Hi! The thread is about my gf's dog. It's a young(maybe 2 years old) GSD mix. I saw that dog in the local shelter about 7 months ago. I really liked it but couldn't afford more dogs and my gf took her home and named her Scarlet. Scarlet's coat was in bad condition and she was thin.
My gf's parents have something like a ranch. They live out of town and have some animals there(two horses, a donkey, sheep, goats and chicken). And Scarlet loves to chase some of those animals. She won't bite them but she scares them while chasing them like mad. She doesn't chase the horses or the donkey or even the adult goats. They don't start running away from her when she approaches. But the baby goats, the sheep and the chicken are really scared of the dog. So she can't run off leash in the yard because she can't ignore her desire for chasing animals. For those months she learned to play fetch. She wasn't very willing like my GSD rescued girl but after a lot of tries she became ball addicted and this really helped me(my gf won't train her by herself, we always worked together when Scarlet needed to learn something new) to teach her more things and reward her with a ball because she hasn't the best food drive. On a 12m leash she started to prefer chasing the ball rather than chasing animals.
I have always told my gf that Scarlet needs a trainer who could work with the dog and maybe she would be able to learn that she doesn't need to chase animals to be happy. I called the trainer with whom I worked when my boy had behaviour problems. He suggested e-collar training. I've worked with that trainer and he did wonders as he used an e-collar on my boy. He came to the ranch and worked with Scarlet and us 4 times in the first week and 3 times in the second week. The trainer chose to reward her with a ball because of her toy drive. When she ignores the animals we play ball, if she prefers to try chasing them the trainer corrects her with the e-collar.
Five days ago I threw Scarlet's ball and she started running to get it. My gf had the remote and was far away from me and hadn't saw me. She thought that Scarlet was alone and was going to chase an animal and later told me that she pressed the e-collar button 4 times till Scarlet got to the ball. She didn't call for Scarlet, she was just pressing the **** button! The last time when she pressed the button she told me that she increased a lot the level of the stimulation(we work on very low level because she's so sensitive). Nevertheless Scarlet took the ball in her mouth and started running towards me. She dropped the ball somewhere on the way back and never wanted to chase it again. When someone throws her the ball she expects some pain even when she's not with the e-collar on her neck...
Now 5 days later she shows interest in her ball and lies down and chews it but doesn't want to play fetch. She starts being afraid when someone throws the ball. The problem is not that she's afraid to chase the ball in the ranch or at home, she's afraid to chase the ball anywhere(in the park, lake, on hiking trips, etc). She's not motivated to work because she knows we're playing fetch after that, she is afraid to play fetch at all. I brought her one of my dogs' balls but she still doesn't want to chase it. She watched some dogs play fetch in the park a few times but didn't copy their behaviour.
Me and my gf had the biggest quarrel we've ever had because she is new in dog training and she wasn't supposed to touch that remote at all. Scarlet was doing great, she was able to focus all of her attention on the play-fetch thing and now everything seems ruined.
Is there a way to fix things. I tried with treats but she's not very interested and doesn't try that hard to understand what I want her to do. My gf refuses to call the trainer for now because she's still mad at me.
My gf's parents have something like a ranch. They live out of town and have some animals there(two horses, a donkey, sheep, goats and chicken). And Scarlet loves to chase some of those animals. She won't bite them but she scares them while chasing them like mad. She doesn't chase the horses or the donkey or even the adult goats. They don't start running away from her when she approaches. But the baby goats, the sheep and the chicken are really scared of the dog. So she can't run off leash in the yard because she can't ignore her desire for chasing animals. For those months she learned to play fetch. She wasn't very willing like my GSD rescued girl but after a lot of tries she became ball addicted and this really helped me(my gf won't train her by herself, we always worked together when Scarlet needed to learn something new) to teach her more things and reward her with a ball because she hasn't the best food drive. On a 12m leash she started to prefer chasing the ball rather than chasing animals.
I have always told my gf that Scarlet needs a trainer who could work with the dog and maybe she would be able to learn that she doesn't need to chase animals to be happy. I called the trainer with whom I worked when my boy had behaviour problems. He suggested e-collar training. I've worked with that trainer and he did wonders as he used an e-collar on my boy. He came to the ranch and worked with Scarlet and us 4 times in the first week and 3 times in the second week. The trainer chose to reward her with a ball because of her toy drive. When she ignores the animals we play ball, if she prefers to try chasing them the trainer corrects her with the e-collar.
Five days ago I threw Scarlet's ball and she started running to get it. My gf had the remote and was far away from me and hadn't saw me. She thought that Scarlet was alone and was going to chase an animal and later told me that she pressed the e-collar button 4 times till Scarlet got to the ball. She didn't call for Scarlet, she was just pressing the **** button! The last time when she pressed the button she told me that she increased a lot the level of the stimulation(we work on very low level because she's so sensitive). Nevertheless Scarlet took the ball in her mouth and started running towards me. She dropped the ball somewhere on the way back and never wanted to chase it again. When someone throws her the ball she expects some pain even when she's not with the e-collar on her neck...
Now 5 days later she shows interest in her ball and lies down and chews it but doesn't want to play fetch. She starts being afraid when someone throws the ball. The problem is not that she's afraid to chase the ball in the ranch or at home, she's afraid to chase the ball anywhere(in the park, lake, on hiking trips, etc). She's not motivated to work because she knows we're playing fetch after that, she is afraid to play fetch at all. I brought her one of my dogs' balls but she still doesn't want to chase it. She watched some dogs play fetch in the park a few times but didn't copy their behaviour.
Me and my gf had the biggest quarrel we've ever had because she is new in dog training and she wasn't supposed to touch that remote at all. Scarlet was doing great, she was able to focus all of her attention on the play-fetch thing and now everything seems ruined.
Is there a way to fix things. I tried with treats but she's not very interested and doesn't try that hard to understand what I want her to do. My gf refuses to call the trainer for now because she's still mad at me.