Hi Wayne,

On Sun 2038-Apr-25 10:12, WAYNE CHIRNSIDE (1:123/140) wrote to ROGER NELSON:

WC> One must make it clear to the animal that you are the alpha leader
WC> of the pack. The original owner had attack trained the dog for the
WC> first two years. 

INdeed, that's the important thing, if you don't assume
leadership the dog will.  DOgs, being social animals that
live in packs expect to either be lead, or be the leader.
IT's a totally binary thing, zero or one.  LEader or
follower.  sInce you want the dog to not be pack leader you
have to assert your status as same.



WC> As a final note as far as I can tell there's absolutely no
WC> difference between Pit Bulls and other breeds of dog except humans
WC> bred them to be incredibly TOUGH in the extreme and that any dog
WC> (and owner) greatly  benefits from the proper sort of training.

WC> A very intelligent breed though.
WC> His command for crossing the street was "Spanky, cross the street." 

Buddy, my doberman/shepherd/dane mix was trained by me to
perform as a dog guide.  we'd come to an intersection that
was controlled by a traffic light, and buddy would sit,
awaiting my command to move out.

IT's funny, but one thing you have to do with guide training is teach the
animal that there are certain places he and his owner can't go, i.e. under
the low hanging branches, between the closely parked vehicles, etc.  I had
to have him well
trained for guide work, as I've always found carrying a
white cane while walking a dog to be a real inconvenience.
I also wanted to be able to go inside a business and have
him behave properly.

IT's funny, one night when we crossed a street leaving a
park where we used to play Buddy tried to go between two
parallel parked vehicles, behind one and in front of the
other where I didn't fit.  I stood there making noise being
sure not to cause dents but making enough noise with my hand on the body of
the car as I repeated "no!" forcefully
several times.  An old guide dog trainer taught me that one
years before.

Roxoy otoh had that one issue I've described here before
with picking up things off the street, but otherwise she was well behaved
on walks.  Schotze doesn't get socialized
enough, and whenever we stay in motels it's an adventure
taking her for a walk.  SHe is big, and scares people,
because ROtts have much similar reputations as pits.    Part of that's my
fault, but the other part is environmental.
FOr the first four weeks when we got her we were traveling,
and doing the motel living thing.  Then when we got home we
lived isolated in the country, and she saw few people except some of
Kathy's family and a neighbor once in awhile.  THis
means that in our small town Schotze only gets a good walk
later at night, because when she sees the little kids out
playing she wants to play with them, and parents quickly
snatch them away.
She plays with my step grandchildren quite fine.

Now it's funny, but when we did thanksgiving day at Kathy's
daughters we had Schotze with us, because we were doing bug
bombing, and when she and I would go for walks there was a
family with a lot of kids lived near my stepdaughter.  THe
adults weren't at all freaked out when the kids wanted to
play with Schotze.  wHen she first encountered them she went to do the jump
up, paws on shoulders thing, and I did the
usual, "no jumping" thing, which she's learned to respond
appropriately to.  Quite well behaved.


WC> The single most annoying thing was Spanky's habit of looking at me
WC> like I was some sort of retard when I didn't immediately understand
WC> what he wanted via making eye contact.

Schotze has figured out she has to make a sound, or make
physical contact with me.

she's great when Kathy's not well.  I can send her in to
stay with "mommy" and if Kathy gets up to move, or stirs
Schotze will come get me.

WC> OTOH his understanding of English astonished me on numerous
WC> occassion when he complied to my requests I'd never trained him to! 

I think they learn to understand more words and phrases that we regularly
use than most people think they do.  Schotze
understands "let's go to bed," or "go check on
mommy/daddy." NOw, to give Schotze her running room in the backyard. 
WE
lost a tree in the storms yesterday, and the utility company folks cut it
into large enough chunks to remove from the
power line and off our roof, but it's too big for me to drag around front
for city pickup, and all I've got is the wrong
kind of hand saw, so this is gonna be fun.



Regards,
           Richard
... IF laughter is the best medicine let's take a double dose!
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+