Barking and lunging on leash at vehicles and dogs

[western_star]

i have a collar for sale that has both options shock or vibrate and you can adjust the severity of either on it as well. worked great when ours was a pup. have to ask the gf as far as brand goes but it was around 300$ I also take my dogs up to the logging road by crystal mountain and they both run 10km every day behind the truck and that really helps with their energy levels. However they will not allow me to sleep in anymore as they want their run!!

I don't have $300 plain and simple, but thanks for the suggestion.

I would NOT run my dogs anywhere near my truck if I were you.

Here is a photo of the consequence of my friend running over his own dog ... she lost an eye. I was the one that pushed her eye back into its socket. She rode on my lap while the owner drove like hell to the vet in Vernon down Westside Road at 100km's an hour at 8:00pm at night. The vets office was closed but the vet met us at the vet clinic and was already there when we arrived. The poor dog was bleeding from her mouth and her eye was bulging and red. I kept looking at her all the way down Westside Road feeling horror at the same time. $800 later the vet didn't know if she was going to be blind in the one eye that was saved. I cared for her for a few months when she was allowed to go home from the vet. I found part of her tooth on my bed a few days after she was allowed to go home. Her owner told me not to let her on my bed, but she was in pain from the tire driving over her chest.. you could see the tire marks on her chest so I let her on my bed so she would be more comfortable. She was still in rough shape when she was allowed to go home. The vet said I didn't want to know how much it would cost to extract the other part of her tooth if it was bothering her. It took a couple weeks and one day she snapped at a fly and then I knew she could see again. I was elated. The tooth didn't seem to bother her. The vet said if she wasn't so young, she may have gotten broken bones and that teeth are very hard to extract on a young dog hence the cost for extraction that I didn't want to know.

Please stop using your vehicle to exercise your dog.

My dog lets me sleep in lol .... but when I get up its out the door to pee and then food.

[western_star]

This just came across my fb page and I thought of your problem. Give this a look-see.

http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2012/01/huma ... -on-leash/

~D

Thats a great idea .. thanks CoffeeCanuck ... I am going to try this because its way more humane than some of the other suggestions I read and heard in this forum, like hitting my dog, electrocuting my dog, throwing ice water on him, etc. I hope that others with the same problem I have will try this method too. I think this may work ... I will do this in my yard first and lots before we go for a walk on the road. I am going to have to buy more treats, cause we are getting low lol

I have been starting to let my dog sniff .. I say do you smell the cat or do you smell a deer. He knows what the word deer is and he starts following some track ... I don't know what track because I can't smell it LOL. He loves to sniff though and so I think I should let him sniff and make it fun by saying stuff about sniffing and using the word sniff until I don't want to go any farther and then say, k... nuff, lets go. Lots of times I make him sit on his bed while I hide treats around the house and then I come back and tell him to go find them and he loves doing that. I praise him when he finds the one larger treat that is different than all the others

I am wanting to train him to track things, and this gives him and I something to do thats fun for both of us

[CoffeeCanuck]

You're most welcome WS. That is excellent that you provide mental stimulation for your pup. Every dog needs that of course, but some breeds, require it much more than others. I think you have an akita/pit mix? Both breeds are very intelligent, have a high prey drive, and need lots of exercise, both physically and mentally, so I applaud your efforts. Both of these breeds, also because of their strong nature, require a strong pack leader. Keep us updated on how things are working out.

~D

[Bunnyhop]

While I like Cesar Millan, I have never liked how he kicks the dogs. I get that he is trying to snap them out of the behavior, but that will never be acceptable to me. As for Brad Pattison, he is one of the worst dog trainers I've seen, and I shudder to think of anyone allowing him near their dogs. Sadly, there are people that still believe treating a dog poorly, ie throwing cold water on it, kicking or hitting it, are acceptable forms of training. Same goes with the pinch, shock, and citronella collars.If you have to resort to any of these barbaric training devices, it's time to admit you don't have a clue about training a dog and need to reach out to a positive reinforcement trainer. The downside if you want to call it that, with positive reinforcement, is it takes much longer, through repetition and persistence. Just as with most things today, people want and expect immediate results. The trouble with a lot of people, and I include myself in this, is that they are not prepared when bringing home a dog, and don't know that training should begin immediately, especially when getting a puppy. Funny thing is, now that I feel I am prepared to properly train a puppy, I have no desire to have one, and go through the house training.

~D

This is so true!

[Grizzly550]

While I like Cesar Millan, I have never liked how he kicks the dogs. I get that he is trying to snap them out of the behavior, but that will never be acceptable to me. As for Brad Pattison, he is one of the worst dog trainers I've seen, and I shudder to think of anyone allowing him near their dogs. Sadly, there are people that still believe treating a dog poorly, ie throwing cold water on it, kicking or hitting it, are acceptable forms of training. Same goes with the pinch, shock, and citronella collars.If you have to resort to any of these barbaric training devices, it's time to admit you don't have a clue about training a dog and need to reach out to a positive reinforcement trainer. The downside if you want to call it that, with positive reinforcement, is it takes much longer, through repetition and persistence. Just as with most things today, people want and expect immediate results. The trouble with a lot of people, and I include myself in this, is that they are not prepared when bringing home a dog, and don't know that training should begin immediately, especially when getting a puppy. Funny thing is, now that I feel I am prepared to properly train a puppy, I have no desire to have one, and go through the house training.

~D

I use Cesar's "kick" on my dog. It's not actually a kick, its more of a nudge. While I don't think it would work on all dogs, it worked great to make our 90lb dog stop pulling on the leash. As you use the foot farthest from the dog, and basically wrap your leg around behind yourself, you can't use much force or you'd fall on your face. If anyone is actually kicking, thats disgusting. I gave her a nudge and said "leave it". Now, I don't even bother with the nudge, as she knows what the word means and its usually enough.

I've also used the glass of water on her. We had a small kid walk by our house daily and for some reason she would bark like crazy at the poor little guy. A couple glasses of water (on a hot summer day) fixed the problem. I would never do it in the winter. Some of the methods you disagree with aren't really so terrible if used reasonably.

But I do agree that Brad Pattison needs to find a new job far from people and animals.

[pattergrub]

well for one thing i stay WELL ahead of my dogs for just that reason - treadmill also works quite well with supervision of course

[JLives]

CoffeeCanuck, crate training made potty training my pups a breeze. I crate trained a litter of 11 once and they did well in their new homes.

[western_star]

You're most welcome WS. That is excellent that you provide mental stimulation for your pup. Every dog needs that of course, but some breeds, require it much more than others. I think you have an akita/pit mix? Both breeds are very intelligent, have a high prey drive, and need lots of exercise, both physically and mentally, so I applaud your efforts. Both of these breeds, also because of their strong nature, require a strong pack leader. Keep us updated on how things are working out.

~D

Yeh he is a pitbull mix akita .. and you are absolutely right that he needs way more attention than my toy poodle.. and he lets me know it. He is such a character and I can tell what he needs by his facial expressions LOL. Some of the facial expressions are hilarious

I am trying to be the pack leader not letting him get away with things cause I feel lazy. He is so smart and some things are very easy for him to learn like the things I think would be hard to teach him for instance the left and right paw.. he knows which is left and right .. it amazes me. I try and keep him busy as best I can but its daunting at times LOL. Everyday we have to play a few different kinds of things .. tracking cookies (no not on the computer LOL), tug a war, fetch, or I put peanut butter inside the hollowed out bone if I am lazy lol, and getting him to sit pretty and we go outside to the bathroom about 50 times a day too LOL.

I am only having trouble with the prey drive (cars and animals) so far... that ones a toughy for me. I haven't taken him for a walk in a week cause its been so cold and he freezes to death so I play fetch in the house with a stuffed toy so he gets a bit of exercise up and down the stairs. I haven't been doing the look at me thing but I get him to look at the tv and he is interested and watches for a minute every time LOL. He is getting good at letting the fetch toy go and letting me throw it. I usually have to say let go though LOL. I don't tug on it all when he won't let go, so that he doesn't think its a tug a war game and its going well. He seems to know the difference between fetch and tug a war... so I am happy about that.

He is good natured around my toy poodle and doesn't growl over food either. My toy poodle growls at him and barks at him to get away a lot of times cause my toy poodle is 12 years old now and doesn't want to play .. he just wants to sleep and eat LOL.

When my toy poodle is finished eating my pitbull/akita runs over and licks the bowl LOL. He watches for my toy poodle to finish eating and doesn't try to barge in or anything.

[western_star]

I use Cesar's "kick" on my dog. It's not actually a kick, its more of a nudge. While I don't think it would work on all dogs, it worked great to make our 90lb dog stop pulling on the leash. As you use the foot farthest from the dog, and basically wrap your leg around behind yourself, you can't use much force or you'd fall on your face. If anyone is actually kicking, thats disgusting. I gave her a nudge and said "leave it". Now, I don't even bother with the nudge, as she knows what the word means and its usually enough.

I have tried the nudge with my leg wrapping it around his chest and pushing him back when he wants to walk ahead, but it doesn't seem to work for me.. he is so admant about what might be ahead.. especially if he hears a noise ahead. Its really hard to get his attention when he is always interested in something ahead.

I have been playing dog videos from You-tube while in the house and he starts barking and whinning looking at the video .. he comes running over from a sleep even when I start playing a video LOL...so I am trying to teach him to sit when he gets like that for every video I watch LOL ... and it doesn't have to even be a dog on the video .. it might just be a person talking and he starts whinning. He is starting to sit better the more I ask him to sit when I play videos, so maybe that will help .. I will try getting him to sit in the house watching videos to see if we can gain some headway that way. I notice that when he settles down and stops whinning, it is when he turns his head and doesn't look at the video LOL.. its almost like he doesn't want to look sometimes..I say look and he won't look, but if he does look he starts whinning again LOL. I think diverting his attention from the video will work but I want him to tolerate a video playing without me having to divert his attention to a ball or something else.

[CoffeeCanuck]

CoffeeCanuck, crate training made potty training my pups a breeze. I crate trained a litter of 11 once and they did well in their new homes.

Crate training is great and if I were to find myself with a puppy *shudder*, that is the way I would go. I'm done with babies though, both the 2 legged and 4 legged kind, but if one were to find itself in my care through fostering, stray, rescue, whatever, I would dive into the training. Just not intentionally looking for a puppy.

Western star, do you have or can you get a treadmill? They are great for exercising your pup and letting him burn off some of that high energy on days when you can't get out. Doesn't have to be anything fancy and you can pick them up second hand for a decent price after people stop using them as a clothes hanger.

As for the high prey drive, that is something that is part of a certain breeds genetic make up. You can learn to curb it, but it will never not be there. It's much, much easier to desensitize a dogs prey drive when working with it as a young puppy. My boxer has a very high prey drive and is on constant alert when out for a walk. I've tried various training methods, which have not worked. I got her when she was an adult, so I did not have the opportunity to train her from the beginning. Because she is never off leash, other than when we go to the beach when no one is around, I'm not worried about her prey drive and because she is a senior, I have no interest in going through further training. She is who she is due to many different reasons and we work within her (and mine) limitations. Cats are a huge trigger for her. When I moved into my home here, I made a point of telling the neighbour who has a cat that loved spending time in my back yard, that my boxer will chase and likely kill it if she gets a hold of her cat. I would absolutely hate that to happen, but my dog is in her own yard. There have been some close calls, but the cat is still living, likely due to it losing a life or two through those close calls, and it understanding that the back yard with my boxer in it is not a healthy place to be...lol Now the bloody thing just likes to use my front yard as it's litter box and spray my car and front porch.

~D

[western_star]

Western star, do you have or can you get a treadmill? They are great for exercising your pup and letting him burn off some of that high energy on days when you can't get out. Doesn't have to be anything fancy and you can pick them up second hand for a decent price after people stop using them as a clothes hanger.

As for the high prey drive, that is something that is part of a certain breeds genetic make up. You can learn to curb it, but it will never not be there. It's much, much easier to desensitize a dogs prey drive when working with it as a young puppy. My boxer has a very high prey drive and is on constant alert when out for a walk. I've tried various training methods, which have not worked. I got her when she was an adult, so I did not have the opportunity to train her from the beginning. Because she is never off leash, other than when we go to the beach when no one is around, I'm not worried about her prey drive and because she is a senior, I have no interest in going through further training. She is who she is due to many different reasons and we work within her (and mine) limitations. Cats are a huge trigger for her. When I moved into my home here, I made a point of telling the neighbour who has a cat that loved spending time in my back yard, that my boxer will chase and likely kill it if she gets a hold of her cat. I would absolutely hate that to happen, but my dog is in her own yard. There have been some close calls, but the cat is still living, likely due to it losing a life or two through those close calls, and it understanding that the back yard with my boxer in it is not a healthy place to be...lol Now the bloody thing just likes to use my front yard as it's litter box and spray my car and front porch.

~D

Cat spray really suxs.. I had the neighbours cat spraying under my deck and it really smelled under there after that .. I tried digging some dirt away under there to get the smell away. I don't have room to keep a treadmill. I suppose I will have a hard time with my boy training against the prey drive cause it has gone on so long he is about 1 and 1/2 years old now I guess .. but eventually I will get there. I have been taking treats in my right hand and get my boy to follow beside me in the house and then when I turn around and stop he has to sit and then he gets the treat ... maybe that will help. He is getting better slowly though. When he sees a vehicle on the street while we are in my yard, I get him to sit and or we start walking away from the distraction. I been hiding treats around the house and he has to find them... but haven't been working much outside this past winter.. its starting to warm up and so are starting daily walks again.

[western_star]

I have an overly large pill bottle filled with little rocks that I shake now when my dog is not listening .. it seems to be working probably because my dog doesn't like loud noises much. It is working to distract him.