This. My dog is really smart except when it comes to pulling. I tried a choke chain but she would almost choke herself right out from pulling. My wife or mom could not tale her for a walk even with the choke chain so we went to the prong. But I will have to look at the gentle leader.
My newest little guy. He's about 9 months old now and boy is he smart as a whip and a bundle of energy, which I don't mind so much. He is also in that chewing phase though, which I do. Hopefully it's a short lived phase. He is also a puller to the point where I worry that he is cutting off his air supply. We also use the prong/pinch collar but his MO is to pull pull pull. Then sit and scratch his neck and whine like WTF. Then off he goes again. He's getting trained and is pretty well behaved except for those two things. I'll have to look into the Gentle Leader, so if anybody knows how to keep him from chewing I am all ears. He is either with us in site or crated now because the destruction gets costly.
My sister just picked up her dog, his name was Domino because of the domino pattern on his chest, they're going to rename him Rocky. Hopefully it sticks. He's a big, sweet dog. Most likely Lab/Dane/ and some hound mixed in.
I had my Buddy's DNA sent off to Wisdom Panel because curiosity finally got me. Wowee. Nail on the head. I guessed Shiba Inu (I figured some sort of Asian breed because we were in Hawaii, and he has that type tail)/pit breed mix, maybe some lab thrown in. He's a Jindo/ Staffordshire Terrier mix. Reading the wikipedia of a Jindo is like reading his personal biography except for the higher energy requirements. Also I am probably reading these different breed biographies with bias but who cares. I am glad I had the test run!
Nothing is free, Buck. The photo doesn't show it but he was half covered in mud. I started cleaning up all of his crap in the backyard, turned my back to him for one minute, and on cue he was laying down in the sloppiest part of the yard. So happy with himself too. I love and hate this time of year.
The one thing my sisters new dog most definitely will have an issue with is trusting her and her husband. He's a rescue, he's a good rescue, very trusting and obedient, however he was a stray and has been in three homes in three weeks. He has attachment issues naturally, which is obviously understandable. Thankfully, for the first few weeks, there will always be someone there with him, whether it be my sister, my brother in law or me. Another great thing, he walks well on the leash, he pulls for a while, but once he understands he can't push you around he relaxes a bit. I walked him for the first time today, and by the end there was a little bit of slack, and this wasn't without much correction and training.
Yeah, my girlfriend loved it last year when Buck kept bringing her dead fish when we visited a lake. He was so confused when she ran away screaming rather than accept them. He was neglected before being put up for adoption so he has some attachment issues with me. He's just now getting comfortable with having a closed door separating us in the house for the most part, but if we're at an unfamilar place he will go nuts whining and pawing at the door.
Man, I've lucked out with all three of my dogs. None have separation anxiety - it's my habit to walk them in the morning on weekends, then leave them outside until 5pm or so. The newest also walks so well on a leash he makes me look like I know how to train dogs. Unrelated, my terrier and my puppy got into it with me in the middle two weeks ago. The puppy accidentally bit my thigh. I've been around dogs enough to know aggression, and this wasn't aggression. They didn't hurt each other, but Hogan nailed me. As soon as he felt that he was biting the wrong thing, he stopped. It didn't stop a sweet bruise, though. Oddly, it didn't break through my jeans. I figure the puncture marks are due to my skin tearing. Warning: gross. Makes you realize that your dogs, if they ever wanted to, could pretty much kill you dead. This was just an accident - imagine if it had intent.
Here's a photo of Rocky. He's looking away here, but he makes very good, personable eye contact. They say he's a lab/dane mix but I'm sure there's some hound in there because of the pattern on his chest.
He's a handsome boy! I know it took Buddy months upon months to give us eye contact. That's a great thing if he's already there!
He is a good looking dog. That's crazy it took Buddy that long to make eye contact... it was never a consideration for me.
They caught him in a feral dog trap behind a store. There's no telling if he'd ever had a human before.
Right, I think it's amazing how well he seemed to settle down with you despite that. I just think the eye contact thing is interesting.
Dogs need people! It's evolution, baby. This may or may not be the rationalization I use in my head when I stop to pick up strays near the road.
Yea, its amazing how much dogs respond to people. You can tell cats will survive on their own just fine, but something about the evolution of the dog has made it so it depends on people. Really unusual for any animal. Rocky is doing remarkably well. Today he was acting as if he was never had to be rescued. He was fine with me leaving the room without him, he was laying and napping just fine. He walked like a normal dog does. The only thing that tells you he is a rescue is that he still gets really nervous when people leave. Towards the end of the day he was leaning on me, acting like he's been a well treated dog all along. Really shocking.
I'm so glad to hear he's doing well! It really makes me happy that y'all got a rescue. They are THE best. And yeah, it really is true about dogs needing us. We humans sort of "unnaturally" selected for traits thousands of years ago. Coevolution is a thing, and occurs between species all around the globe. This version of coevolution just happens to make my heart all mushy and make me hug my dog. Whatever, he loves it.
I am kinda scared about ever getting another dog because I truly believe that I'll be unable to love another one like I love Buddy. He is the greatest dog. Even my parents like him. They hate dogs. The other day, my dad actually pet him on the head and played fetch with him. Da fuck?
This is Pepper. We "rescued" her because her owner had a stroke and went into a nursing home. We were told she's a lab/husky mix. She's been with us about a year. The hard thing was her getting used to her surroundings. She went from being able to roam free on acres of land to a suburban back yard. I was working with training her on a leash and she still pulls a lot so I might try a Gentle Lead like a lot of you suggested. I know I'm biased, but she's the best dog in the world! She's incredibly sweet and loveable.
Max has reached the one year mark with us. When we got him, he was slightly larger than our chihuahua dachshund mix. Now he's near 50 pounds, and doing his best Constanza impression.