Member Ed
MemberForum Replies Created
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I agree with Ben. One perhaps silly idea might be to have a TV on showing common life scenes and traffic. Something like a Law and Order marathon 😂
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That seems more intense than what I seen. I would ask Robert in the AMA or member chat. What has worked for me when the dog trembles in fear is to ask for some easy obedience like “high 5”, “paw”, etc and then praise the dog profusely. After a few correctly executed commands followed by praise the dog seems to get out of it. I would not do down, but I would do sit. Stand may be too difficult under that stress. Silly ones like paw and high 5 are good. After he stops trembling and seems to gain a bit of confidence I would high tail out of there ASAP keeping it on a high note and do it again some other day. Good luck!!
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I would like to take something back. I’m about to start working with a trainer that Robert recommends and in her methodology the prong is left on the dog the whole day and removed at night. Now it is too early for me to understand whether that is for my dogs, for my objectives, or a more general principle that she advocates. She also starts pups on the prong earlier than I would. But we reach out to experts to learn from them, not to tell them what we think we know. So we’ll be following her guidelines. On the plus side I just introduced the prong to the puppy and we had a very short but great fun walk. Also since they are wearing the prong I walked them individually and I was dumbfounded to how easy (knock on wood) it was to walk one dog at a time on prong collars versus 3 dogs together on flat collars, which is normally what we do. LOL. They obviously were very happy to have the personal attention. So I would like to take back what I said about looking for another trainer because he/she did not conform to whatever pre-established idea I had at that time, or have now 🙂
EDIT: the puppy is 1 week short of 10 months old. I think I’ll have to remember to remove the prong if they begin to roughhouse, or they might break a tooth or something. Hmmmm
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Robert just put out a great answer to crate questions, 2nd or 3rd in this video
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I have seen a couple of videos where Robert goes over fitting the collar. It is a bit tight and does not readily slide down, though given enough time I think it may. He goes for the smaller sizes, as they give a sharper correction and allow for more adjustments. Also Robert obviously uses it “correctly” meaning just for a (usually) light snap/tug. On my adult female I do exactly the opposite because it is only my dog walker that uses it. She is the best one around, but does not really want to finesse those skills. Like most people you see on the street she uses the prong collar to help hold the dog back because she would not have the physical strength to do without it. So I have the blunter tips of the larger size collar, and I leave it lose to minimize how much digging while rotating the collar will do. Also the dogs walk pretty good so she only needs to hold her back if something happens during the walk.
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BTW 18 weeks in my opinion is way to young for a prong. I would definitely be looking for another trainer.
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Interesting. As far as I’m aware a prong collar is not meant to be used for long periods of time. Might also ask Robert on the AMA. If I remember right it also comes with a warning label on that regard.
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Another tip to overcome fear is to capture and reward the state you want. For example. I want my Pit to be more confident. He is a bit gun shy now with two dogs that are twice his size where, my 5 yo female is dog assertive, and the 10 mo pup has crazy energy and does his kamikaze charges. So when he, or any of the other two, stand “puffed up” (the equivalent of a person standing up straight with his/shoulders back) I let out a huge smile and praise with a proud voice “what a handsome boy!” — I picked this up from one of the folks Robert interviewed.
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I think that if a dog is afraid of something the prong will probably make it worse.
I put my 10 month-old puppy on the prog so that he gets used it and leans that type of leash pressure. I was going to wait till he was past 1 year, but since this instructor is going to require it I figure I would get him started.
On the fear things, I would get down to their level, perhaps sit on the floor, and either just hang out at that distance where the suspicion begins till they see that there is no danger. Depending on the pup, move closer, or move closer on another day. At this age the pup gets suspicious of things and tries to figure out what can hurt him vs. what won’t. It is our job to gently help them overcome these things. Mine has been suspicious of a chandelier, his reflection on a fireplace, and a few other things. I remember Bailey, the Pit, was suspicious of balloons till I got him playing with a real estate folding sign and he popped a few… LOL.
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Everything being equal you have to outlast them. No eye contact, no looking in the general direction of the crate, no interaction whatsoever. If anyone in the family has a propensity to break these rules they cannot stay in the same room as the crate or in view of the crate. Is it possible that someone let the puppy out, or looked at her, or looked in the direction of the crate when she was crying? I always try to keep the puppy crated in the same room as I was, day or night, preferably in close proximity. I never had problems with separation anxiety, not sure why. All my dogs are pretty chill when I leave. In some AMA’s Robert has suggested to throw a blanket over the crate.