#reginaldspektor

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@reginaldspektor replied to your post “i’m feeling pretty exhausted w/ people who don’t know shit about dogs...”

If you feel like going into detail, my I ask what happened?

i mean, it’s not so much one thing that happened, just my job weighing on me. i’ll probably delete this tomorrow. but the family i nanny for has a year old west german working line german shepherd that has one petsmart training course under it’s belt and no other continued training. the mom thinks this dog is flawless, when i got the job she told me he was completely trained. long story short, he’s not. as i get to know him i see how bad the neglect of his training is. he’s not dangerous, at least not intentionally, and he’s not aggressive. but he gets what he wants when he wants it, he knows his family is afraid of him (though they’ll never admit it) he bites (not hard enough to draw blood) and jumps to get what he wants and they always fall for it. his main caretaker is an 8 yearold kid who has no real knowledge about dog behavior and the gsd bites and mounts him daily. his mom thinks she’s going to get this dog trained in personal protection and titled in rally. but i see no intelligent effort to train this dog, his natural working ability is wasting away. and the real shame it, it could be turned around on a dime if HIS FAMILY would be willing to acknowledge their shortcomings as trainers and seek actual help. but based on what i’ve seen i doubt they’ll ever do that. they talk about him half as if he was human and half as if he’s some perfect image of everything a gsd can be. i just see a sad dog with no structure to his life that’s is in such a constant state of over arousal that he can’t think clearly enough to even be trained. i like this job, and the family is nice to me, and the kid is amazing and so much fun to be around. even the dog and i get along when it’s the 2 of us (i come early and train him 1 on 1 every day w/o any one knowing, just toy manners so he bites me less). but seeing his family interact with him and be so delusional about what’s going on is so heart breaking for me. this is why i don’t think i could ever get into dog training as a profession. god bless people who do.  everything i accomplished with fox lived and died by my actions. my own incompetence, my own willingness to learn and grow and change. there’s no room for ego in dog training. i was never going to be able to teach fox how to understand me until i learned to understand him. i’m so so so grateful for a dog as forgiving and easy to work with as fox. i wouldn’t trade the relationship i have with him for the world. he’s humbled me so completely, i never want to feel that i’m failing him. if there’s anyone out there reading this big thing, i’m begging you to always stay hungry to learn and grow. accept your failure, but don’t let it hold you back. you can always get better, your pets won’t judge you for anything you’ve done wrong, but they can only love you more when you’re willing to sacrifice your pride to give them the mental stimulation and enrichment that they need through training. 

[6woofs]

I saw you buy from tractor supply. They just came out with Sportmix Wholesomes in a grain free variety. It's a bit cheaper than 4health.

Thanks for the info! But, some of mine didn’t really like the 4Health, and, today, I found out I’m getting a big raise (so won’t have to find a 2nd job now, woo!), so they can stay on Zignature! But I’ll remember that for the future!

PS I looked up that food, and it has canola oil, which lowers Kiba’s seizure threshold, so we avoid things that have it (and rosemary), but thanks again!

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Any ideas for dog enrichment in the middle of summer? Asphalt is scorching and yards are filled with sticker burrs and fire ants about now so we've really slowed down on walks. We do frozen kongs nearly daily and he doesn't like swimming so that's out. Any neat ideas?

Walk at night or early in the morning! Be prepared for all sorts of wildlife or new experiences like the garbage truck. 

Put ice packs under/inside blankets so your dog can lay outside and stay cool. (Moderate how long your dog has access to these, so that there’s no risk of injury or ice pack ingestion). 

Set up a hose to create an upward gentle spray that rains back down, see if the dog is interested in going into it. If so, try training or playing while being misted. 

Set up “find the treat” basic nosework games indoors. 

Create toys that the pup is encouraged to tear apart - stuff boxes with newspaper or other filling and a bone or some treats. Monitor usage to prevent ingestion of the filling. 

Rotate the toys your dog has access to so they’re high-value due to novelty when you bring new ones out. 

[ninidoodles]

Do you have an etsy shop or something where I can buy prints or stickers? I really love your eeveelutions.

ahhh thank you! i don’t have an etsy unfortunately (i really need to look into it one of these days tho) but i put all of the eeveelutions up on my Redbubble for anyone interested!

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@reginaldspektor replied to your post “What training do you do for dana between 8 to 10 weeks?”

Doggy zen?

http://baywoof.com/good-dog/doggy-zen/

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@ciaraskellington replied to your post “@reginaldspektor replied to your post “i’m feeling pretty exhausted...”

Could you maybe try to teach the kid how to train the dog a little? Just like simple tricks to try and get him to see the dog as a dog?

the boy is very smart, but he’s a know it all. he thinks everything he’s doing is correct, won’t listen to any advice on how to interact his dog. he manhandles the dog how he pleases, and doesn’t want to learn about training. he needs his parents to intervene there’s nothing i can do. 

@abeagleandashepherd replied to your post “@reginaldspektor replied to your post “i’m feeling pretty exhausted...”

I don’t like German Shepherd people either :/ sooo many dogs have amazing potential and get completely and utterly wasted by their owners. If the dogs don’t give up and become overweight couch potatoes, they go stir crazy and have behavior problems. Worst part is when the owners don’t acknowledge any issues with either situation. Stay strong!!

i think this dog will end up being stir crazy and over weight given that he’s working line AND they free feed him XP. i’ve always been able to brush gsd people off because i meet them at parks and stuff where i’ve got fox with me, and fox’s behavior shuts up any braggarts with delusions of grandeur real quick. but this is a job where i have to keep my mouth shut and not say anything out of turn, and fox isn’t there to lend credibility to my advice. it’s frustrating. i’ll try to stay strong tho!! i miss you guys :’( 

@fallenangelsbecomedevils replied to your post “@reginaldspektor replied to your post “i’m feeling pretty exhausted...”

Please don't take this down, this was so perfect. And I don't like most people that gravitate to GSDs either, it is frustrating to watch people want a smart, tough, and beautiful dog that they let waste away into it's own head until it goes insane.

i’ll leave it up for now, but if i think my employers are going to find my blog i’ll delete it. i really do like working for them, and i don’t want to loose this job

@reginaldspektor replied to your post “@reginaldspektor replied to your post “i’m feeling pretty exhausted...”

Oh I understand that feeling completely. Was turoring at a house with a Yorkie that they kept in one of those four foot wide pens 24/7 and wanted me to "train" it for one hour every week, thinking that would magically fix everything. Same with the kid, one hour of tutoring each week to help combat how utterly behind he was in language acquisition, because they would never talk and interact with him.

god that sounds like a miserable situation. i really don’t like 90% of parents (yes including my own).  its a great misconception among dog owners that it’s the /dog/ that needs to be trained, when in reality it’s the owners who need to be taught how to handle their dogs. 

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@reginaldspektor replied to your post “are those patches of fake grass used as potty spots for young puppies...”

I skipped pads and just used the bell system. I think dogs go by smell more than sight, so I don't see turf being much better than a pad. They will need to go in dirt/concrete at times so trying to train based on the visual of grass seems unnecessary.

@wandering-dogs replied to your post “are those patches of fake grass used as potty spots for young puppies...”

I avoid pads because I've seen a few dogs now, including my dads current puppy, who couldnt tell the difference between a pee pad and say, a towel, or carpeting, or a dog bed, and it set training back ages because we needed those down for various reasons.

@fishpickles340 replied to your post “are those patches of fake grass used as potty spots for young puppies...”

Yeah my dog was trained for pads before i got her and now she thinks anything blanket textured is a puppy pad, shes really struggled to understand the difference and hates peeing outdoors

our backyard goes right out to a forested park train full of all kinds of animals and the occasional off leash strange dog that could get in, along with all their diseases. i feel really uncomfortable just letting an unvaccinated puppy right outside onto the ground in that kind of environment.  the patch would serve more of a purpose towards training the puppy to go on command in a specific place, and then moving that place outdoors when the puppy is old enough to be vaccinated. (at the very least i could concede to putting the pottyspot outside right by the door so the puppy never has to walk on the ground) 

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Does Fox wear a martingale? My therapy dog trainer suggested a martingale, but my pup has such a slippery long neck that I can never keep it up high.

yeah we have several different types of martingales. if you want to use one for a training collar then a thin chain martingale with a buckle, because you can get it tight enough to stay up on the neck since you can buckle it around the neck instead of having to slip it over the head, i can post a vid of fox’s collar and how we fit it, if that would help. (i use a collar like this one during some of our training, because it gives me better control of fox’s head when i need it. fox HATES head halter style collars, so this is a much more comfortable and less stressful option for him) a 2″ fabric martingale pretty much just a safety collar for dogs who can jerk their heads out of a flat collar and doesn’t have much use as a training collar. they can be thinner, but with out a buckle, it will always be fairly loose because you have to slip it over the dog’s heada chain martingale like this one, or this one, that doesn’t have a buckle and just slips over the head works the same like the full fabric version and the chain is just a fashion choice  (all the links are pics) 

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@justslowdown replied to your post “@ciaraskellington replied to your post “@reginaldspektor replied to...”

That last point is SO spot-on. Board and train doesn't sit right with me for that exact reason.

i agree. i feel like there’s a place in the world for board and trains (for foster dogs that need a training boot camp before they can be adopted to a family that will continue their education, for example) but i think the average household would more greatly benefit from an trainer doing an in-home consultation and working with all the members of the family, making sure everyone is on the same page.

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@reginaldspektor here's a video of our martingale collars! This type of collar is the most comfortable solution for fox. A lot of people consider a head halter style collar a force free alternative to a martingale collar for training purposes, and for some dogs it is. But for fox, a head halter is like torture. It's important to find the most comfortable solution for your dog. @equagga mentioned that you can also get full fabric martingales with buckles, and while I don't have one to show you, it might fit a single coated dog better. It could be something to experiment with.(dogsbythebay on etsy sells full fabric martingale collars with buckles)

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@reginaldspektor when i have fox in our (knock off) julius k9, i never have anything buckled to the actual harness, unless i’m working with a traffic leash attached to his collar, a handsfree leash on the harness, so that if i need to drop his leash to hold something, fox is still attached to me.  Harnesses have a place in training, but it’s very hard to communicate touch through a harness. i use a harness when training fox when i want him to feel in control. so that he is consciously making decisions and being rewarded for making choices that i like. but this doesn’t work if the dog is over threshold. (ask your trainer about BAT training i could not describe it very well)  but if you need to be the one in control, in a situation where your might not be able to trust your dog to make the right choice, a collar your dog is receptive to will help. (reception meaning comfortable, but listens well to, not shut down, anxious or uncomfortable/in pain) 

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@reginaldspektor with fox, our grooming sessions are rather short because he really doesn’t like being groomed. so i’ll pretty much only groom him for as long as he’ll tolerate it. with the furminator you mostly have to be careful about too many strokes in one spot. just work from the front of the dog to the back once. the furminator is just for removing under coat, not arranging, or detangling the coat. if you enjoy brushing you can get a good slicker brush and use that, safe to use for as long as you like.