The Good, The Bad and The Evil?

It's been quite a week! Words are starting to have meaning to Toad. We are finding peace and our rhythm. He is more able to settle down, the pacing is slowing. He continues to learn and make progress in his training. We've made progress with the dremel. He's behaving nicely with Delilah and Cocoa.

The Good; 
He's learned sit/down/shake hands and is working on roll over.

Making a bowl of oatmeal is no longer an Olympic event. A short week ago it was a pushing match and patience finisher. Open the cupboard to take out the oatmeal (and then put it away), the drawer with the measuring cups, the other cupboard with the pot (open/close), the fridge for the milk (and then to put away) ... then the actual eating. He is catching onto "back up" and  can "sit" while I open/close a door. He no longer accosts me at the table, and offers sits and downs. We've come a long way!

The Bad:
Mid week, mid breakdown, I didn't think I was ever going to get the "no marking in the house" point across. I even resorted to keeping score, as a way to monitor my patience, and progress. Suffice to say I had neither. We truly were making zero progress. I was getting frustrated, he was getting hurt feelings. I had exhausted all my normal methods. I was taking the clicker and treats outside. It wasn't changing anything. Marking and peeing are not the same thing, the drivers to the behavior are different. When you literally have 10 opportunities to correct/reward in an hour, you'd think the sheer repetition would start to sink in.

It wasn't.

The Evil?
Remembering that if the dog isn't learning, I need to adjust my teaching, I sat down (Toad crated) and worked out a plan. First, using the crate when I couldn't watch him. It not only gives me a break, but him too. Second, I decided to get out my shock collar. Gasp! I know. Let me go on record with a few things to consider. One, I do not condone the shock collar to be used in frustration or to teach a "lesson". Two; if you cannot consistently use it, do not use it at all. Three; invest in a great collar, mine has 127 adjustment levels to ensure the dog get's the lowest shock possible.

I start at level 2 and work my way up to the point that I get a minimal reaction from the dog. A simple "what was that" is all the reaction I am looking for. Bosun works extremely well on vibrate only. A husky pup with a bad habit of jumping needed 12. Toad takes a level 35. I have tried four times to dial it down and have zero reaction/no training benefit.

So, Toad, a shock collar, with a "Hey!" every time he lifts his leg and presto; his marking significantly reduced. Throwing the party/attention outside is increasing his desire to go out. You cannot take away a behavior without replacing it. So it's not enough to stop the behavior, you must teach what you want in place of it, in this case; I want it outside. Tomorrow I start adding the verbal cues "no peeing" (so we can ween off the collar)

There is a time and place for every training tool. While I never thought I'd be using it for male marking, here I am. It's clear, consistent and humane. I use the collar situation-ally. I don't start with it, but in the same breath, I don't hesitate to use it. Would I put it on myself and hit level 35 correction? Nope! Why? Because I'd work the collar the exact same way on myself, start at level 2 and work up... the moment I felt something, that would be my number.

These collars get a bad rap. Perhaps because they are used wrong, fitted wrong, or the people operating the button don't understand the theory. I had a person ask if they could borrow my collar, when I asked the purpose, I understood they wanted to "really create an aversion to the road". They wanted to turn it up, zap the crap out of their dog and thereby "train" it to not go on the road. It doesn't work that way. He was leaving the other half of the training out; what do you want them to do instead. Where's the training? The poor dog would have been left to read the owners mind. The line wouldn't have been clear, one time a zap for being 2' from the road another time the dog would be on the road and getting a "correction".

At the end of the day, Toad is more trusting and more relaxed. The boundaries are set and clear, and dogs do well in structure. He's got 2.5 years of marking and other habits that need adjusting.

He is willing to learn, it's my job to teach.

Clinical Signs Caused by E-Collars