Member Question 2-1-22

Sabine

If a dog who is being e-collar trained bolts off after wildlife on a long line should the e-collar correction come in straight away as a punishment for chasing wildlife or only when failing to respond to recall? The issue is that by the time I whistle & wait if she responds she has already been stopped by the longline, so it’s pointless to correct then. My goal is to be able to recall her off wildlife and redirect the prey drive onto a flirt pole as I realize that I cannot remove the prey drive.

Carol P

We live on acreage (7 w/livestock) and just lost our 10 year old GSD. We still have one GSD, Daisy, 8. We need 2, well trained and behaved younger GSDs and decided to get 2- 10 week old sisters, since Daisy is aging. Can they sleep in the same room at night in separate crates, side by side. And, can they be outside in a partitioned kennel together, briefly? We keep them separated, with their individual human, during the day in order to avoid the pack mentality. Is this the right approach?

I’ve since been educated on the term “Littermate Syndrome.” 🙁 We are a retired military family, I raised and successfully home-schooled 8 children. We are familiar with structure. One puppy is mine, one is my 17 year old daughter’s. She is a God-gifted trainer at heart, she trains horses. I am a lesson follower. We have been reading about how to raise two siblings. I get what the other trainers are saying: they need to be trained separately. What is your advice? I trust you most.

Lelo

My dog Nino, adopted dog with different traumas. He has followed socialization class and play good with dogs(without familiars); if we share time with family with different dogs sometimes he plays sometimes he is too much protective and can be too much aggressive. With friends of his familiars he plays good but with dogs(in presence of familiars, Nino become dangerous and tries too attack. I will be wait for your response. Thank you.

Emma D

Hi Robert and Janet, my 7month Mali is typically friendly with other dogs, but there is a super reactive female poodle in our building, this dog barks/lunges everytime she sees at my dog (even from far away), I was able to keep my distance and get my puppy focus on me, but now my dog is starting doing the same thing when he sees her, I tried to move away, correct him, but its really hard to make him to focus on me… how can i make him to be neutral to this dog?

Sasha

Hello, thank you for your help. I am titling my 10 month old dutchie in CGC in a couple of months. She is very antsy in the CGC classes. She barks to get my attention, she whines, she howls and I redirect. I have tried desensitization behind dog park fences and she does just fine, but in the class setting she is anxious. Corrections when she is barking for my attention seem to amplify her more. I would appreciate any advice on helping her be less antsy in this type of environment.

Angela

Me again, “-15° tundra trainer” with my gsd/Mali mix, now 14 weeks old. We live in Minnesota btw, and you’re welcome to pop over and experience the fun of training pups in the snow, haha. I took your advice and we went out w/the long line and had a wonderful training session outside today (its 18°!). Question now is that as we practice recall, she barrels toward me and bites me, her leash, etc. Anything I can do to help her come without the lunging (you advise NOT to have them sit, right?)

Tara H

I’m wondering if my dog’s aggression is based in fear or dominance. In a video on fear-based aggression, you mentioned that you knew the dog was fearful because he barked while approaching and then backed away. If the dog does not back away, but comes at you to bite, is it not fear-based? Will a fear-based dog only aggress if cornered? In another vein, are some triggers only dominance related, like eye contact? Or can eye contact also trigger fear-based aggression? Thank you for help with this!

Irene

I use a 2.25mm herm sprenger prong on my gsd mix. she is about 50 pounds. I believe im fitting it right, up high on the neck, snug so it’s not slipping but not too tight either. I only use it for maybe 20 minutes a day. I noticed that her fur is falling out at the two ends of the collar down behind the ears. it’s like its falling out in stripes where the prongs stick out. i thought it might be an allergy but she has no symptoms and its only the end spots. how do i fix this problem?

Max

The other I day was training my 18 month GSD/Mal at the field we normally go to. He is always on the e-collar and sometimes on a longline. He was doing great as always but some birds spooked him and he took off like a bat out of hell barking and running. It took a me yelling come a few times and a couple taps on the e collar before he came back. Should I be content knowing our training is paying off because he came back after 15 seconds or concerned that he is still having reactivity issues?

Michaela

Hi Robert! I have a 1yo Dobi. Up until recently my dog was neutral to visitors inside the home. Now he will bark and growl at visitors he does not know. To avoid conflict, when a visitor comes in, I will put him on a choke collar and put him in a down beside me and have the visitor ignore him. He barks/growls for a few minutes (I correct him) then he settles. My goal is for him to be neutral without a leash on to unknown visitors. Am I on the right path? Should I be correcting his growls?

 Nick

Hey Robert-my 17th month English Cocker is Crate trained and goes into his crate nicely to sleep at night, and when I leave the house. I offer him treats to go into the crate and it’s working fine. My question is: if I leave the house with him not in the crate, he becomes anxious and starts howling and barking. I’m not sure I can trust him in chewing something and just to have separation anxiety. Should I work on leaving him outside the crate when I leave, or just continue using the crate?

Alexandra

Hello! I have a one year old Dutch shepherd who loves to work, but she’s really only happy to do it when there’s a treat or a tug involved. I want to be able to build excitement in my dog just in hearing my praise but I get a sense that she doesn’t care for it at all. Do you have any tips for building more excitement and relationship with ME while we’re training? Is it too late to do this?

Julie B

When does a male Belgian Malinois grow out of puppyhood?

Yousuf M

We have a playpen for our puppy inside our house. He has 20 min. sessions in there a few times a day. He plays in there and against our wishes he will also potty. The breeder had a playpen on her property (outside) which she would use for the pups to play outside & also she would use it to let them go to the bathroom. He now associates it with both hence the issue. Any suggestions on how to help him overcome this?

Mark B

I have a 15 month old Border Collie. We train obedience daily including recall. Until this Sunday I believed his recall was solid. For five months he was walked off leash at a golf course with me two other friends and their dogs every Sunday morning. In that time he has never missed a recall. This Sunday he flushed 3 deer and was gone. There was no calling him to “Come”. He either gave up or lost them a 1/2 mile away. He came on the run to my feet. Where do I go from here with recall training?

Real Members – Real Success

OVER

0 +
happy dogs and owners