Barking Dog - Part 2

[wowzer]

It's a dog. Treat it like a dog. Dogs respond to negative reinforcement.

Watch Dog Whisperer from the National Geographic channel. Totally amazing what that guy does.

[ka jowct]

I wouldn't call what Cesar Millan does "negative reinforcement". And I suspect he'd tell you to walk your dog a lot more than you are currently doing.

If you aren't walking your dog two or three times a day, you should try to find a dog walker.

[Baby Tats]

You are in a difficult spot and I applaud your efforts for trying to do something to keep peace with your neighbors. We have had a few situations in our neighborhood escalate to the point that animal control has had to issue citations and there is now a possibility of a dog being removed. In a case like that, nobody (especially the dog) wins. As long as your dog is only barking at random noises then a collar can be appropriate. It sounds like his sensitivity control may be set too low. OTOH, if your dog is standing at your back door and barking because he misses you then a correction collar is nothing more than a torture device.

Buried in BGnR's vitriol is a good piece of advice in that you shouldn't view the collar as the only thing that you need to do. Spend 10 min 2-3X a day training him to bark at what you think is appropriate. You can set his proper sensitivity level with a little work. With the proper combination of positive reinforcement and assertiveness it won't take long to modify his behavior. Dogs respond amazingly well once you establish dominance and they view you as the alpha. Once that relationship is established then your dog will always look to you to tell him the proper behavior as opposed to you always having to correct the inappropriate behavior. And when you do have to correct an inappropriate behavior it only takes one or two times to get the point across. Owners and dogs who have this relationship are often the happiest and most content.

As wowzer points out the Dog Whisperer is amazing. But I would not characterisze what he does as negative reinforcement as much as it is establishing dominance and then showing the dog what is expected of them. Good show- but you have to remember that it is edited so don't expect to get the same results as quickly as he does.


BT


EDIT: Didn't see ka jowct's post as I was typing at the same time, but it seems that we agree about the dog whisperer. I agree that if your dog got a long walk in the morning then he would be much more likely to sleep during the day.

[chas_m]

[quote Lux Interior]I blame Bush.



There. Now you can move it.

Laugh of the day. Thanks Lux.

PS. love your band.

[ka jowct]

Cesar Millan emphasizes over and over that walking your dog (not just talking it outside for 5 minutes to pee and poop, but a good-quality, half hour or longer walk every day) is extremely important in preventing unwanted behavior as well as in building a strong relationship. Of course it's also important to walk the dog correctly. Just letting the dog have the run of a yard isn't sufficient.

I've been trying to apply just a very, very small part of what he teaches when I walk my neighbor's dog. "Calm, assertive energy" and good walks really seem to work. My neighbor's wife recently introduced me to a friend of hers as the only person the dog likes apart from her husband. And as far as I can tell, this has happened primarily on the basis of taking decent walks with him and maintaining a calm energy.

I think you have to be very careful applying Millan's techniques, because he reads dog body language better than most people on the planet, and most of us are not going to be able to approach that level of insight without a lot of experience and practice.

We could really use someone like him in NYC, where so many good, salvageable dogs end up being dumped at shelters and killed because their owners have failed to handle them appropriately.