April 28, 2011
I have a Maremma sheepdog. I would like to use E collar to stop some of her behaviors - jumping up. What approach would you recommend?
Full Question:
I have a 16 month old spayed Maremma sheepdog which was purchased as a puppy. This breed is used to guard livestock, and is supposed to have a low prey drive, which allows them to bond to the livestock. She is a wonderful animal, very loving and also protective of her animals and of us. She lives in a completely fenced 3 acre yard with her goats. She lives outside and never comes into the house. We purchased a prong collar and E collar as well as your DVDs on Basic Obedience training and E collar training. She knows Sit and Down, and we are moving into the correction phase of the training. I am only using the E collar, because I failed to condition her to the prong collar, and now she will only mind when it is on. I have been very careful to condition her to the E collar before using it. My question concerns eliminating 2 behaviors. One is jumping on us, which is covered thoroughly in the E collar DVD. What I would like some comment on is her mouthing of our hands and feet? Still! I see no signs of aggression in her behavior. No growling, no possessiveness of toys or things. She is always good natured and releases whatever she is playing with. But she will walk along side of me and begin to mouth my hand. It continues and as she gets more playful, she exerts more pressure. She never breaks the skin. Trying to stop her with the traditional methods just seems to ramp her up more, and she may begin to come at me from behind. She will then pull at my pants, and grab my ankles. I don't think any of this is aggressive, but is it dominance? I would like to use E collar to stop this(she will never mouth when on a prong). What approach would you recommend. Thank you for all your help with our dog!Pam
Cindy's Answer:
I would use the ecollar for mouthing just like you would a leash. It sounds like she is trying to initiate play with you, just like she would with another dog. I would say NO, and then use the collar as instructed on the DVD. I don’t believe it’s dominance, per se, just a young dog trying to start a game.
You can even tap the button on the remote a couple of times in quick succession if you need to. I have found that the key to being successful in working with dogs is to have yourself set up each time you know you will be in contact with her. Kind of like a seat belt, you put it on every time you get in a car but hope you don’t need to use it. If there is a reason to use it, you are prepared.
I make sure my dogs don’t pay much attention to the transmitter, I keep it in my vest pocket but have my hand on it most of the time so I can react quickly if need be.
I hope this helps.
Cindy
You can even tap the button on the remote a couple of times in quick succession if you need to. I have found that the key to being successful in working with dogs is to have yourself set up each time you know you will be in contact with her. Kind of like a seat belt, you put it on every time you get in a car but hope you don’t need to use it. If there is a reason to use it, you are prepared.
I make sure my dogs don’t pay much attention to the transmitter, I keep it in my vest pocket but have my hand on it most of the time so I can react quickly if need be.
I hope this helps.
Cindy
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