I'm just curious to any more experinced trainer members about how much certain trainer methods may stick in a dogs mind. I have always focused on using positive training methods with duke with corrections at worst being a light yank on his lesh and no's and wrong's which seem reasoneable to me and have been working very well for Duke and I and for an almost 5 mo pup I'm very impressed with how much likes to work. My only question now is that since I've gotten him I have had a chance to put to test everything I researched before getting him and to judge how well it has worked and what has not.
The only thing is that once when we were at the offlesh dog park where he did take puppy obidence classes and where he will be going back for level two at the end of next month, he used to have a phase before he really learned his bite inhibitation that he would literally lunge on to your leg and not let go and with those little razor blades it did alot of damage to say the least. Up until that point I had been correcting it and managing it by yanking his lesh and saying no in a firm voice and the second he stopped ( I usally could stop him before he made contact with my leg) I would bend down and praise him. However this day while he was running around over the jumps and chasing the tennis ball I was throwing for him, he went to do it and I did my normal description and one of the employees who supervises the offlesh area which I have since come to strongly dislike, told me I was doing it all wrong and that he would not respect me if I let him off so easily. I didn't agree but had only owned him for a month and so far he had not stopped nipping which I know realise after being with him much longer is natural as it takes ahwile for any established behaviour to disappear.
Anyways I am ashmed to say that I was easily influenced by her and she told me the only way to correct it immediatly was to grab his jowels the minuite he did it and lift him off his front paws by them , I felt uncomfortable with it but regretablly decided I would give it a try. The second I started he began to scream and I immediatly stopped and felt horrible and was close to crying.
I've since learned to trust myself more as an owner and to trust my own training methods which revolve around positive reinforcement and mental negative disassotion ( such as using things like bitter apple spray for chewing and then teaching the leave it command and then treating), and using gentle corrections such as yanking his lesh lightly, time outs and no's.
The thing is I still feel guilty to this day and hope I have not somehow making him scared of me at some level and only listening out of fear which I never ever want him to do. I've seen "broken" dogs before once who were only trained by extreme and cruel amounts of force by my friends alcholoic father who for example, would hit his dog, scream at him, or throw him down the stairs anytime he did something wrong, and you can tell the only reason he listens is out of fear and it's almost like apart of him died and he no longer has that energetic carefree happy entitiy that flows through all dogs. I know that it was only once and that I would never ever do it again or allow anyone to but I'm just wondering if anyone knows how much long term affect that will have on our relationship or if it will at all.
I love Duke to pieces and only want him to have the best and happiest life with me so I really hope I haven't screwed that up.
Kayla
The only thing is that once when we were at the offlesh dog park where he did take puppy obidence classes and where he will be going back for level two at the end of next month, he used to have a phase before he really learned his bite inhibitation that he would literally lunge on to your leg and not let go and with those little razor blades it did alot of damage to say the least. Up until that point I had been correcting it and managing it by yanking his lesh and saying no in a firm voice and the second he stopped ( I usally could stop him before he made contact with my leg) I would bend down and praise him. However this day while he was running around over the jumps and chasing the tennis ball I was throwing for him, he went to do it and I did my normal description and one of the employees who supervises the offlesh area which I have since come to strongly dislike, told me I was doing it all wrong and that he would not respect me if I let him off so easily. I didn't agree but had only owned him for a month and so far he had not stopped nipping which I know realise after being with him much longer is natural as it takes ahwile for any established behaviour to disappear.
Anyways I am ashmed to say that I was easily influenced by her and she told me the only way to correct it immediatly was to grab his jowels the minuite he did it and lift him off his front paws by them , I felt uncomfortable with it but regretablly decided I would give it a try. The second I started he began to scream and I immediatly stopped and felt horrible and was close to crying.
I've since learned to trust myself more as an owner and to trust my own training methods which revolve around positive reinforcement and mental negative disassotion ( such as using things like bitter apple spray for chewing and then teaching the leave it command and then treating), and using gentle corrections such as yanking his lesh lightly, time outs and no's.
The thing is I still feel guilty to this day and hope I have not somehow making him scared of me at some level and only listening out of fear which I never ever want him to do. I've seen "broken" dogs before once who were only trained by extreme and cruel amounts of force by my friends alcholoic father who for example, would hit his dog, scream at him, or throw him down the stairs anytime he did something wrong, and you can tell the only reason he listens is out of fear and it's almost like apart of him died and he no longer has that energetic carefree happy entitiy that flows through all dogs. I know that it was only once and that I would never ever do it again or allow anyone to but I'm just wondering if anyone knows how much long term affect that will have on our relationship or if it will at all.
I love Duke to pieces and only want him to have the best and happiest life with me so I really hope I haven't screwed that up.
Kayla