I generally avoid kids, dog training or not....but recently Ryuk and I have picked up a fan club in the apartment. There are 3 boys one around 5 the other two maybe in the 10yo range who are always outside after school or on weekends watching Ryuk. I require them to stay far out of the way, they have never pet my dog (he goes into orbit mode around me out of reach on command if they come to close), I try to discourage them talking to me since I'm a stranger and while I'm not an ax murderer they don't know that....One of the kids and his brother has a shitzu they really want to train to do some of the simpler tricks Ryuk does and they keep asking me about it. Right now my extent of talking to them has been short answer...usually telling them they should not talk to strangers and asking them if they're okay when they wreck their bikes or fall out of trees.

These kids are 100% unsupervised when they're outside. The father comes out at night to yell for them but that's about it. They're apartment isn't even in a place he could watch them from the window. Their father doesn't typically come out if you go tell him one is injured (a few weeks ago my housemate helped the younger one home after he hit a curb with his bike, I've on a few occasions brought them bandaids and such). Their father is a bit of a jerk if you talk to him about his kids. I know a few people have made complaints to him since the kid didn't pick up the dog's poop, the dog is to strong with the kid and will take off and attack other dogs, the kids play in the dumpsters, they routinely terrorize the youngest of the group, etc.. Since they show an interest in dog training and their dog is a terror I don't mind teaching them something like marker training that could be fun but obviously I'd like to ask the father's permission first. I'm unsure how to do this, any ideas?

***I know a few people have called in their concerns (particularly about the dumpsters) but at this point nothing has been done....most of us just yell at them if we see them doing something that could kill them...

Employ them in helping you train Ryuk for things that you need an extra person. Tracking and SAR exercises are a good to do with older kids. Tricks, too.

I'm thinking you could get a lot of awesome frisbee tricks out of this.

If they were MY kids (well, they would not be allowed out unsupervised) I'd be happy to see someone showing my kids a better way to interact with the dog. Does not sound like the Dad will be impressed with marker training.

I'm sorry Jamie. Living in an apartment sucks. Koenig has a crowd at times too, and it's all I can do to keep him focused on me, not the screaming kids.

I'm almost out of this apartment (CAN NOT WAAAAAAIT...moving into an awesome house share with a studio and a place we can fit an indoor agility ring)

I wouldn't mind employing them but I'd like to get the father's permission to avoid any issues. Ryuk will never be near them so I'm not worried about him (he's kid safe anyway....they could stick their hands down his throat and he wouldn't care). It would be doubly beneficial for everyone since their dog would get some training it really needs, they would be occupied and not playing in a dumpster...would be great!

I think it's great that you'd like to get these boys off on the right foot with marker training, and you are right. You need to talk to the dad first. How about asking one of the older ones to go with you so you can ask their dad permission to show them some 'tricks' that they can teach the dog?

I wouldn't even bring up the term 'training', since that implies that the dog isn't trained, and this guy sounds like he might take offense to that.

 Quote: Lynne Barrows

I wouldn't even bring up the term 'training', since that implies that the dog isn't trained, and this guy sounds like he might take offense to that.

Lynn, what a GREAT point! He'd prolly get his panties in a twist over that. LOL.

..what a great neighbor and influence you are!
BUT now I'm kinda jealous:
"...an indoor agility ring.." -really?
Also, your pictures of him are incredible and the captions are the BEST!
Let us know how this turns out!