On a Facebook page I'm on, someone posted that their 5 month old pup jumps at his wife, barks at her when left alone with her. She tried spraying water, but the dog gets more hyper!! Other people suggested: Wrestle the dog to the floor, pin it down and growl to show dominance Stand over the dog, show it who is boss by making dominant noises Pet corrector I just can't believe some people....... Of course I have posted suggesting some positive interactions between wife and pup. We will see!
Ugh, the ignorance is astounding. Hopefully they will learn from your words of wisdom and ignore the drivel.
That's crazy! Not only is it mean, I can't see it ever working. I hope they listen to your advice. I am slightly curious to know what constitutes as "dominant noises" as everything I can picture is making the human look like a right **** hehe.
I have had suggestions from a friend that I try a remote control collar that makes a sharp sound to get Coco's attention..err and that will help him how? And today, a friend with a 2 year old Lab suggested that Coco saw OH as pack leader and me as an equal which is why he plays up for me. (he "plays up" for both of us of course) Those outdated ideas are very much still out there. I don't know whether to smile and nod or to challenge them - I honestly can't be bothered, so smile & nod it is.
Sigh... At least we know different! Hope your advice is heeded, Naya. You could also suggest they take a peek at this forum and the Labrador Site (regardless of the breed of dog).
I'm constantly surprised at the treatment of pets that I see out and about. My neighbour came back from a training session with some very strange ideas about a dog needing to 'show respect' and the danger of letting a dog win at tug. I've now surrounded myself in a world of positive trainers and people who train their dogs positively. So I rarely see anything else in my 'training' life. I wish I knew how widespread positive methods vs traditional methods are in the UK. Sometimes when I hear (eg at Clicker Expo) people saying positive trainers need to be strong advocates for positive methods I wonder whether 95% of the world is enlightened and we are all preaching to the converted and horrified by the remaining 5%, or we are in a 'bubble' of 5%....just don't know.
A very good question. I had thought the tide had well and truly turned, but sometimes I'm not so sure!
I really am astounded at the amount of poor treatment towards dogs that I see and hear. I am lucky that I found this forum and read up on training.........I actually googled 'how can I train a dog nicely' when I was researching getting a dog as I had never had one before and didn't really have anyone to guide me The noises suggested are Raaaaaar and grrrrrrrrrr!! As if that's going to help!
That's awful, poor puppy, hopefully they will be enlightened by your kind words of wisdom. I bumped into an old work colleague at lunchtime and the talk turned to dogs and training. Apparently if I open the door I'm always to go through first and not my girl. It's all to do with being dominant. So when I open the door to let her in the garden and then follow I'm doing it all wrong. I truly didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Well. I go,through the door before Molly for 2 reasons. 1. I want to know what is out there before she erupts out of the door. 2. I believe dogs need to know when to sit and wait for instructions. It seemed a good place to train her to wait. I don't regard it as a matter of dominance, just common sense.
I'm pretty sure if I did that to Ella she would think I was starting a game and she'd jump all over me! Haha Mollly I taught Ella to sit and wait until I called her through the door too. Like you it wasn't to show dominance, just to gain some control at the front door as I was worried she'd just run out when I opened it and she'd started to get into a bad habit of pushing through my legs to get outside. I think that there are many cues that can be taught in a positive way that unfortunately, others may still train in a negative way too.
I taught Fred to sit and wait, until I tell him he can go through a door or gate. It was for safety really. I wouldn't want him to run out and get hurt by anything. He does this without being asked to sit now. I wasn't showing dominance, I'm a big push over I did the same in the car, he waits to be told that it is ok to get out.
Sadly, I have not met a single other person, outside of groups like this, who has even heard of positive reinforcement. Every time I take my two out in public, I get comments like "Oh, but they're only behaving because you're bribing them with treats", "Cesar says...." and "Well, we'll see what they're like in x days/weeks/months doing it your way.". Sigh.
A friend of mine with a small old westie instructed me carefully on how to make Rory behave........ha ha hahha. If Rory wasn't such a good boy she would have lost a finger. She waved it in his face and shouted told him how naughthy he was. Yes he had just galloped off but he had come back when called and was sitting beautifully waiting for me to say something. His face was so funny I always really praise him when ever he comes back, but she because a young dog had just been a bit frisky was telling him off. He didn't get it and kept looking at me then at her as if to say are you nuts? I just said very quietly darling come and he did and did his really special sit. Now I could said a number of things and tried to explain what whe was doing was harmful and got annoyed, but I don't anymore because I realise you can't really argue with stupid. I did once manage to teach a close friend with a labrador that slapping a dog for coming back when he called his name and he didn't come back straight away was silly. I asked him to do an experiment with me. I told him to just ignore me for a while and I would teach him about recall. We got talking and walking and he forgot then I called his name really urgently and he spun round to look at me and I slapped him round the face (not too hard) . He was pretty shocked and a bit annoyed so i just looked and asked do you get it now? He did... good job I'm really dominant... only joking. I seen that a number of times people calling their dogs and getting annoyed then slapping when they get back and just don't get it its just so stupid on so many levels. One woman I asked how long had she been slapping her dog when it came back...she gave me look and I said well seems to me its not working why don't you try kindness he might come back if he thinks you like him? it was a lovely dog only young I wanted to take him home. image living with someone like that, I'd run off too. I think that people like the dominace therory because it easy you just have to be a bully. Thankfully we are moving on. hopefully?
I sometimes see experienced handlers at dummy training yelling at their dog and telling them off for getting things wrong. Recently I was with a woman with a show line golden retriever - they tend not to love retrieving, and mostly do the retrieving to please their owner, not because they desperately want to do it. He was slow on the return, so she told him off. Then he was slower on the outrun, and she told him off again. Next time on a mark he stopped to do a pee and didnt want to come back at all, and she got very upset... Do people like that not realize that the dog is getting frustrated and upset? I said to her that frankly I wouldn't run to get a dummy and bring it back to her either, if all I got was a telling off as a reward. She just responded that it is his job to do as he is told... You can really see with most of the dogs, the ones that are trained positively, that they GLOW with delight when they do things right and are praised! They are so happy and confident, completely different to the dogs that are told off and castigated. Happily I would say that around 90% of the handlers I work with train positively. Not to say that there isn't a bit of telling off, but most people know to use positive reinforcement, instead of the bad old ways.
To me this whole 'positive training' thing is a no brainier. Yes. Initially your dog is working for treats, but after a while it does what you ask as it has become a trained response. Molly now, sits, lays, gives paw, waits etc simply because I have asked her to. I occasionally reward for such simple things. I would point out that the working population only do so to get treats, ie money. It seems to me that if you train by other methods you are punishing the dog AFTER the event, so what is it supposed to make of that. They sure aren't going to want to do things to make you happy, their primary goal will be to avoid punishment. I would rather have my dog smiling up at me. Like I said, a no brainier
Such an irritating comment I've heard on a few occasions. Silence is now the best response. Thank heavens for the forum. I walked with my neighbour today who has a little westie. In the past her training methods had been very negative. To my astonishment she is now trying positive training and recognises the benefits. I'm thrilled she said how well Mabel is doing, my way obviously works. It made my day.
I am training Dexter to wait at doors and getting in and out of the car but not for dominance reasons, it's for safety. I only use positive methods but didn't know about this way of training until I found this site. Respect is a two way thing, I want Dexter to respect me but I also respect him. I find I have to bite my tongue with some people as it's like talking to a brick wall but I do feel so sorry for some dogs. I get really frustrated of some owners of little dogs that think because their dog is small they can be as growly and lungy as they like but if Dexter ends up barking back, he's the bad guy!
