Today's blog is sort of like a continuation from a few days ago (Head's up). I was driving home from the grocery store where I had purchased some chicken and pork for my dogs. As I drove down the street I noticed a woman with a young Golden; the dog was probably around 7 months old judging from it's lean build. The owner was frustrated, I could see that right away. The dog was pulling and as she crossed the road she was quite obvious that people were watching. She tugged and tugged to no avail. The youngster kept pulling. It was difficult to see how the dog was connected; I strained to see the collar under the hair and finally saw that it was a soft choke that was all in one with the leash, sort of rope material.
The woman was clearly not enjoying herself; funny how common it is to see a yank trainer growing angry because of the lack of results from the yanking. I watched her cross the street and go down to the right. She left my range of vision so I watched her in my side mirror. With her frustration at it's peek she stopped and pulled the choke up around the back of her dogs ears; right in the soft spot. This soft spot is where many trainers; including ones who are on television tell you to put the collar. This spot is one place that a collar should never sit. It lacks the large muscles that surround the neck further down towards the shoulders. I hate to see when people pop it up to this spot; especially when delivering strong yanks.
Dogs being dogs they quickly become accustom to yanks. Most get so use to receiving them that the owner soon has to resort to stronger and stronger yanks. This yanking motion can be very dangerous causing serious damage to the dogs neck, I have written many times about how anger seems to be connected to yank training or conventional choke collar training. Typically the level of anger grows at an exponential rate when in public. "People are watching" is a common concern from many owners; oddly enough the concern of people seeing them yank away on their dog's neck is not a concern.
If someone who does not understand dog behavior has only received a training education from a conventional trainer then it makes a great deal of sense that they don't see anything wrong with yanking away.
Please don't yank on your dogs neck.
I cannot bear to see dogs "yanked" all over. I was taught years ago to put the collar in the soft spot and give a corrective yank but it did absolutely no good with my toy poodle and then with my standard. I found that the best thing to do was to simply stop wherever we were (as long as it was safe), wait until the dog(s) settled and then begin again. I have a new spoo puppy that thinks he is a sled dog so our walks are VERY slow but I am seeing some improvement with patience and gentle guidance. You MUST be willing to put in the time and work. There are also some harnesses that can help with the pulling. Be kind to your 4 legged babies!
ReplyDeleteEllen - the word that resonates is time...we have so many things
ReplyDeletein our lives to save us time, what a wonderful thing it would be if folks would use some of that saved time to train their dogs, patiently, slowly, train their dogs. I swear every time i see a choke colar - I tense up - imagine how that dog feels....
Hi Y'all,
ReplyDeleteTeaching your dog to keep its attention on you rather than the surroundings virtually stops pulling. Clicker training, or just carrying a treat and using voice to keep their attention quickly changes focus and stops obnoxious behavior.
Great posts.
Y'all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
Love the pic of the crestie <3. I have a couple of them myself.
ReplyDeleteYanking is akin to abuse, imo. No need. A few treats or squeeky gets their attention pretty quick with my crew.
Great post.