Dog Owner Chat v2

[Keriae]

Microchipping isn't required over here until autumn, I believe, but it just breaks my heart that these animals are being bred for selfish reasons. I can understand an accidental mating (although pets should really be spayed/neutered) but other than that.... ugh.

[Dappled Sapphire]

Had anyone seen this?
http://nypost.com/2014/06/23/meet-pig-t ... rock-star/
I... Just... Can't... Even... Comprehend
I don't know
It's... So sad and a little bit cute at the same time

[Mako.]

Ugh, went onto one of the buying and selling pages on FB this morning. It was an all animal one and omg, so many BYBs!
There were loads of crosses and loads of apparently "purebred" dogs yet only one seemed to have papers
and there was this dalmation breeder omg
the pick of the litter was awful
I hate to have known what the others looked like

That sounds like my local Craigslist, there are so many people selling (and I just checked now) beagle pups, I found someone selling a malinois mix pup for about $25, and soooo many people selling Pit Bull, Am. Bullies (claiming they re "XL" pits) and I found someone giving away 2 breeding pits and another one giving away 6 pit puppies for free, and my city has a growing dog fighting problem, and people are giving away unfixed dogs for free, cats for free, and small dogs for free. Perfect for a puppy miller or people looking for bait dogs. Someone was selling a fennec fox for $100 I think, and you need a permit to own one here. It's so sad how clueless some people can on CL. :c

[Saracirce]

It looks like a prong collar, but it isn't one. It is actually so gentle you can put it on your arm, yank as hard as you can and it really doesn't hurt ( I did it to myself) Whereas prong collars are meant to hurt to correct the dog. I did my research before getting that collar, I hate prong collars and don't trust them. I did the same thing with a prong collar and put it on my arm and pulled and it gave me a giant bruise. If you order his video's and watch it Don Sullivan Explains more into detail. And actually a mother dog does grab the back of the neck ( the scruff) to correct her pups depending on what the pup does. Of course they do other things as well such as snap and bark and what not. And on the collar it isn't spikes, that drawing made it looks like spikes but there not. The spikes don't actually dig into the dogs skin like a prong collar would. It pulls the skin up in a way. If it hurts your dog then you are doing it wrong/ pulling WAY too hard. All I am saying is it works really well! Izzy doesn't use a leash anymore, comes when called and is probably the best trained dog I have ever had. I can take her to the store with me, tell her to lay down and stay outside. I go inside, shop and come back out and she is still there. She is only 11 months old, so I mean it works really well Clicker training works well, but due to the treats your dog won't always be reliable because if it doesn't get a treat it won't see the point in coming. This just helps them respect you more and stuff. I personally only suggest using this on dogs who are more difficult to train and don't take clicker training well. My other two dogs are just treat trained and are fine, but Izzy was a bit more difficult. It's all actually really interesting, like his theory and stuff and I would love to talk about it more!
Like I said, it's different than a prong collar, and only people who buy his video's will understand because they are not on youtube and he explains into detail how he designed them and stuff. I don't think he would hurt his dogs or sell a product that hurts other peoples dogs, so yeah

How exactly does it work if it doesn't hurt? Having to buy his videos just to be told how and why the collar works is kind of silly, don't you think? Also, I dare you to put it on your neck, have someone yank on it and tell me that doesn't hurt.

If you're dog will only do the behavior if he knows a treat is coming, you're not training him right. Simple as that. You're supposed to fade out the click and, therefore, the reward as the behavior becomes solid. You click and reward randomly so the dog never knows when he'll be rewarded.

Corrections are the last thing you should be using on a fearful dog. Let alone a puppy. I personally used Cesar Millan's tactics on my dog when we were younger (which, btw, he claims he doesn't hurt dogs) and all I managed to do was make her worse. She even started to become fear-aggressive towards me, her owner. I also found myself becoming more and more violent in general. I can't completely blame Cesar Milan on that one as I do have anger issues for other reasons (plus, I was a pre-teen and a teen) but there was definitely a correlation between my using his techniques and my anger at things in general. Thankfully, we've turned that around by now and repaired our relationship... for the most part. She still gets extremely anxious when I become angry and practically shuts down. We've also made some significant progress on her fear-aggression. Earlier this month, we had one of my mom's fiance's family members come up to visit us. Normally, Lolita would have been freaking the heck out the entire time and it would take MONTHS for her to get used to them. Loli met this person a total of three times over 6 days. The last time she met her, she voluntarily walked up to her, allowed her to pet her then CHOSE to walk away COMPLETELY ON HER OWN when she'd had enough.. Never in a million years did I think that would happen and it happened because she's +R only. And this is a dog that dominance trainers would describe as 'thinking she's the alpha' or 'dominant'. I guarantee you, if I were still using corrections on this dog, it would be a completely different story.

I'm not saying corrections don't work. They do. BUT they work for all the wrong reasons. Instead of teaching the dog what you want them to do is fun, you're teaching them 'you better do it or I'll hurt you'. Is that really the kind of relationship you want with your dog?

[Joe Kerr]

Happy 2nd birthday to Lola,
my baby girl, my best friend,
and my other half. <3

[Jazi]

It is actually just a plastic prong collar. That's literally the only difference.

Dogs do not bite the backs of the necks of their puppies to correct them or to pick them up. Very very rarely will a STABLE mama nip her puppies and it wouldn't be on the neck but when the first place was that she could reach. I have only seen this once, with a puppy that chomped his mama so hard it drew blood. She went BLARGH at him and ended up nipping him softly in the chest. Most of the time if the pups are being unruly mama will make noise or nudge them to send them sprawling or both. There is no directed bite to the back of the neck.

Most mamas also don't move their puppies with their mouths if properly supplied with a whelping box. Picking up puppies tends to be reserved for situations where mom feels uncomfortable... whether because of improper whelping conditions (like no whelping box and a high traffic area with a stressy girl) or for emergencies. When pups ate picked up it's by the back and the shoulder blades, not the scruff of the neck.

It can't mimic this common myth besides- the collar goes over the front of the neck to pinch but this idea is that mom uses the back. The collar would have to be on backwards for it to "work" that way.

[val.]

why do people even want to use prong collars anyway!? i used one on my leg and it hurt like hell. prong collars are terrible things, no matter what a trainer says. even regular collars are bad. especially if your dog pulls on the collar, you could seriously injury them via with the prong collar or regular collar. a harness is better, because you get more control over your dog (where he/she is going) and it doesn't hurt your dog in anyway.

[FlynnEugene]

The videos have more than just facts about the collar, it's just a section in the video. I'm not saying this guy is perfect, but my dog is not scared of me or the collar. If your dog is terrified of the collar then stop using it because it's obviously not doing good for the dog. For example my friend owns a little chihuahua mix of some sort and they use a shock collar on her. They take it off at night but when they go to put it on her in the morning she is running around scared of the darn thing. I don't approve of shock collars or spray collars or even the prong collars made of metal because those have all seriously injured dogs. If Izzy was ever scared of me or the collar, I would stop using it. But she actually respects me more and her and I have an AMAZING relationship. Probably the best relationship I have ever had with a dog. Of course the dog is going to be scared of you and the collar if you use it in a negative way, same with crate training. Crate training isn't bad for a dog unless you use it in a negative way, such as yelling at the dog after they did something bad and tossing it in the crate will show the dog that the crate is a bad place to be kind of thing. The only reason I used that collar was basically for her to stop pulling at the leash, and to help her a little with some other things. Besides that Izzy is being clicker trained. If I ever thought I was hurting her, or she was scared of me or the collar I would immediately stop. But I will call her over and she will sit and wag her little nub of a tail and she is perfectly fine with it.

In the end everyone has their own training technique's and I understand that, and you all should understand that as well. I love my dogs and I know for a fact all of you do as well which is why you are on here. I wouldn't do anything to hurt my dog and I hope you guys understand that. Besides that collar was just a suggestion, you don't have to use it and neither do they. I am just saying what I have learned and what I have noticed with my dog.

[Cardinal]

After watching a few of his videos, reading his manifesto, and educating myself... I implore you to please please please pick up the book On Talking Terms with Dogs; Calming Signals. The dogs I witnessed in the videos are hot messes after he gets his hands on them and its a mighty shame. I don't think dogs need to be taught using fear. I do believe that dogs should not be pushed over their thresholds and become stressed, training should be upbeat and super duper fun.

Quick go over of what I saw watching his videos: One was a couple of obese labs. When he put one into a down the dog had its eye whites showing and was purposefully looking away licking its nose and lips with its head down; these are signs of stress and to pacify what is stressing them. Another video was a dog aggressive terrier. Don got the dog to meet and greet with another dog and the body language again was pretty bad; head down, eye whites, stiff, purposefully looking away in avoidance of the situation. Third was a REALLY hard correction on a GSD who then cowered and... started practicing avoidance behaviors.

Just for comparison, these are the same situations trained differently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S00jB7jmKic teaching a down with a lab. Loose loose body language, waging tail, trying different things to earn the reward. (She's clicking for looking down or any movement downwards). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk4PPcE1CqY down stay. Its long so you can fast forward or whatever. The dogs are once again loose and happyhappy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf3Q6x__Xbg dog aggression. The dog is still pretty darn loose, happy, focusing on the trainer and actually making decisions on how to behave.

Now, its important to know, though, that calming signals are completely natural in the dog world and are typically respected amoungst the dogs. Dogs moving through something typically exhibit calming signals as they try to choose an alternative behavior to the one they are offering ( A leash reactive dog confronting another dog and then working through the situation, for example). What I don't like is a human being forceful or persistent enough to actually push a dog into offering calming signals, people should be dogs advocates and calming signals should never fully be directed at the one training them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_7dl4c-IrM A video show casing calming signals used amoungst groups of dogs.

[Skye Selkie]

Do you own a dog?:
Yes, her name is Heidi

Favorite dog breed?:
My favourite dog breed would have to be the Australian Heelers (red & blue)
Did you know they originated as a cross between dingos and Australian kelpies/cattle dogs?

Tell us about your dog(s), if you have any!:
My Heidi is a Red Heeler x we got from the Dog's Home.
She is an outside dog that loves her walks but hates water.
Unfortunately she has epilepsy so we have to keep an eye out for her seizures, if anyone has anything to help with seizures, I would like to know ^u^
Just reading about prong collars, do choker chains hurt? We use a choker chain when walking because Heidi has a tendency to jump out at trucks and motor bikes.

Pictures of your dog(s):

<3

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(You can also see my avatar >u<