I thought of a few questions after I had left, I am
inherently uneasy about the use of training collars, even though
Heather's demonstration really made it seem better for me. Do you
envision reliance on such collars or is it a temporary tool - i.e., do I
have to rely on it so he "behaves" all the time? I've seen dogs that
are just pullers and walk well on a prong, but once the prong is off,
they're back to pulling. Ultimately, that is not ok for me because if
we get caught in a really bad situation, I don't think he won't be
deterred by the pain of a prong and that's not what I want to use to
hold him back. Isn't it also possible to train his attention just on a
regular collar? I mean, in situations where he's not over-stimulated
and locked-on, if he gets to the end of his leash on his harness, he
turns back, he doesn't continue to pull, so I think just even on a
martingale, I would have head control? I'm willing to try the collar in
the manner Heather showed me today, but I just have this image in my
head of him reacting to something while on a prong and the teeth digging
into his neck because he is too focused to rationalize it is his own
actions that are causing the teeth closing feeling and not whatever he
is worked up over.
I did board him with a trainer (that he knew and
liked) when he was 11 months old for 3 weeks because I had to be away.
I noticed a behavior change when I picked him up, he was jumping on me,
super-excited to see me - which was unlike him before - we got him at
10 weeks old and never had to train him to not jump on people, he just
never did it until then. While I have left him at daycare before and he
was always excited to go, he was also super excited to be picked up.
He does not have separation anxiety if we leave the house, but I'm
wondering if he has some anxiety of being left - you both observed that
he was worried behind the barrier and while not really acting up, he did
want to get back to me. Will your training him without me build his
confidence or will he view it as being left behind and have less trust
in my relationship with him?
Finally, about his acting like a dog - I'd always
thought self-control/impulse control is good - I think he is a generally
calm dog and not anxious at home without triggers. He is quiet and
lazy if we're just lounging around, but if we're hiking, he can go for
miles and up rock scrambles, so it's not a physical issue. He runs and
chases but I don't think he is high drive, we took him to weight pull
and while he's physically able to pull, he wasn't motivated once he felt
resistance on his pulling harness. He'll play fetch maybe 3x and then
just want to chew or give up, he'll chase a soccer ball a while and then
lose interest, he'll play tug a bit and then just want to chew the tug
toy instead of tugging - he will endlessly chase a laser pointer. So I
may not have understood your point about acting like a dog instead of
being quiet. He's not playful with every dog, but with the right match,
he will play chase and wrestle.
And finally, in case you're interested in reading more, the testosterone inhibitor implant is called Suprelorin: http://www.
Overall, I was impressed by how he responded to your
huskies! We had come across one husky on a walk which he reacted too -
but that husky was sort of out of control, also lunging and pulling
hard towards us - even if she was perfectly friendly. We used to walk
with Tayla - the husky shepherd mix that I think you guys have had in
daycare a few times, but he was on edge around her.
Their response:
The training collar in is not meant for pain....you need to remember you have a POWERFUL Cane Corso. A breed that institutionally will protect (to the death if needed) to protect his people. You NEVER want him to ever unleash that power on anyone or anything. This breed requires a training collar for proper communication. The answer to your question is.........he will need it for as long as he feels the need to protect you. Once he does not, you won't need it...so that all depends on you and how well you communicate that message to him.
When
we take him for 4 hours we will work on confidence
building..........will he be perfectly confident? No. ......that ALL
depends on you and how you chose to interact with him in the future.
As
far as neutering, I think he should be neutered....... A simple
surgery takes care of that, no need to go through the trouble of a
testosterone inhibitor and the risks you run by using it, why not just
neuter him? This may be a phobia you have about surgery? Two of my
dogs had to have major surgery on their legs. Sheena was ACL surgery,
without it, she would have been
unable to walk. It was risky and a long recovery, it paid off and she
has a better life now. Cheyenne had a growth plate deformity in her
leg, without surgery, she would not be able to walk. Both were
expensive, long recoveries and a lot of work.. I paid more for their
surgeries than I did for my car. A neuter is safe and one easy snip and
pop.
I
am unsure of his anxiety until we spend time with him. If you look at
it from HIS point of view, his JOB is protect you. When you are not
there, he cannot fulfill his job, therefore he becomes anxious and
worried. You can remove that by letting him know it
is no longer his job to protect you. All information comes from
you......all communication to your dog comes from you....communicate to
him that you lead him and he follows and you create a dog that is not
allowed by "be a dog". Communicate to him you need him to lead you and
you create a dog who worries and protects you. The answer is within
you.
I
see a dog that stores pent up frustration and worry, once that is no
longer there, he will become more "dog like". Although he is protective
by nature, he will be aggressive by nurture. This is what you will
learn how to fix in training. You think in human terms, he
needs you to think in dog terms. I know it seems confusing right now
but sometimes owners overthink it. Simple, lead him and he will follow
and be a happy dog. Follow him and he will lead you and be a miserable
dog.
We are super excited to work with him and to show you how easy it will be to fix this....
I don't like a few things:
1) I don't think she tried to
understand what I was saying about BAT training, plus the demo/seminar
she attended was not BAT, it was constitutional assessment training,
CAT.
2) I don't like that she doesn't use technical
terminology - while I understand that maybe other people don't use it,
but I think as a pro, if a client is talking specifics, you should be
able to distinguish between BAT, CAT, and other modes of positive
training. She seemed to think by treat training I was bribing/luring
all the time.
3) I don't like that she waived my not neutering of
Grouchy off as my own fear of surgery - I believe I researched the
issue, performed my own experiment and found the results to be not in
favor - I don't think she even looked at the info I sent about
testosterone inhibitors.
4) I found a lot of her statements conflicting - the
collar is only used to direct his head not for pain vs you NEED a
training collar and especially letting Grouchy be a dog - as he was just
lying down behind the barrier and we and her 4 huskies were on the
side, she thought his being quiet and lying there was un-doglike. I may
have misunderstood that point but I don't think I got a good
explanation.
I do agree that:
1) Grouchy is probably
frustrated because he doesn't get the opportunity to interact with dogs
like he used to and he is capable of good play.
2)
I do need to figure out how to get it across to him that I can handle
most situations - but I always thought of training as getting him to
figure out things are threatening vs. I think their training is to make
him understand his human will handle it - threatening or not. This
might be the fundamental philosophical split we have (if you're into
politics and saw the Johathan Haidt TED talk about morality and how
Democrats and Republicans just have a different set of moral and
therefore can't agree on things on a fundamental level -http://www.ted.com/talks/
Mainly, it might be a pride issue - I think she was
dismissive of a lot of the theory that I've read and my observations of Grouchy, which I know are biased, but still valid I think. But in practice, I
don't think she's that different, maybe in the use of equipment - so I
guess ultimately I should swallow my pride and try it out. It does seem
that the emails and website info are written in 2 different voices.
Grouchy was OK with Jeannie and Heather. He did stare and
give some growls because they were staring and doing weird things like
moving in and out and stuff. But he was reserved, more like he was
really worried, not sure what was going on. So for him, that behavior
wasn't too bad. I think she was initially expecting full blown,
lunging, attempts at throat tearing from him. So, she wanted to see how
he did with huskies, since she said her huskies respond differently to
confident/insecure dogs and the first one she brought in turned super
playful.
No comments:
Post a Comment