My dog is out of control, How did I get here?
Every day I get about 6 phone calls asking about my dog training services and just about every phone call is the same. I have a (insert breed) dog who we all love so much, he is smart and is wonderful, he pretty much is housebroken we got him from (insert well known breeder, that I have never heard of or care about) but we are having some issues with him that we want to get worked on, he went to puppy socialization and basic obedience for 6 lessons. Is he too old to train? He is 3 years old. I say “Great, what kind of issues are you having?”
Well, he pulls on the leash, I am the only one who can walk him , my wife gets knocked down when she tries to walk him. He jumps up on counters and steals food and if we try to take it away he growls at us. He barks at everything going by our house and won’t stop, he barks and lunges at guest coming into the house and if they try to pet him he snaps at them. He does sit if I give him a treat but does not stay for more than 2 seconds and he does Down maybe 25% of the time but jumps back up within seconds and if I don’t have a treat he won’t do it. Every time I take him in the car he barks at everything, people, dogs, bikes trucks and it stresses me out that I cannot stop it.
I cannot get him to come back to us when he is in the backyard and I want him to come back, I stopped taking him to the dog park since I could not get him to come back and he started getting into dog fights. Every time my kids have friends over I have to put him away since he snaps at the kids friends.
So…….what part of the dog ownership experience are you enjoying?
This is NOT about my training methods, it is NOT about who your trainer is, frankly I could care less how you train your dog or what methods you use. I just want you to train your dog. All of the things that you are complaining about are my MINIMUM requirements for dog ownership, I am wondering “How did you get where you are with your dog?” What happened or did not happen? At what point of you being frustrated every day did you not realize that something was not working out? At what point did you realize that you cannot take your dog in public without causing a big scene? At what point did you realize that if you did not fix these things you would have to get rid of your dog? You say you would never do that, but for some reason we keep killing 4 million dogs a year, they belonged to someone, someone like you, who most likely said they would never kill the dog they loved, but had to make that hard choice to turn the dog into an animal shelter where unfortunately dogs tend not to thrive and end up being killed if not in the first 24 hours eventually they get killed.
Is it possible that we as a society can try to raise the bar of dog ownership and put more emphasis on building a nice foundation of rules, structure, exercise and boundaries in order to make sure that we not only have an obedient dog but a well behaved dog. You should be able to take your dog everywhere with you in public. You should be able to take your dog for a nice walk, both on leash and off leash without pulling, lunging or barking. You should be able to stand in line at the lemonade stand with your dog ignoring everything around you and your dog should just be able to be calm next to you waiting until you have made your purchase and then move on. You should be able to go to a outdoor cafe and put your dog into a downstay and your dog does not move. You should be able to go to a outdoor sports game and your dog lays down and minds his own business even with the crowd cheering and people running by you. You should be able to take the opportunity when you see an open field you can run your dog off leash and it always comes back to you when you call, even with high level of distractions. All of this can be yours for the taking. There is no reason why 99% of the dogs out there cannot live this life, no matter the age, breed or the background of the dog.
With so many families struggling with these issues, I can feel your pain, I was with you just 10 years ago, that is why I got into dog training, I had that dog that I describe at the start of the blog post. I was the guy on the other end of the phone call, I was making the same calls to the trainers, unfortunately it was VERY challenging for me to find a trainer that could actually help me.
I want to be able to help you, if you are struggling with any of these issues let me know I will recommend a dog trainer in your area that can help you. So many trainers like myself who balance reward as well as proper corrections can get the results you are looking for.
Jeff Gellman owns the Rhode Island dog training company, Solid K9 Training.
Solid K9 Training Providence, RI (401) 527-6354
Solid K9 Training 210 24th Street Brooklyn NY 11232 (401) 527-6354
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This is such a great read Jeff! Such an unfortunate common introduction for me when i answer phone calls and read emails. Hopefully we can soon help to get the message out that Training with a balanced approach is not just for problematic dogs or dogs once they get to a certain point, it is also a means of prevention and education for both the human and Canine companion! Love what you do Jeff Gellman! Keep it up!
-Blake Rodriguez
Dog Behavior Specialist
http://www.dctk9.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dream-Come-True-K9Blake-Rodriguez/168524309848413?ref=ts&fref=ts
http://www.youtube.com/user/DreamComeTrueK9/featured
thanks for your feedback and comments Blake
Hi Jeff. Thanks for the free membership. Yesterday I was ready to give my dog, Bailey away. She is a 5 month old shepherd hound mix and it takes all my strength to handle her. She jumps up on counters, barks, chews everything etc. My daughter-in-law stopped in and saw what state I was in and told me her friends had used your training techniques. So I looked you up and joined and started watching your videos. I am amazed! I have started with crate training and she is doing very well for the first try. I also started with place and she is staying for about 30 seconds so I correct with no and redirect her back to the place. But she starts to eat the bed and then the leash. When walking she grabs the leash and chews. She has gone through several already. I guess I need a chain leash. I am very interested in the prong collar. Is that something I can purchase through you? Thanks so much for the videos. I am hoping I can do this myself, but if I can’t I will be calling you.Patti
A very tired owner
Pattii commend you on keeping your dog and I understand your frustration, yes I carry prong collars and they are in the Shopping part of my website, and we ship out the same day.
jeff
Hi Jeff, my husband and I have a 9 month old German Shepherd puppy, weighing over 105 lbs. We had him since he was 6 weeks and unfortunately he did not get enough guidance and corrections while he was growing up due to our tight work schedule. We attended a couple of sessions of puppy kindergarten but due to his high drive and size we stopped attending because he received the least of socializing with other puppies, training and attention because “he was a special puppy”. We then signed up for Basic Obedience 101 and it was going much better but before we had solid progress the course was completed. We then started meeting with a private trainer, setting long terms goals, purchased bite training tools but after 3 times of meeting, the trainer informed us that he no longer will be available. We were lost and in despair while my husband told me that he has successfully trained large breed dogs in the past, a pit bull and a German Shepherd/wolf mix. Our 9 months old pup is very smart and challenges us both in everything and most of the time gets away with stuff when I handle him alone. On multiple occasions, I’ve communicated to my husband that I don’t agree with his training method of alpha and dominance even when the pup nips and bites. When my husband is not home, I am unable apply the alpha method and loose control of the dog due to his size and dominating behavior. I will give him credit, my husband’s method has been a slow work in progress. The dog favors my husband especially when he is around, his eyes are following my husband and will not listen to me or stay in a command more than a few seconds. When my husband is not home, the dog always tries to dominate me, he jumps on me, stays on his hind legs, grabbing me with the front paws, pulls on the clothing, nips on my hands, biting my forearms. My husband witnesses his behavior, a correction has been made and it stopped while he was around. But the next day I was back to square one, I had my back to the dog while cleaning the deck, he jumped on me and pushed me forward with his front paws. All that kind of behavior is not acceptable. When we’re home and on walks, we have him on a prong collar and we’re both comfortable using it as a tool for corrections. However, I think he is immune to the pressure and sensations because the advised amount of the pop just doesn’t work or he rebels against it instead shows his stress that leads to jumping, pulling the prong lead and biting. We also have a cat in the house and when we have the dog in the house, the dog is always in a prong and on a lead under strict supervisor.