Marguerite
Active Member
We used the knee trick with our dogs when I was a kid - we were training corgis, and yes - it even works on a small dogt. It's much more effective on a big dog and it is NOT cruel. A dog's breastbone is quite hard, they quickly learn to not jump up if you say, 'Down,' as they jump AND you put your knee up to get them in the breastbone.
The choke chain - I remember those (not the spikes though). But now in Australia they call them check chains and you're not supposed to use them (as I used to) to pull on the dog when it runs on ahead. Instead, the chain CHECKS the dog when it's donig the wrong thing. The sog is in control of how much the chain checks him, the dog learns to control it by backing off from whatever it is doing wrong. It should never choke the dog. Only check it.
We don't have a dog, but I love dogs, I grew up with them and ours were well-behaved and well-trained. People would see our corgis and buy one, wanting one that behaved like ours, then wonder why theirs was a yappy, snarly little crittur. The answer was always in the way you handle the dog. The nastiest ones wwere the ones which were allowed to control their owners, or who were allowed to beelive they were in charge. For a dog to think it has to be responsible for the sawfty and behaviour of its owners is just too huge a responsibility, no wonder some dogs get neurotic and snappy. "Some owners just don't know how to behave!"
And I think kongs are a marvellous idea. I wish we'd had them when I was a kid with dogs. Dogs (especially younger ones, which includes up to 2-3 years old espewcially for a bigger dog) will get bored easily and need to be played with. They need to be worn out by a kid. We used feed sacks, we could hang one in the tree with a ball inside it, the dog would grab the sack and swing from it. But not if you hang washing out!
Marg
The choke chain - I remember those (not the spikes though). But now in Australia they call them check chains and you're not supposed to use them (as I used to) to pull on the dog when it runs on ahead. Instead, the chain CHECKS the dog when it's donig the wrong thing. The sog is in control of how much the chain checks him, the dog learns to control it by backing off from whatever it is doing wrong. It should never choke the dog. Only check it.
We don't have a dog, but I love dogs, I grew up with them and ours were well-behaved and well-trained. People would see our corgis and buy one, wanting one that behaved like ours, then wonder why theirs was a yappy, snarly little crittur. The answer was always in the way you handle the dog. The nastiest ones wwere the ones which were allowed to control their owners, or who were allowed to beelive they were in charge. For a dog to think it has to be responsible for the sawfty and behaviour of its owners is just too huge a responsibility, no wonder some dogs get neurotic and snappy. "Some owners just don't know how to behave!"
And I think kongs are a marvellous idea. I wish we'd had them when I was a kid with dogs. Dogs (especially younger ones, which includes up to 2-3 years old espewcially for a bigger dog) will get bored easily and need to be played with. They need to be worn out by a kid. We used feed sacks, we could hang one in the tree with a ball inside it, the dog would grab the sack and swing from it. But not if you hang washing out!
Marg
