (thought that was illegal???) and it's REALLY sad.
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Post by RealPitBull on Apr 18, 2008 14:32:45 GMT -5
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Post by bullymommy25 on Apr 18, 2008 18:25:57 GMT -5
"you don't go to work because your boss threatens you with physical violence" =)
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Post by RealPitBull on Apr 21, 2008 7:36:18 GMT -5
"you don't go to work because your boss threatens you with physical violence" =) Yes, I love that quote - and it's a good analogy. Personally, I don't love my day job. But I keep going and going because I get that paycheck which allows me to gain all my 'life rewards'. Pretty powerful, if you think about it. Our goal as dog trainers is to find out what life rewards our dogs want, and make those rewards contingent upon certain behaviors. |
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Post by AmyJo27 on Apr 21, 2008 10:30:08 GMT -5
I started clicker training with Boomer and it is going great!!!! He has never listened so well! Plus now, when he is doing something wrong, I just say AH-AH and he stops and come to me and lays down! THANKS MARY!!!
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Post by AmyJo27 on Apr 21, 2008 10:30:49 GMT -5
I completly recommend clicker training!
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Post by RealPitBull on Apr 22, 2008 7:45:24 GMT -5
I started clicker training with Boomer and it is going great!!!! He has never listened so well! Plus now, when he is doing something wrong, I just say AH-AH and he stops and come to me and lays down! THANKS MARY!!! WOW, that is SO AWESOME!!  Very happy to hear it. It's always exciting for me when people try and then find success with clicker training. |
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Post by AmyJo27 on Apr 22, 2008 10:27:58 GMT -5
Yeah! He is doing great! He is a lot more enjoyable now that he listens! Less of a stress, so now I can love him even more!!! Thanks again Mary!
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Post by RealPitBull on Apr 24, 2008 15:09:28 GMT -5
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Post by tbluverjumper on May 7, 2008 22:57:02 GMT -5
I find the positive reinforcement works SO much better. My mixed lil guy has a head as hard as a brick and if you try discipline you might as well be talking to a brick wall. He was a TERROR for the first year of his life..chewed..peed..dug things up..barked..crate training was a mission because my neighbors would hear him while I was gone at work and complain. I worked on slowly integrating him into parts of the house while I was gone, even though it was against my will..since he was still chewing..I did my best to puppy proof my laundry room..then the laundry room and the kitchen with puppy gates. He got to the point where he wouldn't even come out to say HI when I got home because he knew he'd done something wrong. I think he was sure his name was No! This wasn't my first puppy..I had no clue what I was doing wrong..and of course as I reached my wits end..I gave up for a few days and stopped scolding him. When I got home I let him outside and cleaned up whatever he did...and I kid you not..within 2 days he quit doing nearly everything. It was like he was having anxiety with me being gone..and with me coming home and him getting in trouble. Never even crossed my mind. He would still have accidents every now and again but he hasn't chewed anything since..and he's now almost 4. I don't think it would work for every dog...but he has proved me wrong in all of my original "punishment" mode of thinking. My mom was very old school..but he teaches me new things every day. He even heel's better w/out a harness vs. w/a harness or leash...any thoughts on that Mary? He's very sensitive to anger..he's ALWAYS a happy dog and he will walk on a leash but wants to pull all the time. I have to remind him to heel every few steps where w/out the leash/harness I tell him once and he stays! Hmm..Just one of those random questions |
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Post by largentfamily on May 13, 2008 11:16:43 GMT -5
We are just now staring clicker training for Ellie. Only problem we're having now is keeping her from getting distracted while training. We try to have a session for about 15 minutes in the afternoon for general obedience (sit, stay, down, heel, etc...) But my daughter tends to hold more of Ellie's attention if she's home. If my daughter leaves to play outside, Ellie's more worried about where Sissy is than training. I've resorted to keeping the clicker with me at all times and when she naturally does something she's suspposed to, I say the command it relates to, click and reward. When she first came to live with us, we started obedience training with treats and she quickly learned down and sit, but we usually have to tell her three or four times to sit or lay down before she'll do it. Now she's gotten to where she'll do it almost everytime on the first command. We haven't had to repeat ourselves much to get her to lay down or sit. Now if I can just figure out to get clicker training to work on my daughter! Do they have classes for that? |
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. i have learned from my mistakes with my lab mix, poor dog 
, and can now start a better way when I got my doberman puppy 
Very happy to hear it. It's always exciting for me when people try and then find success with clicker training. 
