One thing you'd change....

[Agentskull]

....it seems I should re-name this to "If you could change one thing about a dog owner, what would it be?"

You cant seem to teach them new tricks

 

[Clint]

I actually like the excbange here...Both are concerned about dogs and responsible ownership.

 

[teamrandr]

I would change my dogs little man syndrome. She thinks she can take on a pitbull and she weighs 9 pounds.

 

[SFerrojr]

The Gas. Oooooohhhhhh the Gas. Bernie is a 4year old Boston Terrier, sweet and friendly as can be, but she can singe nose hairs!

 

[CWS]

I wish they would never get old. Barring that would be nice if they shed a little less.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I absolutely love my boxer but he is super skittish around people other than our family. I will take blame as he is always inside except to go to the bathroom and rarely meets new people. Last Thursday the apartment was getting treated for bugs so I took him to my friends house to stay in his back yard that is enclosed with a block wall. The giant dummy was scared and alone and managed to somehow climb the wall tearing up the pads of his front paws and after his escape he managed to get hit by a car. Luckily he was taken to a vet right away by a generous and caring person and did not break anything, but now his front paws are all bandaged up and he keeps trying to chew off the bandages. He isn't supposed to be up and walking so I am carrying this 70lb pile of stupid up and down stairs to get outside and not make a mess of his kennel. The vet bill was not near as bad as I expected, but he will have several more visits over the next few weeks as he recovers.

 

[YodisMatt]

Love my pup but it seems he has the smallest bladder in the world.

 

[JustinThyme]

Ive spent a bit of time training K9's myself.. was initially trained as a K9 handler in Canada.. and then spent additional time in Austria going through formal training programs.. and spent a couple of years handling a dog professionally as a cop (dual certified dog in patrol and explosives detection).. all between 1999-2003...

In 2009 I had over 120 dogs working in 3 different countries outside the US... doing everything from mine detection to explosive search, narcotics search, and patrol.. with 3 country kennel masters.. and a global K9 program manager and more K9 handlers than I can remember that all reported up to my office... We also funded and built a kennel and training facility here in the US and outsourced dogs, handlers and teams to other companies as a business and kept close to 80 K9's for this purpose.. All of these dogs had to meet the standards of the UN, US Department of Defense, and US Department of State (our primary customers) to be deployable... to say the people that were hands on managing this operation were K9 subject matter experts would be a substantial understatement.. (not me.. I am not a K9 expert.. Im just a guy with some marginal experience... but I was ultimately responsible for all of these people and the success of these programs)..

Not one of the people listed above would have agreed with you...


Where we are in agreement is that MOST dogs can be trained.. and that MOST of the time an owner either doesnt know what they are doing.. or doesnt care.. but.. I would venture a guess that your 99.9% figure is made up and there is nothing scientific or factual to base it on.. If there is data to substantiate this I'd love to see it.. if its a made up, exaggerated figure.... then, it is valueless..

Whether or not a dog can be trained is not the same thing as to what extent a dog can be trained (theyre all different).. and whether or not the dog has the right temperament or drive to take to the training being presented at an acceptable level... or that the trainer (whether formally or informally trained) has the capacity to actually get the dog to do what he wants him to do.. or bring an otherwise bad dog in line..

being able to get improvement out of a dog is not the same thing as being able to get a dog to have acceptable behavior... and not being able to get a dog to adhere to acceptable behavior doesnt make an owner bad..

while the vast majority of dogs can be trained to reach a simple goal as acceptable behavior.. there are some that simply can not... and all the good parenting (or training) in the world wont change that.. (also applies in children.. I can assure you there are plenty of bad people out there that had proper upbringing, training, and all the opportunity in the world presented to them as children.. but simply made the conscious decision not to be good people.. or have mental incapacity.. emotional disorders.. etc..)...

If in fact there are examples of good parenting that has an end result of bad children... are you saying the same can not (or is not) the same with dogs?

Do you really believe that 100% of the time when there is a bad person.. that its because there was a bad parent involved? there are no other factors potentially in play?

And that this further applies to dogs? that nothing else impacts or influences a dogs behavior other than training and the single exception you acknowledge (trauma).. that mental capacity, mental stability, drive, temperment, pains, discomfort, personality (or a multitude of other things) have no influence on a dogs behavior? and that every one of those factors is correctable through training, 100% of the time?

We will just have to agree that we disagree on this one. Every bad dog is the result of bad people. All of the 100+trainers and dozens of resuce groups Ive worked with will give the same analogy. If you cant train them then you have failed as a trainer or you are not using the right techniques.....which goes right back to.......Bad people. Im not saying that every dog can be trained for specific tasks but they can all attain simple obedience and what you refereed to as "acceptable behavior".

I've seen the training techniques used by groups that you have listed and honestly I find them deplorable.

Like I said, we obviously have two entirely different backgrounds with entirely different approaches to training animals. My approach works, no bad dogs.

Again the only exception is an animal that has been traumatized so deeply they will never trust a human again but that again goes back to.....Bad people.

 

[mdwest]

youre right.. we'll have to agree to disagree...

I do find it interesting that you in your heart believe it to be an impossibility that there is such thing as a bad dog (other than those created by bad people).. when science, vets, and professional k9 trainers around the globe would tell you otherwise.. but.. that is clearly your choice to believe what you wish.

for what its worth.. the groups listed, whose training you find deplorable.. do not train dogs.. (the US Department of Defense is different from the US Military, which reports to the DoD.. the DoD police have a few dogs.. but the vast majority of its dogs are contracted.. the US Department of State owns and works exactly 0 dogs globally.. all of its dogs are contracted... and the UN contracts its K9 services as well)...

they have published standards that dogs must be trained to in order to be certified and tests that must be passed... how you get a dog to pass the test and your training methodology is of no interest to them... its a simple pass/fail situation... either your dog team can accomplish the requirement.. or it cant.. no more.. no less.. none of those organizations design or require specific training techniques, provide training, etc..

 

[LikeAPuma]

I honestly don't have any complaints about my almost-2 year old. He stays in the yard with no problems, he doesn't chew (had a few incidents when younger), hikes off leash 99% of the time (crowded summits/road crossings/passing others on the trail), & always comes when called.

I guess if I had to pick something, it'd be how goofy & clumsy he is. Once he gets going, he'd rather run through something than turn around it... Knee caps included.

Took this picture a few hours ago, during a short hike on the CT NET.

 

[ZaneG]

I have a 9 year old terrier mix who is well behaved and other than an accident here or there she is great. Then there is my wife's dog a Pomchi. After 2 years I have finally gotten her to listen to a few commands. She no longer attempts to take food from people, dart out anytime a door opens. I give most of the credit to my dog as she helps correct most of the behavior. The one thing I struggle with is her barking out the window anytime someone walks by.

 

[KyleWiley]

I would change our family's dog's breed! We have a mini-schnauzer...which is not a good retriever, shepherding nor guard dog. She's pretty worthless...at least she's kind of sweet.

 

[Smoqman]

I'd ........ can't think of any witty things to say.

Bury me.

 

[Cigarth Vader]

Okay I'm a big copy cat here…

My dog Merlin is a 1 year old Beagle & Catahoula Leopard mix. He's a great pup except for two things… His obsession with cat poop and that once he's off the leash he's a runner. My neighborhood is an extremely dog friendly place where all the dogs play together in the cul-de-sac. Merlin will play with them, but not return like the other dogs when called.

Oh man, love Catahoula Leopard dogs...I've had two in my life, each one lived way beyond her years (Maggie, the most recent, lived to be 14 and was a blue tick hound & Catahoula cross) she was a sweetheart but didn't listen worth a dime unless she was hunting.

New pup is terrier mix (no idea what kind) that I rescued from the pound in February. After a lot of training we've broken most of her bad habits that she developed being on the street for the first part of her life, she's still reactive but 95% better than she was- guess I would just want her to finally get over the hump and be non-reactive. She's a good girl though, great dog.

For brothers asking about clicker training, it works and is amazingly fast, especially if your dog is food motivated like mine is. She figured out all her commands in about 5 minutes each, but you have to keep it going for several weeks for everything to "set-in".

 

[klyoung3]

Her food consists 4 different pieces that look like this...



But she only likes the red circles and brown sticks and leaves the rest in her bowl, begging for more food.

Ohh and my girlfriend bought her a Christmas themed "onesie". Its the only thing that will calm her down and she hates it when we take it off. Its all kinds of weird.