It’s been a while, there was a cold snap for about a week and a half which slowed everything down, but 2018 has rapidly slammed into our calendar, and I’m probably going to end up writing 2017 as the date until June 5th (anybody else?)
January is a crazy month, I drive down to Michael Ellis School For Dog Trainer’s to complete a course, which is insane considering I never thought I’d be 3 weeks away from going. So much to prep for (Kevin’s clear of health, making sure I have all the gear, etc) but needless to say I’m so excited! I get to learn from one of the best dog trainer’s ever, it’s going to be great to focus on Kev to work him a bit harder and tweak anything that’s a bit rough. He learns fast, so I know we will both come back a better team from it.
While I’m here I wanted to talk about tools. This is such a redundant topic but the amount of negativity towards them is insane. I wanted to keep my head down about it but I’m so sick of +r (positive reinforcement) trainers (or even crazy dog owners) preaching that they wreck dogs causing them to be put down and before you know it they’re banned. They seem to forget dogs that have been trained with only +r have also had to be put down so…anyway. I don’t want these tools to be banned. Don’t be an idiot and you will see results with them. Crank and yank and use them without any prior training, you will get exactly what you put into that. Frustration and probably a worse problem than what you started off with.
I’ll get into all the tools and how to use them. A leash is a tool. A slip lead is a tool. A collar is a tool. An e collar is a tool. A prong is a tool. A dominant dog collar is a tool. A long lead is a tool. A harness is a tool. A halti is a tool.
“How do you know what you should use, or how to use them?”
SLIP LEAD: Ok, so if your dog is a bit of a brat on a leash but isn’t jerking your body or being a complete ass, a slip lead will suffice in teaching the importance of leash pressure. I don’t mean yanking it, if the dog doesn’t know what heel means, yanking the leash on them is moot. It adds more frustration to you both and they shouldn’t be corrected until they know what’s expected of them. You need to start with a 5-minute walk and then increase, because holding a heel to dogs is like a weight to them, so start small in a low distraction setting and reward every 5-10 seconds so they know they’re on the right track.
PRONG COLLAR: If your dog is very shy and submissive and can’t handle a correction, don’t put this on the dog. A slip lead will work fine for you. If your dog has a decent temperament and is confident, I bring this collar into train in these sort of situations:
- A dominant dog
- Aggressive dog (depends on the aggression, a correction from this can be too stimulating and add to the situation and make it worse)
- Cleaning up a heel
- If the dog is literally pulling you down the street at mock 5, you need to retrain them with pressure and help them realize beside you while walking is the place to be. Remember, not a lot of pressure, a tap from the leash is enough to redirect them back to you, no need to crank it. If your dog can’t handle the setting, start in a lower distraction area and work your way up
- Schutzhund
LONG LEAD: This is usually for agitation work or most commonly recall. When working recall it’s best to increase the line length and then keep it on for safety until the dog is weaned off of it with the e collar, or just a lot of work was put in long line wise. Just remember recall is the hardest to proof, because once you change the picture for the dog, it’s harder for them to understand what you’re asking of them. EX. You’re walking them in a field you walk him every day. It’s always empty. You’ve been doing a lot of longline work and he’s had a great succession rate. You take the long line off to give him some freedom. A dog comes out of nowhere in the distance. Fido see’s it and takes off. You call him back and he doesn’t come. You’re frustrated and not understanding why he disrespected you like that considering you’ve walked that field with him over and over (he didn’t really) You set him up for failure. You changed the picture on him that he wasn’t prepared for. He’s never been in that situation so he acted on impulse.
HARNESS: Huge sigh. So many people use these wrong. “I walk my dog with this and the pulling stopped” No, it didn’t. So many people aren’t used to their dogs walking by their sides it’s a bit ridiculous. I don’t like front pull harnesses because it turns them around. Harmless, right? No. It can actually dislocate their shoulders with the force or repetition of it. Now, a regular agitation harness can be good for the car to clip a seatbelt to, or agitation work. What’s agitation work? Bite work, getting the dog wound up then charging at the decoy (you don’t use a normal flat buckle collar for this, because it wrecks your heeling work, they can’t differentiate) Or for recalls. EX. having one person hold the dog, and the other working the dog up (positive frustration) and then letting go when they say HERE, or COME, whatever your word is. (Michael Ellis did a great recall vid on this, check out leerburg.com to purchase and watch his videos) But other than that, I don’t like using a harness for walking, UNLESS your dog has a collapsed trachea, that’s my preference though.
E-COLLAR: Ah, yes. So many crazy dog’s people favorite tool to hate. “Lazy” Dog training right? Wrong. My favorite part about the hate towards these is people literally think you slap it on the dog and start zapping them. Such a clouded judgement, especially considering they think that’s how they’re used. THAT’S lazy. These collars are so great to use it’s a shame people are so scared of them. Anyway, let’s get into how to use them. An E-Collar is similar to a clicker. You can use it to show them a reward is coming, guiding them to a reward, or use it as punishment (Don’t think max level when I say punishment. Punishment doesn’t mean significant pain or stress to the dog, a NO is a punishment to them) That’s the great thing about it, it’s very versatile. When using on a low stim like 2-10 it’s a great tool to overlay previously known commands. (know that every dog is different, and a 10 to some dogs feels like a 50, so start low and figure out what the threshold is for them) When I say overlay, I mean the dog has a great understanding of sit, before you put the e collar on and ask him to sit, otherwise, he’s like WTF. It’s great to use treats with it, that way the dog has a positive association with it, EX. Sit, Buzz, Dog sits, treat, praise, or toy follows.
Hopefully I helped clear up some things that you all had questions to, I know it’s hard to sift through all the information in the dog world.
Happy Training!
If you have any questions or want to book a consult, contact me at nurturedcanine@gmail.com
