Hi Mark,

A flat collar's just a regular leather or nylon collar. I'm with Sandy. It's now time for "Stern Daddy" to make an appearance. You might have been inadvertantly letting her know that if she struggles & carries on, you'll do what she wants, by stopping & looking back at her. If you have to drag her on her butt to get her to learn that you're not going to give in to her, then that's what it will take.

A couple of questions. In the house, is she tethered to you on a short leash so that you're right there to notice any "about to go to the loo" behaviours & control her other behavious? When she's not tethered to you (or right next to you), where is she? In her crate/appropriate outside area or is she loose? Is there an experienced dog person who you trust who can observe you guys in action & give you some pointers? Is there a rottie club you can go to for help? How often does she go out or is she inside most of the time? Could this be weather related, where she doesn't feel like going out because it's cold? Would it be possible to acclimate her to the cold?

Good luck!

Then in that case she already has a flat collar, so that idea is void. I already AM dragging her out the door - SHE WONT FOLLOW. I can't drag the poor thing all the way along the street - i would be arrested for cruelty! Please let me say one more time I AM ALREADY DOING EVERYTHING I SHOULD BE - IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE.
A couple of questions. In the house, is she tethered to you on a short leash so that you're right there to notice any "about to go to the loo" behaviours & control her other behavious? No

When she's not tethered to you (or right next to you), where is she? she is loose in the same room i am in, being constantly watched. I don't have a crate & don't want one, it's just yet another expense and i have already spent enough on accesories that were useless.

Is there an experienced dog person who you trust who can observe you guys in action & give you some pointers? Yes, she goes to training school every week - that's the whole point, i am doing everything i should be doing.

Is there a rottie club you can go to for help? Yes, about 50 miles away!

How often does she go out or is she inside most of the time? She goes out every 30 minutes.

Could this be weather related, where she doesn't feel like going out because it's cold? Would it be possible to acclimate her to the cold? We are talking about a hardy breed and besides, this sudden change in her behaviour did not coincide with change in weather, i don't believe it is related.

Mark,

You have a toughie, take a deep breath! When you look forward at the next 12-13 years don't think in terms of difficulty itself but think about the greater sense of accomplishment you will have for "getting there" with a difficult dog!

Ok so, like Eva said, you are by now anticipating the dog putting on the brakes when you get within a certain proximity to the doorway. Try to change your own mind and anticipate successfully getting through the door, even IF you have to drag her. If you are anticipating failure the dog will notice something different about your emotional state and react to it according to the dog's own nature, its temperament, and its learned responses to such stimuli. Anticipate that "today is the day" and move forward with purpose, yes, but mainly with anticipation for the dog's success! If you believe she will achieve! (Cheesey I know, but true.) As far as dragging her down the street... to hell with it if it's making you crazy. Start playing in the front of your home, get back to the "I want a puppy" mind set and just enjoy the time with her, work on your BOND but do it with the mental state that this pup is now a bit older. The only difference is that the bond you are establishing with the dog has some sort of a hierarchy aoura to it -- let's play, but I'm still the man! You had a successful day, focus on that and from here on out try to think about what you are doing right instead of what could be wrong. At least until you have cleared this hurdle.

Taking a dog to a classroom settign is not really what Eva was referring to. She meant having an experienced dog person see the two of you together in "your natural environment"; all dogs act different in class than they do in their real life.

There were a couple of threads on here over the past week dealing with housebreaking. I can't remember what they were titled as, maybe someone else has a better memory..? But try to find them there were some good points there. If you have a crate that's perfect, learn how they are applied in housebreaking routines and use it. My dog dropped her water (all of it ) for quite some time. It drove me insane and I had no explanation for it. It was frustrating and scary for me at the same time because I didn't know what was wrong with my dog. Eventually she grew out of it and now she's great! Get a house routine down and stick to it. Every 30 mins is great but it may not be the most benificial schedule for your dog. One major point to note on "the routine" is that elimination should be at the same time of day all the time until the dog is reliable in the home.

Keep the questions coming Mark we will help you get there.

Mark, I can certainly understand your frustration.

"Is there an experienced dog person who you trust who can observe you guys in action & give you some pointers? Yes, she goes to training school every week - that's the whole point, i am doing everything i should be doing."

I meant to say to see you guys in day-to-day activities, & see if there's something you can tweak if you're inadvertantly doing something offputting to the dog.

Rottie club too far away. Do they have a website or people you can talk with who've also experienced this in their Rotts?

Have you talked to her breeder to see if they've encountered the door-fear thing before & how they overcame it?

Edit: We both posted at the same time

Everyone's given great advice, and maybe I'm repeating something, but in addition to the pulling her out, are you giving her quick tugs? I have a dog who would let me drag him for miles if I tried but as soon as I do quick intermittent tugs on the lead (even just with a flat collar), he gets up and follows me.

Worth a shot, if you haven't tried it already.

Not sure if this has been suggested, and more experienced people PLEASE shout me down if I'm way off base, but here's what worked for me. I got my pup at 3 months and immediately started taking him on walks with a flat collar. After a couple of weeks, I don't know if something had spooked him or he just decided to be stubborn, he started the "hell no, I won't go" routine. I also was dragging him down the street. I put a pinch/prong collar on him, and the problem vanished. No muss, no fuss. Didn't break his spirit, or ruin his confidence, or anything bad. Once he quit fighting (took about 5 seconds), he decided to relax and enjoy himself. I didn't make a big deal out of it - just put the collar on and walked him out the door. End of problem. He's now a friendly, self-confident, joyous, enthusiastic one-year old who pesters the heck out of me to go on walks.

Good idea, but I don't think they're allowed in the UK.

Hi guys,

Thank you all for sticking with this, i had got myself pretty damned uptight by last night & have spent today re-evaluating things so that i can try to look at it from a new angle. I think i am expecting way too much from Cassie, she is only a 3 month old baby afterall.

I think the prong collars are not very highly thought of over here, i have never seen one apart from a picture of one. They seem to be avoided by puppy school as well.

I think i just came close to dispairing yesterday because it felt like every aspect of puppy ownership was a struggle and even simple little activities were a constant battle. I felt quite tearful to be honest because i came so close to giving in & i was not being patient enough with her.

I had a better day today & took her to the park but i did it differently, for a start i took her BEFORE her lunch so she was hungry & showed an interest in treats. She actually walked out the door herself with a treat as a 'lure', but then she stopped at the gate and played me again, so i just stood still & looked away for a moment, then gave her lead a quick tug & she followed.

By the time we reached the end of the street she started again, so this time i sat on a wall and looked away & she laid down by my feet and just watched the world go by, then i stood up & set off again. This does seem to work and i felt like i made progress today, she enjoyed the park as always & met lots of dogs to play with, then she stopped at the gate of the park, so i just looked away again then purposefully walked out the gate - she followed.

It does seem i will have to take the slow approach and maybe i was just not being patient enough. I was just worried because she has been this way for two weeks now & i don't want it to become a bad habit.

Ultimately i think the fault lays with my lack of patience and i need to just be a little more relaxed about going out on walks. I just wonder how long do these 'phases' last? Will she just suddenly change & be ok soon?

Mark

Mark,

It's time for cartwheels! Yippee! She made progress!

Don't despair! Go slow & have fun. She's a baby & needs baby steps. Don't worry about what she'll be like further down the road, just focus on what you guys are doing now as that lays the foundation for the future. Just enjoy her now & let her proceed slowly

Good for you! Maybe what you did is took the "fun" out of her being stubborn. It didn't get her anywhere, so she quit. Sort of the same principle as with my pup - when it stopped being productive, he quickly forgot about it and went on to more interesting things. Sounds like you're on to something there.

Sigh... If only you Brits would read some of the studies that have been done showing choke and flat collars damage dogs' tracheas, whereas prong collars don't. But at least you don't slice up their ears. But hacking off their tails is okay.... As we say in the South: Go figure.

Cheers!