Quote:

Good move. Your friend will quickly get used to the straightforward way people talk here.

How many people have we scared away... ? I hope he can see that the people on this board care about the dog, and not so much about the trainer's feelings.

 Quote: Anne Vaini

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Good move. Your friend will quickly get used to the straightforward way people talk here.

How many people have we scared away... ? I hope he can see that the people on this board care about the dog, and not so much about the trainer's feelings.

Oh believe me, I picked up on that.

I think it is great that you posted the video and that you handled the feedback so professionally.

Kudos to you all!

BTW, I finally have Ed's puppy video on its way to me. I too am saving next for the Dog Obdience one.

I know that some of what I'm going to say is a repeat, but I have to. You need to train your dog, not someone else. Your dog was a stray that you rescued, you've only had her for 3 months, she needs time to adjust to you and her surroundings and the basics of training(i.e. sit, down, stay) and go slowly, one thing at a time. Keep reading the articles that the website has even if you think it doesn't pertain to your dog. She will do much better having you as her leader and trainer-she DOES NOT need the harsh corrections that were in the video, she looks like she was provoked by the harsh "corrections" and did what she thought she should do to protect herself.
I hope for the best for you both, good luck.

Do your friend, who is handling your dog in the video, a favor and tell him that he needs to learn about how dogs really learn best.
He is using & getting taught old-school (like 20 years ago) methods that are ineffective at creative a good, balanced dog who wants to learn and perform. Tell him to find a new mentor.
There are better ways to train that work better in today's age.
If he really wants to be a prefessional dog trainer as a career, he should take this advice.

Emily, ditto to what everyone else posted. Good advice and should be heeded, for the good of the dog.

I'm glad you posted the video because you were using terms like handler aggression and as someone else pointed out, had we not seen the video you would have had different responses. If it weren't for the video, your dog would have really had a horrid time if different advise was given. I cringe when I think of what could have happened to that poor dog.

You've only had the dog 3 months....slow WAY down. First work on the bonding again, keeping other people away from handling her at all. Then start training as if the dog had never been trained before and do it with motivation, not punishment and force. Treats, toys, AND praise, not just praise at this point. And you're trying to get your dog to hobnob with every dog it sees or that comes along. No dog parks, no playing with every dog, no need for that. Your new dog has been completely overwhelmed with everything that has been thrown it in the last 3 months.

Your dog has a soft temperament from what I saw...do you or your friend know the difference between a soft and hard temperament? Ed Frawley explains it in his articles. Do either of you know the 3 stages of training? Also explained in articles and/or DVDs. I guess I'm surprised that in your reading of the articles you didn't come across any of that.

Your dog was unfairly abused and it's your job to protect your dog or she will never trust you. That video almost made me cry for the dog, too, like it did Connie. Unfairness is easy to spot. Unfairness toward an innocent is downright anger producing for me. But you did the right thing by posting the video, for the sake of your dog.

Emily, ditto here too. I agree with everyone and you got posts from people who really know what they are doing - like Anne Vaini and Cindy, et al.

I too felt very sorry for your dog and wanted to bitch slap your friend. He's a perfect example of that saying, "he knows just enough to be dangerous".

Rant over, your dog reminds me of mine and here's what worked like magic...ZERO harsh corrections.

My GSD is a soft dog but smart as a whip and he gets it. He gets it when he's done something wrong like, get up from a stay. All I need to do is say a stern but quiet and calm NO and he fixes his error on his own.

I too made mistakes when he was younger and thought a correction should be maybe a tug on the prong at a level 2, maybe 3. But this was not getting the desired results and he was looking stressed so I did a rethink and decided to go to zero physical correction and work up from there (verbal correction only). Since then, no problems whatsoever that ever required any tug on his prong ever again.

Now I work with my dog every single day, bar none and have developed an incredibly strong bond with him. I also walk with him every day. It really helped solidify our relationship and our time together training.

Try training with a toy. Gunnar's reward for doing the command (one that he knows), he gets to run after the ball. He absolutely loves this game and is almost desperate for the next command.

Treats worked for him too in the beginning. It's what I used all the time but then figured out there's got to be a better way. The ball is a far better training tool in my opinion for my dog. The treats are done maybe 3 times a week. The ball, every day at least once a day and oftentimes twice a day. It's how I hone his skills.

Good luck. Please keep your friend from every handling your dog again. And kudos to you for rescuing him/her .

Edited by Judy Troiano (03/15/2007 01:00 PM)
Edit reason: typo

It's NOT too late to save your relationship with this dog; lose the prong collar at least for the time being; follow Ed Frawley's Groundwork program http://www.leerburg.com/groundwork.htm
to establish a neutral "calm/assertive" new beginning as a FAIR packleader; don't do ANY obedience training with her for 2 full weeks; by then you will have received Ed's Basic Obedience DVD
http://leerburg.com/302.htm
and you can start over using Positive Motivation ONLY operant conditioning methods...

Once you get back on the right foot, you can re-introduce the prong IF one is even necessary, after awhile -- but until then, just work her on a flat buckle collar, following the 2 week long hiatus period of Groundwork !

Glad you joined the forum & your Boxer will THANK you <:-)

Candi
I think playful obedience training will be fine right away. Starting over, assuming Ollie knows nothing and being very caution about moving to a correction phase in a month or later (if it's needed).

I get the impression that Ollie is a very compliant dog in normal circumstances and that she would enjoy have a bit of highly rewarding bonding time (that means obedience training) with Emily.

I agree that Ollie should have 2 week break from Aaron or the place where that training took place.

I'm not saying you're "wrong" because you're not at all - I've said the same thing to a lot of people. If the compulsion training had been done over a longer period of time and had been done by Emily rather than her friend, then I would agree with you completely.

No prob, Anne, but if it were me (following a rotten episode like that one) I'd rather er on the side of caution, for the dog's sake -- I believe Ed has stated a few times in articles & on the forum, that he takes ALL his new dogs through at least 2 full weeks of settling-in Groundwork, no matter how much (or little) training (or trauma) they may have experienced before...

My guess is this rescue Boxer has never had a neutralizing course like Groundwork before (???) Anyway, it sets the right pack rules in the dog's mind to see his new owner as a fair leader & it will re-affirm a relaxed bond of trust between them...

She has the whole remainder of this dog's entire life to practice obedience work with her, so there's NO need to rush things (especially given the unfortunate training mishap!) IMHO -- That's why I'll stick by my original advice, not because I think anyone else's approach is wrong <:-)