[Kamil]

Redirecting my dog (when he misbehaves) doesn’t work all that well. Someone suggested that using a house line might be helpful. Do you think a slip leash would work just as well? I don’t want my dog to have to drag a leash around everywhere.

[Kamil]

Short house line, no slipleash, got it! Thanks.

It is my first time owning a dog, and even though I have been around dogs my whole life, I am very cautious with corrections because I know this breed is sensitive to overcorrection. I try to think before I act, and I am always trying to improve. I am careful with him, but I should be more firm, I just lack experience. I do have help from a trainer, but my trainer can’t live with me obviously, so we can only focus on some things with him. There is still so much that I need to figure out myself daily. He definitely understands my training; he’s incredibly smart. He also understands to get off the couch when asked, he simply, sometimes, chooses not to. 😅

“Respect from a young dog can be gained through calmness, confidence, and good instruction.”
Thank you.

[Kamil]

Feel free to correct me, but I don’t think what I described is resource-guarding. This is because I have been addressing this behavior since he came to our home, and I continue to do so even though he doesn’t seem to need it. I have no problem taking his toy or his food while he eats – in fact, I never did.
What he’s doing, in my opinion, is pushing boundaries. He deliberately provokes me to see what happens. It’s more about asserting dominance rather than resource-guarding. But hey, I’m an amateur, so I might be wrong. That’s why I’m trying to learn.

[Kamil]

Don’t jump to conclusions so fiercely, because you don’t have the slightest clue of what I did with him leading up to this point. And clearly, you have no idea how much material I have processed already even though I’m only here for 2 or 3 weeks.

I started coming here late because I didn’t know this site existed, but before that, I was already working with my dog every day. I also hired a professional trainer because my dog is extremely reactive. Since I felt like I needed more expertise, I eventually found my way here. Since I’ve been here, I’ve completely reworked our daily routine and I see tons of progress every day. I’m addressing issues here that I never managed to tackle before because there were many others to work with first.

If you didn’t ignore half of what I said, you would understand that I didn’t use the crate as a punishment even once. I worked for the crate training to be a success, and I don’t want to ruin it. I’m just thinking out loud, and that’s what discussions are for.