Member Questions 8-23-26

Tommy A

 Hello robert I hope all is good with you and your family. This summer I have done a bit of tracking and search with my dog's. The kangal actually tracks pretty well. I have also trained all 4 of them to pull a travois. And have them sleeping together in very tight places. People often ask me what equipment I use. My answer is that it's not an equipment thing it's about trust,relationship and mutual respect. People just want to throw money at problems instead of talking the time to actually learn. Do you see this often? And how do you handle it? One could probably get all the equipment in the world but with out the basics it won't work anyhow.

Kathleen B

We purchased your excellent puppy training before getting our 11-week-old purebred German Shepherd named Juliet in April. Thanks to you, she knows about 8-10 commands. However, now that she's quickly developed into a 40 lb big girl, we want to start a E-collar combo with a GPS feature for our acre yard. What brands do you recommend? AKC recommends SpotOn. And do you have a class for starting and using e-collar / gps devices?

Cindy & Promise

Hey Robert, Promise our Bernedoodle is 7 months old now. I was away last week and while Hubby was training Promise, he forgot to put her training platform on a mat. When Promise enthusiastically jumped up on the platform it slid out from under her. She won't go on it now. I’ve tried a couple times to start from the beginning with no luck. She used to love it! I would like to continue to try to get her up there just to help her get over the bad experience. Food isn’t working, any suggestions? Thanks so much!

Justice

My 18-month-old female German Shepherd (Diamond) already struggles with dog reactivity and fear, though we have a solid foundation in obedience and e-collar conditioning. While we were playing in our unfenced front yard, she was tethered to a tree on a 30-foot leash when an escaped neighbor's Mastiff charged and got into a brief, 10-second scuffle with her. Diamond came out of it without any physical injuries, but she was already prone to reacting poorly or tensing up when dogs got too close. Given that she was restricted by the 30-foot tether during the incident, how can I prevent this setback from cementing a fear of being attacked, and what steps should I take next to rebuild her confidence and change her mindset around other dogs?

Elena P

We have a one-year-old, 60 lb Rottweiler/Akita mix (Molly) adopted at five months. With help from a trainer, we’ve made great progress in basic obedience, confidence building, and leash manners using a prong collar and long line. While she is generally neutral toward people and learning neutrality with dogs, small dogs frequently lunge and bark defensively at her from a distance. Although she is responsive to corrections, I’m concerned she is starting to anticipate these small-dog reactions, and I’ve recently had to issue stronger corrections for her responses. Given her powerful breed mix and emerging adolescent territorial drive, what is the best approach to stop this anticipation from escalating before it becomes an ingrained habit?