Legend is eleven months old. He knows basic commands such as Come, Sit, and yes, he'll even fetch.

He has been the family "farm" dog, patrolling our home night and day, and just generally a pet.

We don't really want him to become a protection dog, but we do want him to be extremely well behaved. And to do this as well as to spend as much time with him during the winter as we do during the summer when we practically LIVE outside, we're bringing him in the house. We do have a large crate for him.

His personality... He is definitely not a dominant dog. He wouldn't push past me to go through a door. I can take anything I'd like away from him, and if I just call him, he'll bring whatever he has (even if it's a live chicken) and drop it at my feet. He isn't a mouthy dog either. As a matter of fact, I'd say he has a perfect personality but what do I know? He seemed fearful around six months or so, but we kept taking him to a lot of new places (Grandpa's, the vet's, in the van) and he seems pretty confidant. We haven't let him be around a large number of people nor other dogs except for Grandpa's extremely non-social beast. But that dog is terrified of everything that comes near her. We took him to the vet's last month and we were confronted with a very high strung aggressive border collie. Legend didn't show fear nor did he get upset. He looked at her with interest but essentially just paid attention to me. I gather that's a good thing.

We have seven children so it's been very important to us that he's not food aggressive or dominant with them so we watched him pretty carefully this first year. He doesn't jump on them or try to take anything from them, though we have seen him push past them a few times. They range in age from 0-13, but he's never allowed near the baby.

While we've done a few things right, I'm sure we've done plenty wrong. But we want to bring him in the house. He's big, really big, about 100 pounds now and very lanky so as he fills out he is quite a picture - a bit intimidating looking.

But I'm REALLY unsure of where to begin next. I don't foresee a problem with crate training. But I am very unsure of how to crate him all night long and then expect to work with him when he hasn't had nearly the running and exercising he's used to... He usually has full run of our acreage. His only "formal" exercise is bike rides. I do have a prong collar and a clicker. The one thing we have noticed is that while he will walk next to us if he's not on a lead, on a leash, he'll pull. My one wish is that he be well heeled so that we can take him anywhere......

And since I'll probably be asked...


He had been fed entirely raw (venison, beef, chicken, fish) since we got him at 10 weeks. However, as of late he has just been so active and growing so much that he has gotten dreadfully thin. We wormed him (we live on a farm and the goats get worms often.) But that didn't do it. The vet felt perhaps we should continue with his raw diet but supplement Evo and so we have been feeding him raw along with two cups of Evo. He has finally gained weight over the last month but is still pretty thin for a dog his size, but looking much better. He looked starved before this. And we have given him an array of foods - both red meats (beef & venison) along with RMB in the form of thighs and backs, along with small amounts of beef heart and tiny amounts of liver. He gets raw eggs a bit more than he should thanks to a dropsy 2 and 4 year old, but not more than 3-5 a week. He also gets canned salmon (inc. bones) on occasion. The Evo is the only thing that has helped him gain weight. I am not foreseeing keeping up the Evo, it has been utilized as a "supplement" while he has been in this rapid growth spurt.

I think he'll be ok with crating Kelly. I fall into the leave the dog alone when he's eating camp so there should never be a problem with him and his food. Try feeding him in the crate. I think a little more work on the heeling should be easy enough.

One thing that makes things easier for you is him not having prey drive that makes him want to chase your kids. It's very important for you to teach the kids how to interact with him and in my opinion thats one of the hardest parts.

Get the marker training DVD. That will be a big help and I think provide you with a little direction. Begin feeding him like Steve suggested and intermittenly put him in the kennel through out the day. There is a good free streaming video on this site of the crate game. The way Cindy teaches her dogs to go into the crate is excellent.
Keep in mind you may want to put him where he will not distrub anyone during the night if he gets to making noises while in the crate. I suggest the plastic crate versus the wire crate.

Well, I wouldn't say he has a low prey drive. He's delivered to us chicken, moles, even toads... though those managed to escape being killed.

His worst behaviour ever? He was left home alone (and loose, our mistake) for the whole day while we had a surgery. I don't know what we were thinking except that it was unplanned surgery and it just didn't cross our minds it would be a problem as he is so good... He killed our pygmy goat. Didn't eat her, just essentially "suffocated" her to death. Truth told, we didn't expect it! He has helped us get animals back into the pens but he NEVER bothers them IN their pens, learned the hard way, btw. Well, that particular day, Angel got out of her pen and that particular day we were gone and that particular day Leg was loose. He does definitely have a prey drive (and will play, retrieve, etc.) he just doesn't use it on the children. I'm assuming because we've taught him he's lower than them... We have them eat in front of him, they know to make sure they go through doors first, he isn't allowed to push them or invade personal space by sitting ON them, etc.

We did put him inside yesterday for the first time. There have been dogs stolen in the area lately and we had someone drive by our house three times slowly yesterday in about five minutes time (in the country, rock road) and the ONLY thing of interest in our yard was Legend. The third time by they actually pulled in the driveway, but I went outside to call Leg and they pulled out and drove away. I'm kind of surprised they'd consider trying taking such a large dog? But it has me very worried.

He spent yesterday inside alternating between the crate or on the leash. The first time in (he hasn't been in a crate for a long while) he didn't want to go in. But the next three times he went in straight from going outside just because Ana opened the crate door. We didn't have any whining or complaining from him all day or all night. He did bark once, must have heard something. So it went, IMO, VERY well. He actually seemed to enjoy being in the crate? Is that odd?

So, I'm not worried about the crate anymore. We're working on heeling.

One question though - will he really just "get it" if I stop walking every time he pulls? I just don't understand why if we're just walking, off leash, he is right next to us. But, if he's on the leash, he pulls. Is that a learned behaviour?

Can I add one more question?

Which would be most beneficial for me to buy first -

The Power of Training with Food or Marker Training?

Legend has never been trained with food, we've just always rewarded him verbally, so both methods would be very new to us.

Personally I would go with the Marker training video, it will automatically show you how to incorporate tiny bits of super yummy food into your training routine.

 Quote: Jennifer Lee

Personally I would go with the Marker training video, it will automatically show you how to incorporate tiny bits of super yummy food into your training routine.

Me too. Power of Training with Food is the followup to the Marker video, and it in turn will be followed by a Tug video.

The Food video does have a short catch-up of the Marker video, but for anyone new to marker work, I think it's a must to start with Markers before moving on to Food. First you learn what marker training is and the details/mechanics of it, and then in Food you learn how to use it to affect focus and drive.

 Quote: kelly pint

... One question though - will he really just "get it" if I stop walking every time he pulls? ...

How did/do you teach loose-leash walking?

 Quote: kelly pint

One question though - will he really just "get it" if I stop walking every time he pulls? I just don't understand why if we're just walking, off leash, he is right next to us. But, if he's on the leash, he pulls. Is that a learned behaviour?

I wanted to share that I did teach my dog to walk with a loose leash by stopping each time the leash got tight. We would remain stopped till he would sit. I would change directions to teach him to pay attention to me. I trained him with a buckle type collar on.
(yes, I made lots of mistakes, wish I had the internet and videos back then) but we accomplished the task.

I have recently learned that the problem with this is that the dog is out in front of me, making the pack structure all wrong.