Rattle Tin warning on Dog Borstal

Can someone tell me why on the Dog Borstal programme, when they are using a rattle tin to train dogs they put up a worded warning saying not to try this without proper supervision etc...what could happen if you did try it? Thanks

Hi Lisa I haven't seen the programme so can only comment in general and this is just my opinion.

The noise aversion technique (rattling stones in a tin etc) should only be used in certain circumstances. If used incorrectly it could cause even more problems.
Also noise aversion should not be connected to the owner, remember you are the one training your dog and if you make it fearful of you, trust will be lost and training will be difficult..

Agree with Minihaha

Also if "punishment" is to be used, it should be used correctly. It's not very easy even for a professional dog trainer to time things exactly, and so much, much harder for a ordinary dog owner.

Example; in the first series of DB, the female trainer was using the rattle bottle and she was often too late with it, so the dog concerned, a staffie in the instance I'm thinking of, was actually punished for when she was doing the right thing some of the time, and the wrong thing for some of the time. The owners were also praised for using the bottle wrongly. It's amazing the poor animal learnt anything at all (IMO she didn't but anyway.... ).

I should point out that I personally don't agree with them.

Oh - a short answer to your question is that the person with the rattle bottle could get bitten - as happened to one owner after watching the programme.

Thanks makes sense now

I used a rattle bottle to teach my dogs to leave & it worked great (no probs) & I know someone who used it to teach their dogs not to jump up at people & found it a great success.

I suppose it depends on the temprement/personality of your dog & your accuracy with regards to timing, which is why I suppose there is a warning as if your dog has an iffy temprement or is overly shy/timid already you could make things worse, eg an aggresive dog may attack a shy timid dog could become more so & fearful of you (which in some instances I suppose can also lead to fear aggression).

Yeah Ive been watching the rattling bottle technique on dog borstal. The guy on there said the rattling noise is used when the owner tells the dog a command and the dog ignores the owner. The owner then rattles the stones in the bottle and the sound of it distracts the dog and the owner immediatly says the command again.

Not to mention the small matter of the "compensation culture", where Joe Average is starting to sue for the smallest things.

You'll notice that even adverts now are showing the most ridiculous of messages and warnings. I saw a car one the other night with banal messages of "stunt drivers used.." and "filmed on a closed road...".

Personally, I'd rather they credit me with a little more IQ than that of your average bath-sponge.

Used as used on DB, the rattle bottle provides more of a threat than a distraction. Dog does something wrong and is 'threatened' by the bottle that makes a strange noise.

I've seen the repercussions of the technique used with dogs that can't cope with this type of 'threat' including when it was used with a Weimie of the same age and temperament as the one it was used on on one of the programmes. Difference was, this dog chose not to accept the 'threat' so bit the person who was threatening.

I've seen someone bitten placing a leash onto their dog. Should we now have "WARNING: Applying a leash can be dangerous and should be carried out only by trained professionals.". It all gets a little silly when you try to cater for every eventuality in each dog's character.

Name your method and tool, and I'll happily bet that you can find at least one worst-case scenario to match it.

Good point GSL