Charlie's Thread

[HuffleClaw]

This morning I gave him the frozen treat… it took him about 15 minutes to finish it. Then, since he still needs a balanced breakfast, we played tug of war and practiced his “stay” skills. His kibble was used as “rewards”. He did very well, and I didn’t get that feeling that he didn’t want to participate like I usually do. I took an energetic approach and made everything seem like fun. It was a little cold outside so we stopped after about 20 minutes lol. I’ll exercise with him more this afternoon and hopefully we can go on a run together. While we were practicing “stay” I got a few pictures of that handsome little dude

And this was the frozen part of his breakfast lol

 

[lomine]

I'm so sorry you're having problems with him! He definitely needs some correction.
By giving him treats to "distract" him, you are just rewarding the behavior. He's learned that when he misbehaves he can get treats.
Don't give him any more treats when he does that sort of thing. He has you trained to give him what he wants when he misbehaves.
I would highly suggest a shock collar. I have never used one before just recently but it has fixed some long time problems in literally one session. If you just nick them with it and firmly give the command again you'll get instant results. For example, when he wouldn't go in his crate, you could have commanded "kennel" again very firmly while nicking him at the same time. If he still doesn't go in you can turn the power up a bit.
I think it would help fix a lot of his issues, to be completely honest.
I know some people will say it's cruel but it is not if you do it correctly.
It's certainly a much better option than him having to be put down.
I was amazed at just how well it worked. I've fully trained my dog, helped train our older dog, and re-trained a friend's dog. He was in the same situation as you. He decided to just re-home his dog because he was having so many problems with him. I worked with him every day for three weeks and his owner was so happy. I told him how to fix the issues the dog was having with him specifically too.
He decided to keep the dog since he was so much better and he's such a sweet boy now.
I hope either way that you can re-train him and don't have to give him up. He's so lucky you took him in in the first place. I wish you the best of luck with him and let us know how it goes!

With all due respect, I don't believe a shock collar would be a good tool to use with a fear-based aggressive dog. OP needs to build his confidence and trust, not force him into submission. I personally would never use a shock collar, but I'm also not the type of person who says they should never be used. I think they can be a good tool if used correctly in the right situations, with the right dog.

The crate should be seen by the dog as a safe and comfortable space, never as a punishment. Shocking the dog and then forcing him into the crate would create a negative association with the crate. OP is better off tossing a chew treat in the crate and waiting for the dog to go in on his own. It would take more time and patience but it's better in the long run.

Also, using distraction tactics to redirect a dog from unwanted behavior is a pretty typical training method. If OP calls the dog over to stop him from barking, OP isn't rewarding the barking; they are rewarding the recall. I think it's something like 3 seconds between behavior and reward for a connection to form,

 

[lomine]

This morning I gave him the frozen treat… it took him about 15 minutes to finish it. Then, since he still needs a balanced breakfast, we played tug of war and practiced his “stay” skills. His kibble was used as “rewards”. He did very well, and I didn’t get that feeling that he didn’t want to participate like I usually do. I took an energetic approach and made everything seem like fun. It was a little cold outside so we stopped after about 20 minutes lol. I’ll exercise with him more this afternoon and hopefully we can go on a run together. While we were practicing “stay” I got a few pictures of that handsome little dude View attachment 2959100View attachment 2959103View attachment 2959105

And this was the frozen part of his breakfast lol
View attachment 2959102

He's a handsome boy.

I've got a 60 lb Pittie mix so I know what you mean about them going through chew treats quickly. He gets lots of different types of treats but most only last a minute or so. Some of my dog's long-lasting chew treats are bully sticks, faux rawhide (real rawhide is bad/dangerous), marrow bones, beef kneecaps, beef back bones, and bison ribs. All bones are raw and frozen. Being frozen adds a few more minutes of chew time. (Don't give any cooked or smoked bones to dogs.) The longest lasting is the 6 in marrow bones because he really has to work to get the marrow out of the very middle of the bone. Those will usually buy me a few hours of uninterrupted work time. He will also gnaw on the bone after all the marrow is gone.

 

[HuffleClaw]

I figured out that he doesn’t like to have to practice things over and over again. I recall him at random and he’ll come. But if I recall him when he’s distracted, he either: A.) Comes to me and then runs right back to doing what he was doing or B.) Does not come at all.

I am trying to improve recall, but when he doesn’t enjoy participating then what’s the point… it’s somewhat of a dead end. I have tried making it fun (toys, treats, etc) but he’ll bite at his toy and then run back to the distraction or take the treat and go quickly. He’s a very “impatient” dog lol. When he was 7 months old, I began using an E-Collar for recall since I tried what seemed like all the other methods, and if he ever makes it into my neighbors yard, their dogs will kill him, so for his safety I had to do something quick. It’s always on the lowest setting and is more of a vibration than a shock. It works well most of the time. But weaning him off of it is sooo hard. A quick fix that isn’t so quick now. Which leads me to the recall issue I’m having now. I want to stop using the e-collar completely, I don’t want to have to rely on it all of the time. Today we went for a nice long walk and I had to use the collar 5 or 6 times. Ugh. A few steps back… but no aggression shown today. When he started to become uncomfortable with me trying to keep up with him, we walked back to the house and stopped for now. So I’m learning to give him breaks from me when needed.

 

[lomine]

I would not use your recall word unless you are certain he will come. Otherwise, he'll learn he has the option to listen or not. That really goes for any command. If they don't listen the first time, don't keep repeating the command. You may need to put him on a long line outside until you feel more confident in his recall.

He looks like he might be part Border Collie. They are an extremely intelligent breed and do best when they have a job. It could be anything really, just something he needs to use his brain to complete. It would also explain why he gets bored repeating the same tasks over and over. Have you thought about agility training? It would also help him gain confidence.

 

[HuffleClaw]

I would not use your recall word unless you are certain he will come. Otherwise, he'll learn he has the option to listen or not. That really goes for any command. If they don't listen the first time, don't keep repeating the command. You may need to put him on a long line outside until you feel more confident in his recall.

He looks like he might be part Border Collie. They are an extremely intelligent breed and do best when they have a job. It could be anything really, just something he needs to use his brain to complete. It would also explain why he gets bored repeating the same tasks over and over. Have you thought about agility training? It would also help him gain confidence.

He herds my ducks into their pen for me actually! I’m letting my ducks get used to their new pen before he is able to do it again. But he loooves doing that. I don’t know if there is anywhere local for agility training but I bet it would be loads of fun.

 

[HuffleClaw]

So a long line is just a really long leash? How do I recall him if he can still travel pretty far? Or is it just to ensure he doesn’t run off?

 

[HuffleClaw]

I made another oops… I let out the ducks. I didn’t give him the command to “put the ducks up”, because I knew he wouldn’t know how to do it yet with their new pen. Well, I started to guide the ducks up, and Charlie lunges at my 9 precious call ducks. One takes off to the neighbors house (keep in mind had their dogs seen it, it would’ve been a dead duck). In both frustration and worry, I yelled at Charlie to leave it alone, and he cowered down in front of me. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach and I sat on the ground and had a good cry. Charlie was just barely wagging his tail, and licking me. I’m part of the problem. It’s my fault he can’t gain confidence. He was just trying to help. I seriously need to put him in his crate while I do things like this. Trying to fix our relationship is so hard…

 

[StinkyAcres]

Fellow scaredy-rescue-dog owner here. Just wanted to say that I feel you. I think this thread will help both of us.

 

[HuffleClaw]

Fellow scaredy-rescue-dog owner here. Just wanted to say that I feel you. I think this thread will help both of us.

Feel free to share any stories or things that seem to make it easier for you, and I’ll do the same. We’ve got this