April 19, 2011
I think my young dog has weak nerves, when the door bell rings he runs to the door barking with his hair up. Should I correct this behavior with a prong collar correction?
Full Question:
Dear Ed,I'm using your basic dog obedience DVD for our five month old GSD. I love your training methods.
Here's the problem. He is running and barking at the door whenever he hears the key or doorbell. I think he has weak nerves because his bark is fast and sometimes the hair stands up on his back. I have a prong collar that he wears on walks. I want this behavior to stop. Please let me know the proper way to handle this.
Thank You,
Patti
Ed's Answer:
That may be premature to declare weak nerves over.
Teach the dog that he gets a great piece of food when he goes to the crate – when you have this down pat with a voice command I.E. CRATE – then give that command and ring the door bell at the same time. Then the door bell becomes a command to go to your crate. Once the dog understands this 100% you can correct him for not doing it. To correct him before that would be counter productive.
Remember the RULE OF 30 that I talk about in my Basic Dog Obedience DVD
Good Luck
Teach the dog that he gets a great piece of food when he goes to the crate – when you have this down pat with a voice command I.E. CRATE – then give that command and ring the door bell at the same time. Then the door bell becomes a command to go to your crate. Once the dog understands this 100% you can correct him for not doing it. To correct him before that would be counter productive.
Remember the RULE OF 30 that I talk about in my Basic Dog Obedience DVD
Good Luck
100% (8 out of 8)
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