All I can say is that I feel very sorry for the dogs that this
guy trains. What a miserable life these dogs must have to live.

My female is a very hard dog. Very sweet but hard as nails & is dog aggressive. My dogs know that I am the one that 'runs the show' around my house. I feed them, dictate the boundries & rules to be followed & train them. They live in the house with me...god forbid...loose when I am home. They don't need 8 hour down stays to prove my status. I do have crates & use them....at night & when I am away for my male. My female is loose 24/7 but I have a crate for her too. I raised her crate trained. There many ways that demonstrate to your dogs that you are 'alpha' without such extreme measures. I have high drive working GSDs (as do others here) & I can't imagine that running around a kennel would be anywhere near enough exercise or mental stimulation at all. All I could see it doing is creating a crazy obsessive dog with some serious mental problems over time. No wonder the dog wants to run the first chance it gets. Even if you step up the training this dog may never be capable of doing what you are looking for her to do.

Every question I have begets another question. I will say that long downs (even if the ones she was doing were excessive) have taught the dog patience. She has chilled out a lot. She is calmer and more mature if that makes any sense. She is less nervous. These are good things.

I do worry that running in circles all day long (especially watching chickens and my other dogs roam around the yard) might make her obsess. Still, I have to work (otherwise Liesel and the rest of us won't eat), so she's got to be in there right now during the day. Suggestions? I am planning to exercise her fairly strenuously in the afternoon/evening/weekends.

Block her view of the chickens and for the time being kennel the other dogs too.

 Quote: Virginia Wyeth

I will say that long downs (even if the ones she was doing were excessive) have taught the dog patience.

There's nothing wrong with long downs; it's a self-contol exercise, among other things. How long is the question.
And, you can train this with positive methods (going to place on a mat or rug, using treats to reinforce the dog choosing to stay in a down on the mat, etc).

 Quote:

I do worry that running in circles all day long (especially watching chickens and my other dogs roam around the yard) might make her obsess. Still, I have to work (otherwise Liesel and the rest of us won't eat), so she's got to be in there right now during the day. Suggestions? I am planning to exercise her fairly strenuously in the afternoon/evening/weekends.

She doesn't need to be exercised to the extent that you can't do your work. It would probably be nice if you could get her out early before your work day begins to take some of the edge off for her. Does she fetch? That's great exercise. And, you can make it a game, using various obedience commands with the retrieve as the reward, if she likes to retrieve. Afternoons/evenings/weekends, all good. Also, mental exercise is very tiring for a dog, so lots of little training sessions would be good. It doesn't even matter what you train, it's having her use her mind. The bonus is the more you train, the closer your relationship becomes.

I like that your goal seems to be to take her as far as she can go. That's a fair goal all around.

As far as all those proscriptions of that trainer, I'd say NILIF (nothing in life is free) is the way to go. The dog has to earn everything, and you instigate everything, and control all the toys/rewards/fun.

I don't know if you're a book person (I am), but I like this book called Control Unleashed a lot. It is full of exercises to teach self-control to dogs. Author is Leslie McDevitt, if you're interested in checking it out.

leih

 Quote: steve strom

Block her view of the chickens and for the time being kennel the other dogs too.

Beautiful. Simple. Elegant. Duh.

 Quote: leih merigian

I don't know if you're a book person (I am), but I like this book called Control Unleashed a lot. It is full of exercises to teach self-control to dogs. Author is Leslie McDevitt, if you're interested in checking it out.

I'm an English teacher. I'm a bibliophile. Perfect. Thanks, I'll order it this week.

Wow. I've seen a few of their dogs. Our local PD has had 2. They were very good at their multiple jobs. Lots of drug finds and tracked and caught their fair share of bad guys.

I'd never seen their website before or really heard the training philosophy.

Sounds like the folks here are helping you get on the right track, though.

Good to see another Little Rockian.:smile:

 Quote: Michael_Wise

Wow. I've seen a few of their dogs. Our local PD has had 2. They were very good at their multiple jobs. Lots of drug finds and tracked and caught their fair share of bad guys.

I know, right?!

 Quote: Michael_Wise

Good to see another Little Rockian.:smile:

Ditto

<p>I know that I am very behind in getting involved in this thread, but wanted to asked if you had ever considered using a wireless fence. </p>
<p>I know that there are many stories about how dogs break the line and the collar stops working but I am talking about a wireless fence that keeps on correcting until the dog comes back into the safe zone, or when the collar is removed, or the wireless unit is turned off.</p>

<p>Initially there are flags that show the dog where the safe zone ends and the correction begins, and if the dog get near the flags the collar starts beeping very loudly, if they continue to cross the zone then they get corrected and the correction continues until they return to an area inside the safe zone.</p>

<p>I have a GSD and a very large Dobie and I have a wireless fence. While I do not believe that my dogs are as willful as yours they do have their moments and are dog aggressive. I live on 3 acreas; one day while working in the yard and having the dogs platzing on the front porch, a strange dog came in the yard and started up the driveway. My dogs started to bark but it did not detour the stranger; my dogs then charged after the dog full speed ahead. They ignored the warning signal and broke through the safe zone; they immediately began getting shocked and yelped loudly, (I felt horrible, but it was better than having a dead dog in my yard). We were calling the dogs back and I was running down the 400 foot driveway after them, once the shocking began the dobie ran to my husband who was on the front porch and the GSD ran to me, where I popped off the collar because I was outside of the safe zone at this point.</p>

<p>The first shock must have really hurt because they literally sounded like they screamed and I felt like the worst owner in the world, but the strange dog ran away and my dogs have never crossed outside of the safe zone again.</p>

<p>Other advantages to the wireless fence is that I can take the unit with me when I go visit friends and family. I just put on the collars and plug in the unit, set the range of the area they have access too, and as soon as they hear the warning tone they immediately return to the safe zone.</p>

<p>If you think this might be an option (even a "just in case" backup) then be sure that you get the type of wireless that continues the correction anytime the dog is outside of the safe zone.</p>

<p>Don't know how others feel about this but I like to take the dogs out with me when I work in the yard or am just sitting on the porch and it gives me an extra piece of mind. I still continue to work with them on listening and following my commands but like having this additional level of comfort.</p>

I hadn't heard of this before.

What happens if the dog goes outside the safe zone and is unable to return? Would you always have notification that a dog was being shocked continuously, and the ability to stop it even away from home?

I am thinking of an injured or stolen dog or a dog who maybe jumps another person's fence (a real one) or even doesn't know what he has to do to stop the shock. I'm not sure that calling the dog back when he is experiencing continuous shocking would always work. Is there some kind of training for the dog first?

ugh Ugh Yuck YUCK.

Is there any way to put this little gem from Laura into the 'will they ever stop fighting' tid bit?