Dog Training

I hate watching Cesar and I don't mind the guy from End of my Leash, but yeah. What are your dog training techniques?

I'd tried virtually everything with my mutt, from tying him to me, to clicking, to snapping, to absolutely zero results. Then I met a wonderful lady who has a Pit Bull crossed with something else. He's an absolutely brilliant dog, I adore him.

She told me that she sometimes still 'pins' her dog, to assert dominance. She says it works wonders.

So I tried it on Spencer. This was months ago by the way, but this post actually has a point. So, I tried it on Spencer. Lo and behold, it works. I 'pin' him down, on his back, and he becomes a whimpering mass of goo. No yelling, no swatting, no frustration. Just pin him down, and he stops what he's at.

I love dogs, and I love being able to cuddle and call them my best friends. But when you get down to it, a dog is a dog is a dog. They can be the worlds seventh smartest animal, the worlds dumbest animal, whatever. They're still dogs and first and foremost, they're still animals. Animals survive on instinct.

We all have that shiny fight or flight reflex, because we too are animals. A more technologically advanced species, but animals none the less.

Doing what an alpha dog would do (although I dislike the term alpha, as it reminds me of Cesar) works for me. It might not for all people, but showing my teeth at Spencer, eating before him - because as the alpha, I am higher on the pecking order - and even sometimes pinning him down works for me. Some people say I'm mean, but I don't particularly care. Your toy poodle dressed in frilly clothes is mean. Oh, what, he's like a son to you? He's still a dog, and as far as I know, historically, biologically, dogs do not wear clothes. That is a people-thing, not a puppy-thing. You may think your little booties and hats look cute, and while I can see the purpose for the booties, especially in harsh conditions, still. It's a little bit ridiculous.

My grandma has annoying beeping things, has tried clickers, an irritating beeping collar, and various other types of training methods to get her dogs to behave. Her male Italian Mastiff, the same one that stepped on me in a post below, has a dominance problem.

About an hour ago, he was stretched out on the kitchen floor, and I decided I was tired of him getting nippy with me. He's too big for me to pin with my arms, so my next course of action was to straddle his back. Of course I did not put weight onto him. I don't want to hurt him. But I did straddle his back, and lean my chest along his back and neck - yes, he's that big, he weighs almost one hundred and fifty.

Sam growled, and snapped at me, which is usual. He snaps a lot, actually. I proceeded to clamp his mouth shut and push his head down. After about fifteen tries, he dropped his head to the floor and keened at me, wagging his tail.

As stated above, I didn't put weight onto him, because I don't want to hurt him. Sam rolled over, completely lax, and gave me the tender underbelly and throat of his body. I lightly grabbed his saggy neck skin, and gave it a playful shake. All was forgiven, and he flopped down onto his side, waggling all over as I gave him a good pat and scratch.

When I stood and moved to the couch, he followed at my heel. He sat obediently at my feet on the second time I told him to sit, where it takes my grandparens both two dozen times to sit him. He followed me around for the remainder of the hour, doing as instructed - within limits, he only knows what he's been taught of course - and was more than content to let me lay across him.

Everytime he put my hand in his mouth, even if it was just to hold onto me, I yelped "ow!" and showed him my teeth. After only fifteen minutes of his two years of living he stopped putting my hand in his mouth entirely. Now, he brushes his "upper lips" along my fingers, just lipping at them. No teeth involved, just flopping his hangy face on my hands until I tell him he's good and give him a scratch.

So let's see:

I used an unconventional - as far as I've heard, anyway - method of training, on an untrainable dog, and accomplished this;

1. He now sits faster than he ever has before, in two years of owning him.
2. He has ceased all biting of me.
3. He now follows at my heel, waiting for orders.

Is it really that unconventional? It seems barbaric, I can see where people get that thought from, but it's instinctual and it works. I'm not hurting the dog, I'm using positive reinforcement - petting, scratching, loving - and instinctual reinforcement. I do what I see him do to the other dogs, what makes him alpha male.

I wish I could send my grandparents away with the little dogs for two weeks, and just leave me with the Mastiff's. I wonder if I'd have them trained by then? Probably not to perfection, but they'd be way better than they are now.

I'm not going to stop my 'barbaric', 'inhumane', or 'strange' ways. They work for me.