Hi, I have a question regarding how to start obedience training of a 10 month old female rescue GSD. I am picking her up next week and she is in desparate need of obedience training as she's had nothing so far. Her last month or so has been pretty traumatic though - going from being a stray to the animal shelter to foster home to the vet for spaying to a new adoptive family who then had to return her due to allergies back to the vet for more surgery cause she popped her stitches back to the foster home.....you get the picture......
I do have Ed's Basic Obedience video and have used it with much success on my 20 month old male (altered) rescue GSD. My concern with this new dog is throwing on the prong and traumatizing her more! You can't even take her on a walk cause she pulls me like I weigh about 10 lbs! She weighs about 55 lbs already and will literally pull me off me feet if I'm not paying attention! I know that one or two good pops with the the prong will start to correct this problem but I don't want to petrify her as soon as she comes into the home! How do I best handle this? Should I give her a couple weeks to kind of settle in then start? But I also want her to know right away that I am the pack leader and from the short visits I've had with her it's pretty clear that voice commands and a flat collar are not going to cut it!! Is 10 months too young to start with a prong when she's had absolutely no training at all yet?? Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi Shanin.
I've had a few fosters over the past year and I always allow them at least two weeks to settle in and adjust to me and their new surroundings. I don't expect too much from them and don't worry about obedience at this stage. Crating is a great way to maintain control while reducing stress for the dog.
We don't move into new environments or meet new people until this timeframe has passed. By then, we've started to establish a bond and I can slowly introduce some obedience outside of the familiarity of my backyard.
If you have a fenced yard, you could put her on a long line and then use either food or a toy (whichever motivates her) to encourage her to stay close and start to focus on you. Something that's also worked really well to establish a bond is hand-feeding at least one of the day's meals. I put kibble into a pouch and we walk around the yard, feeding small amounts every time the dog stays close to me.
Hope this helps. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Depending on the dog, of course, the structure you give her by setting rules and making her focus outside herself may be the best thing for her.

You can probably start her on the prong from day one. Lots of dogs find it less unpleasant than the alternatives. Especially if they've never been on a prong before, but have been yanked all over on a choke.

As far as walking on leash (not "heeling), just make sure than you let her self-correct her pulling. Let her hit the end of the line herself and find that it's unpleasant. You can be as sweet and reassuring as can be. Keeping corrections impersonal, and making praise very personal is an art <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I think baiting her for puppy-type recalls and focus in motion is great. If you have other people involved, doing round-robin recalls is a great confidence builder. Treat her like a puppy, insofar as possible.

If she's food oriented, I'd start doing some creative, positively motivation work. Like clicker training. If she's not food, I'd work hard to get her that way.

I used to do dobe rescue, and many of those dogs were wound so tight from neglect or trauma that you couldn't get too personal with them. They accepted handling, even corrections, but were really bothered by any "huggy, cuddly, friendly" stuff until they were ready on their own terms.

That didn't stop me from starting them in obedience. You have to work for clarity any time you're working dobies anyway <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> so it was kind of natural.

Good luck. The bitch in my signature was a rescue from the city pound. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions, I really appreciate it!! I do have a fenced yard so will start there with basic commands like sit & come using food as a motivation (assuming that works for her).....AND try to keep her focus on me & keep her close to me. Her foster mom says she seems to bond very quickly and is a big snuggle lover so, hopefully the lavish hugs, pats, praise, etc....will increase her confidence. Will sort of play it by ear with the prong with the understanding that any correction at first will be her own self correction when she pulls. Foster mom says she doesn't really like the crate too well so we'll have to work on that! Thanks again for your help!

Shanin, the prong collar is a good tool regardless of what phase of training you're in-better for the dog, won't slip off, and spurs lively conversation with ignorant passing do-gooders direly in need of verbal thrashing. However, if you try to "correct" the dog before it has been taught what correct IS, then you're skipping most of the training cycle.

Read Ed's articles about the phases of dog training, and start at the beginning. If your initial objective is to get her to walk reasonably on a leash, corrections probably won't work this early. If she pulls, just change direction and ignore her. You need some time to bond with the hound before she'll give a crap where you're going, so I'd take it slow. Another focus exercise that worked for me was demanding eye contact and recognition before putting a food dish on the floor or opening any door for the dog to go out. Dog sits, makes eye contact, gets what it wants when you say so.

I took Konig (my rescue) to a tennis court (very high fence-no escape potential), and used food reward initially. When I had reasonable reliability with food, I began to transition to ball reward, and increased focus exercises. All of this was based on learning, correction, and distraction (proofing) phases, as outlined in the article here: http://www.leerburg.com/302.htm.

Good luck.

Thanks for some more great suggestions! Definitely liking the focus ideas. I always make my dog sit and hang out for a minute after I put his food down before he eats....of course he's staring at me wondering when I'm going to free him to go eat! I'll be doing the same with this new pup (as well as the before she goes outside idea!). I think before I even attempt to walk her on a leash I will throw the ball about a billion times to tire her out a bit.....it's hard to even attempt to change direction with her as she is almost at a full run with me dangling behind her!

Thanks again! The journey begins next week..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />