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Yesterday Zephyr and I had a play date with a 10 month old Aussie puppy. I know the owner as her past Aussie who she lost to hemangiosarcoma in Dec and Dazzle met at the dog park and were in love. Hopefully they continued that romance up in heaven. That dog was a very calm Aussie so she really lucked out with her. The new one is the more typical non stop energy Aussie.
The Aussie puppy was a bit too much for my soft young boy and thus he was afraid and hid between my legs most of the time. When he did venture out and across the grass and saw her coming towards him he zoomed back to the safety of me, such a momma's boy.
The Aussie just recently got home from a month long boarding training camp where they use pinch collars and E collars. Well she does not listen to her owner at all and would not even look much less come when called which does not have the owner happy having spent all that money. Being she would not come when called it was a good thing I brought a squeak toy as squeaking it would get her to come. The owner could not get her to even sit on command of course she did not have the pinch collar or E collar on, which gets me to the point of this is those gadgets force behavior but they do not change the "want" behavior of the dog such as I want to run and play not come because you called me. Put those gadgets on and they will come because you have forced them too or they get a negative punishment.
If you are training a puppy or dog and are sending it away for training do not believe you are going to get this perfectly trained dog returned to you. You will still put in a lot of time working on training and without those gadgets you may end up like she was yesterday at her wits end with a dog that ignored everything she asked.
She was amazed at Zephyr as he came happily when I called him and he sat when I said sit. I have built value to his name and to the word yes but using treats and have lured him into sitting then marked it with a yes so now he is doing it without always getting a treat. I have shaped his behavior so he wants to do what I have asked.The other owner was blown away at how well my 14 week old pup was listening to me and was so willing to do so while her dog was ignoring her and had just been to training camp. It was sad to see her wishing her dog responded like he does.
The old saying you catch more flies with honey then vinegar holds true to dog training too. Many others on here have commented on the merits of positive dog training and how you can just work it into daily activities
so if you are training a dog consider the differences in training methods. I do think E-collars have a place such as in training hunting dogs that are working a distance from you but for the family dog you really do not need those gadgets to get a well trained dog.
The Aussie and the Kangaroo
We are working on Sit and Stay so I was able to get a photo of him in front of the beautiful flower garden doing as told.
Love the photos! I agree on E-collars etc. I only use such AFTER I have gone as far as I know how with reward training. Although, since I'm working with herding dogs, sometimes the reward is the work!
Here's the problem with sending a dog away for training: many dogs will learn to obey one trainer, but they will not obey anyone else. The higher the intelligence of the dog, the more likely it is that he will obey no one but his own trainer, and Aussies are quite smart.
This training camp obviously did not train the owner while they trained the dog.
Australian Shepherds are working dogs, not nearly as difficult to deal with as a Border collie, but they have the same sort of intense work ethic and high physical tolerance for pain. They aren't an easy dog to force but they should be quite eager to please.
This Aussie knows what the commands mean, so his owner can start to use some lure training and reward to get him to transfer the obedience to her. I suggest letting him run and play hard and then do a few minutes of obedience work with reward to get him focused on pleasing and winning praise from the one who feeds him and walks him and cuddles him. It should be pretty easy to do, as long as the pup gets tons of exercise to "burn off the gasoline" as we say at my house.
Wyatt McRiot is one who will obey no one except for his family members. Except that he will "sit" for anyone who offers him a cookie. I suspect that in his dog brain, he has decided that he has people trained to give him a cookie on command and the command he uses is to sit. It works every time. He sits, they dispense a cookie.
He loves to go into Home Depot, where the greeter always has a pocketful of cookies and some of the clerks carry around a pocketful of cookies. All of them can be commanded to dispense a cookie. All of them coo over what a great dog he is and how lovely his manners are. He has them trained.
I have known a lot of traditional dog trainers who insist that the sight hounds are all stupid. Not true at all. They are very intelligent beasts but if you try to bully them, they stare off into the distance until you come to your senses and remember your manners.
They are also soft dogs and respond well to gentle training and approval.
The Aussie is very likely a tough dog and he is going to need a firmer hand with training, but by that I mean an insistence that things be done right, not dispensing hurt for disobedience.
Wyatt McRiot is one who will obey no one except for his family members. Except that he will "sit" for anyone who offers him a cookie. I suspect that in his dog brain, he has decided that he has people trained to give him a cookie on command and the command he uses is to sit. It works every time. He sits, they dispense a cookie.
He loves to go into Home Depot, where the greeter always has a pocketful of cookies and some of the clerks carry around a pocketful of cookies. All of them can be commanded to dispense a cookie. All of them coo over what a great dog he is and how lovely his manners are. He has them trained.
So did Wyatt McRiot come up with the Teddy the dog Shirt that reads " Properly Trained person can be a dogs best friend"?
60-70% training is the master.
If you are not alpha you are not master.
The Aussie breed was developed in the US then shipped to Australia.
Typically the breed is not a dog for kids, due to the need for alpha authority.
This is an animal bred for work, not a lap dog.
I love Aussies and mine loved training for new things and had a great memory for all she learned. And due to her extraordinary nose, she made a great search and rescue dog. Day old track she would run faster than I, even months old track she had little trouble with.
These are a dog that need a job and you need to train the dog and use consistent language doing so.
Mine are affection trained, I do not use treats in training.
Affection can be administered all day long but food has it's limits. food should not be training incentive IMO.
So did Wyatt McRiot come up with the Teddy the dog Shirt that reads " Properly Trained person can be a dogs best friend"?
He certainly believes that. We have an on-going battle as he attempts to train me to do exactly as he pleases and I resist. We disagree on who exactly it is who gets to make the rules.
In my family, we love the naughty dogs best of all. Wyatt's brain is always working on new ways to do things and still remain within the framework of the law... the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law. Or at least not too far beyond the boundaries.
I have known a lot of traditional dog trainers who insist that the sight hounds are all stupid. Not true at all. They are very intelligent beasts but if you try to bully them, they stare off into the distance until you come to your senses and remember your manners.
They are also soft dogs and respond well to gentle training and approval.
The Aussie is very likely a tough dog and he is going to need a firmer hand with training, but by that I mean an insistence that things be done right, not dispensing hurt for disobedience.
This is super true of Dante who is Rhodesian mix, really really sensitive.
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What's the breed of the second dog? From the second photo
The light colored dog with the big ears is my Silken Windhound puppy and the tri colored one is a 10 mo old Australian Shepherd
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. Well she does not listen to her owner at all and would not even look much less come when called which does not have the owner happy having spent all that money. Being she would not come when called it was a good thing I brought a squeak toy as squeaking it would get her to come. The owner could not get her to even sit on command of course she did not have the pinch collar or E collar on, which gets me to the point of this is those gadgets force behavior but they do not change the "want" behavior of the dog such as I want to run and play not come because you called me. Put those gadgets on and they will come because you have forced them too or they get a negative punishment.
