Unless I'm mistaken she is talking about dropping the slack in the line, not letting go of the leash completely. That way the self correction is instantanious and the dog understands that the pain was not caused by the handler, but self induced. Good luck with your dog.

Speaking of the collar not fitting just right... does anyone know if there are 1/2 links available for any of the prong collars to get a better fit?

I haven't seen 1/2 sizes. You can always go down from a medium weight to fine, or heavy to medium, but my fine weight prong is constantly coming apart. I think it's just because the prongs are thinner and they bend more easily, so when she shakes her head, or whatever, they just jiggle right apart.

Yes, dropping the slack in the line, but don't let go! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> . The point of that is the dog self corrects for lunging, which is why it should be taught separatly from just 'going for a walk'. I generally have different commands for my dogs for a walk, 'lets go' being the first that I teach; it means, we will walk together, and you will not lunge, pull, or do any other unacceptable things, but you may sniff, mark your territory, ect. It helps me to translate exactly what I want before I teach the dog. If there is no slack in the line, the dog is pulling to the end of the leash, so back it up a bit, and teach loose lead walking first (erratic walking, abrupt turnarounds, praise treat when the dog is in position, the point is to watch you), THEN the high distraction critter issue. The difference is with the critter teaching, you LET the dog hit the end of the leash so the correction is administered by the dog's action of lunging, and you vary the level of correction by your speed in going the opposite way. Then you can do such things as teach the dog to sit when it sees a squirrel, because you have the dog's attention.

Geeze, I hope that was clear. It is so much easier to show than describe <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Alright I think I ight have it. So.. crittering is just when you let a dog see like.. a rabbit or something, and instead of trying to hold him still, let him "suffer the consequences of being a bad boy" LOL. Boy, I just hope that he RESPONDS to this, he doesn't respond to anything at all if he sees an animal. Oh no....

Just now, Jack was chewing on my mom's shoe RIGHT infront of her. She didn't take THAT lightly, since he chewed up another of her shoes like a few days ago. This is strange, he stopped chewing for like half a year or maybe longer, and all the sudden he is starting again! We don't really have any chew toys for him so that is probably the problem. In fact we have like.. no toys for them as of now, but I ordered some a few days ago (I buy just about everything, except food, because no one else will!). Any suggestions on that? Should I start I new thread? I hope the new toys will help, Lol. (I think he is about 3 years old now, so I think it is weird to me that he is chewing again, I thought it was only a puppy thing)

Actually, crittering, as used in the context of this board, is a method that teaches the dog that prey animals are unpleasant; if the dog looks, of tries to get a scent for, a prey animal, it is given a stimulation via ecollar. This is advanced training. If you run a search, and type in 'crittering', you will get a wealth of info on the subject.
What I have posted is not crittering, but basic leash manners. The prey animal still has all of its allure, but it must not break the law of 'I will not drag my handler around'. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It is in the context of obedience under distraction, not changing the dogs mind about prey animals, which is what 'crittering' proper is all about.
He may seem like a real knucklehead, but don't start with a superhard correction at first. He may just never have been corrected with the proper equipment, and may respond really well to a prong collar. Others may have good suggestions too, this is just what worked well for my dog, you may have to adapt as you see fit.
BTW, is this dog sure of where he is in the pack? Is he given firm rules that everybody sticks to, or do some members set him 'get away with stuff'? just wondering.

Good luck <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I am not so sure where Jack thinks he is in the pack. I am pretty consistent on what is going on, but I have absolutely no clue how my family members handle his situations, since I do all of the training, walking, groom, ect ect. I have tried to teach/tell my family some things, but I think they kind of brush me off or something, because they don't listen to something as siple as "Don't give the dogs ANYTHING with grains in it", and I have to remind them frequently. I sure hope all goes well with his training and new toys. He doesn't really have any toys, and beign the horrible destructive dog that he is ^_~ that can make things on worse, in my point of view. By the way, how does the Syn-flex work? I ordered some for my old Shetland Sheep dog.


Oh yeah, about Jack's pack order thing. It is very weird, but he ACTS like he is at the very bottom, like for example, if he sees my dad or something, he will usually put his head down, and a few nights ago (oh man this was pathetic), my dad wanted JAck to go outside to go to the bathroom before he went to bed, so he went to Jack and called him out of hiding spot (which is underneathe this very chair... Maybe because I am often around here?) and he wouldn't budge (like usual). So I call him out, and he crawl out from under the chair, and when he saw my dad, he crawled on his BELLY to get away! It makes it seem like my dad abuses him or something, but I don't remember my dad ever hitting him before or anything. Jack has a strang fear of men and strangers, something I am also working on with him. When we have guests over, I make him come out of hiding and sit by me, so he can see the guests, but I don't let them touch him or anything. Maybe this is the wrong approach

Oh yeah, what I meant to mention at the bottom of my last post is that Jack will act like he is at the bottom, and then won't listen to us, except me (but sometimes he doesn't listen to me either). IT's probably just him not being able to understand us. But also, whenever both of the dogs are with me, whenever I call over Lacey, Jack comes too, and when I try to pet Lacey, Jack gets infront of her and tries to nudge her out of the way, ect.

Another weird thing. Jack is terrified of men, but whenever my boyfriend comes over, he goes right up to him. Any ideas what this could mean?

I am just curious if anything ever transpired between your Dad and your dog where the dog felt it needed to be afraid or extremly submisive to him? I know both my dogs are very submissive to my husband and he has never even raised his voice at them, if fact he is usally to soft with them but for some reason even the pup will do some submissive piddling, when he bends down to pet her. They do not show fear though. Maybe it has something to do with body postures of your dad when he is interacting with your dog. I am sure someone else can answer your question. Now this prong collar issue. I know when I took my Sibe to the kennel club here for OB class, they were fitting the prongs WAY to loose. They wanted you to be able to put your whole hand between the collar and the dog, and then could not figure out why some of these dogs were not responding. I almost got kicked out because I voiced a very serious opinion. I refused to loosen mine up. Then I went around and fixed everyone elses <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> They finally saw that when the collar is fitted properly the dog responds the way it is suppose too. I think they got the notion somewhere that yes the prong collar is a good training tool but yet they were still a little intimidated by it. Well if you are going to use it then use it correctly other wise it too can become useless and annoying to the dog.

I don't remember if my dad has ever done anything to Jack. The thing is that really, Jack is afraid of everyone he doesn't know, including girls. He will hide everytime someone comes over, but he is slowly getting a little better. He doesn't do this around my boyfriend though, so I am thinking that since I am the only one with a real relationship with Jack, and since I am not the most social person either, maybe he figures that my boyfriend is a.o.k. Oh yeah, I got my prong today and I will try it when I go on a walk later. Wish me luck!