My Brother's 4 Y/o Lab Is Ruined Because He Tried The Electric Fence. Now The Dog Is Petrified Of Everything, Afraid He Will Get Shocked. I Wouldnt Use One If You Can Avoid It.
Wow, that's freaky. How sad. Yes, they can associate punishment with all kinds of things which are going on at the same time. It's not always perceived by the dog to be
only the fact that he left his boundaries. He could see something or someone at the same time that he gets shocked and pair that thing or person with pain/punishment. I know many people seem to have success with them, but I also can see that there could be a risk of making certain dogs neurotic.
We have started putting him on a leash but he really doesn't like it and we practically have to drag him along. He won't do his business on it either so we do have to let him off to get that done
When he shows that he doesn't like it, how do you react? If you drag him, he definitely won't learn to like it. Have you tried enticing him with a toy or ball, a treat, a silly voice....like it's going to be loads of fun....a game? Do you reward him with his favorite treat if he takes one step along with you nicely? You can drop a treat every few steps, just to get him started. But don't use bribery for long. Switch it to.......he has to take a step first, then he'll get rewarded. Gradually, space it out so he has to take more than one step to get rewarded. Start out with reinforcing baby steps in the right direction and make it more fun to do what you want than not. He'll get onto it if you reinforce the behavior you want.
I also recommend that under constant
supervision in the house, that he spends a few minutes here and there throughout the day, dragging the leash around. Again, praise him and treat him for this. This way he'll get use to it better and find out that neat things happen when he's wearing a leash. Don't take your eyes off of him though as leashes can get caught on things and strangle the dog. (I don't mean to be giving advice to the less gifted, but I'd feel responsible if something happened after I suggested to someone to leave a leash on their dog)