Training a 'Hard' Pup - Page 2

The fact that this is their fist dog, it's a high drive dog, they are in an apartment  and the language barrier makes it really tough.  Normally, I prefer to see people train their own dogs for the development of the bond and also so they learn how a dog thinks & what makes him tick.  To learn to do this, they would need a club, and be willing to devote a lot of time to dog and club.   If he is using too much correction and not enough praise he is creating a lot of conflict with this dog - a recipe for disaster.  A hard dog refers to a dog that can take a correction, then come right back up in drive, (not crestfallen), not so much a dog that is difficult or hyper.  Given all the negatives in this situation, perhaps it is better a trainer step in and take over.  Is the dog going to go to the trainers kennel, be  trained, then returned and will the trainer be working with the owners as well?

Sue, the trainer is coming to their home to work with the dog.

sueinc.-- glad to see we share the same outlook -- even more so -- the harder .. the drivier the dog -- with the comment you made sueinc-- add would add -Gee --the easier it is to train that dog !! difficult it is to train a dog that has no affinity  or respect for the owner[or no pack propensity ] and a lazy dog [ and there are some ] that doesn't like to move it's but and do something -- sort of like peole - you have those with get up and go .. and a good number that are just good for keeping the couch warm --case in point -- the easiest dogs i have for bite work are those that just love to bite and are the hardest !.. it's a cinch to teachg that dog to out as well as to control itself!

I feel the same.  High drive, hard dogs are the most fun,  very easy to train and very forgiving at the same time.  I am not good enough of a trainer to teach a dog that doesn't like to play.

Last night, I looked after a 5 mo. GSD female that belongs to a neighbour. She looks like working lines, tan with a black blanket. Boy, is she one-hard assed bitch!!

your neighbor asked you to look out for there dog and you spend the entire time training doing this and that. I would not have gone in to any training, just a dog walk and then have a talk with the neighbor.

The way me and my DH always done he has hes dog and I have mine and I don't want nobody to do anything with my dog especially trying to teach the 5 mo. old to down, or hang the dog.  

Anna

www.vonweissblau.com

Anna..i agree with your statement and do the same.. sounds though like her neighbors are somewhat clueless at this point and she was trying to help.

I looked at your link and you have very nice gsd's!...

Annna,I see your point, but  the dog was here from 5 pm to 9 pm, so I certainly did NOT spend the whole time training! Most of that time it spent chasing my pup around the backyard, and having a good time. I confess I was curious to see if the pup knew a few of the basics, because I've watched them play with it in the park nearly every day. Also, it was a good chance to work my own puppy with the distraction of another dog in the yard. When we did the walk, it was a matter of keeping the dog under control. I lifted it up off its front feet until it decided that lunging after bicycles, other people's dogs, etc. was not such a good idea. 

It is a real shame to see this attitude to training dogs.  Why not work on changing the dogs motivation?  Work on getting its attention, making yourself more fun.  I am not suprised a pup struggled having its front legs pulled to get it into the down.  If someone treated you that way, you would struggle too.  Learn how to motivate your dog and 'hard' dogs will become just as easy to train.  If someone thinks that dogs who are trained with food only work when the food is there, the trainer obviously didn't understand how to use food in training and had never moved past the stage of luring.  If your dogs behaviour (or anyone elses dogs behaviour for that matter) is a problem, reduce their options by putting them on the lead, WAITING for the right response and rewarding that.  You may have to wait a while for the first time BUT it always works and the dog gets better and better as time goes by.  Motivated dogs, whether motivated by food, toys, bite work or whatever will always work better than a contolled dog.  You just need to put more time and effort into the early stages.  Anyone who has had problems using these methods just didn't understand the process.

Sunsilver:  Please keep us posted on the progress of the dog. 

JJR:  If you were to read Sunsilvers posts you would know she uses motivational techniques when training her dogs.   The reason she used the method she did was because she found herself in a very precarious situation with a strange dog & resorted to picking the dog up off his front legs to maintain control.  I agree that it was not her place to "school" the dog, but I think it was more a matter of getting home with the dog in one piece.  Most of us on this board, including Sunsilver,  have wonderful relationships with our dogs, train with motivational methods and use corrections as well.  While there are some dogs that can be trained using only motivational methods, those dogs are few and far between, especially our high drive dogs.  Corrections that are fair and timed correctly are not cruel.