I Don't mind them chasing squirrels, it harms nothing. Would they stop mid run..give me a couple more months with Pepper and that answer will be yes. Will VIctor look to me first to see if it is OK that he go? YEs. DAily, everyday, always. I never said eradicate the drive, i said control and direct. ALL hunting dogs should learn to do this. ALL dogs should learn to do this. IT is exhausting and maddening, as maddening as it was to teach VIctor to carry a bucket for a half hour, but do it he did, and he enjoyed himself and the growth of his knowledge, and it deepened our relationship. I am not stating anything here that i have not put into practice as i was taught intially. Bird dogs stop on a whistle mid run ALL The time. Takes some trainers a shock collar to get there, my boss had many different ways of approaching the problem without that kind of force but we did have a collar for the most extreme cases. I would slap one on any dog i thought was going to kill the next door neighbor's cat and watch him like a hawk every second he had access before i thought my dog would harm it. I don't like to train with choke collars and believe them completly rediculous, but i do not have the energy because of illness to chase Pepper about. So we do use a collar for her most dangerous of all hurdle and that is running and refusal to come. SHe does a lot of sitting in the very far corner of the yard staring down the greenway but she isnt' stepping over AN INVISBILE LINE. THEre is no fence there. I have to be aware of her every second she is out there, and thanks to gRAmmy and the bell, i can weed with both eyes now. I have the best weeded garden in town and i can't afford mulch this year becuase i am outside training my freaking dog. I do it because i love her, because i want her to be a success in her life. Because i secretly hope she can help me and Victor raise more money for the humane society this fall. I dont' think i can get her to carry a bucket, but her obed will be sound, and my faith in her 100 percent. SHe is coming along nicely. I don't want to sound like a now it all, i started a thread to let you all know exactly how i learned what i have learned. I didnt' get it out of books, tho i read many, i got it from being around handlers all of my life and seeing what dogs worked willingly and happily and those that did it because of fear. My dogs have always never been the later. You should have seen pepper when she sat on the third..her eyes WANTED to look at that squirrel but i was so in her face. NOt mean, But repeating the same command that she heard at least 10 times on our walk, that always got her good girl praise. IT became more important to her and if you think for one second she wasn't locked on that squirrel like a missle you are wrong. DOgs ARE CAPABLE. THey can learn, it breaks my heart to see how much all of you think they can't. I only know a few things really well. I know how to mix colors. I know how to use a pencil, i know how to move clay around and i know how to reach a dog and help it learn. I only keep coming back to this thread because i am simply horrified that people are letting their animals be such a danger to themselves.
IF the dog kills chickens it dies. If it kills cats? IF it kills another dog? Training against that should be single owner's primary effort with their dog to ensure that bad things do not happen. A dog that is possessive needs to learn not to be. AS one man that had that dvd i watched part of it...and if you want i will come back with the link and the source. HE said "i will let you play with my toys but they are always my toys". EXactly right. TEach that dog that he can't do that to you, or to anyone including the other dogs. IF he chases cats, teach him not to, it isn't that hard. AN older dog is tricky, how old it is IMO does make a difference. Pepper was on the edge of being hit by a car, or pts by animal control. No one would have kept this dog with what she did. I had to, and it is exhausting but oh my is she ever blossoming. THe reward is all mine and i celebrate her accomplishments with my every being. I am not saying you can take a DA dog and i have explained enough what i think that is. But labeling a dog that curls a lip, or gets in a slap fest is wrong. THat is a dog, being a dog. Not a certain breed,,,breed means they may be more alpha, they may be more territorial, it means that someone that really wants this specific animal is going to have to take the proper time and trouble to ward off aggressive behavior. A truly mad animal and they are out there, i could no more help then i could a human with a mental illness. Only then would i become a prison gaurd. i am not doing that to myself or the other canines in my family for that is how i see them, Mary is the other Mom. SHe is as human to me and you are.I taught my children, i teach my dogs. A lot of it is really similar in those first years too. YOu don't crap in my house, you don't bark, and for god sake you don't door dodge. You come when your called. YOu shut up when your told to quiet. Heel loose leashed. SIt when your told down when your told and stay until your told to move. AND since they do that, they sleep in my bed, ride in my car, share my food, my friends and my life. I am complimented every where i go and it happened this morning too. THe man smiled at me and said YOu and your dogs..i never saw him before but obviously he has seen me. A car was coming i said sit. They sat. Mary doesnt' have to sit anymore, i wouldn't ask her to hurt her legs, but for pepper nad victor is law. SInce they sat so nicely, i ran a short distance. Probably makes Victor laff at how slow my run is, but he appriciates the effort. WE look at things sometime for a long long time. CAts and busy roads, other dogs, rabbits squirrels..reward is always free time, love and praise. NOt food. IT is a partnership that can only be obtained when the dog hands over the dominance becuase he no longer needs it, and as that man on the video said...i really got to see what his training methods were becuase for his sales pitch i was really impressed, they won't mind a bit. My little dogs behaved just as good as my big dogs. IT made no difference.
Imo opinion cats are only one step away from a wild thing. A dog has been domesticated to a higher point. They are naturally a pack animal and want to follow a leader. A leader teaches the pack what is safest and what is not. A cat is not a pack animal. Apples and oranges again. I reall dont' like cats either but i respect their right to be on this planet and for my dog not to harm them. I tell my dog no, it is a no, and it will always be a no and for some reason, my terriers, my poodle mixes, the rotties, the shepards the dobies, the labs the goldens the brittneys the chessies and so on and on all get that. Why do you think your animal can't? I saw a german man teach his shetlie to never step in teh garden. THat dog would chase a squirrel to that imaginary liine and stop on a dime. Wonder how that german man did that...i learned alot from germans. My old boss was very very german, he still wore leder,,,,i cant remember how to spell it, the leather shorts with suspenders.IT is consistancy and it will win over desire. IT won't erase passion, you have curb that with something bigger and that is loyalty which is obtained by the development of trust between a handler and their animal. You call the shots, not the other way around. I have VIctor border trained, never needed to with mary because i had her from teh beginning and it was a natural progression, i dont' remember teaching her anyway, not the hard core effort it has taken to teach Pepper. I probably spend at least 3 hours a day outside with her in her yard teaching her where she can go and where she cant. Victor knows where he can urinate when we walk and where he can not. WE are polite, we don't do that in front of people's houses or on the city easment. THat is elimental, to not go when you have to go. SO tell me if a dog can learn to be house broken, why can't he learn more? IMO he can your just not teaching "him" in a way that he understands.
