It depends on the situtation, for you with Rupert, if you could manage the environment then that was a workable last resort. His "issue" didn't effect his quality of life as a whole?

For PTS, I was thinking maybe like a seriously human aggressive dog? But again it depends on the dog, and how the owner can cope.....

Too.....Many.....Variables!!!

Yes of course, that is the most important thing here


Just a little point here

Really the last resort is just the thing that works dosent have to be cruel or extream or anything - but you dont look for another training method if the one you have used works

Unfortunatly tho many people say they have tried 'everything' with their dog and are now doing something nasty as 'the last resort'
But more often than not what they mean is they have tried what has worked with a different dog, then they have tried shouting a bit, or possibly waving a treat under the dogs nose - but they have not really tried all that much

(saying MOST people, i know some people on here have really tried different thing)

Ruperts sheep chasing meant he was stuck on a leash in the garden as well as out on walks. We had sheep living in a field at the end of the street (3 houses away) and in a field opposite the houses behind us. It was manageable but it was also highly stressful as I was well aware that if management failed for whatever reason then he'd be off worrying sheep. I was even scared to have the windows open unless he was leashed or crated in case he went out of the window. It wasn't just sheep either, it was anything that wasn't human and it wasn't just chasing, he was intent on killing.

As I say, I'm not sure whether or not I would have gone through with it but him stopping chasing would have given him a far better quality of life than he had. However, given his history and the number of successful kills he'd had I was told there was practically no chance of success so I opted not to even try. If I had I would have gone into it knowing full well I was going to hurt my dog and would have felt terrible about it but if in the long run it had meant he had a better life...well, who knows whether I'd have gone through with it.

I would consider vaccination to be a medical necessity and nothing to do with training so in this instance a little discomfort is unavoidable. I don't feel my circumstances warrant having my dogs micro chipped .

I think your is an excellent example to think about

What did you do in the end up, did you just decide to keep him leashed? Did this stress him out a lot?

He ended up just staying on leash whenever out of the house. I rigged up a tie out in the garden for him so that he could go out and sunbathe on nice days without being able to get anywhere near the low fencing. He created holy hell whenever we passed the sheep though and there was literally no way to avoid them. I'd end up half carrying half dragging this screaming dog along while he fought with all his might to get loose and get at the sheep. He also became more reactive to other animals while living there so I do think there was some stress involved.

Obviously I wouldn't have chosen to live so close to sheep with a known sheep worrier but it was a case of either living there or being homeless. We managed but it was so much better when we moved.

Celt shot of to chase the sheep from the garden----but I don't think the collar would have worked so well on Rupert---different dogs, different histories, different agendas.

rune

Why not just train the dog to recall to a whistle?

Yeah, I spoke to a few trainers, just asking their opinions, and all said basically the same thing, with his history there was practically no chance.

Same as already stated. Without the presence of other dogs, recall was 100% with a whistle. The pager on the collar seemed to break through the dog's determination in a way that external signals couldn't. I should add the owners were so desperate by this stage they were considering the spray collar charged up as a last resort... But all it needed was the beep to interrupt and that paired with reinforcement was enough.