[Gene]

Welcome. Lots of great stuff on this site. Also, many experienced people to get feedback from and different perspectives.

[Gene]

Our adoption rate is over 90%

[Gene]

So at our shelter dogs that come in sick or have been neglected for a long period of time are sent immediately to the vet. The Veterinarian makes the decision on whether or not the dog should be put to sleep. When a dog can be saved all medical bills are paid without a second thought.

Dogs with poor social skills (I am talking about just being knuckleheads, I call them “exuberant”, are not considered for euthanasia. They sit at the shelter unless they do something stupid. Certain people will work with them.<font face=”inherit”> The purebred that are hard to control we try to get them into a rescue say a Rottweiler or German </font>Shepherd.

At our shelter it is 3 strikes (bites) and you’re out, generally. Hard decisions are made all the time. I will give you a for instance. A stray 60lb pit bull came in and after a couple of days he started humping the people that were walking him. That is a bad sign. So now he is not getting walked except for a couple of people. He goes from the inside cage to the outside cage. He becomes frustrated and latched onto the back of a persons thigh.

Now volunteers really don’t want to mess around with him. There are only two, maybe 3 volunteers that have the experience to interact with this dog. This is one example. We take dogs in from kill shelters. They will call and say they have 4 highly adoptable dogs they can send us. Now we can only take 3. A month later a kill shelter calls and says they will send us 3, but we can only take 2.

Is it right that this dog sits at the shelter for 6/7 months or longer waiting for a VERY experienced person to come thru the door while maybe 5/6 dogs got put down in Kentucky?

This is a cruel to look at it but some dogs are holding up the line. To keep your sanity you say I had to let one go but I saved 3 or 4.

[Gene]

I would put her in the crate say 3 times a day for an hour or so, especially after a walk. This will let her know that she must go into her crate at times. Slice the banana down the middle.

[Gene]

Get him as comfortable as possible. After tonight and tomorrow day I would try again at night, You have to keep it up.

[Gene]

So for now the muzzle will become his shadow. When he eats the muzzle will be next to his bowl. When you are petting with your hand then switch to petting with the muzzle. For treats he has to go into the muzzle to get them. If he sleeps in a crate the muzzle is on top of the crate. I have had situations where it took 2/3 days to get the muzzle on a dog, not the whole day maybe half hour 45 minutes, because I had to do something. The first day I really wasn’t trying to get the muzzle on just introducing it. Same situation had to have muzzle on to go to the vet.

Try chicken, cheese, he may have been licking because he was nervous. Look at his eyes you can tell when he is comfortable.

[Gene]

You haven’t had him for very long so you still want to lure and shape. You are hard wiring the dog. I have a treat in my hand, I tell him to sit. he will sit, I don’t have to correct him. I know he gets it. At this point I am bribing him but soon you will start fading the lure. There is a video on that. At about 9mo I will ask/demand a SIT but the treat will not be in my hand, he will do what I ask he gets a reward. There is no lure only a reward. At this time you can correct him because you know he knows what you want. I might be a little off on the timing but that is how it works.

[Gene]

This is a good thing as he is highly food driven and will make training easier. At this age I would not be training him in the technical sense of the word. At this stage I want the dog focused on me, I want him to feel he needs to be close to me. All the “training” I would do now is luring and shaping. I am not asking the puppy for anything. I don’t ask for a down but when I lure him into a down “Good Down” “Good Boy” and move on. It is basically a play time.

If you scroll down the lesson category to puppies in the lesson section 26 vids will pop up. I would watch first, Luring with Robert and Duane, Puppy Engagement with Nello and The First Things to do with your Dog with Rodert and Duane and go on from there.

[Gene]

I’m not sure what videos you watched for tug. The ones with Rio and Goofy may not apply in your case. These guys already have a high drive. There is one with Ziggy, a Mal with not too much of a drive for tug so he had to be “taught” how to play. Also one with Duane how the drive was put into him from about 10 weeks old. So make sure you watch those. So it appears you may have to start from scratch. Maybe you are “feeding” him the tug.

As far as biting the hand I would give an AAEEH! and turn my back and playtime is over for a few minutes (no correction) then resume. I seem to remember that Robert doesn’t like the yelling part but it has worked for me so I use it and do 10 push-ups as punishment.

As far as the resource guarding tether him to say the kitchen table put his bowl down and go stand next to it see how he reacts, lower your hand.

I’m forgetting where I am at. Maybe he just has bad manners with other dogs. See if you can find someone with a balanced dog and see how he does. He may need some leash reactivity work.

[Gene]

At 6 mo and 45lb I am thinking large breed. For many large breed dogs their growth plates don’t close for over a year to a year and a half. What is bad for them is the constant pounding on the joints on a jog/run. I am certain Robert says at least a year. What you are doing now appears fine to me. You can wrestle with him a little, a little tug. You want to avoid a continuous pressure on the joints.