I live and work in the epicenter of positive only dog training. People give me all sorts of trouble about how evil my dogs prong collar is.

When they start the whole "Thats terrible! Why do you use that thing? You should use a harness or a gentle leader!" routine, I have found the best response is to say "I use it so that she doesn't pull me into the street and die."

It usually stops them right in their tracks.

Seriously? They want me to take my easily excitable 11 month old dog, who is already 70 pounds of muscle, and walk her around a busy city on a harness? No thank you. I'll stick to he torture device!

Meanwhile there this guy at a park I go to that corrects his aggressive pitbull for wanting kill other dogs by saying "Uh Oh!". Really.

I got some bad rap for talking about pack structure on another forum. It was really annoying. I never heard back from the OP either who had a very possessive dog that had already bitten a number of people in the household. But I gave my advice (and some Leerburg links) and hopefully she took it to heart. Kinda funny, for all the bad comments I get, there's always been one or two people who sees the light and comes to me for more info.

Not agitation Anne. Just for everyday stuff. I bought him a pretty blue one cause I didnt want him to hurt himself. But then just before I went over the edge and became a "Guardian" I saw a nice new Sprenger with a snap buckle, and Bam! Pulled me right back into responsible ownership.

Nice, Connie! Wheat, chaf, and last straw.

I have never really looked at any other dog forums. I found this one (from the advice of my dog's breeder), it is lively and grounded in common sense.

I've been told off for using a prong, I've been told off because I posted pics from a training session where I didn't use treats (I used his tug), I was told off for NOT using a clicker (I use my voice....I tend to lose clickers, I don't often loose my vocal cords), I was told of FOR using a clicker ("don't you know that they hurt dog's ears" WTF O_o)


I was a horrible person because I broke the ribs of a dog that came after me and took off my entire padded snow pant leg (to clarify, the dog came in for bite two and I kicked him as hard as I could and climbed a tree....I not was TRYING to break the thing's ribs but between his ribs and my leg...I want my leg)....I've been told off crating my dog, for NOT crating my dog...for having a dog while in college, for not taking in another dog because I was in college, for asking curiously about some soft stool issues on a forum before contacting a vet (I was asking if anyone had trouble with puppies eating a certain brand of treat...).....um

I like this forum...you're all sane here...and even when insanity ensues it's the sane type of insanity...

 Quote: connie sutherland

 Quote: melissa thom

A couple years ago I was thrown out of an online papillon group for suggesting that yappy neurotic dogs begat yappy neurotic dogs even if they have a Ch at the beginning of their registered names, suggesting that perhaps breeders should insist upon their dogs be housebroken, and that solid obedience didn't equal abuse.

I wonder which was the last straw.

Somedays I wonder if perhaps I was a little too forceful about stuff, attract more flies with honey, etc then I realize my indian name is not "Plays well with Others". I figured out about 90% of dog people follow the learning curve with dogs just like people follow the fashion curve. They just reach a certain year and stop progressing rather than take the continued learning approach. Some folks stop at crank and yank, some folks learned the Dr Spock pure positive approach, and then there are those who learn as they go and adapt. The forums for those kinds of civil discussions are few and far between both in reality and online.

 Quote: meredith hamilton

I'm an average first-time dog owner. (Fortunately for me, I have an exceptional dog.) A little embarrassed to admit this, but it's taken me almost 4 years of dabbling in AKC style obedience and agility classes to get to the point where I can separate good advice from bad. It's easy when it seems extreme on either end of the spectrum, but middle of the road stuff is harder to decipher.

I'll say it again, I'm lucky to have ended up with a biddable, easy-going, tolerant dog. Some of the crap "training" we've been exposed to could have done damage to a lesser soul.

You don't sound like the average dog owner to me because you've been taking an active interest in training your dog. At least not anymore, anyway.

To me, the "average dog owner" is the kind of person you usually see on a popular female hosted dog training show.

 Quote: katie finlay

I got some bad rap for talking about pack structure on another forum. It was really annoying. I never heard back from the OP either who had a very possessive dog that had already bitten a number of people in the household. But I gave my advice (and some Leerburg links) and hopefully she took it to heart. Kinda funny, for all the bad comments I get, there's always been one or two people who sees the light and comes to me for more info.

I have this exact problem on a car forum I go to and I also post Leerburg links there. People don't want to hear that they have to change the way the live with their dog, even if it will solve their problem. It's like people post on the internet to have "agreements" instead of discussions.

I only post on one other dog forum, and it's a small forum for a group of friends trading training ideas, mainly.

I won't post on forums that allow anonymous posting, and I won't post on forums that allow posters to post stupid ideas ( that will get people or dogs hurt ) and don't require them to back up said stupid ideas with some experience.
So basically.....I post here.

"People don't want to hear that they have to change the way the live with their dog, even if it will solve their problem."

So true!!! Not just anonymous internet forums, it's everywhere. I have friends I can't bear to be around any longer due to the way they neglect their dog's mental and physical health. The same people who marvel at what a wonderful dog Ripley is. I cannot count the number of times I've explained that a little work and decent food would get them a dog more like Ripley than not. Aaaaarrrgggghhh. Blood pressure rising again...