My Dog Flunked Out of Obedience Class

[yoopermom]

With our previous dog (He was 120 pounds, in excellent shape) we HAD to use a pinch collar to walk him. NOTHING else worked. Pinch collars are the scourge of the internet, but there was no way to safely walk him and he NEEDED exercise. He got OUT of a gentle leader and SNAPPED choke collars. We were out of options. He very quickly learned that he must walk wall on the punch and could always be held with a relaxed hand.

Our current Lab responded poorly to the gentle leader (she walked with her head on the ground the entire time trying to pull it off) and the pinch (she ran from it). Our trainer reccomended a chest halter and it's a miracle. She walks so well.

We're still trying to figure out dumb puppy. He pulls too much for us to use the pinch and I'm thinking we're going to need a halter for him, too.

I will be one of those who defends a PROPERLY FITTED AND USED prong ("pinch") collar. There should not be any "slack" in the prongs (aka you should have to undo a prong to take it on and off, it shouldn't be so loose as to be able to slide over the head), it needs to be placed directly behind the ears (and not allowed to slide down, hence the sizing). What I do is put it on, cluck to get the dog's attention, if he ignores me, I give one small "pop", just enough that he can feel the prongs, but not enough to scare him. Used properly, they are actually more humane than a slip "choke" collar (which can cause extensive windpipe damage if used to "choke out" an out of control dog).

And, yes, I tried it on myself before ever using it on a dog, and it got my attention, but didn't "hurt" . Any collar/device is a tool, and only as good as the person on the other end of the leash....

Back to your regularly scheduled discussion, sorry....

Terri

 

[DawnM]

Our dog that we got from Craigslist was poorly trained. When I finally contacted the previous owners they finally told us that they spent $500 on dog training only to have her FAIL the class. The trainer said she is aggressive and unable to train.

They almost put her down. She finally calmed down a bit on her own with age.

She passed away at home this past April, 10 years after we got her. We gave her 10 extra years of life, but she was never really trainable.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

With our previous dog (He was 120 pounds, in excellent shape) we HAD to use a pinch collar to walk him. NOTHING else worked. Pinch collars are the scourge of the internet, but there was no way to safely walk him and he NEEDED exercise. He got OUT of a gentle leader and SNAPPED choke collars. We were out of options. He very quickly learned that he must walk wall on the punch and could always be held with a relaxed hand.

Our current Lab responded poorly to the gentle leader (she walked with her head on the ground the entire time trying to pull it off) and the pinch (she ran from it). Our trainer reccomended a chest halter and it's a miracle. She walks so well.

We're still trying to figure out dumb puppy. He pulls too much for us to use the pinch and I'm thinking we're going to need a halter for him, too.

Yep, pinch collar user on my dog that is a PITA and he IS TRAINED. He is older now however the pinch collar is for both of our safety.

There is no "pulling the arm off" with a pinch collar, lol. You do have to know how to use the collar.

 

[Magpie]

Yep, pinch collar user on my dog that is a PITA and he IS TRAINED. He is older now however the pinch collar is for both of our safety.

There is no "pulling the arm off" with a pinch collar, lol. You do have to know how to use the collar.

I have no experience with pinch collars.

However, we used a "haltie" or halter (similar to what horses wear) on my mother-in-law's eighty pound chow/lab/husky mix (an un-neutered male). Worked really well. Every time he tried to lunge or pull, he'd just end up going in circles.

He would sometimes try to scrape it off his face, but since we were always with him and in control, we were always able to stop him before he succeeded.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have no experience with pinch collars.

However, we used a "haltie" or halter (similar to what horses wear) on my mother-in-law's eighty pound chow/lab/husky mix (an un-neutered male). Worked really well. Every time he tried to lunge or pull, he'd just end up going in circles.

He would sometimes try to scrape it off his face, but since we were always with him and in control, we were always able to stop him before he succeeded.

The pinch collar is for training purposes only. Generally one correction and the dog STOPS what they are doing, usually with a yelp. It gets their attention.

I was staying with my sister with my dogs for a few months, so I had to have Butters meet the neighbor dog, Thor. He is a sweet, intact, untrained, 100lb lab male, who is caged in a garage most of the time so his energy level is through the roof when he gets even an inkling of attention.

I put the pinch collar on Butters and had them both in down-stays. Thor was on a tie out. It is an amazing tool IF you use it correctly.

This is collar that you use when all else fails OR you need to be safe while walking your dog, meaning you NEED that dog under 100% control.

 

[3Gsandme]

I have no experience with pinch collars.

However, we used a "haltie" or halter (similar to what horses wear) on my mother-in-law's eighty pound chow/lab/husky mix (an un-neutered male). Worked really well. Every time he tried to lunge or pull, he'd just end up going in circles.

He would sometimes try to scrape it off his face, but since we were always with him and in control, we were always able to stop him before he succeeded.

Our big lab could escape the haltie.
Our current lab cannot be walked on the haltie.
I wish the haltie solved our walking problems, but they didn't. Our big boy was 120 lbs. We couldn't fool around with it. He slipped the haltie once and it never went on him again because we couldn't risk it.

 

[Magpie]

Our big lab could escape the haltie.
Our current lab cannot be walked on the haltie.
I wish the haltie solved our walking problems, but they didn't. Our big boy was 120 lbs. We couldn't fool around with it. He slipped the haltie once and it never went on him again because we couldn't risk it.

That's completely fair. I will say, though, we did have the haltie hooked onto our big dog's collar. So even if he had slipped it (which I do believe he did once), there was a back up.

If I recall correctly, that one time was when an off-leash adolescent pitbull charged across the street at him, no owner in sight. I ended up stuck holding both dogs by the collar at arm's length. The idiot owner, when he finally showed up, was all, "Oh, he's only a puppy. He's just trying to play!"

I pointed out, rather irritably, that my dog wanted to kill his "playful puppy" (mine was snarling and spraying everyone with slobber, so... yeah), and if he cared about his animal at all, he shouldn't be allowing it to run around unsupervised.

I was SO sore, afterwards!

 

[3Gsandme]

That's completely fair. I will say, though, we did have the haltie hooked onto our big dog's collar. So even if he had slipped it (which I do believe he did once), there was a back up.

If I recall correctly, that one time was when an off-leash adolescent pitbull charged across the street at him, no owner in sight. I ended up stuck holding both dogs by the collar at arm's length. The idiot owner, when he finally showed up, was all, "Oh, he's only a puppy. He's just trying to play!"

I pointed out, rather irritably, that my dog wanted to kill his "playful puppy" (mine was snarling and spraying everyone with slobber, so... yeah), and if he cared about his animal at all, he shouldn't be allowing it to run around unsupervised.

I was SO sore, afterwards!

We did have the haltie hooked when Jack slipped. Another dog came at us and I was out with our little one in the stroller. I didn't have a prayer of controlling him via his regular collar. He was just too strong. So, pinch it was and we were all happy. I miss that big old boy.

Jack by hipmama2000, on Flickr

DSCN2559 by hipmama2000, on Flickr

 

[Maryr1]

When my lab "failed" level one, we were invited back to repeat it-TWICE! She really was a lovely girl, and we adored her, she was just "strong willed"......She would never do the command-just look around, try to get the other dogs to play etc. I was mortified. Too funny though-about a year after she "failed" her third time, I went back to the trainer with a new dog - who was amazingly well behaved-she LOVED LOVED LOVED doing classes. Our crazy lab would follow us around the house doing ALL the commands as I trained the puppy-she knew them all cold and had finally decided she wanted to cooperate.LOL!

 

[rascooby]

Our last Great Dane was asked to leave 2 different obedience classes, one was for reactive dogs. Apparently they don't take kindly to a giant dog barking and jumping as high as my head. However, we were offered private classes at no extra cost for the remainder of the lessons. That dog was 160lbs of nuttiness. I did so many classes with him. I would come home in tears. He loved me and was wonderful at home, but was just nuts about other dogs. Two things saved us, one was a prong collar, which was the only way to stop him from dragging me into gutters or into fences (both happened) the other thing was that our breeder went with us to some conformation classes. Classes with well behaved dogs who didn't start trouble with us was so helpful. He did FINALLY settle down around 3 years old. Sadly, he died of lymphoma at 4. He was perfectly behaved for the last year.

We currently have an Australian Shepherd who is pretty bad. He is supposed to be a show dog, but he's not crazy about strangers. He got thrown out of the ring at 5 months old for growling at the judge. We have been working and working with him and he's getting much better. He completed advanced obedience, but then failed the Canine Good Citizen test because he lunged at another dog (who was barking at him like a lunatic). But, he's making lots of progress, so that's the best we can do. He's not quite 2, so I'm hoping he will mellow out as he gets older.

So, I have learned that from now on, when I get a puppy, I want the calmest, friendliest dog in the litter. Oh, and I know it's not me, because I have had a perfectly normal Sheltie and Great Dane and our current Great Dane passed the test our Aussie failed. Some dogs are just jerks, lol.

 

[King Schultz]

I just asked my two dogs if they wanted to go to obedience school.

They looked at me like I was crazy and turned over and went back to sleep on the couch.

I'm taking that as a 'no'.

 

[PlutoPony]

Yay - mine finished his 6 weeks obedience class last night! He's still very much a work in progress but I learned a lot about how to work with him. Fortunately the class was very much positive reinforcement based and he seemed to really respond to that (well a few treats helped too ). The collar they use is a thin rope like thing that runs just under the ears on the neck and is SNUG - they are trained to respond to slight pressure from it and you aren't yanking them around.

The class was mostly young dogs, attention spans varied greatly which is obviously normal. Mine is around 5 (a rescue) and he wasn't overly interested in the pups, at least until the instructor brought her 8 month old Malinois along last night....he was totally smitten by her lol. Was actually good learning experience to have such a distraction around.

Good luck OP finding a good training situation!

 

[PlutoPony]

We had a lab that was diagnosed as ADD (HONEST)..... went to a well known behavioral specialist in the area and she said it was pretty clear cut. Briefly discussed using Ritalin (not going there). This was not our first lab puppy, knew after a while that he was "different". Took a good while for him to settle down, much longer than "normal" for labs but eventually he did. He was quite a handful until then, no way would he have been able to handle an obedience class. BUT he was a good pet and minded us pretty well, friendly with other dogs, etc. Typical goofy lab...

Like kids, dogs mature at different rates. Some kids can't handle sitting still in kindergarten for example, and some dogs don't do well with obedience classes until they reach a certain point. It's just harder to tell what that point is with dogs imo....

 

[yoopermom]

So, I have learned that from now on, when I get a puppy, I want the calmest, friendliest dog in the litter. Oh, and I know it's not me, because I have had a perfectly normal Sheltie and Great Dane and our current Great Dane passed the test our Aussie failed. Some dogs are just jerks, lol.

Puppy picking is SO important! I've gone with to help many people, and I can't stress enough how many want the first puppy that comes running at them, jumps around, acts all excited, etc. No, no, and no! Take your time, observe the litter as a whole, narrow it down to a couple, and then ask to interact with each one individually in a different surrounding without the littermates present. Here's a link to an example of puppy temperament testing: http://www.volhard.com/pages/pat.php Many reputable breeders will "rank" their litter, and then match each pup up to its best possible home.

And many dogs are just highly reactive, and it's something that "some" can learn to control, but it will still always be within them....

Terri

 

[annej]

We were told not to "waste our money" on classes for our English Bulldog. Not because he couldn't be trained or was aggressive or anything. The trainer said that in her experience they can learn anything but the problem is they are so stubborn and headstrong - and they are not at all people pleasers like labs are - they will just do what ever they want anyway and we could just work with him at home. He does well most the time but he is stubborn and if he doesn't want to listen - even like to get up and go out - he just totally ignores us. My husband has been known to carry him out to the grass at night because the dog is sleeping and doesn't want to get up. I will say he is one of the best dogs we have ever had. Just one big bundle of love!