u/Crafty-Cranberry-454

For those of you who let your dogs rush up to other dogs, what goes on in your mind while this is happening? I’m trying to understand why you think it’s ok. There are definitely plenty of idiots out there who don’t care, but many people seam to be genuinely somewhat sorry when they come over to grab their dog, the situations that happen with me and my dog usually play out like this-

Dog appears, dog rushes over sometimes barking and growling, owner keeps approaching going “no come on bella, COME ON”, my dog proceeds to act in distress, the owner eventually comes over to help move their dog along as goes, “oh sorry, sorry, sorry!!” then as they walk off they usually go to their dog “no don’t do that bla bla bla” yet they don’t leash the dog..?

My thoughts are- how can you know your dog does this very rude and pushy behavior, while also genuinely apologizing, yet still let them off leash?

There is a HUGE difference between a dog rushing another dog and two dogs doing a quick calm hi as they cross paths.

Does anyone know of any big empty parks/paddocks on the out skirts of chch? I’m trying to find some locations where I can have a nice quiet walk with my dog, where he can also run around and not be bothered by other dogs. I know a lot of people recommend the red zone, but I haven’t had good experiences there. So if anyone knows of any secret locations that aren’t to well know, let me know!

Hi, I’m planning on getting a puppy in the near future, likely to be a small breed, around 12kgs or less. I’m wondering what amount of exercise is appropriate? Iv heard about the 5 mins per month of age guide lines, but is that true? I currently have another dog who I ideally like to take out on a big walk once a week. These include a bit of a drive, so ideally I’d like to start bringing the pup along as soon as it’s appropriate. I’d like these walks to be at least an hour and a half, all flat terrain. When might it be appropriate to let the puppy come on these walks? And what could be some options for in the mean time, eg could I carry it for some of the walk? Has anyone else done this, and how did it work out? I’m happy to leave the pup at home for when it’s not appropriate, but I don’t want to wait a year to bring it on these walks.

I really want to be carefull of my pups joints and don’t want to over do it. I’m happy to wait as long as I need to, but I’m just unsure what that looks like!

Hi, I’m hoping this is an ok question for this group!!

I was wondering if anyone would be able to share symptoms your dog had related to a sensitivity or allergy to proteins, like chicken. My dog has a couple of the classic symptoms, but not some of the main ones, so I’m curious to hear others situations/stories!

Does anyone know of any dog trainers that offer group training walks? I know there’s a ton of group classes out there, but I want to work in the real world, not an ideal environment if that makes sense!

Hi, my dog used to be really reactive (anxiety based) and I mean, he would bark at dogs 100 meters away. He is soooo much better now. But one of the things we are still struggling with him dogs walking behind us. I think he’s worried they are going to sneek up to him from behind. Which fair enough. But I want to help him learn to trust me and my judgment on the situation. If the dog behind him was off leash I would stop and move and let them pass, but if it’s on leash there is no threat and I want him to trust me on that.

Basically what he does is he will be walking next to me, but constantly be stopping to look behind him, and will want to watch the dog for a few seconds before walking on with me, which isn’t ideal as that means the other dog is getting closer and closer as we keep stopping. If he looks at the dog and looks back at me I mark wait a few seconds as he continues to walk next to me, then give him the treat. But as soon as he takes it he’s back looking behind me. It just seams pointless to reward him when he snaps his head right back to the dog as soon as he’s been rewarded. I wouldn’t mind it if he just did a quick look and oriented back to me, but because he stops when he’s looks, it makes it very annoying and honestly embarrassing.

What else can I do in this situation?

I feel like I’m at a loss with my dogs training. Don’t get me wrong, he knows a lot of things and responds well at home, but looses a lot of motivation when we are out and about. He is really resistant to any sort of pressure and semi shuts down when he doesn’t have agency. For example, if we are on a walk and he is limited by the leash to where he wants to sniff something, he then won’t respond well to commands or maker words, and when he does respond he will refuse treats. Which in tern is making reinforcing good choices in these moments very difficult. This is just one example, and it doesn’t happen all the time, but it mainly comes up for the first 10 minutes of a walk, when he’s asked to walk next to me, and in situations where he might be unsure/nervous. If he’s on a longer leash/has agency he’s generally a lot better, but not all the time.

His resistants to any sort of pressure from the leash or me makes training very difficult. It’s hard because maybe he would do so much better without pressure, but without any pressure he cannot learn and would just run wild. For example, I ask for heel, he ignores me, so I have to use the leash to guide him back to me, this then makes him unwilling to work with me and refuses reinforcement. These situations seam to be more remembered by him then all the positive reps we do at home/at parks. I do feel less pressure would be better, but even if I was to just stand still when we arrive somewhere, he would still feel pressured because he can’t have the agency he wants. Iv tried pattern games etc, but he just won’t take treats until he feels he as the agency he wants.

He also seams to resist more and more depending on his mood/the environment, we could be playing on a grassy field, he could be listing super well, then we start to walk on a gravel path and then for some reason he semi shuts down and won’t respond??? This is the most confusing part to me. Iv also tried to teach him to respond to leash pressure, so when he wants something he can’t reach, he can positively orient back to me for guidance, but those training sessions just cause stress, for both of us. He seams to get really annoyed or anxious when we keep changing directions, do figure of 8s, or if I try rewarding him for releasing the pressure.

I’m honestly so confused and I don’t know how I can fix this. I feel like our relationship is suffering and I’m loosing motivation. I also don’t know if any of this makes sense, it doesn’t to me. I don’t know what steps to take to fix this. And please don’t get me wrong, he’s a great little guy, loves adventures, can do really well in training sessions, and loves to play. But I feel we aren’t making any progress. I would love to be able to jump out the car somewhere fun and do a training session with him where he actually wants to work with me.

Hi, I’m diving more into the world of punishment and I’m a little overwhelmed and confused about a few things.

What types of behaviors can we punish, and at what stage do we add in punishment? Should we punish first and then teach, or teach then punish? Or is it situation dependent? As an example, say your dog is wanting to chase something, should you first train around the thing they want to chase, and show them how you want them to react, then once they have a strong understanding of what you want, add in punishment if they do the wrong behavior. But also I’m thinking, you could be punishing them for simply just not fully understanding what it is they are ment to do in the situation, or is that how you get forever stuck in just managing every situation and always thinking “well maybe this environment is just to hard for them” ?

If you use punishment first, for example, they start lunging or chasing something, you punish them, then show them what you want them to do and reward that, like walking calmly next to you. Is that effective? Will that result in that behavior decreasing and them learning to avoid punishment they need to do this behavior?

Or am i totally miss understanding 😭

I saw someone say that using something like an e collar to instantly punish the dog as it is doing something you don’t want, doesn’t work. They used an example of you being in class doing something wrong and the teacher yells at you, and apparently that alone isn’t enough to change the behavior, how ever if they then sent you out of the class and made you walk down the corridor in shame after, that would be punishment? So you need a marker before punishment? I hope that makes sense because it made no sense to me.

Overall what I’m wondering is, is punishment effective, and how should it be used to ensure it’s effective? I have a behavior my dog does that is undesirable to me, (similar to chasing prey, although I won’t go into all the details as it will be a long post) but I’m trying to figure out if punish (such as an ecollar) will decrease the behavior or eliminate it all together. I can keep everything positive by recalling him every time he does said behavior, but because the behavior is so desirable to him, its likely going to be a case of forever constantly managing him, because doing the behavior is way more rewarding than orienting back to me on his own. So will adding in punishment, then showing him what I want decrease this undesirable behavior?

Especially on paths/leashed areas. You have got no idea why that dog is on lead. They may be nervous, unfriendly, injured or recovering. Or maybe the owner just doesn’t want rude dogs all up in their business! Whatever the reason, it is not polite or kind to let your dog interact with who ever, wherever, whenever. Especially when your dog doesn’t understand how to greet another dog appropriately.

I hope everyone could maybe stop and think next time they see a dog on leash. And if you really want your dog to say hi, stop and ask first :)

Hi! I’m working on getting my dog more confident in heel position and maintaining consistent eye contact for the whole round (I do rally) and I’m at a bit of a stand still with it. Obviously I don’t expect him to never drop his head, I can understand it would get tiering, but at the moment he’s dropping his head for 5-10 seconds or more quite often, Which really affects his ability to do turns and stop when I do. I been trying to practice just having him in heel position, stationary, and rewarding him for making eye contact, but once get takes the reward his head drops and I have to wait about 10 seconds before it comes up again. Iv repeated this countless times but he doesn’t put his head up any faster. I’m unsure what to do next. Do I need to almost drip feed him? He gets very distracted by little noises or things in the distance, but no amounts of rewards or marking gets his attention back to me any faster. I swear Iv probably marked and rewarded him thousands of times when he looks back it me, but it doesn’t seam to make him look back any faster. Iv tried saying his name or other words when his head drops, but even though that does give me his focus, it still hasn’t helped the problem. Help 🤷🏻‍♀️