Re: Dog training
Pam Hartley
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home with a pair of pliers if necessary. NO, just kidding. Mostly.)
If he isn't biting people, there's hope (sometimes there's hope if they are
biting people, but frankly I wouldn't waste time with a biting dog in a
house with kids and their friends when there are so many non-biting dogs
killed in shelters).
My favorite training book is Good Owners, Great Dogs by Brian Kilcommons
(available through Amazon.com and elsewhere). If you can find a dog training
class near you and keep taking him through 8-week courses until people are
stopping you on the street to ask how you got your dog to behave so well,
that's good, too.
Most of it is owner training.
Calm is relative. You can train him to be calm on command (stay commands,
bed commands, etc.) but the rest is his personality. Young male dogs of
working breeds tend to have a lot of energy. He needs to get out and RUN
(flat out run, not just a nice walk for a few miles) for an hour or so every
day if you can manage it (fenced yard if he'll play hard chasing a ball or a
lure on a stick, or doing consecutive low hurdles for treats, or a dog park,
etc.)
Pam
>From: [email protected]7 months is adolescence. If he isn't neutered, that's the first thing (at
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Digest Number 1675
>Date: Sat, Dec 8, 2001, 4:47 PM
>
>>
>> Now, it's selling used and rare books. BK (Before Kids <g>) it was
> dog
>> training.
>>
>> Pam
>
> Perfect timing . . .
>
> I have a question for you. My sil just dumped her 7 month old dog on
> us. (Okay, we did agree.) Anyway, she says he is part Lab and part
> Husky and I suspect part Rottweiler from his coloring. They got him
> at 8 weeks or so and kept him in a cage most of the time. Needless
> to say, he is a behavioural nightmare. He is very strong and very
> exuberant.
>
> My question, will it be possible to get him calmed down and trained?
> My thought is that he is still pretty young and he is not mean just
> boisterous, so he is probably not a lost cause.
home with a pair of pliers if necessary. NO, just kidding. Mostly.)
If he isn't biting people, there's hope (sometimes there's hope if they are
biting people, but frankly I wouldn't waste time with a biting dog in a
house with kids and their friends when there are so many non-biting dogs
killed in shelters).
My favorite training book is Good Owners, Great Dogs by Brian Kilcommons
(available through Amazon.com and elsewhere). If you can find a dog training
class near you and keep taking him through 8-week courses until people are
stopping you on the street to ask how you got your dog to behave so well,
that's good, too.
Most of it is owner training.
Calm is relative. You can train him to be calm on command (stay commands,
bed commands, etc.) but the rest is his personality. Young male dogs of
working breeds tend to have a lot of energy. He needs to get out and RUN
(flat out run, not just a nice walk for a few miles) for an hour or so every
day if you can manage it (fenced yard if he'll play hard chasing a ball or a
lure on a stick, or doing consecutive low hurdles for treats, or a dog park,
etc.)
Pam
Vicki A. Dennis
How To Be Your Dogs Best Friend by the Monks of Skete is another good book.
If he is indeed part Husky......my experience with Huskies is that they tend to
have an extended puppyhood. Look for at least a year before he settles into
maturity instead of the 6 month range of some breeds. Lots of chewing, a
seeming lack of self control............maybe like what some might view as a
hyperactive kid. But it DOES get better. Mature huskies are actually
pretty laid back (towards people at least.......they ARE predators and I doubt
chickens are even sheep or goats would ever be completely safe without a
barrier).
I find Huskies to actually be very good as "inside" dogs once grown. They bond
with the "alpha wolf" in the household and, as I said, as adults they spend
LOTS of time just denning up or being the equivalent of a wolfskin rug.
They are incredibly strong as well as intelligent. And patient if trying to
determine a way out of unwanted confinement. Best to make them WANT to be with
you or to WANT to stay in a fenced yard.
Oh yes...........they are generally not vicious dogs and their only usefulness
as a "guard dog" or "watch dog" is visually! Also, huskies don't generally
bark. They may howl or sing (I have one who speaks a few words in English!)
but not the woof-woof or yapping one associates with other breeds.
Now a part Husky, particularly if Rottweiler is in the mix................I
don't know.
vicki
If he is indeed part Husky......my experience with Huskies is that they tend to
have an extended puppyhood. Look for at least a year before he settles into
maturity instead of the 6 month range of some breeds. Lots of chewing, a
seeming lack of self control............maybe like what some might view as a
hyperactive kid. But it DOES get better. Mature huskies are actually
pretty laid back (towards people at least.......they ARE predators and I doubt
chickens are even sheep or goats would ever be completely safe without a
barrier).
I find Huskies to actually be very good as "inside" dogs once grown. They bond
with the "alpha wolf" in the household and, as I said, as adults they spend
LOTS of time just denning up or being the equivalent of a wolfskin rug.
They are incredibly strong as well as intelligent. And patient if trying to
determine a way out of unwanted confinement. Best to make them WANT to be with
you or to WANT to stay in a fenced yard.
Oh yes...........they are generally not vicious dogs and their only usefulness
as a "guard dog" or "watch dog" is visually! Also, huskies don't generally
bark. They may howl or sing (I have one who speaks a few words in English!)
but not the woof-woof or yapping one associates with other breeds.
Now a part Husky, particularly if Rottweiler is in the mix................I
don't know.
vicki
Sarah Carothers
Pam wrote:
<7 months is adolescence. If he isn't neutered, that's the first thing (at
home with a pair of pliers if necessary. NO, just kidding. Mostly.)
Sarah
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
<7 months is adolescence. If he isn't neutered, that's the first thing (at
home with a pair of pliers if necessary. NO, just kidding. Mostly.)
>huh? You really were kidding, weren't you? The "mostly" on the end of your post throws me....
Sarah
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Pam Hartley
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need for neutering now if it's going to do any good behaviorally.
Pam, singing, "I'm too funny for my..."
>From: [email protected]I was kidding about the pliers at home. I wasn't kidding about the absolute
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Digest Number 1676
>Date: Sat, Dec 8, 2001, 9:01 PM
>
> <7 months is adolescence. If he isn't neutered, that's the first thing (at
> home with a pair of pliers if necessary. NO, just kidding. Mostly.)
>>
>
> huh? You really were kidding, weren't you? The "mostly" on the end of your
> post throws me....
need for neutering now if it's going to do any good behaviorally.
Pam, singing, "I'm too funny for my..."