Do you hit your dog ?

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I prefer breeds that are intelligent, trainable and tractable. Those breeds generally require very little correction. There are 3 disciplinary techniques that I have found helpful in shaping their behavior. Each one is accompanied with an attention getting "NO."

A mother dog will growl at her puppies and discipline them by grabbing them with her mouth on the loose skin on the back of their neck and giving them a little jerk. In the early stages of training it does wonders to grab them by that fur, give them a jerk and say "NO" in a growling voice.

Later, as the pups start learning that their mouth is their strength, grabbing them tight around the muzzle and growling "NO" is effective. It get's their attention when you rob them of their strength.

When they get out of hand or if they show aggression, taking them down, pinning them, putting your face up to theirs and growing "NO" is effective. That's the way dogs assert dominance and hierarchy with other dogs, so it's a language that they understand.

Once NO is associated with such discipline, simply using the word NO is all it takes.

NO should be the most effective command in a dog owners vocabulary. Too few dog owners know its beauty.
 
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Funny story here. I take my dog to the park regularly. You see the absolute worst in dog owners at a park. It's entertaining, even if a bit maddening.

On one such trip to the park, there was a woman with a mid sized mutt. We'll call him "Humpy." That dog mounted every damn dog in the park.

Humpy would find a suitor and start going to town on it. Dogmom would say something like "stop it." This continued on for a while with Dogmom uttering things like "quit it Humpy" "don't do that" and "how many times do I have to tell you?"

A few short moments after a meaningless command, Humpy found another target. Humpy mounted it up and started wailing away at it. Dogmom says "get off." I looked at her and said "That is NOT the command you should be giving right now." A little pause then the group of dog owners all started laughing.

Teach your dog what "no" means with non-abusive corrective techniques. Use the word and mean it.

Don't ever give your dog a command that you don't make them follow through with, even if it's not an overly important one.
 
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I have a soft dog and you can look at her the wrong way and she knows! This dogs needs little discipline. A strong tug on the leash is all you need. Love her! BUT a beast in the field.

Also, I have a hard headed dog, still a pain in the ass, he needs a strong alpha. 19 months old and I don't think the maturity switch has turned on just yet. He is getting better. I stay away from the head and neck b/c I can't stand hand shy dogs! I swat his butt when he's not looking to 'surprise' him when he's done wrong > mainly not listening. His personality is a little ADHD and very distractible. I found with e collar I was too gentle. Lots of mild/moderate taps would help for a little bit. One hard tap, with this dog, really helped his training. I hide the remote in my coat pocket adding a little more surprise so he doesn't have visual of the remote.

I keep a small bean bag in my pocket If I say here and he doesn't come to my side and gets distracted he gets a bean bag in the ass. Goal is to catch his attention when he doesn't listen. My trainer taught me this technique.

He has GSP ADHD. LOL. But I love him.
 

akcabin

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Absolutely not ! We have raised Chessapeake Bay Retrievers. Known to be kinda hard headed.
A soft hand. Connect with the dog with trust. If you smack me once I'll remember.
Learn to use several command words. Only, and include hand signals. Ruby or latest is a sweetheart. And a chessy. She is expert on wearing my arms out. I trained her to hunt moose antlers.
Not much better things in the world than watching a good dog on the hunt. My dogs will hunt
 

Iowafarmer

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I have a 14 month old Weimaraner and I take him everywhere I can . He minds pretty good , but gets distracted easily .
If I tell him to lay down and he doesn't , I smack him on the head with the end of the leash , just hard enough to make it pop .
A lady at the restaurant saw me do it and gave me a dirty look , so I asked her , Are you giving me a dirty look because I hit the dog ?
Yes she said and turned away with her nose in the air .
Am I wrong here ? I'm not hurting him , just hit him hard enough to get his attention . All my dogs have minded and everyone always comments on how well they listen to me .
I think I depends on a dog’s personality but a little tap to get their attention can’t hurt don’t need to make it hurt though
 

Te Hopo

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For me it depends in the dog, if they're a little shy/sensitive then it's just a look and words, reprimands are growled and I use a higher pitch for praise.

If they're more hard headed, I use a firm pushing swat at the backside to quickly turn them around and brings their attention back to me.

But more than any corrections, I find controlled play trumps all with the dogs I've had.
I spend a heck of a lot of my time building a rapport with them, building their confidence and showing I can be the fun boss where we're buds having a good time.
 

TheGDog

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Not to mention being their fierce Defender, Man. Since both of mine where Small and XS size. And since the Rat Terrier ain't backin' down, no matter the size of the opponent. Well... yeah... Daddy had to intervene a few times. Especially with this one damn Akita that had a hair up it's butt to mess with the Rat Terrier.

So there we are at the Dog Park... walking along... I spy this one that did that business of putting their weight onto my Rat Terrier before. So OK, I change our course and cut a nice WIDE berth AWAY from the corner this 'tard was at.

Ah shoot.. damn thing pro-actively came outta that corner, had that stalking walk going on. Ugh... here we go.

Then... I go and shout over to it's owner something along the lines of Can you please keep a watch over your Dog? (Since often large-breed dog owners, at least at this park, lot of them tend to engage other humans and NOT pay attention to what their dogs are doing.

This old fart pipes up with "Aww blow it out your Barrack's!"

OOoh-hoo-hoo.... that made some sh!t snap inside.... I fricking beelined up to him and I know I musta had that Mad-Dog look goin' on because the old fart makes it a point to say "You touch me and I'll sue you for everything you've Got!" And dang it.. inside I knew he was right. I politely menaced him, but kept decorum. Especially since that caused a lotta eyes to turn our way.

After that? If his dog tried anything? Boom! Strong-armed to the ground by the neck. And I'd use those situations to politically get everyone on my side... his big ol Dog pickin on my cute lil girl, etc.
 

Okhotnik

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how often do you shoot a Eurasian?

You silly dog beaters probably just haven’t asked them how they identify. Maybe they’ll listen better and you won’t have to thump them.
That being said. You train your dog the way that works for you. I’ll train my dog the way that works for me. And both of us should seek new methods and ways to improve.
The worst thing you can do is stand by idly while your dog misbehaves, and the 2nd worst thing you can do is keep training the same way over and over and expect different results.

Everyone’s bravado comes out when it comes to their dog. Let’s face it, some people ‘s dogs are crap because they allowed them to be.
quite the troller
 

Alder_

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Big time troller because of one statement about how they identify.

The rest of it holds true. Folks on here get too worked up about a bunch of silliness.
 

Watrdawg

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Dogs will always test their place in the pack. Part of that is not obeying commands or doing so on their time. I waterfowl and run Labs in Hunt Tests and Field Trials and no matter how well trained my dogs are they will decide to do things on their own sometimes. That is when a well timed nick with an E-Collar or swat across the rear with a healing stick or tug on a leash will bring them back in line. I have a 12yr old Lab that will test me quite often. There are times when he definitely wants to do things his way. Others in this thread have said it's all about training and if trained properly you wouldn't have to worry about this. BS. My dogs start with very basic OB at 8 wks old. They go into formal training around 5 months. During the off season from hunting they are in full time training for trials and tests. So they are in some type of training most of their lives. They will still test you when they can. BTW my dogs are all house dogs and can't wait to train, trial or hunt.
 

TheGDog

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All my dogs have minded and everyone always comments on how well they listen to me .

That's just it. Sometimes you just have to be content with knowing this other fool doesn't know WTF they're talking about and they are only acting this way because they just so happen to have not been around when you've rec'd all these compliments on how well behaved your dog (or child) is.

There's really only a small amount of stuff you can do about how the other Human perceives stuff. And ultimately it's all upon them to see the error in how they've extrapolated what they've witnessed. Especially when they don't understand how you train a dog.

Like for example, with the written word... the moment it leaves your hands it's meaning is held hostage by the readers current emotional state and how that will influence the way they attribute certain nuance to your words or word-choice. Then... if you check'em on that... they double-down on their original interpretation... even though you the guy who actually wrote the damn words is straight-up telling them they are wrong and that this is NOT what you were trying to convey. They double-down by asserting they're right, then mentally "stonewall", the confirmation bias shields come up, and then no new information will penetrate.

They'll talk all their sh!t... but they're not there when you can hand the tennis ball over to a toddler, give him a quick lil 10 seconds rundown of how they must execute the cmds, and then you sit back and observe and watch your dog execute sit...down...roll-over.. and fetch.... all from the silent hand-movements of a toddler. Sooo they can go EFF themselves!
 

TheGDog

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A pop under the chin to a dog is one thing, but Jesus, I can't understand someone that would hit their own kid. Using violence will never change someone's behavior for the better. Pure neanderthal ignorance.

It's not just "hit your kid" though.

Once they can talk and understand half decently, it's very simple.

1) The bad behaviour happens the first time. You show your negative displeasure. You talk to them and explain that you need them not to do that, and here's the simplified reasons why. (So they know it's not just you up and deciding being a d!ck with them.) You explain to them if it happens again, this certain non-physical punishment that you won't like is gonna happen. (You take away electronics or whatever other possession they are addicted to, along with confinement)

2) The bad behaviour happens again. You show your negative displeasure. You take away the thing you said you were going to take away. AND if they start giving you guff... you exponentially escalate how much worse you will choose make the punishment it if they don't zip it. You also explain that if this happens again they're gonna get spanked, THEN have this or that taken away.

3) If they didn't learn, and they do it again. You show your negative displeasure. You remind them "You remember what I said I was going to do if you did that again?" (<- this part really hits home with them! They connect the dots back up again and get upset) And you DO exactly what you said you were going to do. Along with whatever other non-physical punishment that goes with it that is now escalated exponentially in duration.

Long as you're consistent like this? You'll be able to count ON ONE HAND how many times you've had to get physical with your kid throughout his childhood years.

They learn real early on "Papa Don't Play". And as a result they mind and behave soo much better and together the two of you get to have soo much more fun! Cause can't take 'em out to do fun or exciting activities if they're being bad, right?

P.S. - should go without saying that you lavish praise on them (dog or child) when they do the good/right thing)
 

frank church guy

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Already made my opinion once, but how do you beat a dog who hunts more than you and is this pretty, and lives to hunt. the older picture with the bad lighting she was 16 years 1 months 4 days, and (day five was her last) the puppy pictures are from 2003 or 2004. and beyond......... Just shared a few pictures. Dont beat your dog, teach them, they want to please. The most amazing thing about my little girl was, no matter how mad she made me it didn't matter, because 10 seconds after I was mad at her she was over it and wanted to please. They beg to learn! They beg to please! Hunting dogs are the most loyal hunting buddy you will ever have! And I think every dog is that way. we bread dogs to be loyal
P131113.JPGPC260008.JPGP6070004.JPGP7050033.JPG1122171647_Film4.jpgshe was so easy to train. just wanted to hunt, and make me happy.PC090007.JPGPC260008.JPGP131113.JPG
 
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