Dog training

[JC316]

We rescued a younger dog (I'd say ~1 yr old), and she is a handful. I know that she will calm down as she gets older but she is driving Sarah and I nuts, we exercise her regularly (trying to wear her out), but she just doesn't seem to care what we want her to do (or not do). We have gotten her completely potty trained, she is very sweet (esp. with the other 2 dogs), and she seems very intelligent, but neither of us are really good "dog trainers".

Is it worth the money to take her to obedience classes? That is what we are planning to do with her but I have reservations about just going down to the Petsmart to pay some random Joe for what could amount to nothing.

Anyone had good success with doing dog training with their pets and/or have any referrals for someone in the N. Arlington area?

Don't bet on her calming down. My rottweiler is going to be 5 this year and still has the exact same energy level that she did when she was 8 months old. She has this compulsive habit of licking constantly, especially your feet. You yell at her for licking, or try to punish her for it and she licks more. I have tried treats, a news paper, putting vinegar on my feet, even habenaro sauce. Nothing has worked. She is intelligent and learns commands quickly, but suffers from ADD something awful.

[mschmoyer]

If a dog won't keep licking your feet then your just not kicking hard enough. Once they get busted in the nose enough times, they just won't do it. My wife's dog did this and the behavior has been beaten out of her. That dog loves me more than anybody else too. Dish out punishment swiftly and strictly but with no anger. They know what it means.

It's getting a dog to not jump or lick visitors that is the hard part. Teaching other humans how to behave around dogs is a monumental task...most don't get it.

[War Machine]

If a dog won't keep licking your feet then your just not kicking hard enough. Once they get busted in the nose enough times, they just won't do it. My wife's dog did this and the behavior has been beaten out of her. That dog loves me more than anybody else too. Dish out punishment swiftly and strictly but with no anger. They know what it means.

It's getting a dog to not jump or lick visitors that is the hard part. Teaching other humans how to behave around dogs is a monumental task...most don't get it.

could you just piss on the dog instead of kicking it?

[Baron Von Crowder]

the jumping can be trained out. My healer was bad about it. Everytime he gets excited and wants to jump up, have it sit. Once set, praise like hell. They associate that excitement with sitting, and will start sitting when excited, namely when someone walks in.

It takes a long time for some dogs, but all of them can get it in time. treats help to an extent.

[Taylor]

Did you really rescue it? Or did you just go down to the pound and get a free dog? I don't think you should be able to say you rescued a dog unless you dove into a storm drain and stopped it from drowning or pulled it out of a burning building.

I got my dog from the Denton county pound. They held strays for 6 days before they euthanized. Fuck you if you think I didn't save my dog.

[YALE]

My rat terrier calmed considerably with a twice a day Benadryl regimen.

[KBScobravert]

Since December when I came home for good I have gone through mass quantities of Duck and Chicken jerky tenders. The first trick is finding what treat they want the most. Mine like duck and chicken. They are expensive buy we break them off into smaller and smaller pieces.

We trained them to take the treats only on command "okay, okay" and that has helped tremendously with the rest like, "sit" "stay" etc. They know they are gonna do two things before they get that morsel and one of them is to NOT take the treat until I tell them it is okay. Our little one used to snatch them, now you can slap her with the treat and she won't think about touching it until you tell her "okay, okay".

Patience and repetition has been our key. But don't take my two unruly turds as any sort of fine example.


For the record ours are Boxers, a 1.5yrs female and a 3+yr male.

[KBScobravert]

My rat terrier calmed considerably with a twice a day Benadryl regimen.

And she doesn't have a desire to scratch either.

I love when our female boxer goes on meds, she mellows way down. She just looks at you and smiles like she is stoned.

[Strychnine]

There is a book you can pick up on amazon or at half price books by a guy that wrote the training manual for the military and also for Disney by the name of Kholer (similar spelling or close)
All of his training guides have the same obediance section. Its oldschool and works like a champ, but isnt the treat-for-doing-right.

Yup.

[pr1042]

I gave up on our dog. We just put our rollerblades now and let her tow us around until she's too tired to be bad

[unkoricky]

My 2 year old pit has calmed down a lot, we can finally leave him walking around the house instead of the bedroom.

Anyone know how to get a dog to walk outside calmly? He'll go full speed all the time because he's so hyper. My older pit will walk with me.

I've tried every type of leash/collar you can get at petsmart.

[VaderTT]

My rat terrier calmed considerably with a twice a day Benadryl regimen.

Fuck yeah dude! My male bully has allergies and they can get pretty bad. To the point of skin abscesses and eye mucus. I started a twice a day benadryl dose and it's has done wonders!

[Baron Von Crowder]

Yup.

My 2 year old pit has calmed down a lot, we can finally leave him walking around the house instead of the bedroom.

Anyone know how to get a dog to walk outside calmly? He'll go full speed all the time because he's so hyper. My older pit will walk with me.

I've tried every type of leash/collar you can get at petsmart.

read that.

[JC316]

My 2 year old pit has calmed down a lot, we can finally leave him walking around the house instead of the bedroom.

Anyone know how to get a dog to walk outside calmly? He'll go full speed all the time because he's so hyper. My older pit will walk with me.

I've tried every type of leash/collar you can get at petsmart.

Again, my 5 year old rottie doesn't walk anywhere, she runs. No pull harness is the best thing for that.

[Strychnine]

Anyone know how to get a dog to walk outside calmly? He'll go full speed all the time because he's so hyper. My older pit will walk with me.

I've tried every type of leash/collar you can get at petsmart.

Again, my 5 year old rottie doesn't walk anywhere, she runs. No pull harness is the best thing for that.

Get a choke chain and a 20 ft leash and take him to a park, field etc. Give him all the slack he wants (ie. don't choke up on the leash) and start walking. Don't look at him, dont whistle/snap/etc, just walk. Start making 90* turns when he's not paying attention. It'll snap him back toward you when you runs out of leash, especially if he's running off distracted by something. Randomly stop and start. Your arm will get tired from all the yanks and jerks but keep it up. Do this for a couple weeks and you'll notice a big change. He'll learn that the only way to stay comfortable is to stay near you and to watch you.


Seriously, go find a copy of the book posted. I found a copy at Half Price Books for < $7