Remote control citronella collar help?

[puppy4ever]

As a last resort my husband bought an expensive remote control citronella collar. We still have our 1 year old on a leash outside & a pen / leash inside. Despite training with & without a pro, loads of exercise/time/praise, etc., etc. he still loves to do everything we don't want him to do when he is off leash....

Here's a partial list:
- jumping up/biting hard/growling at me
- digging up grass/rose bushes/munching on wood chips & garbage
- disobeying all commands (especially leave it, drop it, come/now/here/pronto) when loose in backyard...he just loves to grab something we don't want him to have and burn rubber around, and around, the yard with it.
- growling/barking/challenging strangers

If anyone saw the last Dog Whisperer episode my dog is almost EXACTLY like the white dog that bit the camera man. The problem with that dog according to the show was a passive mom. Leadership is something I've been working on for sometime now. Not sure what else I can do.

Anyway any suggestions on how to use this collar?

[jessi76]

Originally Posted by puppy4ever

As a last resort my husband bought an expensive remote control citronella collar. We still have our 1 year old on a leash outside & a pen / leash inside. Despite training with & without a pro, loads of exercise/time/praise, etc., etc. he still loves to do everything we don't want him to do when he is off leash....

Here's a partial list:
- jumping up/biting hard/growling at me
- digging up grass/rose bushes/munching on wood chips & garbage
- disobeying all commands (especially leave it, drop it, come/now/here/pronto) when loose in backyard...he just loves to grab something we don't want him to have and burn rubber around, and around, the yard with it.
- growling/barking/challenging strangers

If anyone saw the last Dog Whisperer episode my dog is almost EXACTLY like the white dog that bit the camera man. The problem with that dog according to the show was a passive mom. Leadership is something I've been working on for sometime now. Not sure what else I can do.

Anyway any suggestions on how to use this collar?

I don't think a special collar will solve those problems. It will not get you the leadership you need. It sounds like you have ALOT of issues with your dog, perhaps you should tackle one at a time? Frankly I'd nip the jumping/growling/biting at YOU thing first. Establish YOUR role, and then work on re-training/correcting the other problems. Some may even diminish once he learns he cannot jump/growl/bite or intimidate you in any way.

I used clicker training with my dog, and it worked wonders. If you've tried other techniques w/ no success, maybe a different training method is worth a shot.

[mastifflover]

I have heard clicker training is excellent I really do not know much about it but I have also seen dogs that are clicker trained and they are very responsive. Might be worth a try. I have used a citronella collar for an excessive barker and it worked wonders only had to use it 2 or 3 times and then I just put a weight on the collar no citronella and no barking but I cannot see it as a training aid. It was my last resort with this boy he had major seperation issues wouldn't you if you had been in 6 homes. But I would investigate the clicker method or maybe some one on one training instead of classes.

[kaytris]

Training is always a progression of difficulty - for example:
Teach sit inside on leash, with no distractions of other people/pets/toys
Proof sit - inside on leash, with one or two other people in the room
- inside on leash, with another pet and person playing a game
- inside off leash with no distractions
- outside on leash with no distractions
- outside on leash with one distraction, then two distractions
etc etc, building up to outside off leash with many distractions.

So you have reached a plateau in on-leash training - the next step is to have a drag line/check cord (a 8-10 foot or longer lightweight leash) that the dog will drag around when under supervision during training time. When he starts to misbehave, you can reel in the cord and enforce a sit or other command.

The citronella collar has a use, but I think it would be too soon to jump to that step just of yet.

[PetFriendly]

My dog is over a year old and is usually dragging a leash around in the yard (which is fenced). He has this thing with barking at people who are walking their dogs and refuses to listen to anthing if he's barking his fool head off. With a leash on, I can drag it and him back to the gate and get his mind off of who ever he's barking at.

He dragged it around in the house too for a good 6 months because he's so small, he's hard to catch if he's picked up something he shouldn't have and wants you to chase him. To fix this we started ignoring him if he picked up something he shouldn't have. When he came to taunt us with it, we'd step on the leash. He'd eventually drop what ever he had and loose interest, we'd silently pick it up and put it away (out of reach). Of course we had to re-teach him what leave it, drop it and come meant because he thought all those things meant run faster and hide under the bed (or trailer if we were outside).

If you can catch him in the act all the better, step on the leash and only use Leave it or Drop it when you can make it happen, otherwise you're leaching him that he can get away with it.

[puppy4ever]

Thanks for the tips.

He's a barker too (as I mentioned it was a partial list ) so I hope that the collar will work for that...he barks a type of demanding bark when left alone recently so that is one I'd like to stop. He also barks at people out of fear but I'm not sure if I should try the collar on that!? I'm glad to hear that the collar worked for you mastifflover!

I'm open to anything. My husband has given me a timeline of 6 more months to work with the dog...If he hasn't improved after that amount of time, we have to find him a new home (a patient person who is experienced with reservation dogs - I'm probably dreaming though). Tonight after grabbing his collar he attempted to bite me again (he now breaks the skin) and in the process of his jumping around trying to bite me, the collar got twisted up...I now have a swollen sprained finger. It's going to get worse unless I take drastic action fast.

My trainer recommended a voice clicker method that works great in my opinion. Just using a word like "yes" is easier than pulling out a clicker every time. It seems to work well inside.

Great advice kaytris. I will try to not rush it & try to go slowly . Generally he isn't distracted in the backyard as there aren't many people around. There seems to be a huge gap between him being on leash outside and off leash. If he gets loose by mistake (like tonight) he is just the worst dog. On leash he is okay. It seems he even knows that if there is a leash attached I have control and if off I have none.

Petfriendly - sounds exactly like my dog's behavour! In a way I hope that on a loose leash I can catch him acting up so I can implement what you have done. Sounds very logical. Many thanks!

[Scott_B]

you dont need to carry a clicker around with you..you already have one.... Snap your fingers