Should a reactive dog confront other dogs, avoid them completely — or something in between? The family have now had Manchester Terrier Muffin for five years and they were the seven-year-old’s fourth home. She didn’t have a good start in life and they have come a long way with her. Some Read more
The big question is, do you want an obedient dog that may lick her lips, look away or even cower from you when she is doing something you don’t like, or a confident cheerful dog that happily stops when asked and does something else instead?
Because of the excessive pulling, screaming, flipping over and freaking out when they encounter other dogs, they have tried all sorts of gadgets of ‘force’ I would call them. Contraptions to make Ivor unable to lunge, to force him to ‘behave’.
These have included a prong collar (disapproved of in this country), and various types of lead including an elasticated slip lead and ‘no-pull’ harness.
The most shocking thing is that the lady, in her very best efforts to give her Battersea dog a good life, has had three people in to help her with her lovely dog. One gave her a prong collar and the other an electric collar. I’m relieved that she never used the e-collar, but just imagine the prongs of the other collar on a skinny Greyhound neck.
The way to reverse a particular behaviour is to get to the cause of it and deal with that, not to inflict pain or fear.
Why does well-trained Caesar still pull on lead and ignore his people when it matters? My photo doesn’t do justice to stunning German Shepherd Caesar at all. Caesar is a 16-month old GSD with a wonderful temperament. He is a good example of a dog that is well-trained. He knows Read more