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I need expert dog advice.

Hey 8Mud, have you seen the "Dog Whisperer" on the National Geographic channel? If so, what do you think?

My 4 year old Siberian Husky is not fixed but I had him trained. I really think different dogs respond to different types of training. My husky is not food driven so forget treats or being nice. I've had him on the ground in the submit position until he calms down a few times. Now, he knows what's coming and it never gets that far.

Doug
 
Hey 8Mud, have you seen the "Dog Whisperer" on the National Geographic channel? If so, what do you think?

My 4 year old Siberian Husky is not fixed but I had him trained. I really think different dogs respond to different types of training. My husky is not food driven so forget treats or being nice. I've had him on the ground in the submit position until he calms down a few times. Now, he knows what's coming and it never gets that far.

Doug

I never have seen his stuff, though I've heard some good things about his methods. From what I've heard, he tries to get into a dogs head some and tries to train the owners as well as the dogs.
Husky's, Sheppards and some others are often a little closer to the wolf (source) and IMO are often a base line for training other breeds. Some breeds may be a bit more domesticated than others, have there individual temperaments, quirks and tendencies, but most still retain some of the basic wolf traits. Like going outside of the den to pee etc.
I've got four puncture wounds on my left elbow from a Husky, that numbed my whole left arm for days. He wasn't mad, upset, disturbed or viscous, he just wanted to be left alone and I was a little too pushy (close). Kind of a crunch, hey back off dude. And I almost broke my right hand when I pulled a Mongo on him and hit him right between the eyes with all the strength and adrenalin power I had, trying to get him to let loose. Which didn't work, then I remembered the old thumb in the eye trick, which did and I got my arm back.
I was dog sitting a Husky and had a girl friend over for the night. I left early and told her to let herself out. I came home ten hours later to find her huddled in a corner with Max standing guard. Every time she tried to move for ten hours, Max would snarl and show his teeth. That must have been the worst ten hours of her life.
 
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Now I understand why you beat your dogs... they keep biting you. :lecture:

I have never have seen his stuff, though I've heard some good things about his methods. From what I've heard, he tries to get into a dogs head some and tries to train the owners as well as the dogs.
Husky's, Sheppards and some others are often a little closer to the wolf (source) and IMO are often a base line for training other breeds. Some breeds may be a bit more domesticated than others, have there individual temperaments, quirks and tendencies, but most still retain some of the basic wolf traits. Like going outside of the den to pee etc.
I've got four puncture wounds on my left elbow from a Husky, that numbed my whole left arm for days. He wasn't mad, upset, disturbed or viscous, he just wanted to be left alone and I was a little too pushy (close). Kind of a crunch, hey back off dude. And I almost broke my right hand when I pulled a Mongo on him and hit him right between the eyes with all the strength and adrenalin power I had, trying to get him to let loose. Which didn't work, then I remembered the old thumb in the eye trick, which did and I got my arm back.
 
Now I understand why you beat your dogs... they keep biting you. :lecture:
I don't know if it is my smell or my demeanor, but I've been bitten a bunch of times over the years. Almost always a male doing the bitting. A female might occasionally nip.
 
How old are your dogs, are they around other animals (dogs) alot? Monitor their interaction, if one of the fixates on another break it's concentration immediately.

Sasha is 3, roughly 70lb, smarter, agile, amazing with children, great with adults (once she gets accustomed to a new face of course)

Maggie is 2, roughly 80lb, clumsy, extremely strong and has killed several of the neighbor's cats (but you didn't read that here)


another update:

I put body harnesses, normal collars/tags and muzzles on both. Younger brother took one dog, I took the larger of the two. with leashes in hand we let them make contact and nothing to note happened.

So then we go outside for a cold night time walk. Not even 30 feet from the front door they begin to growl. I pull my dog away and my brother does the same. We tackle them to the ground, pinning them, and hold them there until they stop struggling, then some more. After letting them stand and brushing some of the snow off we continued our walk. My brother and I only had to pin them down 2 or 3 more times afterward. For the entire second half of the walk no attempts of confrontation were made.

We arrived home, let them socialize for a bit more with muzzles and harnesses, no leashes this time. There was one short growl but stopped once they noticed i stood from my seat. Then they were returned to their separated parts of the house.

I believe we narrowed the aggressor down to Maggie, the larger and younger of the two.

owell, only time will tell...
 
Talk with your dog behaviorist, sometimes holding them back can make it worse or repeating the same techniques stops working. Ask about tying them together and making them share the same space for a couple of hours.
Stepped response is something to keep in mind, kind of like kids, if you start out yelling you've narrowed your options. What do you do when yelling doesn't work anymore? The same with pinning your dog, you may want to mix it up a little. A sharp tug on the leash or run them through the heal, sit and lay down routine real quick.
When my dogs are acting up I keep them on a real short leash, holding the leash a foot from the collar. When they are good they get more leash.
 
Were the animals she killed in your yard? You did great by walking them together, keep doing that, keep them at a pace to where they cannot focus on each other but focus on the job at hand, exercising. Keep walking them with an extra person until your confident enough in them to walk them both by your self. Also do they sleep in crates?

All three times the cats were in my fenced off property and without collars. I have a solid fence if that matters. The only way something enters the backyard is over the fence, under the ground or through the doors. Although I discourage the dogs from chasing critters I'm glad those cats are dead, my 6year old brother can finally have a feces free sandbox.

The older has never been in a crate and the younger was crate trained but after breaking her crate i have not bought her a new one (brother's friend banged on the window at night and my brother yelled, must have flipped a defensive switch). both sleep in either their own dog beds, the tile floor or share a large extra mattress downstairs (yes, they have no issues sleeping together on the mattress, i have no idea why).

I was given strict instructions to not tolerate anything undesirable in the dogs. The simple commands, squirts of water, loud noises, tugs, or shouts do nothing when they are about to fight. At any other time they usually obey all commands, I only have problems when their prey drive kicks in or confrontation.
 
owners that abuse there dogs with any physical contact are already doing everything wrong, FEAR is not a training tool
recommend you "alter" both of them, it will also save you from future vet bills and no chance of ovarian cancer
i would also recommend a training course (not at petsmart that place is a joke)



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
And we are now up to 13 years.

That's almost the life span of two Danes combined. Although I did have one live to be 13.

I think I need a trail thread instead of a trail dog. Lives longer, eats less; AND I can turn it off.
 
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