Ok .. So I adopted or rescued a already neutered Husky/Lab 1yr old Stubborn Benjamin. I was reading information on the mix breed that led me to this forum. Now I just see lab stuff but I'm sure SOMEONE can help me. . He was given to me by someone that has a full blooded husky, along with a few other furbabies. Her father was moving in with her and the family after a surgery, with his own furbaby. So .. she was worried about this very hyper and energetic dog that she thought was 2 yrs old. From which someone else had told her when she also rescued him from a girl that landlord said, no dogs. Okay .. this is the first issue. I don't have exact paperwork or dates. The lady I got him from says he doesn't like to share with the other babies. He's house trained except for when he's excited or locked up in a room alone. They kept him in a kennel or box until they got home at the end of the day. Then just put him on a runner. She swears she took him to dog parks and walked him on a leash. He did come with a collar and leash but he acted like he never got taken for walks much less on a leash. Cuz this, what looks to most as a slim husky. Will pull and tug basically drags me everywhere. I've been working with him on that. I can tell now. I need a harness. I can't take him to the vets offlce by myself anymore. I'm in traction for a month. I've gotten him to sit on command only for treats or bites. Even that can get him confused or he gets off point. He has learned. Sit, right paw left paw or other paw. Speak. He doesn't howl like other Huskies I've seen. He will talk to me if I have food and I'm not eating and not paying him any attention. Like pick up my phone to text while I have a plate or just a snack. I feel like he does respect me more than my husband or kids but he will still try to push how far he can get with me. If that makes sense. My oldest daughter has a puppy not even 1 yet. She's a lab/ boxer mix. She has tried on several occasions to bring her over and see what happens. He's snapped at her. This is a biggggg problem. It makes family time short and my daughter mad that she has to take my grandpuppy home and that I won't put Benjamin behind closed doors. He will tare up my door, carpet or he will pee or poop everywhere. Another thing, he jumps on everyone that comes in the door. I've tried to get him to listen but it's a waste of air. It's like he's turned me off. I have never NOT been able to train a dog. I've even trained a Chiuaua. This is the most stubborn dog I have ever had. Ughhhh ... I've checked into obedience classes. Very expensive. $400/900 . Nope can't do that. I'm disabled with back, knees legs and feet issues. He has at times pulled some things in my body I didn't know existed. My kids help some and my husband works 2nd shift. So it's me and him for the most part. Giving up isn't an option. I can't give up on him. Especially when two other families have. Can't do it to him or my family. So .. please .... Any and all help, advise is appreciated. Thanks .....
Hi @Cookiebear715 i have trained a nordic dog for a short period. What I noticed was that that dog breed Malamute in my case) would do say a sit once and then would not do another in that session. Their attitude seems to be along the following lines; I have sat, why are you asking me to do it again? I suspect that is part of the issue with your training when you say he gets confused with sits. Could you tell me please how you have attempted to teach the dog loose lead walking? What equipment you are using? Why do you think you need a harness? What type would you get? Are you physically able to control the dog with a front-attaching harness? Have you taught your dog a conditioned reinforcer (marker word or charged a clicker)? Does your dog value food treats? Where do you live? I was surprised at the cost of attending an obedience class. I take it that that figure is for accessing a for-profit trainer. Sorry for the many questions. Other members of this site, feel free to chime in.
Hello Michael. You have very valid questions. I just have a leash and collar. He's so stronger than me physically. This is why I thought a harness would be a better control issue with him pulling on me. When I walk him I have left hand down towards the collar and the right in normal position. He does love his treats. That's how I taught him to sit, right paw, left paw and high five. Buuuttt .... He gets so excited most times and tries to run through the commands without asked to, just to get the treat. I feel like he's not in that calm and submissive stage. Ive never used a harness before. So that would be new to me as well. I've heard of the clicking technique. He's just so ADD. Im the inforcer. Get told that I'm being to mean because I will put his toys away but hubby come behind me and gives it right back. I think maybe I need a shock collar for at least one of them. Lol ...
Thank you very much. I love it already. So much information and nice people. Going through the same thing I'm going through it I've gone through something that I can help someone else.
Hi @Cookiebear715 perhaps I might start with a short point. I think you posted your request under the wrong folder. The current folder is for advanced obedience. Your account should be under dog training principles and practice at the minimum and ideally Labrador training. The latter folder has a lot more traffic and you'll probably get more responses. Perhaps if you write to an administrator via the report button the thread can be relocated. I don't know wther that is possible so here goes. If you train with just a lead and flat collar, then the dog will be too strong for you. I don't think I would be able to hang on either. Front attaching harnesses enable the handler to turn the dog when the dog pulls. But you still need quite a bit of strength to do so, if the dog picks up any momentum. On the basis of your description, I would be inclined to get a front attaching harness AND practice the following technique: when your dog pulls, stop walking forward and either wait for you dog to come back in your direction or alternatively start walking in the opposite direction. When your dog getS level with you, say Yes and give the dog a treat. Start walking again. As soon as dog pulls once again change direction and repeat the above steps. ALWAYS REINFORCE WHEN THE DOG IS LEVEL WITH YOU. YEs plus treat Before you try this exercise you must have a conditioned reinforcer, here the word yes. Grab 20 treats, no bigger than the nail of your little finger. Say Yes give treat, and keep repeating yes plus treat until you have no more treats. Dog does not need to do anything. Next training session, when the dog is looking away from you, say Yes. If he turns his head in your direction, then you have a conditioned reinforcer. Whenver your dog does the correct thing say yes and treat within a half a second. Now you are ready for the above walking exercise. If he does not respond to yes, then you have to do another round of being a treat dispensing machine. This time wait for him to look away before you say yes. I can't train your partner but please tell him that on grounds of environmental enrichment it is a bad idea to just leave all the toys out. Collect the toy that has been out for the day and give the dog another toy for just one day the next morning. Collect that night and pass out a third toy the next day. And so on. In doing so the dog thinks it is Xmas each and every day of the year. Well not quite. But it helps to prevent the dog from getting bored. Leave ecollars out of the equation completely. Well that should start you and your dog on the road to modern training. Let us know how you go.
Hi @Cookiebear715, valid point have moved your thread, hoped that hasn't confused you too much! Some great points re: loose leash walking from @Michael A Brooks. I really would consider a double attaching harness, (front and back..) so you have some control when using a double-ended lead. Worth a note here Respect is actually a concept that us humans use, and dogs don't really understand. You do have a challenge on your hands, with helping your dog understand boundaries, but respect and boundaries are two different things. After all, you have a young boisterous dog on your hands, who by the sound of it hasn't had much training in impulse control, so it's more about managing expectations and managing your environment whilst getting some good solid training under your belt. I like this blog entry which looks at respect in more detail https://eileenanddogs.com/2014/04/13/respect-dominance-dog-training/ Benjamin doesn't understand boundaries yet, and is simply over excited when another dog arrives in the house. In the meantime, you could employ some management techniques instead, such as stair/baby gates. Very cheap and easy to install. We have several, and when we have fosters here, we always use them. Benjamin also needs to learn how to be calm, this is something he needs to be taught first, otherwise, even if using baby gates as a barrier, he will still be excited behind them. This video gives you some ideas on how to approach capturing and reinforcing calmness in your dog. Be mindful though, it does take a fair amount of time and patience! Absolutely agree, you need to build a strong bond with your dog based on trust and helping your dog making good choices, whilst using aversive techniques, such as ecollars will work by diminishing undesirable behaviours, the fallout could be very detrimental to your relationship. Indeed in the UK, they have been banned from use. Training using positive reinforcement methods is very much the ethos of this forum. Here is an article which talks in a bit more detail around training techniques punishment-in-dog-training Some basic principles to have a look at: basic-dog-training-techniques Good luck and do let us know how you get on!
Thank you for all the great information. I am going to take some time over the weekend and read and watch all of these articles and videos. Researching and study. I can and will do this. I wish there were a way to post pictures and video. But .. have a great weekend and love on your babies.
Cookiebear, I'm trying to read your original post at the top but it's hard as it's all in one paragraph Can you maybe state the problems, one problem at a time, and separate each point out? But I'm going to try to respond to what I read, I'm just not sure I've understood some of it... I just want to start, first, by saying that this would be a really challenging dog for anyone to take on - even someone who is incredibly physically fit and, I don't know, an Olympic gymnast. I understand and applaud you not wanting to give up on him and that is admirable - especially when there are probably kill shelters around - but at the same time do recognise that sometimes, if we stack the odds against us enough, we are destined if not quite to 'fail', to not achieve what we set out or wanted to achieve. Let's go through your points in turn: It is very normal for dogs to resource guard from each other and this isn't really a problem, as long as they are not over-reacting. For example, a dog which is enjoying a toy or an item, is perfectly normal if growling at another dog who comes near or otherwise communicating that they should back off. If they didn't do this, they would never get to keep anything they wanted - they would constantly have other dogs taking it off them. Where resource guarding between dogs becomes not normal and maybe problematic, is when the dog isn't just growling but is attacking or going for the jugular or basically over-reacting to another dog innocently passing by - for example. I'm going to assume you don't have this, since you haven't said that you do... Well, we're both agreed that that is no way to keep a dog. In terms of being excited: Try to take him outside BEFORE times when he might get excited. Eg: If he gets excited when your husband comes home, take him outside to toilet before your husband is expected back. Being locked up in a room alone and toileting at these times, may be a sign that he has separation anxiety. This will be a big thing you will need to work on with him, because no matter how much you can be around the house right now, there will be a time when you have to go out and leave him - and you need to prepare him for that. Is he ok when you go out at the moment or have you not left him alone yet? Ok, so the TYPE and BRAND of harness you choose is very important here - because some harnesses will make him incredibly strong: Think of huskies pulling a sled and how they throw their weight into their harness to tow it. And other harnesses will do the opposite - will take a lot of the pull out of things for you and give you a lot more control. How to choose the right harness? You need a harness with a front-fastening attachment point on the dog's chest. For large and strong dogs, I highly recommend the Freedom harness: https://freedomnopullharness.com This comes with a double-attaching lead that you clip to both the front and back of the harness. If you need additional control, reach down and take hold of the bit attaching to the front more closely to where it attaches. See this video: Now, 95% of dogs whose owners are struggling with control are helped with just the Freedom harness and that's enough - so I'd suggest you get one and see how you go. But very very occasionally, there is a situation where someone has a very large powerful dog and themselves may be at a physical disadvantage controlling the dog - this may just be because they are a petite woman, for example... In these situations, you may need a head collar in addition to the harness - you can use the double-attaching Freedom leash to clip one end to the head collar and the other to the back of the harness. I'm not a fan of head collars but where the situation is basically either that the dog doesn't get walked or out the house - or the dog gets to leave the house because someone can control them - then the welfare benefits are greater if a head collar used. Again, there are many different brands of head collar and some of them tighten unpleasantly around the dog's muzzle. If you were in the UK, I'd be recommending a Dogmatic, because this brand do not tighten when the leash goes tight. But I am not sure if Dogmatics are available in the US or can be shipped there. Their website is: http://www.dogmatic.org.uk (Maybe some US folk can recommend US brands of head collar which are 'dead' in that they don't tighten...?) It's really important to introduce a head collar in the right way, so that the dog likes it and accepts having it put on. Here is a video from Jean Donaldson showing this (nb I don't recommend the Gentle Leader which she is using, as it does tighten when the dog pulls You will also need to introduce the harness in the right way too - although dogs tend to accept these much more readily than head collars: It's really not a good idea to introduce two strange dogs for the first time, in the house of one of those two dogs. This is his safe space, he may not want another dog appearing in it. Always introduce dogs for the first time at least in the yard - and somewhere there is space for them to get away from each other. Second, this was a very risky thing for your daughter to do with her puppy. Neither of you know what this dog is like around other dogs, so bringing her puppy over is really just using her as one grand experiment... It is best not to use a young and impressionable dog if you want to see what he is like with other dogs - a young dog is likely to remember a bad experience and it could well affect them forevermore. And I would first work on getting him equipped so he can be walked off your property and then you can try walking alongside each other, on opposite sidewalks down the street... But ultimately not all dogs get along, and it may well be that your daughter's dog can't come over anymore... As for not putting Benjamin behind closed doors, again, that is something you need to work on because it suggests severe separation anxiety. You ARE going to need to put him behind closed doors at some point when you need to go somewhere that doesn't take dogs and he has to stay home. So you need to be training for this, now. That is a whole other subject, so feel free to post for more advice... This might be obnoxious, but it's really not as huge a problem as the SA. For jumping up on people, you need to teach him to sit and you need to equip guests with a treat pot outside the door - so the first thing they do, is come in and ask the dog to sit. Ideally the dog starts to sit himself, unrequested... Whereabouts do you live? That sounds incredibly expensive. I might be able to suggest some lists of trainers to check out if I know where you live... For now, though, I highly recommend you follow this free online DVD from Jean Donaldson - it is truly excellent: Good luck!
For now, though, I highly recommend you follow this free online DVD from Jean Donaldson - it is truly excellent: Good luck![/QUOTE] I bought this in the form of a hardcover book from Amazon. I can't wait to get it . It looks awesome.
It's super-great. The DVD should come along with the book - but you don't actually need the book to follow the DVD since everything is demo-ed in the DVD itself.
