Hello all! I have posted about our pup (Blu, who is an australian shepherd..we think). He is now 22-23 weeks old and he is still a handful.

First, let me state that we just want a pet. We do want to do obedience training (we have Ed's Basic Obedience DVD) but are not interested in any kind of competition obedience (although I wonder if he wouldn't be great at it with his prey drive...in which I would be glad to supress).

I have a question about living with your pup. We want to make sure we are doing the right things and sometimes we just don't know. We don't know the balance of letting the pup be a pup and when we should correct his behavior (like biting on us and jumping on us....yes, even still at 5 1/2 months old). I bought a prong collar today but I am hesitant to use it. I have read in Ed's articles that he does suggest using in some places (on certain dogs) and in others he says that it's not needed on such a young pup....we are not sure where our Blu falls. At 5 1/2 months, we feel he should not be biting on us or jumping on us...even after we tell him "NO". Most of time it just fires him up more. So, if he gets fired up...he goes in the crate (which he does great at and he has always seemed to be ok with his crate).

We do not have a fenced yard so most mornings, after he uses the bathroom outside, I tie him off in our garage (2 car garage). He basically has the whole garage to walk around... I guess I feel like that's better than being in the crate. On most days he could spend 4 - 5 hours in the garage while we are doing things in the house or working during the day (if we are at home)

My concern is crating him too much (of course, it sounds like I am passive). I guess I would rather him be in the garage than the crate. He doesn't bark in the garage. He has been in there for hours without a sound and seems to be ok with being out there.

Ed talks alot about a dog "respecting" you. I assume our dog doesn't respect us because he continues to mouth and jump on us? With that said, it seems that Ed would crate our dog ALOT...but we are not sure. Are we doing the right thing by crating him when he is out of control? Or is putting him in the garage ok as well?

In the end, we just want to do what's right for our dog and we want to do what's right with regards to training him properly. I know some of the questions are probably stupid but we have never owned a dog (lord we didn't know what we were getting into!!!) and are completely ignorant in many areas.

We have Ed's "8 weeks to 8 months" and "Basic Dog Obedience" videos but we still have these questions. Ed is not clear in some area's (maybe that's on purpose), especially with regards to "earning respect" and knowing how much to crate your dog (in order to control his life).

Thank you to everyone for their advice!

Marc

I know many people on this site do not like group dog classes but I think if you can find a good instructor, they can be amazing. All the questions and concerns you have are normal for a first time dog owner and it's SO reassuring to be talking to the other dog owners in class, hear they are having the same issues and concerns, hearing what they did that worked (and didn't) AND also having the resource of immediate feedback from the instructor.

RAISING and TRAINING a great dog is NOT easy or we'd have alot more 'perfect' dogs in the world. I know I'd prefer to use the skills, abilities and knowledge of someone who's raised and trained (and learned by their mistakes with THEIR dogs) many many dogs, rather than fumbling thru on my own, and learning as I go on (frequently getting frustrated, confusing my dog and sometimes getting into the 'land of anger' where NO training takes place).

I have videos, I have books, and I definitely use them. But I have found the immediate feedback and knowledge of a great instructor to be the best. In class they see ME, they see MY DOG, and they see how we are interacting together to give immediate guidance and feedback, before we really start getting messed up and frustrated.

Additionally, the controlled environment for socialization with other dogs and people, only is a good thing for me and my dogs. They learned to 'learn' and listen to me in a strange place with gradually increasing distractions, which ends up being where I take my dogs in the real world.

So now I have 3 dogs that are a part of my life. I can take them anywhere and know they will be calm, happy, confident and reliable. Family reunions, vacations, having people over my house or me taking them to someone elses. They do well in hotels/motels, in any vehicle, in schools, hospitals, vet offices, etc.

Marc

I believe in that video that Ed says to tell your pup no & shake him by the scruff of the neck it will work.If your pup wants to bite & play harder shake him a little harder & he will get the message.Remember you are pack leader so it is up to you when you play

Does your pup respond to any commands that you give him? My experience has been that for behaviour like jumping a command like Sit can be more constructive than just saying No. When he gets excited and starts jumping and biting I would try using a short series of commands to get him to focus and get him under control.

The problem is when he is shaken it just makes his drive that much stronger. I cannot correct him with a scruff shake, it only makes things worse (with the biting, etc). The only option is put him in his crate because when he gets "fired up", he is not calmed easily.

The funny thing (responding to the second post) is that he is GREAT with commands like sit, down (down stay is "ok"), over. He waits at the door when we go out, although he has to be told to wait (but he does do it).

But when he gets fired up, it doesn't matter what I say, he will not listen. He continues to nip at us when we are commanding him to sit or down (when his drive is up). This is our biggest problem and we don't know how to handle it other than putting him in the crate.

Like I said above, we bought a prong collar but am not sure if we should use it or not.

Thanks for any help!

Marc,
Ed said a very wise thing in his "Basic Dog Obedience" video and I often repeat it in the OB classes that I teach:

"Do your dog a favor and give him the correction that he needs"

That right there would clear up 75% of the problems that novice people come to this training forum for. If your dog isn't responding to a correction for bad behavior, you're simply not giving him a strong enough correction ( provided the dog understands what you're correcting him for, which is just a timing issue ). Some dogs are corrected by just a word spoken in a harsh tone, some very hard, powerful dogs require a powerful physical correction with a significant threat by you behind it. But for whatever the dog, if an owner is unwilling or unable to correct their dog in a situation like yours, the problem is going to escalate to a point where you will be unable to give him any correct and your dog will run your household. I see this with pet owners on a weekly basis.

Did you guys notice that your dog scratches at the collar? I assume it's because its the first time he has wore it.

Well, for the first time we walked Blu with the prong and it worked great. Ed is right, it is like power steering. Also, when he started nipping I barely corrected him and he wimpered and it seemed to work. I know it's a process, I just have to be patient because as soon as I took it off to put him in the crate (I had some problems taking it off..being it was the first time) he was nipping on me (all the while I was saying NO and he was getting fired up). I do think it is going to help...even if he is 5 1/2 months old. I didn't have to correct him NEAR as hard as I thought I would have to, he really responded. I think I probably used a level 2, maybe even a 1. In fact, he corrected himself when he would pull away and he did great at walking with us.

Also, do you guys think it is ok for him to wear a no bark collar when he is in his crate?

Typically he does ok, especially when going to bed at night but during the day, when we crate him, he will bark. I thought it would be ok, just want to make sure. I don't leave it on more than a few hours at a time anyway but it does really help him keep from barking and I noticed that when I don't have it on, it still helps with his barking (I assume because he is being trained that if he barks, he will get a shock).

We are crating him more (the last few days) instead of putting him on the tie out in the garage. I guess we feel that with him being crated (controlling the dog's life in every aspect), it means we are in control versus him having free reign in the garage on the tie out. What do you guys think?

ok, so now I am a pshyco. LOL

We watched Eds Basic Obedience DVD again and came to the conclusion (since he seems to really be responding to the training so far) that we feel that the garage is basically like him being in Ed's yard (with freedom to do what he wants...even if it is within a 25 x 25 garage). Because we don't have a fenced in yard, this is the best thing to it we assume. If he is bad, he will be put in the crate though with the no bark collar. Does this sound fair?

When he 'fires' up can you re-direct the nipping and jumping to a toy. This might be a better solution that putting him up. It would teach him some control and when he gets that excited to look for a toy instead of nipping and getting out of control.