Good Rules

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#2
Renee, help

Did I hire a bad trainer?

My husband and I were at our wits end over our two puppies (from the same litter). We were about to give them up, when we hired two trainers who came to our house for six lessons. They did training for tricks and basic obedience with treats, but in order to get them to be less dependant on each other and more bonded to us, they had us keep them on leashes in the house with us.

However, they did instruct us to use pinch collars to train them to walk on a loose lease (which they now do without the pinch) and told use to use the "U" trick to keep them from jumping up (which they no longer do).

The training really helped my sanity, but from your reaction, there was a better way.

I've just been following my trainer's directions, and she's been working with dogs for 20 years, and all of her dogs (11 of them) are very well behaved.

What should I change?

I want to do what's best for my dogs, but until I started using a pinch, they were terrors!

Linda
 
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#4
Weeellll . . . I like the way CreatureTeacher sums up choosing a trainer: never let someone do to your dog what you wouldn't do to your children . . .

There is a huge difference between conditioning and teaching. Conditioning just involves a mindless response. Teaching involves communication and gives your dogs a reason to act - or not act - in certain ways, the reason being because it wants to please you.

I'm really not at all surprised you're having an aggression problem with one of your Boxers. That kind of rough-shod training is bound to create frustration and result in acting out in some way. Sometimes it takes awhile; sometimes you end up with a cowed dog, and sometimes you end up with a dog that takes out its frustrations on something vulnerable.

If anyone can get your pups turned around, it's CreatureTeacher.
 
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#5
Thanks for the advice. This whole situation has been nuts. It feels like they went through puppy boot camp, and now that it's done, they're reformed, but I never really felt confortable with all of my trainer's methods. The dogs are now obedient, affectionate, and loving. They never show signs that they're afraid of us, but this aggression of Mango's is disturbing.

Anyways, thanks for pointing me in a different direction. I wish we'd done things differently from the beginning.

I think I'm going to cry.

Linda
 
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#6
CreatureTeacher will help you out. Doberluv is good too.

I've often thought it would be fun to let some of these trainers-by-intimidation try working with my Kharma, lol! She expects to be reasoned with - and she knows full well when she'd dealing with someone who isn't as bright as she is . . . and it's a bit difficult to intimidate a working Fila! Not good for your health either, lol! ;) Shiva's father was a show dog, and she's a bit meeker (relatively, lol) and doesn't have quite the overwhelming self confidence Kharma has. Not that I'd ever allow anyone to try those tactics with the grrrrrls - they don't deserve it - but it's kind of funny to think about the reaction . . . :D
 
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#7
Well...it's weird, because now that the training is done, Jefe and Mango LOVE their kennels, they LOVE walks, they LOVE staying near us in the house, and they LOVE visitors...the types of things that you'd think they'd be afraid of if the pinch collars/tennis balls/keeping them leashed to use in the house for a week/etc. had been traumatizing. So I assumed that those methods were okay.

This is our first time ever owning dogs. We picked them up the day we came back from our honeymoon, so as you can imagine, it made the first couple months of marriage stressful.

Anyways, we may have been ignorant, but I think some people on here (like you) may be able to help us be better owners.

Linda
 
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#8
We'll do our best by you and your pups :)

They know that you love them, and that undoes a lot of trauma. Dogs are very accepting creatures, which makes our responsibility to treat them lovingly all the more poignant.

One of my biggest beefs about crating is that with larger, more muscular breeds you can end up causing musculo-skeletal problems that show up later in life if they don't have room to move and stretch freely.

Gotta run to bed - or stagger as the case may be . . . been staying up way too late the last few nights :eek:
 
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#9
http://www.chazhound.com/training/dogs10.html

Well...what do you think of the above training method that's described on this website (I found it here on chazhound.com). Appalling or appealing?
 
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#10
LOL! You may be the only one of us here on the forum who's actually looked at the old training section :) We've all depended on each other, and when Emma and Doberluv joined us training advice leapt light-years ahead.

The advice there is pretty basic, and with the exception of the jerk on the chain, is okay, but it completely leaves out the concept of positive reinforcement, which is what really motivates dogs. There's no motivation for your dog to learn in that advice, just kind of a supposition that it's going to be 'absorbed' into the dog's behaviour in some way . . .

Chaz may need to re-vamp that page a bit. I'm sure it was a 'canned' page, and I know it's been there for years . . . :)
 

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