There is a big difference between a working dog and a pet that's in a household with an 80 year old owner. The advice I gave was based on a pet dog.

I don't see that anything I said makes the dog lose trust, or causes conflict. A pop on the leash is an attention-getter, not a painful experience for the dog. Other corrections can be used for softer dogs, who only require a verbal command, but even then a soft pop isn't going to do any harm to the relationship between pet and owner.

Dogs understand respecting a pack leader's boundries. They don't get hurt feelings over it or act like they're scared. It's something that they're born understanding. They're just not born understand *who* is the pack leader. That is what they figure out through trial and error...what they can and cannot get away with.

I certainly agree with you that things are handled differently in a working dog. This is a dyplastic house pet and it's more important that the dog doesn't wind up eating a potentially toxic pill than it is that he may be ruined for Schutzhund! IMO, of course

Thanks for all the advice and Amber thanks for giving the detailed directions - they help.

 Quote: Lance_Wright

if your dog truely understands the sit down etc. when you drop something and he starts coming you should be able to say sit! and he should sit

He understands the commands, its the level of distractions I am working on to teach him he must obey. If I were going to rate what the level of distraction the sound of something hitting the floor was for him, I would say a hugh 10. He will turn one in a couple of days and during this year we had several months when he was limping pretty bad so I kept everything at a slow pace since it's hard to judge how much pain he was experienceing.

Now that he has been on the right combination of supplements for a few months his mobility has greatly improved, he's ready for me to bump up his training a bit more, work in progress.

Again, thanks for all the advice - who needs to pay a trainer when so many knowledgeable people are willing to help