Irresponsible dog owner

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I growl at my dog and hiss at my cat.....


Back on topic, I'd suggest calling the ASPCA not only for the one dog - if the owner 'cares' for the one dog that way, who knows how he treats the other dogs and puppies?

[☼ Graceful Aurora ☼]

Shock collars and water bottles are training techniques that work off punishment rather than positive reinforcement. They're for people who know nothing about training dogs and therefore should not own dogs.

I wish people would actually take the time to learn about canine behavior and proper training techniques before acquiring dogs. Sigh.

Punishment (shock collars, water bottles and the like) is actually a very acceptable and proper training technique when you're trying to correct bad behavior, specifically those with strong instinctual motivation, like chasing cats or cars or straying from property. Beating a dog to exert dominance is wrong and ineffective. Punishment should also never be used to teach new skills or tricks, that's where reward-based training is the most effective and humane.

I learned a lot about canine behavior and proper training techniques when I was training my American Bulldog. Though I don't put a lot of faith in the things the guy taught us because he had the wonderful idea of bringing in another client's dog who was 1/4 my dog's size and wanting to walk it alongside our dog when last time our dog had snapped at a lab in the group. I refused to do so >_< But we learned a lot about reward vs. punishment training that has worked well.

[Blackwolfsong]

There are a lot of people out there who THINK of themselves as dog trainers & I wouldn't hire them to train a cactus how to poke with it's needles. There was one such pseudo-trainer who once reached down to pet my dog after a previous encounter had him throw a water bottle at my dog & strike him in the forehead. Noamha alone knows why he escaped injury at that point (And I mean injury from ME, not my dog) but I let him know in no uncertain terms that he was not forgiven.
He trains the animals he's foolishly allowed to touch with harsh jerks on the leash, slaps, shock collars, yelling, & physical force. And my dog is STILL more well behaved. He would teach a dog to sit by jerking it's leash up hard, yelling, pushing it's rear down, & smacking the poor animal when it didn't cooperate. I hold a treat above his nose & occasionally scratch the dog's chin as they look up. If the dog likes chin scratching, it moves it's head further up for more attention, sending it's hind quarters to the ground with no force necessary. Praise & reward. Repeat. Congratulations, you've just taught your pup to sit. And my dogs learn to respond to both verbal AND nonverbal commands. Makes life easier. The pseudo-trainer can only train for verbal.

But I digress, as I often do. Rosie is not abused best I can tell. All of his animals are kept up on shots, they're clean for the most part, well fed, and all but 2 stay in the yard most of the time. It's not that he abuses his pups. I don't want to give the impression that the animals are flea-ridden & unhealthy. Actually I've never found a flea on Rosie or Kayla (one of the pups). But that's not to say his behavior is excusable. In fact she's just shown up again with a peice of chewed rope hanging from her collar. This is really getting to be too much.

She's really a smart dog. I've taught her to sit, lay & roll over with minimal effort. I'm working on shake, just to see if I can. I've never managed to teach a dog to shake before. Since I've had to walk her home several times she has also learned leash manners, as I will not tolerate bad leash manners either. Yesterday, when I was walking Jackalope, he drove up to us & asked if I'd seen her. When I said I hadn't, he went ahead & called animal control. So at least he cares somewhat about her. But since I can't seem to get her to leave my yard, I almost feel like I'm being forced to deal with her. I'm swiftly losing patience with both of them, even more so when she tried to bring ANOTHER dog into my yard. An unfixed male that growled at my baby. Thankfully he couldn't fit under the fence!