I have a 1 year old male shepherd, Brisco. He is entering his "butthead" stage and beginning to challenge everyone in the family. I'm reading everything I can find on dominant dogs, but I have a few questions...

Last night I gave him what I immediately realized was an unfair correction. It wasn't harsh (for him, he's quite hard) but it was unfair. He turned and growled at me. I know the correction for growling at me should "rock his world", but what if my original correction was unfair in the first place? I corrected him quickly and let the matter drop. Was that the right thing to do?

If that had been the only time, I suppose I wouldn't be posting, though. Brisco has the typical dominant/hard personality that could be expected with his bloodlines (Stormfront's Brawnson/Sita Anrebi) but my past dominant dog was a female, nothing like all this testosterone <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />.

My trainer (a big K9 cop) showed me how to deal with Brisco. What he doesn't seem to relate to is my lack of physical strength. Due to some medical problems this past year (1 surgery & herniated discs) I truly am having trouble giving him a "rock your world" correction, even with a prong or choke collar. On most days I am physically unable to "hang" him, like my trainer showed me. I think Brisco knows this. My husband is unable to help because he travels most of the time (thus my reason for wanting a more protective dog). I believe Brisco saw me as the alpha until recently. I imagine I'm not the first person with bad back to train a dominant dog. So my biggest question is, how do I correct him without needing a cortisone shot in the morning?

My last question: is there a significant difference between the dominant dog collar sold here and a choke collar? Would this collar help? I found the prong works better than the choke for us, although my strong-man trainer disagress...

Thanks
Marianne

Marianne,

get a good e-collar, that's what most would recommend in your situation.. Learn how to use it properly and I'm sure you would have everything under control..

A dominant dog collar should also work, *if* you're physically capable of using it properly.



Regards,

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Last night I gave him what I immediately realized was an unfair correction. It wasn't harsh (for him, he's quite hard) but it was unfair. He turned and growled at me.

What was the correction for?

Have you been here, done all this yet ???

http://www.leerburg.com/qadominantdog.htm

http://www.leerburg.com/domdogdirectory.htm

Ed Frawley's dominant dog collar works on my 80 pound Akita, because it drains the drive out immediately -- BUT, the handler must be powerful enough to lift (at least!) the dog's front feet straight up OFF the ground with the leash...

Some handler-aggressive dogs (especially dominant males) go HIGHER in drive from getting stimulated by a prong or an e-collar, which could put a less powerful handler at risk for being mauled (and that can happen in a split-second!) so you do NOT want to get into anymore iffy exchanges with this dog, or you could be badly bitten...

Does he live by the "Groundwork" rules? Can you train him with simultaneous assistance of a second handler using two sets of equipment? Do you know how to work him on a tie-out anchor for handler safety? -- If you're an old hat at all these management techniques, then just ignore my post <:-)

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Last night I gave him what I immediately realized was an unfair correction. It wasn't harsh (for him, he's quite hard) but it was unfair. He turned and growled at me.

What was the correction for?

It was simply a too-harsh correction for not following a command that he hasn't yet learned 100%. Too harsh for the offense (I was wound a little tight that night <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />, but like I mentioned, he a pretty hard dog so it isn't as if the correction was serious enough to break him down.

I've been reading more, the groundwork article is one I read throughly before Brisco even arrived. But I have become lax about a couple of things, so I've taken away some "privledges" that Brisco had previously earned (mainly off-lead time and toys). Thank you, Cindy, for the links, I did need a refresher.

The e-collar is something I never even considered before, but it may just be the answer to dealing with this and saving my back (and my relationship with my dog). I have a strong bond with Brisco, but when I become hesitant to handle him because of back pain, he doesn't get the "quality" time that he needs (the quanity of time is still there). This could have affected the pack order, too.