I have a question about using a prong collar and I also need some strategy for dealing with my high energy dog in the cold Michigan winter. Can you help?

So glad I found Leerburg.com! I thought I knew how to raise a pup, had done so successfully but with (in hindsight) luckily pretty soft dogs. Husband decided "it was time" to get a pound puppy, so an 8 week old lab/hound/shep/pit mix came home with us from the downtown Detroit Humane Society last March. Of course I knew I would raise it but boy did I get more than I bargained for. I have 4 kids and a husband in denial. No one in his family "trains" their dogs but they always have huge labs that just hang out. I want to enjoy a bonded, alert animal that I feel you get to enjoy only if you EARN it. All of our problems have stemmed from inconsistency (from husband), intimidated children, lots of outside distractions, too much Cesar Millan mumbo-jumbo, lame Pet Smart advice, AND a very smart, dominant, hard dog. Your website has probably literally saved the life of this dog.

I've had 2 or 3 "Waterloos" with this pup since March where I saw no choice but to take her back. I could take her infrequent but scary garbage but my kids... They'd beg me to keep trying and they'd stay out of my way. I'd buckle down and look for more training options to implement.

LUCKILY for Georgie (dog) and me I got 3 of your DVDs and a couple of DD collars and the "taking the air away" approach was the key. I had really tried to do everything I knew correctly with her (this was before I found your site) and have been super consistent with exercise and basic obedience training. We walk 7 days a week, no exceptions, up until now for an hour minimum. This has been through occasional excited aggression (toward me), challenging me on corrections, and intense prey drive. (tons of rabbits and squirrels in this very populated area) As I said, the DD collar is great. My problem as a handler was that I was nagging her instead of setting her straight. I am physically capable of doing it, was just reticent.

Re: a prong, she pulls much of the time, but not always. I would not say she is a sharp dog, just very hard (even a strong correction that DOES stop unwanted behavior, she NEVER carries a grudge) so, would you recommend a prong to stop the pulling backed up by the DD collar in case she jumps up in protest (very rare these days) I am the only one who walks or trains her...I'm now using the "SLOW" command in place of HEEL with frequent but intermittent food rewards and she will slow but only briefly, so I'm constantly repeating and popping on the DD, which can't be good for her throat, even with the smaller of the 2 sizes I have now. Would a prong be preferable to DD collar?

I try to do as much of the pack program as I can...I work part time only so I have time to work with her every day, thank goodness. It hasn't been easy to convince my family that the puppy should NOT have access to the sofa, should NOT have access to upstairs/bedrooms, should NOT be indiscriminately cuddled for human gratification, etc. They finally got it that their selfish behavior (wanting to just cuddle and play with the dog) was dangerous for ME, as I was the enforcer. LOL.

Now, this seasonal situation...we live in southeast Michigan, and get much of the same weather you do. If it's over 25 degrees and not too windy, I have no problem splitting up daily exercise in several walks and it's OK. However, when it's bitter cold and windy, all I can hack (and all I dare put her through) is two or three 10-15 minute stints, max.

Because of what I've learned from you and Ed, I have finally gotten my family to almost completely stop just "letting her out" into our fenced yard because it makes her "drunk with power" and has greatly slowed my ability to train any reliable outdoor recall. We now take her outside to pee on a long lead and bring her back in. If you drop the end of any leash attached to her while she's outside, she won't even take off to run around. (due to leash attached between us inside much of the time) Unclip the lead, and she runs around like mad. Will play a good disciplined game of fetch (drop, leave it, sit, wait, release to fetch again)but occasionally very difficult to get her back in. Thus, I really don't want to play with her in the back yard unless really necessary for her exercise.

What do I do when there is fresh snow on the ground and she wants to lunge and bolt on a walk? Her decent walking manners vanish if the sidewalk is covered. If the streets are clear, we go there and it's better, but how do you guys exercise your dogs in snowy/frigid/icy weather?? I'm pretty tough and am willing to deal with it (believe you me my neighbors think I'm insane when we set off in a downpour or other crappy weather) but it's hard to give food rewards when you have to keep taking gloves off and your hands start to get numb. You know what I mean. Do I just let her out or play with her in the backyard myself or skip it (which I don't want to do, she's almost 1 year old, and though she's not hyper, when she gets bored or restless she starts sock hunting or bugging the cat or whatever. I could crate her more but doesn't she need to move every day? (I've taught group fitness for 25 years and am a musician, too, so I live by practice and routine myself).

Thanks for reading my novel, I see you get quite a few, so I thought I'd take a whack at it myself.

THANK YOU for your service and life mission. My dog thanks you.

Lesley