Oh and he's learning "focus on me" but he didn't listen when a dog came out yesterday on our walk. >/ (No prong collar yesterday) He doesn't have it down 100% though yet so hopefully with time he'll get better but I need some ideas for helping him get over this now.
Ignoring Other Dogs
Chance is now 10 months. He's always been a wonderful dog to be around and behaves wonderfully...Except when other dogs are involved.
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Used to he'd ignore them but now he doesn't? He's never had a bad experience with any dogs and does great around all kinds. I've tried to socialize him as much as possible but this is really setting us back and it's rather embarrassing on my part because I want a well behaved dog.
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He knows sit, lay, stay (I can leave for over a minute and he'll stay right where he is until I come back and give him a release command), heel, come, leave it, drop it, give paw (left paw), give other paw (right paw), high five and is learning "bang bang" (Play dead) and roll over. He even knows some hand signals. He's a smart cookie and I'm proud to say I've done all of his training by myself and I'm only 16 and never worked with a professional for any dog.
However, he gets on my nerves when he barks. It's not that he annoys me but he's embarrassing.
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He can do so much but he see's a dog and he's choking himself on the lead and barking like an idiot. He just wants to play, he's never been aggressive and if you take him to the other dog he just wants to sniff butts and do his doggy thing. I've only done that twice since those were the only times I actually knew the dogs/owners. The rest of the time I took him out of the situation or tried to keep him in a sit turned away from the dog until he calmed down and the other dog was gone.
He only does it on walks or at the park. He's barked twice at dogs in the pet store but considering all the times he's been, thats not very much at all and was a rare situation.
I broke down and bought a prong collar to give it a try. It works great so far but like any training tool, I don't want this to be a life long thing.
Any ideas on how to get him over this?
Used to he'd ignore them but now he doesn't? He's never had a bad experience with any dogs and does great around all kinds. I've tried to socialize him as much as possible but this is really setting us back and it's rather embarrassing on my part because I want a well behaved dog.
He knows sit, lay, stay (I can leave for over a minute and he'll stay right where he is until I come back and give him a release command), heel, come, leave it, drop it, give paw (left paw), give other paw (right paw), high five and is learning "bang bang" (Play dead) and roll over. He even knows some hand signals. He's a smart cookie and I'm proud to say I've done all of his training by myself and I'm only 16 and never worked with a professional for any dog.
However, he gets on my nerves when he barks. It's not that he annoys me but he's embarrassing.
He only does it on walks or at the park. He's barked twice at dogs in the pet store but considering all the times he's been, thats not very much at all and was a rare situation.
I broke down and bought a prong collar to give it a try. It works great so far but like any training tool, I don't want this to be a life long thing.
Any ideas on how to get him over this?
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I worry about gentle leaders because I don't want him hurting his neck if he pulls on it.
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Plus it already looks bad that I have a German Shephed, having a "muzzle" on him? (I know it's not a muzzle but it looks like one and we've got stupid people around here. One guy up the road told his son to back away because "that dog'll eat you up" when Chance wasn't even looking at them and was panting along side my leg doing his own thing. o_o) At least his fur covers some of the prong collar (Wasn't even on him when the guy commented) so you don't see it as much. I might give the front harness a try though since it might work better for turning him around. :]
I've told people it's his age but it's still embarrassing since he doesn't listen and wasn't like this before.
I don't have an obedience instructor. I've never been to any sort of dog class in my life, I've never worked under a professional, I've always done all my dogs training myself. I did Chance's heel work on nothing but a flat buckle nylon collar. So I've never required anything special until now.
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I do WANT to get into a class with him so that I can take the CGC with him, meet new people and be around the dogs. But I've got really bad anxiety and worry about being "trapped" in a class. (My fear of going places is like someone with a fear of spiders being put into a closet with 100 huge tarantulas.)
I've told people it's his age but it's still embarrassing since he doesn't listen and wasn't like this before.
I don't have an obedience instructor. I've never been to any sort of dog class in my life, I've never worked under a professional, I've always done all my dogs training myself. I did Chance's heel work on nothing but a flat buckle nylon collar. So I've never required anything special until now.
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I just found the same thing as a gentle leader at Wal-mart for around $6(no DVD of course!). I have a gentle leader and compared it, it seems well made, and the nose strap is just a little thicker, which I think is better. There is no hurting of the neck, the dog is lead by his snout. If he pulls, he is automatically directed back to the handler. I used it on Onyx tonight, we walked for an hour( 80's and humid), in woods and roads- one a two lane highway. After a while, I took off the nose strap, and just walked her attached to the strap, but not on her nose now it is like a flat collar, we had no problems. We walked by several people, houses w/dogs. I put the nose strap back on before we passed a JRT that was reactive, even before my dogs focused on him. I have the black collar(large size), so many people don't even notice it on the nose. She is a bi-color, so the black blends in. I think this type of head collar works much better for her than the prong ever did. I still have to get the sensation harness sized properly to not twist about when walkingOriginally Posted By: Chance's MomI worry about gentle leaders because I don't want him hurting his neck if he pulls on it.Plus it already looks bad that I have a German Shephed, having a "muzzle" on him? (I know it's not a muzzle but it looks like one and we've got stupid people around here. d) so you don't see it as much. I might give the front harness a try though since it might work better for turning him around.![]()
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