Just something random I often ponder, and now feel like sharing.
I see quite often, dogs being yanked around on choke/prong collars, being shouted at, what have you and the dogs just don't care. It does nothing to alter their behavior, doesn't make them stop or even slow down, they're certainly not shutting down... etc.
And then I look at my dogs. Who take corrections VERY seriously. A light correction is definitely enough to keep them in line, and Cajun is the most sensitive and will, for example, completely stop wanting to play or do anything if I yell at her to get away from the goose poop. And I have to be very careful during training that she doesn't have too many "wrong" responses, because then she won't participate anymore.
I would think a lot of this just has to do with the dog's natural temperament but Cajun always makes me question that. She was certainly not that sensitive when I first got her - which I get, took a while for her to see me as her "handler," sure - but she didn't seem sensitive with her previous owner, either. My first impression of Cajun was her on leash, leaping into the air and trying to jump on me and my mom, and her owner constantly jerking on the choke collar and yelling no and yelling at her to sit blah blah blah. Cajun registered none of this and just continued on with DERP DERP OMG HAI JUMP.
There is absolutely no way I could get by correcting her that way today, unless I wanted the most shut down depressed dog ever. So the question becomes... what happened to make her that way.
A friend and I were talking about this and wondering if it says anything about the relationship, or if my dogs are more sensitive because I follow through vs. just nagging like most people, or if it is just their natural temperament. Basically... nature vs nurture, and is this a trait that can be altered.
I know this is terribly jumbled, I'm just typing as I think of things lol and trying to have my thoughts make some sense... feel free to weigh in or discuss anything relating to handle sensitivity, "creating" it and all that jazz.
I see quite often, dogs being yanked around on choke/prong collars, being shouted at, what have you and the dogs just don't care. It does nothing to alter their behavior, doesn't make them stop or even slow down, they're certainly not shutting down... etc.
And then I look at my dogs. Who take corrections VERY seriously. A light correction is definitely enough to keep them in line, and Cajun is the most sensitive and will, for example, completely stop wanting to play or do anything if I yell at her to get away from the goose poop. And I have to be very careful during training that she doesn't have too many "wrong" responses, because then she won't participate anymore.
I would think a lot of this just has to do with the dog's natural temperament but Cajun always makes me question that. She was certainly not that sensitive when I first got her - which I get, took a while for her to see me as her "handler," sure - but she didn't seem sensitive with her previous owner, either. My first impression of Cajun was her on leash, leaping into the air and trying to jump on me and my mom, and her owner constantly jerking on the choke collar and yelling no and yelling at her to sit blah blah blah. Cajun registered none of this and just continued on with DERP DERP OMG HAI JUMP.
There is absolutely no way I could get by correcting her that way today, unless I wanted the most shut down depressed dog ever. So the question becomes... what happened to make her that way.
A friend and I were talking about this and wondering if it says anything about the relationship, or if my dogs are more sensitive because I follow through vs. just nagging like most people, or if it is just their natural temperament. Basically... nature vs nurture, and is this a trait that can be altered.
I know this is terribly jumbled, I'm just typing as I think of things lol and trying to have my thoughts make some sense... feel free to weigh in or discuss anything relating to handle sensitivity, "creating" it and all that jazz.