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CeramicPig posted:So excuse any rambling or typos, I might be a little tipsy. Bought a prong collar to help train our pup because no other methods would work, and they are fantastic. It's at the point where I can go back to other collars after less than a month on it and she simply is better. Would recommend a prong collar to everyone over a harness - our dog was is very comfortable at pulling through all collars and harnesses, but a herm sprenger just works.
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Jun 17, 2019 04:39
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Okay, oh boy oh poo poo this is a bit much. On the night of the tenth our nine year old Boxer passed away after a week of negative health, and after the last two days she had seemed to be doing better and looked to be on the road to recovery. We have been a two pet household for most of my life, so my mother started looking into getting a new Bulldog to match the one we have, and today decided to go and see one. She decided on a male puppy, an English/French mix nine weeks old, and hoped to wait until Friday to pick it up due to family reasons (my father is unavailable for the week, my Brother is taking care of his girlfriend and her dog for half the week, both me and my mother are working most of the week), and she would have been able to care for it for most of a full three day span. The Breeder decided that no, we would take the puppy then or not at all. So surprise, at 2 in the afternoon I became a new puppy daddy, and most of my family was unavailable for the rest of the day for work or father's day. I am a massive worrier, and while some things so far have gone very well, other things have not gone as such. On the upside, our 20 month old English/Old English Bulldog cross has taken very, very well to the puppy. She will constantly try to be near him, and while she may push him around a bit she clearly is happy to have him around. Unfortunately she loves him a bit too much, so when separated by say a baby gate or when the puppy is picked up to take them to the grass outside she gets stupid, either trying to climb people to get to him or staring for hours through the gate making whiny rumbling noises. The puppy also seems to love her a lot, being willing to try and play with her (by biting/nipping obviously), and otherwise is fine with her pushing him around. On the downside he is not house or paper trained, and while it may be easier to help him figure it out than the last one due to having nice weather outside rather than the regular -20c that we had for the other Bulldog, I still worry about getting him trained fairly soon, as currently he just pees whenever and wherever. I have looked at the guide on the front page, and will try to follow it from now on, but I worry. We managed to get the crate we used for the other Bulldog back (was being used for another small dog, now no longer needs it it seems), and while the puppy hasn't been too keen on sleeping in there yet I also haven't had the time to remember how to start crate training until now (late at night here). They do not find it scary however, and they jump in and out with gusto when playing. I've currently thrown the shirt I was wearing for the day in there as the puppy likes to have contact with a person and wants to settle where a person is, whether in my lap or on a recently shed flip-flop. We have a few toys in the room with him, a teething nylabone and two rubber toys I grabbed earlier, and since there are many other dog toys in the house I will find some more in the morning. He certainly enjoys what he already has. I am a little worried about separation anxiety for the next few days, as so far the puppy has made some sad sounds when I was in another room eating while it was awake. The older dog also really, really wants to be with the puppy but doesn't seem to know her own size/strength/weight, so she will probably spend most of the day trying to get at the puppy through the gate. As I won't be home for around 7 hours the next two days (though my brother will be home briefly on lunch breaks at least) this kind of concerns me. I am probably (definitely) overstressing about this, but I cannot help it, it is just my nature. Please help me calm down a bit from this so I can actually sleep tonight and don't literally worry myself sick. I'm not much of a photo guy, but here's a pic of the little guy trying to nap on my foot:  As for why I haven't put in his name... We've only had him for less than 10 hours, and most of that has been just me and the dogs so he doesn't have one yet. E: I realize I will probably end up with people yelling I am a terrible pet owner and possibly abusive based on what I've shared (since that seems to be the case no matter what when pet info is shared), but my inner thought for the last few hours has basically been 'AAAAAAAAAAA-' interrupted by streams of expletives. I am really just trying to avoid a breakdown in the next little bit, with some basic advice being appreciated. Ashsaber fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 04:43
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I wouldn't recommend using a prong collar for the first time unless you're under the supervision of a trainer. The internal screaming and thinking the whole thing is a terrible idea is perfectly normal when you bring home a new dog.
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Jun 17, 2019 05:28
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Glad to hear I'm not too abnormal at least. Just had to go downstairs to turn off the light/let the big dog out. Puppy was sleeping without a care in the crate, though there were two poops outside (he hasn't eaten in like 3.5 hours and pooped outside immediately after, jeez), and once he saw me he hopped out and made a quick puddle on the floor. Work in progress. I do need to get used to a dog who pees forwards instead of back now too. ...And now he's whining a bit since I went back upstairs. Thankfully we have a large house with a pretty nice backyard, so space isn't much of an issue. Currently puppy is in the kitchen with an open crate and a bowl of water, with a towel in a corner that he liked to sleep on earlier. No wires exposed, no food he could get into easily, its pretty decent. The whining is making me fight the urge that got me in a bit of trouble when we got my last dog, the urge to go down there and let him sleep in my lap for a while to settle him down. It won't help in the long run, in the short run it means I would probably miss work in the morning. Still, it isn't helping my nerves at all to hear sad dog sounds ever. E: I feel like people are going to want to string my family up for not taking a month to introduce the dogs/etc. so now I'm also worried about that. Now I need to try and get some sleep without worrying myself into vomiting, which I feel somewhat close to doing already. EE: okay, morning now, Puppy got out earlier thanks to my mom, played a bunch and is now resting. Very calm. I have topped up the water dish, found one more toy, will look for a couple more. Still fighting back panic since I'm leaving in half an hour. Ashsaber fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 05:55
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I've never heard that you must take a month to introduce two dogs. I'm sure it's different with every pair and I'm sure it could take a month.
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Jun 17, 2019 16:31
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If you're worried that you're being crazy over your puppy, feel free to take a look at my post history in this thread. Full crazy. Before I even got him!!! When I first got Sherlock he would shriek like he was possessed by an Exorcist like demon when I crated him and left. He's a social guy and didn't want to be ignored. He still has a bit of transitional anxiety and hates it when my boyfriend and I leave. HOWEVER, once we leave he finds a sunbeam and sleeps in it until we get home. After he was house trained I just started placing him in bed with me and the spoiling began. He has slept under the blanket beside me (or between my feet) for five years straight. Love that little guy.
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Jun 17, 2019 17:18
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Honestly I've never heard of there being more of a process to introducing a new dog to a household beyond "be present when the new dog meets other dogs, so you can separate them if there's an issue." The "spend a month with them in separate parts of the house" thing is for cats. I'm 100% sympathetic to the anxiety, and I think it's pretty common. When I got Pavlov he hated having to sleep in his crate downstairs, instead of being with me. He'd give these long, meandering whine/howls that would terminate in a bark. OoooaaaaowwwwrrrrARK! Over and over again for an hour before he'd finally fall asleep. It was pretty rough on everyone. But if I'd go down to interact with him, it only made things worse.
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Jun 17, 2019 17:25
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CeramicPig posted:So excuse any rambling or typos, I might be a little tipsy. What are you trying to train the dog to do? I tried several different harnesses and collars to train my 75lb labradoodle to not pull on his leash. Prong collars he just ignored. What worked was the "gentle leader" that compresses and forces his muzzle closed, painlessly, when he pulls on his leash. It doesn't hurt at all but it's *annoying* and he very quickly got the message and stopped pulling generally. I'd suggest having the dog only wear such a collar or harness when actively being trained or walked, and take it off the rest of the time. Keep a smaller collar with id tag on the pup always, if it's appropriate ly sized -- two fingers room under the collar --he dog won't be able to damage it.
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Jun 17, 2019 18:05
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I've never trained a dog with a prong collar, but one of the training places I take classes at does advocate them, but they specifically and strongly encourage people to only use them if they're in a class, so the trainer can teach them how to train a dog with a prong collar. I don't remember exactly how the trainer put it, but I think she said that it's possible to trade bad behavior (constant pulling) for even worse, more reactive behavior. Regarding introducing dogs, yeah the month apart thing isn't at all necessary. Just don't leave the dogs alone together until they're clearly comfortable with each other. I'm guessing if you were a two-dog house before you've probably been through it all, but just in case: They'll need to figure out how to coexist, and in particular the puppy will need to learn when playing becomes annoying. Some snapping and growling is normal and if the pup backs off, you won't need to do anything. Make sure they both have plenty of room to get away from one another. If they take to each other really well, you may want to continue to separate them occasionally just so they're okay with it, we made that mistake when we got our second dog, who freaked out for about four days straight when our first dog went to the breeder's place to have puppies. Basically it sounds like you're doing all the right things, just keep at it. Puppies are exhausting, and in particular I think people with multiple dogs sometimes take for granted how much work a puppy can be, because it's easy to look at your current dog and think, well they're great, I'm sure the puppy will be great too! We got our third pup this January and it's been harsh re-learning the exhausting and trying bits of raising a puppy, especially with our two adult dogs being very well behaved off by themselves.
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Jun 17, 2019 18:28
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Thank you all for the replies. Just had our first day separated, and the dog was fast asleep when I left so no issues I saw. Honestly other than a few sad noises at night there wasn't much on his end, probably more on mine. I am definitely over anxious about leaving the dog alone, but now that I've had a day where he hasn't like exploded without me or someone else around I'm feeling a lot better and less crazy. About the introduction thing: the introduction on the front page has a bunch of stuff about introductions, so that is where I got a timeframe of weeks/a month. And the pup has just discovered tug. It will be a while before he can really play with the older dog, as she is built like a tugboat, but it is nice to have something that can distract him that much. He seems to be getting comfortable much faster than previous experience, so I'm glad for that. will probably still take a while for stairs though. I do want to ask something to those more experienced: if there is a good chance of someone coming home every two hours or so to let the dog out, is it better to let the dog run around a room where it might relieve itself on the floor, or keep it locked in its crate (which it still loves) to try and help with housetraining?
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Jun 17, 2019 23:15
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:What worked was the "gentle leader" I'm only 1 for 3 on the gentle leader but it works like magic on that one. #2 is best on the gentle leader over anything else. #3 is always the worst in every way possible. I trained 1 & 2 on the gentle leader at the same time and did all the same things. One just took to it better than the other.
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Jun 18, 2019 00:15
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:What are you trying to train the dog to do? I know the bfs focus is walking better and mine is barking. He’ll just go out at 06:30 and start barking like an rear end in a top hat, doesn’t pee cause he’s too busy trying to wake up his friends, needs to go back out, repeat. The trainers we used also encouraged the prong collars (for walking and curbing barking) but they made reference to military training and they train police and narcotics dogs there so I was extra hesitant in case they were just being a little gung ho. I didn’t think about taking the prong collar off. That makes me feel a little better. (I’m sure they mentioned that in training but I was so opposed to it I just didn’t listen)
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Jun 18, 2019 05:30
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I follow the dog training theory of "the strongest house is built with the smallest bricks." Basically, training is a series of small steps that do not progress until your dog reliably has the first step down and is ready to move on to the next step. My understanding is that immediate result training does not work because a dog needs small bricks. Telling them "I don't want this, stop" doesn't show them what you DO want and may just lead to another unwanted behaviour and a confused dog who just does. not. understand. what you want. For example, a little kid whose parents want them to sit quietly in the car will only be able to sit quietly for a little while. Eventually they will get bored and start doing little kid things again. It would be a much more successful trip if they're supplied with toys or books or activities. If someone complained about their kid not sitting still for a two hour car ride but didn't supply their kid with activities wouldn't that kinda spark the question "what did you expect?" I spent an entire summer teaching Sherlock loose leash walking. It was annoying and extremely frustrating at times. It was probably the best investment I made with him though (aside from his loving nose job). While he now expects to walk at the pace that my boyfriend walks at with him, essentially a jog for me, he is a dream on his harness. We use Perfect Fit as he doesn't like harnesses that go over his head. The way that I trained him was a fairly basic approach. If he pulled, I would turn and walk the other way or stop entirely. I spent every walk super tuned into him and what he was doing. I rewarded him with high value treats for looking at me and walking close to me. I appreciated the fact that it was hard for him to walk slowly due to his natural gait and tried really hard to keep our pace comfortable to him. If he seemed interested in sniffing at something I would stop and let him. When it was time to go I would say "let's go" and he caught on to that cue. I continue to use a hands free leash that attaches around my waist so he won't get any accidental cues from me. re: barking. My boyfriend has accidentally trained Sherlock that barking gets results. Specifically, barking is a tool to get our attention and is his single problem solving skill. That dog is no Moldovan special ops pupper but magically has learned how to close the laptop. The trainer that I spoke with about this said that the best thing to do is to recognize that dogs identify patterns. And sometimes quite complex patterns that we don't even notice ourselves following. Sherlock has transitional anxiety. He's fine with being left alone for a long time but experiences anxiety over the people leaving aspect. He has come to notice a chain of events that lead to us leaving. If I'm sitting in bed and close my computer he becomes alert. If I stand up, even just to go to the bathroom, he's alert. If I put on my socks and shoes, he's alert. Then the barking begins. The longer he freaks out and keeps us from leaving by not allowing us to put on our socks and shoes the longer he can delay leaving. This may not make a ton of sense to us at face value. In his mind, and in reality, it works. While he is freaking out barking at us and running around trying his best to herd us away from the door we are not able to leave. It's just what is happening. So as long as this works, without behaiour modification, he will continue to do it. The trainer's suggestion is to recognize these patterns and over time work on desensitizing you dog to them. For example, I close my computer and then don't leave my bed and give Sherlock a treat. Over time, and many steps, he will come to stop freaking out when I leave. Another barking / whining trigger for Sherlock is food - specifically when we eat in the bed. He wants food. I have some sympathy for him with this one because dogs smell so much more than we do. I no longer keep him downstairs when we eat at the table. We still eat in bed, but we put him in his crate before we do. If your dog barks at a doorbell, desensitizing them to that will help to end that behaviour as well. I have noticed a lot of peoples' dogs bark at people walking by, and the immediate solution that I would use with this one is to put up some kind of barrier that prevents the dog from seeing out the window while light can still pass through and work to train that out of them. Reading books about dog behaviour was very helpful to me and really really helped me to be empathetic, kind, and patient in my training endeavors. Everyone seems to have different thoughts about training, and although this was a novel it was also a super super summary of dog training, so take it all as you will and definitely do not consider me an authority on dog training of any kind.
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Jun 18, 2019 15:45
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CeramicPig posted:I know the bfs focus is walking better and mine is barking. He’ll just go out at 06:30 and start barking like an rear end in a top hat, doesn’t pee cause he’s too busy trying to wake up his friends, needs to go back out, repeat. This is the halter I'd suggest for training a dog to walk on a leash -- I was wrong, it's not the "gentle leader" but the "halti dog", similar but different design that goes around the nose not just the head: https://www.amazon.com/Company-Anim...229309215&psc=1 It fits over the nose then attaches to the standard collar, you connect the leash to it at the ring. When the dog pulls on the leash, it compresses their snout closed. Painless and safe (although dogs do find it incredibly annoying). For barking training that's harder. Main thing is not to reinforce the barking but it's not always clear why they're doing it so it's easy to accidentally reinforce. You can try the devices that emit high pitched beeps when dogs bark.
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Jun 18, 2019 16:01
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luscious posted:Reading books about dog behaviour was very helpful to me and really really helped me to be empathetic, kind, and patient in my training endeavors. One really neat book on animal training generally was https://www.amazon.com/Kicked-Bitten-Scratched-Lessons-Trainers/dp/0143111949
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Jun 18, 2019 16:06
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I really like When Pigs Fly. She gives so much practical info on training while also explaining the dog brain parts of it.
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Jun 18, 2019 23:11
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I love this thread. Y’all are so helpful!
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Jun 19, 2019 07:34
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Well, tonight is going to be a pain. Puppy is getting taken out regularly for potty, and should probably be learning by now, but still a small bladder and a long night is not a good mix. Unfortunately puppy got tired out about an hour earlier than usual, so just woke up as people were going to sleep, and now he's going to cry for quite a while, joy. So far taking care of him hasn't been so bad, though whether it is easy or just manageable depends on the mood of our older dog. If she feels like playing she will occupy the puppy for hours, past the point where he would normally be ready to sleep. If not she just decides that this thing shouldn't get her toys and takes them whenever he tries to play with anything, ignoring him all the while. Makes keeping him occupied a lot harder. E: Going to bed isn't helped by me being a night owl, and so I end up the one who puts the dog out once more before bed hours after everyone else is asleep, so I have to deal with the crying twice. And yes, it is very necessary, I ended up dealing with what I can only describe as a pressurized poop stream, which shot out to be nearly as long as the puppy is. Ashsaber fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Jun 20, 2019 |
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Jun 20, 2019 04:18
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I have a year and a half old lab mix that I switched over to a grain free diet after he had an extended bout of diarrhea at around 9 months old. Today I read an article about associations between grain free diets and the heart condition DCM. The grain free food stopped his diarrhea issue, but now I'm worried about other ways it might affect his health. Should I switch him back to regular dog food and see how he does, or is there some other alternative that doesn't cause heart problems?
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Jun 22, 2019 05:26
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Clearing up a food allergy is way more important than potential heart issues. So whatever you do, don't reintroduce grain into the dog's diet.
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Jun 22, 2019 05:34
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So, we went ahead and hosed up our perfect household pet balance by getting a dog this morning. She's a couple years old, about 30 pounds; she was adopted from a stray rescue that operates out of a Vet Clinic, and they gave her exposure to the cats that run around. She was pretty uninterested, which we observed. As of now, we've designated a specific room exclusively hers for the time being (one the cats rarely used), and we're gating off the basement for their exclusive use. The cats are curious - closed doors and cats, nothing you wouldn't expect - but have so far showed no signs of fear or, for that matter, any significant emotion. They're acting fairly similar to normal. We're following guides online and exchanging scents, but all involved seem pretty nonplussed at this point. We're going to serve dinner on either side of the door tonight. If they all eat well, is there still significant virtue in waiting? You see plenty of resources that talk about a month-long process, and if that's what it takes, that's what it takes, but does anyone have experience with things going smoothly and accelerating the time table? The next step is letting the cats into the room with the dog in her cage, I think. (Crossposted in the cat thread for obvious reasons)
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Jun 22, 2019 21:34
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Boxman posted:You see plenty of resources that talk about a month-long process, and if that's what it takes, that's what it takes, but does anyone have experience with things going smoothly and accelerating the time table? The next step is letting the cats into the room with the dog in her cage, I think. I've never done the a month long intro, and have generally had chill animals. I probably wouldn't let the cats in with a crated dog, though - if the dog does freak out she can't disengage. I'll usually graduate to dog on a leash then dog drags a leash pretty readily if everything looks good, interspersed with plenty of 'walk with me away from the distraction and get treats' or 'leave it' training for the dog.
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Jun 22, 2019 22:10
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Boxman posted:You see plenty of resources that talk about a month-long process, and if that's what it takes, that's what it takes, but does anyone have experience with things going smoothly and accelerating the time table? The next step is letting the cats into the room with the dog in her cage, I think. I've got several pages of my nonsense in this thread. I had cats, then I got dogs. I bumbled my way through it. The latest update is my black cat still wants nothing to do with the dogs and doesn't really want anything to do with the orange cat either. That's not new. The orange cat mostly ignores the first hound dog, he shares a bed with and lets the little terrier lick his face, and he's been hissing and swatting at the newest scruffy dude. Dude's not very good with boundaries.
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Jun 22, 2019 22:55
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gently caress Giardia.
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Jun 23, 2019 01:16
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My dog has seizures and the vet told us to give her phenobarb (half a pill a day) to reduce the chance of seizures. Has anyone tried this for seizures? Is that the best treatment to give her?
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Jun 23, 2019 18:38
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radlum posted:My dog has seizures and the vet told us to give her phenobarb (half a pill a day) to reduce the chance of seizures. Has anyone tried this for seizures? Is that the best treatment to give her? Yes. Phenobarb worked best of all the seizure drugs we tried, but my dog was really a tough case (she had clusters, and was eventually on phenobarb + zonisimide + keppra/leviteracitam + potassium bromide). It gave about 6 or 8 months seizure free, then the cluster frequency came down to about once every two months from the 3-4 weeks it was originally. Phenobarb was also the cheapest of the epilepsy drugs she was on. The spaciness took a few weeks to get back to normal, but she regained her balance enough to go back to agility classes. I did not have a good experience with potassium bromide - the ataxia and lethargy never resolved enough for her to regain a normal quality of life and she died of pneumonia after about three months on the drug - I guess there were no seizures but the side effects were decidedly not worth it.
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Jun 23, 2019 21:11
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Potassium bromide is rough stuff. Just before my sister’s dog passes away recently, she was totally unable to move and was basically a vegetable with hollow eyes for the last month. Phenobarb is a lot more manageable. It made my family’s dog groggy and slow for a little bit but it subsided after a week or two. One annoying side effect is that the seizure medicine makes dogs ravenously hungry and thirsty.
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Jun 24, 2019 06:03
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Hi, I've dogsat for Australian shepherds for like eight weeks out of any given year for a few years running now but have never had a dog of my own. I was hanging out with a puppy foster and absolutely fell in love with a lab aussie mix, put in an application the next day and got approved, so now I'm puppy-proofing everything and reading as much as I can on as many subjects as I can and generally just freaking out a little. I have three main questions now and will likely have tons more stupid questions in the near future: -First off, how much information in the OP is outdated? It looks like there are some comments in it against prong collars but on this page a lot of people are saying they're fine if used correctly (and generally under supervision of a trainer, which makes sense), just wondering if there's other resources that are a bit more up-to-date. -Related to the above, but the link in the OP to the ASPCA list of things poisonous to dogs goes to a 404. Is there another good resource for that? I know it's the kind of thing that would be really easy to Google but frankly after seeing some very questionable dietary recommendations for reptiles on hobbyist sites I'd really rather have a trusted resource recommended to me. -I have cats, they're delightful, and have always been interested when I dogsit for the Aussies but even when we have them for over a week at a time they never get quite acclimated to each other. No matter, really - my home is a split-level and I just put their food downstairs (their litterbox is already down there) and keep the door closed. I plan on doing this with the new puppy as well and slowly introducing them over a couple weeks. Are there any other considerations that I should think about regarding introducing a puppy to cats? I guess I have a fourth question - I click trained my cats, and while honestly one of them is just not very food motivated and is too aloof to do much of anything my first cat I had trained to sit on a drum throne, give me a fist bump and a then a hug before he got his food. So I've got a fair amount of clicker experience, but I'm wondering if there's anything super different in the conditioning methods between a puppy and a cat I should be aware of. It seems like they're more trainable overall so you need to be more careful about not accidentally reinforcing bad behavior, maybe? Thanks in advance!
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Jun 24, 2019 18:28
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food court bailiff posted:Hi, I've dogsat for Australian shepherds for like eight weeks out of any given year for a few years running now but have never had a dog of my own. I was hanging out with a puppy foster and absolutely fell in love with a lab aussie mix, put in an application the next day and got approved, so now I'm puppy-proofing everything and reading as much as I can on as many subjects as I can and generally just freaking out a little. I am extremely anti-prong collars and agree with a lot that's said in the OP about them, I've personally never seen a dog benefit from a prong collar in a way that couldn't have been achieved through positive training, and I've seen at least two dogs that got more reactive after put on prong collars. Part of that can probably be chalked up to irresponsible owners who think prongs are a solution to a problem rather than a training tool, and obviously my experience is anecdotal, but I'm honestly not convinced they're necessary. I'm 100% positive & clicker training and have been for years, though, so I'm biased to begin with. Regarding cats, it sounds like you've got the right ideas. Once you're introducing the cats and the dog and they have access to the same parts of the house, it will be helpful if the cats have access to places that are high up and safe from/out of reach of the dog, since they tend to equate height with safety. If your cats have claws they'll be fine, your pup will get swatted occasionally if they won't leave the cats alone, and they'll learn pretty quick to steer clear of the cats until they figure out what is acceptable interaction. If your cats are declawed, you may have a bit more of a headache until the puppy is an adult. We're having to actively train our 7-month old to leave our smaller cat alone because she's declawed but hasn't yet figured out she can bite the puppy to get her to go away. And yes, dogs are extremely clicker-trainable. If you're already familiar with the concepts of classical/operant conditioning, capturing & shaping behaviors, luring and rewarding, all of that applies to dogs just as much (probably more) as it does to cats. And yeah, bad behavior that's rewarded will be repeated, for the most part. Keep in mind that for a lot of dogs, even negative attention (scolding, yelling, even just gentle "no"s) is attention and therefore its own reward, so the best ways to deal with unwanted behaviors are either ignoring it and rewarding after the behavior ceases, or if you can't ignore it, redirecting to a more desirable behavior (eg. giving the dog a chew toy if they are biting/mouthing hands or feet or whatever). If you get good at capturing and shaping behaviors you can train all kinds of weird stuff, one of our dogs is learning how to smile on command.
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Jun 24, 2019 18:46
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food court bailiff posted:-First off, how much information in the OP is outdated? It looks like there are some comments in it against prong collars but on this page a lot of people are saying they're fine if used correctly (and generally under supervision of a trainer, which makes sense), just wondering if there's other resources that are a bit more up-to-date. I've never used a prong collar so I went back and skimmed the OP. The trainer I went to wanted everyone working with a flat collar and 6 ft leash. He also had a bit about how prong collars can be dangerous, need to be properly fitted, and only used when you're actively working with the dog. He said anyone who was interested should speak with him privately after class. That said, the only person I can remember that was using a prong collar was a shelter volunteer who was working with a foster dog and it was at least the second time she was taking the dog through the class. It's possible he had stronger discouragement in any one-on-one conversations. I guess that's why I'm comfortable telling people on the internet to ask your trainer before trying a prong collar. The OP also says not to choose a trainer that advocates using an e-collar. And you wouldn't for basic obedience but there are some reasons you would want to train your dog to respond to beeps or vibrations. I've heard/read about training deaf dogs with vibrations (I have no idea if that's a best practice but it makes an amount of sense.) And I think someone here has a hunting dog trained with an e-collar. That's kind of beside the point though. quote:-Related to the above, but the link in the OP to the ASPCA list of things poisonous to dogs goes to a 404. Is there another good resource for that? I know it's the kind of thing that would be really easy to Google but frankly after seeing some very questionable dietary recommendations for reptiles on hobbyist sites I'd really rather have a trusted resource recommended to me. I've been kind of annoyed with the results from randomly Googling whatever dumb thing my idiot dog happens to get into. I feel like I have to read at least thirty links to figure out if something falls into "you shouldn't feed your dog this regularly and it might give them the shits" vs "EMERGENCY VET NOW." It seems like the things that fall into the second category are pretty few and easy to avoid. I don't have puppy advice. I've decided I'm anti-puppy and will only adopt adult or senior dogs in the future. Someone else can adopt all the puppies.
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Jun 25, 2019 00:39
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MockingQuantum posted:I am extremely anti-prong collars and agree with a lot that's said in the OP about them, I've personally never seen a dog benefit from a prong collar in a way that couldn't have been achieved through positive training, and I've seen at least two dogs that got more reactive after put on prong collars. Part of that can probably be chalked up to irresponsible owners who think prongs are a solution to a problem rather than a training tool, and obviously my experience is anecdotal, but I'm honestly not convinced they're necessary. I'm 100% positive & clicker training and have been for years, though, so I'm biased to begin with. Having gone through 3 positive reinforcement only trainers, we ended up with a 'whatever works for your dog' trainer, who got us to use a prong collar and it was night and day. They definitely has their uses. but yeah, get a trainer to supervise it.
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Jun 25, 2019 00:46
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What's the best way to clean out a dog's ears? Apollo was itching at his this morning and I stuck my finger in and came out with brown goop.
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Jun 25, 2019 13:33
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We have this liquid in a squirt bottle from the vet. We tilt his head then squirt the liquid in and hold his ear shut while rubbing it around from the outside. Then wipe with a paper towel. Luckily our dog puts up with it because I'll bet that whole process feels super weird.
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Jun 25, 2019 14:15
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ImplicitAssembler posted:Having gone through 3 positive reinforcement only trainers, we ended up with a 'whatever works for your dog' trainer, who got us to use a prong collar and it was night and day. Yeah my issue with prong collars (and my entire secondhand experience with them) is when people treat them as replacements for the dog's everyday collar, which only seems to exacerbate problems. My understanding is that they're really intended as a training tool, to be used in specific situations for very specific training goals, and not just as a regular collar. Has that been your experience working with one?
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Jun 25, 2019 16:02
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MockingQuantum posted:Yeah my issue with prong collars (and my entire secondhand experience with them) is when people treat them as replacements for the dog's everyday collar, which only seems to exacerbate problems. My understanding is that they're really intended as a training tool, to be used in specific situations for very specific training goals, and not just as a regular collar. Has that been your experience working with one? That's been my experience. To this day, my dog walks great on a prong collar and pulls like a rear end on a flat collar.
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Jun 25, 2019 16:39
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bamhand posted:We have this liquid in a squirt bottle from the vet. We tilt his head then squirt the liquid in and hold his ear shut while rubbing it around from the outside. Then wipe with a paper towel. Luckily our dog puts up with it because I'll bet that whole process feels super weird. So I started this thing with Sherlock where anytime I give him medicine or apply the lotion to his skin he gets a treat. He is soooo much better at dealing with both now. I love it.
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Jun 25, 2019 20:46
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daslog posted:That's been my experience. To this day, my dog walks great on a prong collar and pulls like a rear end on a flat collar. We used it for on-leash for maybe a year. Then it went off for a bit and she regressed, got the prongs back on and got better. Over the last year, I used the prongs for one weekend. I still use PR and any tricks are obviously taught that way. By far the hardest thing was learning to issue corrections. Having had 'positive reinforcement' only beaten into me, it took quite some time get comfortable doing so. Next dog will still start out as 'positive only', but at least I now know that there's other tools available.
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Jun 25, 2019 22:19
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Thanks for the help, everyone! Got another visit tonight!!ImplicitAssembler posted:Having had 'positive reinforcement' only beaten into me, This turn of phrase made me laugh.
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Jun 26, 2019 16:59
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While we’re on the subject of correction... Our dog pulls a little on walks, but the real problem is when she spots something she’s interested in. Dog, person, cat, whatever. She won’t take off, but she will keep the leash very taut until the thing is out of site (and even after, she’ll turn to look for it.) Using a front clip harness works a little (compared to a back clip harness, anyway), but she’s a little bald on her belly and it’s causing some irritation so I’m looking at other solutions. Is there anything in particular I should know about head halters besides “don’t pull so hard you snap your dog’s neck”? It seems like a similar corrective idea as the front clip harness. Obviously the ideal is to train her to focus me but I need something to bridge the gap until I can get that command to work, or else our walks will literally never end while she waits to see what that dog statue down the street does. EDIT: poo poo just noticed that head halters were brought up just up thread. Thanks thread.  My post will live for funnies.
Boxman fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Jun 27, 2019 |
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Jun 27, 2019 19:55
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Anyone seen this yet? FDA Investigation into Potential Link between Certain Diets and Canine Dilated Cardiomyopathy
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Jun 28, 2019 23:04
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