Hi every one,
I am new to this forum, so this is the first post from me.
About 20 years ago, i bought a book called, The Koehler Method of Guard Dog Training. In this book are two sections: the first section deals with the selection and training of personal protection, police, plant security and military dogs. The second section is about care, housing and obediance training (of dogs in general).
I have used the obediance training section with much success. I know some, if not, many people find Koehler's methods barbaric and old school compared to, say, Cesar Millan's methods, but we are not all Cesar Millan, right?
I have a neighbor who has a 7 year old shih tzu who has never been trained AT ALL. She (the owner) says "no" to the dog, and the dogs does it anyway, and she does nothing about it. The dog was raised like this for all 7 years. Another example, she opens the gate and the dog bolts out like a bat out of hell with her screaming, "NO NO, come back!" followed by angry words which the dog doesn't understand at all (of course). She gets the dog back into the yard and as soon as the dog sees some other dog being walked in the laneway, the dog rushes the fence, fiercely, and barking and barking all ovr again. She (the owner) gets up from her garden chair and starts with the "Bad dog!" remarks at her dog and says, "Get into the house!" to which the dog just happily runs away from her while STILL barking, making the owner run after him in the yard until she can finally herd the dog up the back stairs and into the house. After a few minutes it starts all over again when the dog enters the yard.
I stand on my balcony watching all the stupidity, not knowing who exactly i am shaking my head in disbelief at, her or the dog. I think to myself, "The dog is 7 years old and the owner has been doing this for all 7 years of this dogs life. What can be done?"
The owner is probably thinking in her head that she is doing ALL she can possibly do, and seems to have adopted this attitude of "such is life" with her dog. The way she acts is as if she is running after a child and this "child" has the right to behave like this, after all, the dog is 7 years old and is unstoppable.
I have offered to help her train her dog to not rush the fence, and to stop barking, as well. I would be using the Koehler Method to do this, after first establishing a slow but certain take-over of the dominance this dog is showing, by FIRST introducing basic obediance such as the sit, stay, heel (on leash), come, and down commands before finally using the long line with a choker (with the eventual end-of-the-line-jerk) when the dog rushes the fence and reaches the end of the line when he ignores a "come" or "down" or "sit" command while in fence-charging motion. That should give the dog enough time to rethink charging the fence after being SELF jerked a few times at the end of the long line.
Seeing as the dog is 7 years old and pretty much set in its ways, i figure i will start with treats (like hot dog bits) and lots of praise, and will suggest to the owner to offer only half of the dog's daily food so to keep him attentive, and to maintain the dog's interest during the basic obediance lessons. The treats will be removed and substituted with more praise, after a while, when i see he is getting the idea.
Many people, as i've mentioned, think Koehler's methods are cruel and unjust even boardering on animal abuse, which i disagree with having used his method on several dogs with much success, years ago. There is no abuse, in my opinion, providing the method is applied correctly and consistantly.
To be honest, though, i've really only applied the Koehler Method on puppies, never on mature dogs who have been allowed to control the household, such as this shih tzu. So, i am concerned. I have not trained a dog in years, let alone an adult dog. The shih tzu seems very bright and happy go lucky, though - no biting or bad behaviour, at all other than the charging and barking. He seems like a good training candidate, even at 7 years old.
There are lots of distractions in the laneway that would make the "fence charging temptation factor" great, therefore offering many chances for corrective training. I am just worried that the owner and even some of the other dog owing neighbors might think i am being too harsh, as they all have toy breeds that bark. The shih tzu of the lot is the only gate charger, though.
The shih tzu shares a fence with the neighbor's YAPPY 10 year old bichon maltese. This matese barks at the blades of grass when the wind moves them, barks at cats slowly passing by the fence, even barks at cats that are sleeping in the next yard - a totally unsocialized dog with separation anxiety in the extreme, to say the very least. The maltese is a total loss as far as i am concerned.
Another neighbor has a 12 year old yorkshire terrier that visits the shih tzu in the same yard daily, and they play well together. The yorky barks and barks and barks and barks and...well, you get the idea, right?
The thing is, the yorky's previous owner had the dog's vocal cords cuts so that when it barks, it sounds like a hoarse, coughing sound instead of a yappy bark. "It's a good thing the vocal cords were cut", i say to myself when the yorky barks, because i can only IMAGINE the racket this dog would make if its vocal cords weren't cut - SHEESH, i get angry just thinking about it.
The maltese is NOT at all social enough to even know how to play with other dogs, so the three dogs don't share the same yard for playtime, at all. The other two dogs are running around and playing in one yard while the maltese is in its own little world, ignoring the other two, and is barking at its own shadow, or a squirrel two yards away, or a butterfly, or even barking at the wind (it's ridiculous to behold, really).
Would anyone like to offer any advice or suggestions for dealing with the 7 year old shih tzu?
Or am i on the right track as far as the plan i've described in this post?
Thanks for reading this.
I eagerly await your experienced opinions regarding this matter.
Robbie D
I am new to this forum, so this is the first post from me.
About 20 years ago, i bought a book called, The Koehler Method of Guard Dog Training. In this book are two sections: the first section deals with the selection and training of personal protection, police, plant security and military dogs. The second section is about care, housing and obediance training (of dogs in general).
I have used the obediance training section with much success. I know some, if not, many people find Koehler's methods barbaric and old school compared to, say, Cesar Millan's methods, but we are not all Cesar Millan, right?
I have a neighbor who has a 7 year old shih tzu who has never been trained AT ALL. She (the owner) says "no" to the dog, and the dogs does it anyway, and she does nothing about it. The dog was raised like this for all 7 years. Another example, she opens the gate and the dog bolts out like a bat out of hell with her screaming, "NO NO, come back!" followed by angry words which the dog doesn't understand at all (of course). She gets the dog back into the yard and as soon as the dog sees some other dog being walked in the laneway, the dog rushes the fence, fiercely, and barking and barking all ovr again. She (the owner) gets up from her garden chair and starts with the "Bad dog!" remarks at her dog and says, "Get into the house!" to which the dog just happily runs away from her while STILL barking, making the owner run after him in the yard until she can finally herd the dog up the back stairs and into the house. After a few minutes it starts all over again when the dog enters the yard.
I stand on my balcony watching all the stupidity, not knowing who exactly i am shaking my head in disbelief at, her or the dog. I think to myself, "The dog is 7 years old and the owner has been doing this for all 7 years of this dogs life. What can be done?"
The owner is probably thinking in her head that she is doing ALL she can possibly do, and seems to have adopted this attitude of "such is life" with her dog. The way she acts is as if she is running after a child and this "child" has the right to behave like this, after all, the dog is 7 years old and is unstoppable.
I have offered to help her train her dog to not rush the fence, and to stop barking, as well. I would be using the Koehler Method to do this, after first establishing a slow but certain take-over of the dominance this dog is showing, by FIRST introducing basic obediance such as the sit, stay, heel (on leash), come, and down commands before finally using the long line with a choker (with the eventual end-of-the-line-jerk) when the dog rushes the fence and reaches the end of the line when he ignores a "come" or "down" or "sit" command while in fence-charging motion. That should give the dog enough time to rethink charging the fence after being SELF jerked a few times at the end of the long line.
Seeing as the dog is 7 years old and pretty much set in its ways, i figure i will start with treats (like hot dog bits) and lots of praise, and will suggest to the owner to offer only half of the dog's daily food so to keep him attentive, and to maintain the dog's interest during the basic obediance lessons. The treats will be removed and substituted with more praise, after a while, when i see he is getting the idea.
Many people, as i've mentioned, think Koehler's methods are cruel and unjust even boardering on animal abuse, which i disagree with having used his method on several dogs with much success, years ago. There is no abuse, in my opinion, providing the method is applied correctly and consistantly.
To be honest, though, i've really only applied the Koehler Method on puppies, never on mature dogs who have been allowed to control the household, such as this shih tzu. So, i am concerned. I have not trained a dog in years, let alone an adult dog. The shih tzu seems very bright and happy go lucky, though - no biting or bad behaviour, at all other than the charging and barking. He seems like a good training candidate, even at 7 years old.
There are lots of distractions in the laneway that would make the "fence charging temptation factor" great, therefore offering many chances for corrective training. I am just worried that the owner and even some of the other dog owing neighbors might think i am being too harsh, as they all have toy breeds that bark. The shih tzu of the lot is the only gate charger, though.
The shih tzu shares a fence with the neighbor's YAPPY 10 year old bichon maltese. This matese barks at the blades of grass when the wind moves them, barks at cats slowly passing by the fence, even barks at cats that are sleeping in the next yard - a totally unsocialized dog with separation anxiety in the extreme, to say the very least. The maltese is a total loss as far as i am concerned.
Another neighbor has a 12 year old yorkshire terrier that visits the shih tzu in the same yard daily, and they play well together. The yorky barks and barks and barks and barks and...well, you get the idea, right?
The thing is, the yorky's previous owner had the dog's vocal cords cuts so that when it barks, it sounds like a hoarse, coughing sound instead of a yappy bark. "It's a good thing the vocal cords were cut", i say to myself when the yorky barks, because i can only IMAGINE the racket this dog would make if its vocal cords weren't cut - SHEESH, i get angry just thinking about it.
The maltese is NOT at all social enough to even know how to play with other dogs, so the three dogs don't share the same yard for playtime, at all. The other two dogs are running around and playing in one yard while the maltese is in its own little world, ignoring the other two, and is barking at its own shadow, or a squirrel two yards away, or a butterfly, or even barking at the wind (it's ridiculous to behold, really).
Would anyone like to offer any advice or suggestions for dealing with the 7 year old shih tzu?
Or am i on the right track as far as the plan i've described in this post?
Thanks for reading this.
I eagerly await your experienced opinions regarding this matter.
Robbie D