Baderpadordercollie

My personal experience: as a young pup, I crated my dog when I couldn't supervise her. To me, the risk of her chewing/eating something dangerous was one I just wasn't willing to take. It had nothing to do with convenience; it was about safety. And on top of that, she learned to okay with the crate at a young age. I already knew (based on her behavior when she WAS supervised) that my puppy would chew and eat things if I left her by herself uncrated. I never had any desire to put that theory to the test, and, understandably, neither do a lot of people. I don't see what "allowing her to make mistakes" would have taught her, other than "it's okay to chew on things when the hoomans aren't around." The saying "prevention is the best cure" exists for a reason. Now that she's older, she's never crated in the house. At some point during the baby-chicken-and-turkey-chicks-season last year, her crate got taken out and used during the usual craziness of "holy crap they're growing so fast, we need all the crates we can get." And I never brought it back inside because A. I know it's " somewhere in the garage" but my lazy self hasn't gone and looked for it and B. I've no use for it 99% of the time. But when she was a puppy, I wouldn't have dreamed of leaving her alone without it. Just too much of a risk to me. Nonetheless, I keep meaning to dig it out and do some training with it because I don't want her to get un-crate-trained. As mentioned before, it's a valuable life skill, and one I want her to keep.

I don't think there's one best treat, but generally cooked meat. If your dog refuses to take food, it would be wise to take a step back and consider why that is before continuing. https://thecognitivecanine.com/blog/dogs-gotta-eat/ https://awesomedogs.blog/2018/06/04/best-treat-value/

Literally the only thing that works for fleas for my dog is the oral stuff. Tried feeding garlic, using DE, that Wondercide stuff everybody seems to like, and a whole host of other things, but for her, this is the only thing that works. I think the natural stuff is great though if you live in an area where it works for you and I'd never discourage anyone from giving it a try, especially since much of it is fairly inexpensive. Except the Wondercide. That stuff ain't cheap.

The thing about raw bones is you can't exactly leave them lying around the house for them to chew whenever they like... I used to let mine have elk antlers, but then I heard they are notorious for cracking dog's teeth. Nylabones are either safe and healthy or the devil himself depending on who you talk to. I think raw bones are great as an outside/supervised thing but as far as chews to have in the house, I'm out of ideas.

I kind of wish my Bree would have asymmetrical ears; I LOVE when they have one up and one down. She has "helicopter" ears I suppose, and I admit I love her ears the way they are now despite initially wanting half prick or asymmetrical ears.

I'll add though that some days we do absolutely nothing. If I've got a lot on my plate that day she just follows me around while I do stuff or sleeps and that's it; no walk, no training, just going out to potty. And she doesn't go nuts. She's fine with "do nothing" days as long as the "do stuff" days happen more often in general. BCs can absolutely have a some days each week that are boring days and be fine with that as long as they are included in your life and get to hang out with you.

Every day is different. I'm in college, so I'll give you a typical school day. First class is at 8:00 AM so it's basically just up, outside to potty, hang out a bit and then I hand her her breakfast that I froze in her kong the night before and goodbye. I managed to get all my classes scheduled back to back (smug smile) so I get back around 2:00. About 45 minutes to 1 hour off leash walk, I typically stop somewhere along the walk and throw the frisbee a bit. Rest of the day hanging out with me, following me around, lying on top of my books while I'm trying to study, and just generally hanging out and being with me. At dinner time I'll often do trick training and/or chuck pieces of kibble in random different directions. Ohmygod does she love that. she goes nuts scrabbling after the food, LOL. Rest of the evening just hanging out with me usually.

You might find this helpful. https://nancytanner.com/2016/04/20/the-female-canine-reproductive-cycle/

Even though I am a "millennial" and supposed to be good with computers, I can often be observed having very long and one-sided arguments with my computer, and it usually wins.

How do you know this? Is this what they told you? If so, why would you believe them over what's on the news? This also doesn't explain why the dog was kept in a trashbag in the trainer's home and they refused to give the dog back to the owner.

@Donald McCaig It was cited more than once in the aforementioned thread. @CptJack Yes exactly.

There's nothing wrong with playing a reasonable amount of fetch with your dog, and there's no reason why she should become obsessed with it as long as you have some common sense about it. Don't leave balls lying around the house, and when you put the ball away, don't take it back out and start playing again, make it clear that when the ball gets put away the game is over. I throw frisbees for my dog regularly and she has never pestered me for more fetch or become obsessed with it. She knows that when the frisbee gets put away, it's time to go and do other things.

I don't think it was just the collar most people were objecting to. People were objecting to you going to Offleash K9 Training with your dog, because they are known for cruelty and killed a dog recently.

@Smalahundur I can give you all the information in the world about how and why this type of training works and why using physical corrections and intimidation are harmful to dogs, but it would be a waste of my time as you clearly are not open to learning. Everything you could ever want to know is out there for all to read, I'm not going to spoon feed it to you, nor will I be baited into an argument.

@Smalahundur I think if you read the article I posted above, you will find that "positive reinforcement based training is permissive" is addressed there, and more thoroughly than I have time to do at the moment.

Jami74, I absolutely agree that when the person starts to get really frustrated, put the dog away, think about it, and try again later. When I get frustrated, that's when I make mistskes, plus I'm not thinking clearly so I'm not going to accomplish anything. Sometimes I just have to say, okay, we're done for now.

My thoughts exactly. If anyone who was interested in the article happens to be sick in bed or has an inclination to spend their weekend reading, there is a whole page full of articles by the same author that go into more depth about different aspects of R+ training which I found one day and could not stop clicking and reading. It's a very interesting subject. https://eileenanddogs.com/common-misconceptions-positive-reinforcement/

@Journey The idea that dogs are turned into shelters because of R+/force free training is a myth. It stems from the fact that dog training is an unregulated business. There is no education required to be a dog trainer. So naturally, on both the "balanced" side and the R+ side you will find uneducated people who haven't a clue what they're doing giving people bad advice. I can find you hundreds of examples of incompetent balanced trainers who have majorly screwed up dogs. And you would say that's not a fair representation of balanced training. Just the same, I will say that if a dog is screwed up by R+ training, the trainer is incompetent, and therefore that is not a fair example of R+ training. Because others have said it before me and said it better, I like to offer reading material. I know full well that 99% of the time people won't bother with it, but I like to offer it anyway in case someone is interested in learning more. https://eileenanddogs.com/2015/05/05/myths-about-positive-reinforcement-based-training/

Sahani, Wow. Each of your responses is like an essay. This is not a criticism; I just genuinely find it a bit amazing. I tend to be wordy, but wow. You must either be a fast writer or put a lot of time into typing your responses. I do think that sometimes, some of the people of this board can be close minded about certain things. I won't deny that. But I do not think they are being so here. I believe that the initial responses were simply trying to gain more information about you as a breeder. Remember that no one here knows anything about you. I think you are assuming a condescending and snarky tone behind their writing that is not there.

Assuming they are well educated and actually qualified to work with dogs, consulting a behaviorist is the most helpful thing IMO and I'm glad you are able to do so. Best of luck.

Same.

Agree. Reacting by slapping or other kinds of physical punishment could make it worse, or maybe it would work, but do you really want to risk making the problem worse? Also, if your goal is to have your dog view you as a safe person to be around and someone they can trust, slapping them upside the head and the like would be very counterproductive to this. How much time do you spend with your dog? Is it possible he's not getting enough attention from you, or maybe he hasn't enough to do during the day and is bored?

I suppose nothing in life is black and white. I think when it comes to dogs and dog ownership, the #1 answer will always be "it depends."

Same.

This is what I was thinking. I would not buy a dog from any place such as the one described, unless my intention was to rescue a puppy from bad conditions or something. (Which I wouldn't do either, but I can appreciate the good intentions behind it.)