How and when do you correct your dog?

I noticed a couple of CM threads have reared their heads today (and it's been so peaceful lately! ). So I thought it would be interesting to see exactly how people train their dogs. I mean behaviourally rather than teaching tricks/agility etc.

I was wondering:
How do you correct your dog on lead?
How do you correct your dog off lead?
What's your favourtie method to stop pulling on a lead?
What would you do if your dog showed aggression to another dog?
When should a dog be corrected (i.e. when it's barking, if it jumps up etc?)?
What do you have to correct your own dog for (i.e. for getting on the furniture, stealing food, barking in the house etc)?

I know it's not my place to put conditions on a thread, but it would be nice if people could put down what they do and not criticise what others do

Thanks guys, I'm really interested to learn what others do

I believe a very 'broad' principle is to ignore the bad & praise the good. If you reward your dog for something you don't want, they learn quickly to do the unwanted, then stop & get rewarded for stopping. If my dogs are barking in the garden, I call them in but they do not get a treat (they are ever hopeful!) If however they are outside & I call them in, they sometimes get a sweetie. I do not often 'correct' them, or at least I try not to!
Katia

I totally agree. Use the same method with my kids and it seems to work. I find if I really make a fuss at "good" behaviour and just ignore "bad" (or with the kids give a disapproving look) they tend to get the message.

A couple of mine yap when on leads, if they see other dogs. I stop them and pull their lead short and tell them "no" and don't walk on until they are controlled.

I do raise my voice occasionally at my Chis but as for physical correction - never!

My dogs have never actually been "trained" into doing anything, but perhaps that just a gsd thing, that they know what is right and wrong by my body language, my voice when they've been bad, etc. etc. but here goes!

How do you correct your dog on lead?

Can't really answer that coz mine have rarely been on them, and when they have, they've always behaved, and I never really trained them either. I would always opt for my voice though, rather than lead aggression on them.

How do you correct your dog off lead?gsd's never go far from you anyway, and it would only take a wait for them to stop if they're up to no good. If they've been really BAD and run off or something, then they would get thrown in the car and brought back home, after a very stiff talking to of course!

What's your favourtie method to stop pulling on a lead?
Get the help of some proper equipment to start with. I would never resort to yanking them back and saying "close" or whatever! Plus I'd use my voice everytime, AND, I will add here, that when my dog IS on a lead and is doing just everything I could ask, I am constantly telling him what a good boy he is too!


What would you do if your dog showed aggression to another dog?

With my dog aggressive dog I just accepted it - she did NOT like other dogs end of. With Georgie when I first got him and he did this, I was kind of at a loss to come to terms with it because apart from my one definite, all my others never showed aggression. The very first thing I did was sit him down and say "no" in my usual sharp loud tone, or say his name loudly and sternly whilst he was sitting. I can't walk away because I'm worried he could slip his collar the force with which he sometimes wanted to get to the other dog, so when that didn't work, I tried the opposite approach of getting down next to him, holding his head to get his attention and then say my "no" and his name in a short, sharp tone. That one works better, and then when I've got his utmost attention, I can then turn him away and shove his ball in his mouth, hold the rope of the ball and get his attention on ME instead of other dog.

When should a dog be corrected (i.e. when it's barking, if it jumps up etc?)?

I never stop my dogs barking, they only bark when there's somebody actually there, BUT, if it goes on a bit more than say 5/6 barks, I then call out the window for them to stop, when I usually say "oi" or his name, or "stop it" and they always do and have before with all my others.

Barking when out, well I dealt with that one above, coz sometimes my current dog will do this to another dog, very rarely, but he will do it!

Jumping up is something I have always taught all of my dogs never to do, it's my big bug bear with big dogs, and little ones come to that, all dogs in fact! Lol! I think my worst case for this was my last dog Cassie, and I remember I used to fold my arms and look up into the sky or turn around when she did it. If ever she jumped up and caught me unawares, it would always be a very loud, sharp and definite "no" (definite, because I MEANT it, not because it was part of her training and it's what you do sort of thing if you catch my drift )

What do you have to correct your own dog for (i.e. for getting on the furniture, stealing food, barking in the house etc)?

Nothing much. I could leave a whole cooked chicken on the worktop fresh out the oven and none of my dogs would have touched it, even dustbin Georgie I've got now. I can put my dinner down on the coffee table, walk away to the kitchen with him lying on the floor next to it, say "leave" and he wouldn't dare touch it either! I could do this with all of my dogs though, again, maybe it's just a gsd thing?!

If any of my dogs have jumped onto the furniture and I didn't want them on it, then a quick loud "off" would always work for me, they never answered back either!

I haven't looked at any of the CM threads quite honestly, but does it look like I adhere to him, coz I quite liked what I saw on the telly once when he took a reporter into his wolf den with him, but then I never studied how he trains or anything?

I was wondering:
How do you correct your dog on lead?

For pulling - change direction. For messing about, voice
How do you correct your dog off lead?
For what? I reinforce their recall a lot - treat when they come back. If they`re about to roll in cowpoo I`ll bellow OI! which distracts them usually
What's your favourtie method to stop pulling on a lead?
For pulling - change direction.

What would you do if your dog showed aggression to another dog?
recall / get focus back on me then reward when ignoring other dog.
When should a dog be corrected (i.e. when it's barking, if it jumps up etc?)?
only if you`ve taught the dog not to do something and you are absolutely positive he`s ignoring you. As a rule prevention is better. I`d train a dog to go to his bed rather than tell him off for jumping on visitors.
What do you have to correct your own dog for (i.e. for getting on the furniture, stealing food, barking in the house etc)?
If my dog is exhibiting unwanted behaviour it`s my fault. I would look at retraining or prevention.
I know it's not my place to put conditions on a thread, but it would be nice if people could put down what they do and not criticise what others do


fair enough. I would also say that the above is in ideal conditions and I`m as prone as the next woman to screaming B**T**RD when one of the little dears has buried one of my new shoes in the garden

I would say yes, because you sound like you are calm and assertive with your dogs. You praise them for doing good and when you tell them no you really mean it

Thanks for the detailed response Helena, it's really interesting

I would say yes. What I always take from his approach is that it's all about being a strong but fair leader. If you're confident and get the voice and body language right the dog just does as it's told without any bribary or ignoring. I don't often get it right, but when I do I find it really does work. I find play, games, rewarding and ignoring easier as I'm not really the bossy type and secretly prefer to be pals with my dog. And maybe that's best with some breeds. We chose a breed that's got a reputation for being difficult and we get along just fine. She won't win any obedience competitions but she's as good as gold in every day life, and doesn't give us any problems if we use our common sense and think for her in tricky situations.

I use a lot of rewards and ignoring. But in itself it's not enough for my dog. Whilst I notice that some breeds/dogs automatically progress from learning the 'trick' or 'command' to doing it every time, mine doesn't. Her progression goes something like...

1. Learn the trick and get the treat.
2. Figure out how to get the treat without doing the trick.
3. Get bored with the trick and start teaching the daft human a new one.

Rewarding and ignoring is very helpful, but if my dog is only doing something because she wants a reward or doesn't want to be ignored then I'll have no control in a pressure situation. Now a lot of the time the approach will condition a dog to do the right thing in all situations. But not always with my dog!

My dog is really very easy and good - not through training, but rather through our relationship (and the fact that she's naturally very good). Her only problem is her tracking instinct - and it's not that bad. It just makes her unpredictable. In my experience NOTHING will snap her out of it when her nose goes down. Rewards, ignoring, being assertive all falls on deaf ears. Part of the solution is to avoid situations where I know she'll be tempted to follow a scent. Another part is to find games to condition her to associate the excitement of a scent with running to me - we have some success with this and she's still only a year old so it's early days. Authority, rewards or punishments are completely ineffective in this situation.

One thing that I've noticed with rewards based training is that my dog isn't always learning what I think I'm teaching her. Consider the 'come' command for example. Up until about 5 months old she was 100% reliable. Then it started to go wrong. At first I thought she was being defiant. Then I realised that to her 'come' meant run to the most exciting thing you see. At 5 months old other things started to get more exciting than me....but in her mind she was still doing as she was told.

Loud noises, prods, taps with the foot, water pistol are all good methods of getting her attention if used sparingly, but she'll quickly learn to ignore these things.

So a combination of CM approaches, rewards based and 'natural dog training' ideas. But as I said, we've got a VERY good little dog. It'll be interesting to see if her baby brother is going to turn out the same - maybe it is down to our handling

One point to consider is that no approach is good if the owner isn't comfortable with it. So it's not just about what works best for the dog, but also about what fits best with the owners personality.

Ok....here goes...
Lead...often until dogs are taught to walk nicely they are on an easy walk or sensible harness....I take the stance that until I have put the time into the teaching the dog cannot be expected to walk nicely so I need to stop the pulling - these harnesses have never failed me.

Off lead....if I cannot trust the dog off lead it doesn;t go off lead!

Lead pulling....(as above) and using the watch and touch exercises to keep the dog focused on me

With my own dog and her aggression issues I used to play tug with her till the dog had passed - we then got her to sit for longer periods of time.....

Correction is verbal if the dog jumps on the side or steals...(I growl or a loud OFF or LEAVE) works well. Jumping up me is ignored

Correcting my own dogs.....

err..now they are grown there isn;t anything that regularly needs correcting.....I did a demo yesterday and becasue I know Siren and Trip can jump I stood on the lead (pre-emtive strike - they couldn't jump and I didn't have to get cross.) They are allowed on furniture - they don;t steal and only every bark once or twice if someone is at the door or going down the lane....
I have 2 visitors here at the moment as well....they don;t really need correcting either.....

Maybe I am more lenient than many people....the lab was jumping up trying to get attention this morning but I ignored her and she stopped...

Does that help?

How do you correct your dog on lead?

Both my dogs are very good on the leads almost all of the time and walk nicely beside me, like they have been taught with rewarding behaviour from me - my voice and treats as praise.

Very occasionally (no idea why) Molly has a couple of barks at another dog who is on a lead. The dogs she would do this to would be dogs who are being held very tightly on the lead by their owners and thus displaying tense behaviour on both the owners and dogs part. I think she senses the tension.. Somtimes the dogs she is barking at are barking at her or pulling on their leads. This happens very rarely, but what I would do is stop dead, put her in a down or sit and get her too "look" at me, when she has done this and is quiet, she gets plenty of praise from me and a treat. Depeds on how much she barked. If it was just a small bark or two a "walk on" from me would be enough to shut her up! She doesn't bark at other dogs if she's off lead.

Molly dislikes the Shar Pei that lives a few streets away and we very rarely see it. When I do, it's always on it's lead and being tightly held back from my dogs, which is the dog that Molly will bark at on a lead! If I see the dog on time I can almost always stop her from uttering a sound. We have never met this dog at the park and it doesn't seem to get off lead, she they haven't had a chance to say their "hellos".

I hate lead yanking and would try and avoid it at all costs. I would rather my dogs respond to my tone of voice and treats as a reward system that they see as a good thing.

If I had to use things like a Halti or a Canny Collar, I would try them.

How do you correct your dog off lead?

Again, never really have to. I would use my tone of voice and call them back to me, then they would get praise or treats for coming back to me when I want them to.

What's your favourtie method to stop pulling on a lead?

Molly has never really pulled on the lead. From the very start, I have taught her that I want her to walk beside me on lead using my tone of voice and treats as praise. If she did pull slightly when she was a puppy, I would stop dead and sometime turn back, but she was a very good puppy and was happy to walk beside me. When she made eye contact with me, she would get loads of praise as that would indicate that she was looking to me for guidance, which she got. It's still the same now.

Roxy pulled slightly on the lead when we got her at 5 years old, but then she had probably had very little in the way of training so it was back to basics for her. Again, like Molly, I gave her plenty of praise and treats when she was walking beside me and making eye contact with me. If she went ahead of me a bit, I would stop, call her back, praise her and carry on walking while trying to keep eye contact with her at the same time.

This works for my two as they walk lovely on lead together.

What would you do if your dog showed aggression to another dog?

Roxy doesn't know what aggression is!

If they were aggressive towards another dog, I would give them a firm 'no' and them remove them from the situation. Alternatively, depending on the situation, I would give them a firm 'no', try to make eye contact with them and put them in a sit or a down, or something that would take their minds of the situation, like a trick, where they were being aggressive.

When should a dog be corrected (i.e. when it's barking, if it jumps up etc?)?

If my dogs were jumping up on people I would say "off" as they know what this means, call them to me and do a trick, or put them in a sit or down and tell them to stay.

Roxy likes to smother visitors with her affection which is lovely if your a dog person! In this case, if the person didn't like it, I would keep her beside me by holding her collar or let her sit on my knee - some of you will disagree with this but it works for me and I love her personality and affection. I would ignore Roxy while just holding her, or keeping her beside me and get the visitors to ignore her as well.

What do you have to correct your own dog for (i.e. for getting on the furniture, stealing food, barking in the house etc)?

Occasonally my two will have a bark-fest when they really push their luck! One barks, then the other barks, then one barks, and then the other and so on. Roxy's bark is more of a high pitched noise than a bark and it makes me laugh, though I know I shoudn't and I do try not to! In this case I would try everything that would get them to shut up! Like ignore them at first, put them in a down or sit, or do tricks to take their minds of the situation, or the bark-fest they were having!

They are both very good dogs and have unique personalities, so I don't have to tell them off for anything serious.

How do you correct your dog on lead?

I don't really. She doesn't really need correction. If she does something that i don't want, i ask her to do something i do want - does that count as correction? A counter comand.

How do you correct your dog off lead? Again, i don't feel the need to. She knows the work "off" but i always use it in a light tone, and i don't really use it as a correction. If there was someone sitting on a park bench and i thought Tonks might be thinking about going over to say hello (which, being ten months old, might include hopping up on the bench) i say "off" and then praise as she walks on.


What's your favourtie method to stop pulling on a lead? Standing still - we did this as a very small puppy. Now she knows what heel is i call her back to heel, she goes round the back of my legs (something she chose to do not something i taught her) and i prasie her when she is on a loose lead farely near me, i don't feel the need to have her stuck to my side. I also use a halti harness if we are going somewhere really exciting where there may be a lot of disctractions, like walking through town or at a fair or show.


What would you do if your dog showed aggression to another dog? The only thing Tonks has done is very midly tell bouncy puppies off, with just a lip curl, i just call her to me or ask her to walk on and she trots off. I believe that if you tell your dog off for aggression it adds to the tension and they are therefore likely to develop problems/issues. I also think very thourough early socialisation is vital, and i don't mean hours of boisterous play.

When should a dog be corrected (i.e. when it's barking, if it jumps up etc?)? I think this entrely up to the owner really. I like to use counter commands (e.g. ask them to do something which means they have to stop doing the thing you don't want them to do), rather than use just corrections/telling offs.

What do you have to correct your own dog for (i.e. for getting on the furniture, stealing food, barking in the house etc)? She doesn't do any of these, well she is allowed on the furniture, but if i decide i don't want her on the furniture sometime i say "off" and "in your bed"....all said nicely, and she does it.


Before we got her i read a lot about teaching self control and it worked really well for us, she is used to calming herself down if she feels excited, so she can get attention, rather than being shouted at or forced to calm down.

I also really believe in ignoring unwanted behaviour, distracting from what you can't ignore and giving clear instructions and lots of praise for what you do want. Of course as a little pup she tried barking, but it never ever got her any attention, and i mean never.The last time she tried it (probably about 5 months old) she sat infront of us on the sofa barking for about 4/5 minutes, we both folded our arms, chins raised, looked out the window and did not move at all. She worked out it wasn't getting her anywhere and as soon as she stopped, showed some self control, and lay down, she got both of our praises and attention.