My barking dog

[RGD.]

I've had dogs all my life and there was only one that I barely won half the battles with his entire life. That would be my stubborn stupid beagle (and I say that with affection) whom we lost last year -16 years old. He suffered his whole life from separation anxiety. And he was scared sh*tless of non-family members.

And when young would seemingly bark non-stop when left alone in the house. Any house noise, shadows, vehicle noise, etc would cause an outburst. I eventually turned to a shock collar reluctantly. And it worked - but here were my rules:

01. No automatic shocks.
02. Used for training only - not worn full time.
03. Only used with the command "no".
04. Nobody used the collar except for me.

My purpose was never to have him stop barking totally - only to learn to stop barking when given the "no" command. I very rarely if ever discouraged outside barking - only when he would stand in one place barking at something that nobody else could see. He learned to stop barking at shadows, house noise and vehicles in the street. He knew he could get in one or two barks at the door bell, strangers to him in the house, etc. and then he would shut up.
Once he got the idea - praise was used and the collar discarded.

So - you can say that I don't mind the use of collars with a specific set of rules in place. I'm not a fan of them when used automatically.

I do agree with DC's direction. A trained dog is a happy dog.


Ron

[tsolomon]

I have to agree with fencefixer on the leadership issue and a shock collar does nothing to promote you as pack leader. I also think that positive reinforcement is the best training method, but along with positive marker for good behavior you need a negative marker to discourage bad behavior. My wife refers to it as having tools in your toolbox, which is what dog training is all about. My best suggestion to to find your local dog training club and take your dog for some basic obedience lessons. This will help with socialization and get you some help with how to work with your dog. If the club does a lot of obedience trials, I can pretty much guarantee that there will be some trainers and German Sheperd owners there who can help you.

When training puppies or new dogs, we try to set the dogs up to be successful. The establishing of a positive environment where the dog learns to be a good dog and everything is positive reinforcement sets the table for the next phase where you are trying to stop or redirect bad behavior. Someone earlier wanted to know about how positive reinforcement works with discouraging bad behavior and the answer is pretty simple. When the dog offers up the appropriate behavior they get a good boy and a treat. When they do it wrong, they don't get a good boy or a treat, but they do get to do it again. Once you get the dog to wondering what it has to do to get the treat, you have now established good communications with your dog.

A good starting point is to study your breed and learn to work with or channel the breed's natural behaviors to achieve results. You need to learn how to talk to the dog in their language. A pack leader uses positive reinforcment by playing and grooming within the pack, but the minute the playing gets out of hand, there is a quick growl that says stop, stop now.

A clicker used correctly is a great positive reinforcement and is followed by a treat. A negative reinforcement can be a simple no said correctly although most dog trainers I know don't recommend using the word "no" for this purpose. My wife uses uh-oh for her negative marker which makes all three of our dogs stop and look at her. The theory behind the negative marker is to let the dog know that something bad will happen if they don't stop. This doesn't mean a harsh correction is required, but at some point you probably will need to give a quick tug on the leash to get their attention and remind them that you are in charge and they need to listen.

From my point of view, you need to establish better communications with your dog. When you make the dog sit, does the dog stay in the sit until you release her? You should have a release command that tells the dog you are done with this excercise. You need to establish a set of behaviors that are acceptable and then reinforce those behaviors so that the dog sees you as the pack leader. Most dogs don't want to be the leader, but they will fill the position if they don't get what they need from you. The German Sheperd's history as a herding and guard dog means it is looking to you for direction and is hard wired to work with it's handler, this usually makes them easy to train.

[markem]

My question would be this: how often is your dog around other dogs? We had a greyhound that had socialization issues until we started taking him to doggy day care. Tired and happy at the end of the day and really started behaving in an idea manner. Our newest greyhound is also getting the day care treatment and all the best traits of the breed have come out and he has no bad habits.

Personally, before taking advice from a cigar board where people haven't evaluated the dog in person, I'd call your vet and ask for a recommendation for a veterinary psychologist (if you are in Seattle, I know one of the best). The dog needs to be evaluated before you try to fix what is wrong because trying to fix the wrong thing the wrong way (or not actually addressing what is wrong) is a way bad idea.

Our neighbor across the street is going though something similar with their german shepherd and they have decided that yelling at the dog, using a painful collar and spraying vinegar is the way to go. They have two autistic children. Care to guess how this is all going to end? I have cornered the child welfare case worker by the mailbox about my concerns, but their take is that unless and until something happens ...