Shock Collar

I recently got my dog the DogTek Canicom 200 Electronic Dog Collar.

Go ahead internets, spout your hate. I already feel like a failure for resorting to shocking my dog.

The thing is though, in the last month, we lost 3 pillows, 1 shoe, and rescued countless socks from the jaws of death. Forget reaching into his mouth to get the item out; the only safe way to do it is to get a leash, have him follow you around the house, and don't even look at him until he drops the item. Praise him like he's Jesus when he finally does drop the sock.

You'd think after years of that, the positive reinforcement for dropping the item should've kicked in by now. He still steals stuff and gets nasty when you reach for it.

And haters, I do exercise my dog. He gets playtime in the yard in the morning. He gets 30-40 min walk after work. He gets more yardtime before dinner. He also gets 10-15min indoor playtime where we either play tug or hide a toy and he finds it. Then on the weekends, we go to a park for 1-2 hours of hiking.

If anything, this dog gets too much attention, especially with a baby on the way. Yeah. I'm 29 weeks pregnant and my dog snaps when you reach for stuff in his mouth. Excellent scenario. This is a dog who passed the Canine Good Citizen test too.

So fine. I bought a shock collar. Hate me.

But you know, it's working. We had him wear it around the house for a week before we even put batteries in the remote. Just so he gets used to it and doesn't associate anything bad with it. I also do lots of praise and petting when I put the collar on.

The first time we shocked him was during one of his worst temper tantrums. He had already destroyed a flip flop and was guarding the pieces like a mama bear. He started growling even if you looked at him.

Set the stun gun to level 3 and hit the button. (It goes to 10, and yes hubby tested it on himself first. It feels like pins and needles at 3. Probably even less for the dog with his fur.)

The dog froze in place like, "WTF was that?!?" He still had the destroyed shoe in his mouth, so he got zapped again. This time he dropped it and headed off to his bed. Probably scared him, the poor thing. Anyway, praise all around for dropping the shoe.

The next time we used it, he had the same shoe. Since it was already destroyed, we left it laying around to use as a training mechanism. The dog gave it up again, but lunged when we tried to pick it up. Zap, zap, zap. This time he held onto it and just got zapped a bunch of times. Nothing. I didn't want to up the volume so I got the leash instead.

1 success, 1 failure. It's a work in progress.

We continued the training at the park. The dog is notorious for rolling in crap. Last time we were at this particular park, he rolled in crap 11 times. You'd think there would not be so much crap within 30 feet of the trail, but there is. Apparently the forest is just filled with crap and dead things.

Haters, I know the obvious solution is to keep the dog on the leash. That gives him barely any exercise though. I have a high-energy breed (vizsla) that needs to run and swim and sniff. The weekend outings are his stress relief. It also means driving home with your nose plugged, windows open, and an intense bath.

The shock collar worked great here. We had to turn it up to 4 to overcome the extra distractions in the woods. As soon as the dog dipped his shoulder, he got zapped. He stopped right away. No flipping on his back, no smearing crap in his ears. He just stopped and looked around. We called him back to us for a treat and the sucker came. This happened 3 times.

The collar also has a beep function to get his attention. We used the beep when he was eating grass (makes him puke) and when we saw other people on the trail. He watches other people to see if he needs to protect us and sometimes ignores us when we call him back. Beeping him was a way to snap him out of his people watching and get him on the leash again. Worked twice, great results.

Overall, I'm happy with the results of the collar, even if the inside training needs some work. I still need to accept the fact I'm one of those people who shock my dog, but we've been trying the positive reinforcement techniques for years with very little progress.

Resource Guarding

This is my dog, Colby. About 30 minutes before I took this picture, he had stolen another dog's food off the kitchen counter. A dog we were watching for friend, who needed to eat.

I was lucky enough to catch Colby right away before he could rip the plastic. I got the leash on him, preventing the never ending game of chase.

So there I was with the leash. And there he was with the food.

Neither of us were going to budge.

You think in a test of wills with a dog, a human would always win. Well, about an hour into it, I was ready to let him have it. I even called hubby and asked him to come straight home instead of getting a haircut after work. You see, when it comes to my dog, stubborn takes a new definition.

My dog is stubborn. He doesn't want to get off the couch, or go outside in the rain. But if you put a leash on him, he'll get up without grumbling. That's what most people think when I say stubborn.

No, that's not stubborn. He has a whole level beyond that. I call it his Asshole Phase. (coined by my brother). This is where the dog does something just because he can and there ain't a damn thing you can do. He'll walk by your shoes 10 times, but the 11th time, he'll decide to steal it. Then he'll either run around the house with it, or turn into a growling beast with a look that says Puny human. I have taken what you prize the most. I will destroy it now and make you watch because I am more muscular and I have these teeth.

That's Asshole Phase. Experts call it resource guarding.

I have tried every training method suggested to me and bought books on the subject. Nothing has worked. He just wants to be an asshole. Why did he steal the food? Because he could.Because it was unlikely I would put my hand near it and risk getting bit, so therefore, he thought he was going to get away with it.

He was almost correct, that asshole.

I tried making him sit and stay for 20 minutes. I played with the other dog, had a great time playing tug and fetch. No reaction. I wouldn't let him greet hubby when he came home. Gave the other dog big pepperoni slices straight from the refrigerator. Nada. Nothing was going to make him drop the food.

Eventually the plastic bag got a hole in it and food was slowly coming out. The other dog followed Colby around the house like a personal feeder.

He held this bag for an hour and a half.

Finally, I put him on the treadmill. We only use that to supplement walks when it's real cold out or pouring rain. This time though, it was to make him pant so that he couldn't hold the bag anymore. It occurred to me this was borderline abuse, so I kept the treadmill to a slower pace than if we walked around the neighborhood.

It worked. Twelve minutes on the treadmill and he started to pant. The food bag came out and the other dog had dinner.

I know better than to call that a success, even though I did get the food and didn't get bitten. I wish I knew how to stop him from stealing in the first place. Ever since then, when he steals something, he gets put on the leash and tied to my waist. Then I ignore him. That's what you are supposed to do with human assholes, right? I go about my business through the house and eventually he drops whatever it is he stole. When he does, he gets praised and released from his human harness.

I'm hoping he eventually sees there is no point to steal. Keep your fingers crossed this works. 

Happy Birthday Colby

We had a birthday party for the dog yesterday. He turns 4 today. And yeah, I know you are groaning right now. OMG she had a party for the dog.

It's not as bad as you think. There weren't any hats or cake. There were donuts, pastries, fruit, and juice for the humans. We sat around on comfy furniture and ate sugar while the dogs ran their brains out.

The people do this every weekend, except we're usually hiking together. Instead of wandering around in the woods, getting muddy and ticks in our hair, we sat around and ate donuts.

The humans had a great time. We chatted, got to see people we haven't in a while, and relaxed. There were about 12-13 people there, 2 kids, and 8-9 dogs.

The pictures here were provided by some of the party guests. These dogs run too fast for my point and shoot. You need a DSLR with a fast shutter speed or it looks blurry.

Colby is the lighter colored, bigger dog with the M&M collar. Even his sister made it, though I'm having trouble finding her in the photo. She's also the same color, but smaller, and has normal sized head.

Here Colby is in the center, getting picked on.

I don't think the neighbors were too thrilled with us. It was 8:30-11:30 on a Sunday. And well, dogs bark. Can't really be helped that much. Besides, I thought it was cool to see a pack of all the same breed running together in one yard. I doubt the neighbors think the same. I could be wrong though.


Finally, here's my favorite picture. Colby is getting punched in the face. A little love tap for the birthday boy.

Dog Accidents

My 4 year old dog has crapped in the house 2 days in a row.

Not sickly craps. Regular, big ol' dumps.

He gets exercise in the morning, plenty of time in the yard playing ball before we go to work. Just lately he hasn't been going the bathroom during that time. Which means he goes in the house.

We haven't changed a single thing in his routine. Nothing to explain it. Maybe it's just one of those things that happen and will correct itself.

Meanwhile, the dog aims for the light-colored carpet. Makes me wonder how he chooses a spot.