Dog Community

New member needs help

Posted : 5/26/2006 11:37:37 AM

Hi I am a new member with a dog who is a growing problem. I wanted to get some expert advice to fix the problem so we can all live happily together.

My dog is a 8 1/2 mo old Border Collie, Blue Healer, and Black Lab mix. He is close to 80 lbs. We took him to PetSmart for the beginning training class, and he does do well with most of the commands. However, certain problems are starting to arise as he gets older, and we just don't know what to do to handle it.

1. Loose leash walking or heel. He won't do either. We have a gentle leader which means he pulls me a little instead of a lot. It has little effect on him when it comes to walking, and if he sees another dog, or something he wants, I get pulled right along with him until I get my balance. I usually use jerky treats when we walk as a way of getting him to walk with me. But so far no luck. What can I do to keep this dog from pulling me everywhere?

2. Whining. He has been crate trained since the first night we had him. He use to go to bed and not make a sound until morning, unless he needed to go out. Now he bangs on the cage whines, howls and carries on for a good 1/2 hour each night or when we need to lock him up during the day. We never let him out when he is whining, unless it's to go to the bathroom. Any ideas on how to help keep puppy quiet?

3. Last one. Destruction. When he was younger, we could leave him in his kennel with a pillow, or blanket or something and not worry. But he has hit destruction mode. Anything in the kennel with him gets destroyed. Water dishes, chew toys, towels, pillows ect. Nothing is safe. To give you an idea, when we moved into our new house we left him in a bathroom for a time while we unloaded the truck. There was nothing in that room except a piece of paper above the toilet taped to the wall. When I went to let him out of the bathroom, the paper was completely destroyed. I had hopped to give him his own room and a bit more freedom when we go away for short periods during the day, but can't do this if he just destroys everything. Help.

Thanks

loveukaykay

Posted : 5/26/2006 12:26:45 PM

The destruction and whining both sound to me like hes simply not getting enough exercise. The pulling on the leash may be just him not feeling the need to listen to you... some people here suggest the NILF tactic (nothing in life is free) to get him to respect you more. Sorry I cant elaborate Im at work right now but just wanted to share my opinion..

Welcome!

marlania

Posted : 5/26/2006 12:36:49 PM

Re: pulling

Have you tried other walking devices like an Easy Walk Harness? They're made by Gentle Leader. I have a 100 lb. border collie/lab-x, and he's much easier to control on a harness than on a head halti. For some reason, he never understood that he doesn't have to turn around and look at me when he walks, so the head halti just didn't work for us.

Re: destruction

You must own Grey's long-lost brother lol. Aside from working on correcting the behavior, have you looked into really strong toys like black Kongs? Also, my two are big chewers, and they love beef bones. I'm not sure if dog.com has them, although I'm sure they do, but I've also found them at the major petstores for under 4 bucks each. They're literally hard as stone, and if you had to, you could easily beat the tar out of someone with it (just to give you an idea of how strong they are lol). We have a ton here, and they last Brown and Grey forever. In fact, I still have the original two I bought for them two years ago. Grant it, they're nearly worn down now, but they really do last for ages. They also keep their teeth pretty clean. Out of all of their toys and chew things, these are, by far, the favorite here. Here's what they look like:

spiritdogs

Posted : 5/26/2006 7:57:46 PM

An 8 month old dog is entering adolescence - sometimes they forget every command they ever knew, or at least develop selective hearing. [

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Dogs of that age also are in the second "chewing stage", when they need hard things to chew on to help set their adult teeth into the jawbone.
Destructiveness can be related to chew stage, but it can also be related to boredom. A dog that is crated too much can be lacking in sufficient physical and mental stimulation - believe me, for a young active dog, a couple of walks isn't enough. The best exercise is playing with other adolescent dogs, but lacking the availability of playmates, playing frisbee or catch can substitute.

Denali

Posted : 5/26/2006 10:34:25 PM

I am a work at home person. I am home with the dog most of the day. We do go for a walk for around 1/2 hour a day. That's about all the tug of war I can stand at this point. We do play inside and out. Frisbee, fetch, plus the training. He does learn, and he will listen when inside the house, or there are no distractions outside. However, with 2 big dogs just on the other side of the fence, having him listen to me outside is almost impossible.

I will try the beef bones. We do have kong toys, raw-hides, and butcher bones (cooked and for outside only) I will say this for his chewing. He never chews on anything that isn't his unless we lock him up. Weather it's at night, or when we leave for a couple of hours, it doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter how tired he is. We can take him to the dog park for a couple of hours, then take him home and go to dinner. An hour later, anything that can be destroyed in his crate, is. However, if we are home, and awake, he has run of the house, he won't touch a thing. he chews nicely on his toys and leaves it at that.

We have considered a pincher collar for our walks. If he continues to get stronger and I'm sure he will, I won't be able to handle him at all. I may check out the harness, although we had a harness and all he did was pull me even harder.

Maybe I have to play with him more, or do longer training sessions. I'll start with that. Thanks

probe1957

Posted : 5/27/2006 9:10:50 AM

A couple of things occur to me here. First is, you might want to look into a higher quality trainer than what you USUALLY find at places like Petsmart. Secondly, Border Collies need a job. A half hour walk a day and maybe another half hour playing fetch is unlikely to cut it. I would do some research on the breed so you know what to expect.

spiritdogs

Posted : 5/27/2006 4:28:10 PM

We have considered a pincher collar for our walks.

Try an Easy Walk Harness first. It's made by Premier.
[linkhttp://www.premierpet.com]www.premierpet.com[/link].
Border Collies and Aussies don't usually need or do well with prongs. And, probe1957 is right about these breeds needing a job!
You may be too busy, or sick of tug, but if you don't give a working or herding dog a job, they'll write their own job description, and you might not like what they pick.
One thing I have found to be quite successful for my Aussie pup is to get a floppy frisbee - the soft kind that hovers in the air and that they can shake when they catch it. At least, with frisbees or tennis balls, if the dog is running to go get it - and you get really excited, they think it's a fun job!

Denali

Posted : 5/28/2006 10:30:10 PM

Well, the 1/2 hour walk, and the playing fetch is just the 2 things we do for fun. We also spend part of the day training. I review the basics with him on a daily basis, then spend some time on new things. The hardest thing for him to pick up is to tell the difference between the ball, and the rope, but he is getting better at it. My husband and I are also going to set up king of a mini agility course in the back yard. We have the weave poles, and I have a couple of home made tunnels to run through. All in all, we spend about 3-4 hours of work, play, and training a day.

We decided against the pincher collar because of what the trainer at PetSmart told us. Though, he really didn't recommend something that would work. I may agree that he needs a different trainer, however, money matters right now are a big issue and any formal training will have to wait a few months.