Today I’m participating in This ‘N That Thursday sponsored/hosted/created by 2 Brown Dawgs blog.
You know sometimes you have little snippets, not quite enough for a full post. Ah-hah yes, This ‘N That Thursday.
Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog
Training thoughts:
Forty-five minutes is not long enough for a dog training class. ( Or a therapist session for that matter.) Tuesday night we worked on heeling and loose-leash walking.
Needless to say, I wasn’t really successful with either.
The class was held outside and I seemed to keep losing Delilah’s attention. The instructor said, welcome to full moon.
Delilah wasn’t the only one, all the dogs were kind of edgy, one dog kept reacting to Delilah and I kept moving myself farther and farther from the class as clueless people who clearly have no understanding of reactive dogs, just lah-dee-dahed around.
We each took a turn heeling our dog and then with a loose leash, walking past a bowl of treats. Since I was struggling with Delilah I fell back on heeling the way Sara taught me, by stepping back and using the leash to guide Delilah around my back.
Big No No.
The instructor then showed me how much extra work I was creating for myself by not luring Delilah with a treat, in front of the whole class. 🙁
Eventually we managed to walk past the bowl of treats. Phew.
Out and About:
Saw this post on Something Wagging’s facebook page yesterday and it impressed me to no end.
My reply to a review product offer: “The lit collar is an interesting product. However, I see that DogTrainingCollars.com also sells collars that emit an electric shock to dogs.
The purpose of my blog is to encourage a positive, human/canine bond. I don’t believe that can happen if you shock your dog instead of using current scientific training methods.
Because of your client’s other products, I do not feel comfortable reviewing this item.”
Do you agree? Or disagree?
WOW, did I tell you I was impressed. A woman who stands by her principles and cannot be bought.
I might have to write her name on the ballot in November. 🙂
Hi Jodi,
This N That Thursday sounds like fun! 🙂
Glad to hear that Something Wagging stood up for her beliefs of not hurting us Doggies 🙂
Wags to all,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Snoopy, 2 Brown Dawgs is willing to share so if you want grab the badge! It’s all good.
Yes, I’m proud of Pamela, she is a woman that cannot be bought. 🙂
I think it’s good to not affiliate yourself wiht a company that supplies products that go against your ethics. At the same time, I don’t necessarily look into that when I’m at a petstore and deciding which brand of clicker to buy (after I lose yet another).
I agree on both counts Lexy. I would have never thought to look into what other products that company sold.
You got Delilah to walk with a loose leash passed a bowl of treats and you aren’t dancing a jig?? In all out obedience work this is not something I was ever able to accomplish with Shiva. Not once. In our CGN class (like the American CGC) the instructor would throw treats around the room and tell us it was poison and not to let our dogs eat it. I’ll tell you what, Shiva will always eat the poison. Always.
Congratulations on your success!
And I agree. I love that Pamela actually responded instead of just deleting the email, which is what I have done. It’s important to speak out in a rational and professional manner. Maybe it will get something thinking.
I was so stressed out I didn’t even celebrate it! LOL Don’t think it was easy either, I think we had to start over about four times! Truthfully I’m not even sure she saw the bowl of treats. She had her back turned when they put them out. 🙂 In normal circumstances she would eat the poison too! LOL
I am so impressed with Pamela, I just can’t say enough.
Good on whoever wrote that collar review FB post. (Was it Pamela?) I’ve never done any product reviews because I don’t want to have to say nice things about stuff I’ve never heard of before and would probably never use. I’m a stick in the mud. Anyway, I’d probably be the Anthony Bourdain of doggy product reviews 😉
Yes it was Pamela. She is a very smart, articulate lady. I want to be like her when I grow up. 🙂
Hey thanks for participating . 🙂
It sounds like your new trainer may have a lot of good tricks up her sleeve to help you with Delilah. I think that is wonderful. Sure different trainers have different methods which make work better with a particular dog. That is not to say one is better than another, just that all methods do not work for all dogs. Celebrate walking past a bowl of treats!
Which brings us to e-collar. *sigh* I wish people understood them more. We use e-collar and you have seen videos on my blog where the dogs received an e-collar correction. Did you see inhumane? Do our dogs look abused? Clearly I am failing with my blog. 🙁
You certainly are NOT failing with your blog. You said it yourself, “Sure different trainers have different methods which make work better with a particular dog. That is not to say one is better than another, just that all methods do not work for all dogs.”
The same holds true with people’s viewpoints, not everyone likes the e-collar. I have watched your videos and your dogs are NOT abused but 1) you are training your dogs for a particular purpose and 2) not all people use the e-collar correctly. That I think is more of the issue. Case in point my walking friend, she hasn’t trained her dog at all she just zaps him when he is not obeying, she is not training him with the collar.
Believe it or not Sampson was trained on the e-collar. I did not like it and I fought hubby for the longest time. It is not my preferred method of training and we argue about this in Delilah’s training. He wants to put her on a collar and I do not.
He says, “He was trained on the collar and look at him, you can’t ask for a better dog.”
I won’t dispute that. I however do not know her background and what she has been exposed to. I’m not willing to try the collar and then have her freak out and lose my dog to some kind of anxiety. I might have had a different thought process had we gotten her as a puppy.
I think when a dog is being trained for hunting, it is totally different. You do need to have a control over your dog when they are long distances away, most family dogs aren’t (or at least shouldn’t be that far away.)
Someday I will write about the horrible experience I had with Sampson and the collar, but this response already looking like a blog post. 🙂
Your blog is wonderful and I love reading it.
Thanks Jodi. I think I agree with you on not using a collar on Delilah. Not all dogs respond well and it has more to do with breeding than past history. With a very experienced trainer’s help, maybe. But as I told you once, I would not use it on her without a good trainer’s help. Also, for what you want, you are right, I don’t think it necessary.
I understand that not all people want to use ecollar, but I think it was the language used by someone (not you) who reads my blog that stung a little. 🙂
I’m sorry that someone’s words stung. I know it is hard when you are putting yourself out there, I will say that sometimes words come out the wrong way and they are not intended to hurt or offend. I think it is a risk you take with blogging, there will always be someone whether intentionally or unintentionally that offend or take it too far. Hang in there, you are doing a fine job. 🙂
Very impressed with Something Wagging’s response.
I had missed that post on Pamela’s page, but I’m glad you shared it here. I was approached by the company for that review as well–and had the same reaction after looking at their website. The whole site is about e-collars and invisible fences, and these are things that I just don’t want to promote. I, too, responded to them to let them know why I wouldn’t be willing to review the lighted collar (which I liked the idea of).
I wrote, “This would have been great, but because I am studying to become a reward-based, positive trainer, I don’t feel comfortable promoting a site that focuses on e-collars.”
This goes to show how little a company and its PR/marketing team actually look at the blogs they approach for reviews. Had this contact actually read through some of my posts, they would have known not to email me, I would think. Oh well, what can you do except explain yourself and move on?