Dogs eat everthing!!

Long term cat person, Susan Smith of SY Moon Bird tries a dog on livaboard boat and discovers new challanges!! Just who trains who??
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Cheers

[hellosailor]

So she bought a pound puppy on an impulse, and found out that dogs--like boats--can be a bad experience for those who didn't do their homework before running out to buy one. Hmmm.

Good for the dog that it found a better home, with a more responsible pack leader.

Yes... you may be correct indeed. I believe that having any dog on a boat is very prone to abuse of the dog for the sake of the owners gratification but not to say it can't be done for mutual benefit... but it takes extraordinry care on the part of the owner. I enjoyed the humour of the article myself and wouldn't have published it if it hadn't been resolved with a lesson learned that could be shared. In another life, long ago i was a professional dog trainer. did obediance, guard and attack. I loved the job and most of the dogs but the owners were a constant irritation and was the reason I got out of it. Where did i get the best dogs?? The pound in Phoenix arizona. People would fail as handlers and blame it on the animal and fine dogs were to be found there.

I was pleased susan took the effort to find a good home for the pup instead of dumping in the pound.

Cheers

Bob

[CaptainK]

Hey Bob.

When you were a dog trainer in Phoenix, Arizona. How long ago was that?

And do you remember what street or avenue that was on?

Did you mostly dealt with pure breds. Or both pure breds and cross breded mutts?

hi Kev

That was about 72 and a little plus.. I was going to Glendale community college and started there with part time but had a special ability with the dogs (means i was the first person in the history of the company that the dogs didn't bite the first day on the job) and was not an A1 student unless I liked the teacher... Anyway the job turned into full time then "kennel master". It was American guard dog service/American security and Emergency. Did sales of attack and fence dogs, trained OB and supplied fense dog rental. Located south of washington st about 18th st. east side..?? been a while. Worked with all kinds. worked with a chow (can't remember if thats the right spell?) an d a small shepard mix that I put on a roof of a shopping center on 7th st and camelback.. Ended a crime spree there! I couldn't lift a dobie so...

i had to quit.. it was getting too personal and my first wife and i were history... being young and dumb. i had over thirty dogs in my back yard and the nieghbours were getting edgy! Business is tough on dogs and in the guard dog businesss there are winners and losers... the latter wound up in my back yard..

Cheers

Bob

[CaptainK]

So Bob.

You ended up being owners to alot of dogs that couldn't make it through the training, huh?

Yeah if I were your neighbor. I might've made some complaints about all the dogs barking too!! But that's urban life for ya!!

Hey cap K.. not exactly.. I rarely met a dog I couldn't train. If they weren't physcho I could trian them and yes, there were a few of those but I refused to work with them. It was invironmental. As you know, Phoenix has harsh winter nights and the kennel was all concrete floors and cyclone fence. Cold as hell and the place had to be hosed down everday to clean up. The dogs I kept were suffering health issues. Dobermans were particularly a problem (short hair) and new born pups. To their credit, the owners supplied food and medical supplies and I would tend them at home till they were sound health wise and I could find them a good home.

Barking wasn't too bad but no matter how often I shoveled ****... I swear, shepard pups can eat a pound and **** two!

Cheers

Bob

[hellosailor]

I second the concept. There are the rare few "junkyard" dogs who are just plain psycho (often made that way by humans) but the vast majority of 'bad" dogs I've met simply were dominating their humans, and the human didn't know how to train them, or couldn't be bothered doing so.

An extremely large dog came to live with me, from the streets, and she was a darling. Except, one day, I found out she liked to take a flying leap and chase trucks. Go figure, only trucks, and she almost outweighed me.

It took about three days using a long lead and waiting for trucks to pass to cure her of that habit. Let her take off and get to full swpeed, brace, and WHAP she'd rotate on her collar as the lead came taught. (Sounds cruel, but isn't, this breed has necks built for harness towing.) After about the fifth or six WHAP she figured out it was easier to leave the trucks alone.

Similar experiences with housebreaking, and I'm no pro. Dogs, like young children, simply require CLEAR CONSISTENT COMMUNICATION with only black and white. No debates, no negotiation, no fits or anger, just "I can do this, I can't do that" and they get it very quickly. Which makes both parties much happier much faster. There's a very nice little book called something like "Don't Shoot the Dog" by a professional animal trainer that says a great deal in a short time. And, she concedes that all her training worked just great on her children as well.<G>

Except, for chicken bones in the garbage. Never met a dog who could ignore chicken bones in a reachable garbage bag. But that, like not having open toilet bowl lids, can be easily trained into the HUMAN.<G>

Now, some people will say they have cats that can be trained the same way. This is just not so. Dogs, having only doggie brains, often get distracted (Oh, look, a butterfly!) and sometimes get into the wrong reincarnation line, coming back as cats. Never mention this to them, they get terribly embarassed about it.<G>

yes yes yes... I sold the service by demonstrating how I could train peoples dogs to heel and sit in 10 minutes. Clear, consistent, unambiguous physical instruction. I trained to hand signals and other body language rather than voice.

“..the vast majority of 'bad" dogs I've met simply were dominating their humans, and the human didn't know how to train them, or couldn't be bothered doing so.”

Absolutely correct. You may not be a pro but you could be in a heart beat if you wanted because it’s in you. Working with dogs gave me a better understanding of human relations. I was natural at it to start, like you but being able to put it all into practice was valuable to me in the maturing process, that is, understanding oneself. And when confronted with a bawling brat in a public place with an ineffectual mother near… I can’t help but think that the family dog is probably a mess as well.
On your method of training the dog not to chase trucks…. Well done. Which is cruel… to yank them off their feet a few times or watch as they are ground to hamburger under the wheels of the next truck?

I have soooo many stories about the over 300 dogs I cared for but a favourite sums it up.. the best dog I ever worked with was found in the pound. A pedigree worth a fortune and trained to perfection. Someone had obviously put much work and affection into the animal and sold the dog to an idiot that blamed the dog for their own shortcomings. (I speculated) It took months to discover how much the dog could do as trainers can personalise some instruction. I could instruct the dog to lick your hand or take it off! (Slight exaggeration, the dog would threaten but hesitate to attack a person not perceived as harmful) I never revealed how good the dog was to the company owners because he was situated as a fence dog at a great location and the clients were very happy with him. If I spilled the beans the dog would probably been sold for high buck and maybe in the pound again.

cheers

bob