Do high drive dogs NEED aversive corrections? #dogtraining #dogtrainer
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Do “high drive” dogs require aversive corrections? Are they a special case?
They might be easy to train because they are smart but they require lots of time and energy which so many dog owners don’t seem to have/ care about.
Is exercise BAD?? Video here: https://youtu.be/P5YX8BjzUvE
Thank you for addressing this! It makes me so mad that people assume certain breeds can only be handled with aversive methods.
So true! One of the most tragic things about how people view training dogs is that the more energetic and excited they are, the more force they need to be met with when training when the opposite is true.
Nope, it actually makes them easier to train. Find what makes them tick and use that. Spend one or two 10-15 minute sessions of brain training a day along with your walk
My dog has really high drive in terms of prey and pulling to other dogs on walks. Ive had him for just 2 years now and He is really good with distractions like people but animals take all his focus and he will try to pull hard to them. since I am not very strong and he is a larger hound I use a halti and a martingale. Don’t know if those are aversives, I don’t yank him to make him stop but I can say for certain I wouldn’t be confident walking him without them as he is very strong and has dragged me down before.
I know what you mean. I rescued a GSD who couldn’t resist going after squirrels. After the first time that I landed flat on the ground I bought a Halti. I prefer a Gentle Leader which came out after the Halti (I think). Nowadays I use a front attachment harness on my well behaved collies
If you’ve desensitized him to the Halti, then, no, it isn’t aversive. When I was working with rescue Danes and Wolfhounds who’d never been on a leash, I used a Gentle Leader all the time. I just desensitized the dog to it first.
I have had more border collies than any other breed. Are they high drive? Collies are so easy. I need a dog who is easy to train with gentle methods because I had polio when I was a baby.
E collars strengthen the communication between dogs and owners.
@Jan Hankins E-collars aren’t cruel, in my opinion. If used correctly of course. The have tone and vibrate function, and even the electric setting isn’t painful or even uncomfortable unless you crank it up to very high levels. I tried it on myself, I had to dial it up to 20 before I felt anything, and that was literally a slight tickle, no spasming or pain at all. Getting shocked by your car door is 1000 times worse.
@Pumpkinhead85 wear an ecollar and give it to your SO for a day. Every time you do something they don’t like, they gets to zap you. Keep it at a 5 or even a tone or vibrate. Tell me how you feel about your SO after 24 hours.
@Pumpkinhead85 You have a right to your opinion. In my opinion, the use of e collars is cruel and I’ll have no part of it. How can you be sure your dog perceives the e-collar the same way you do and how can you be sure it doesn’t hurt your dog? He can’t tell you. I won’t take that chance with my dogs. I value my relationship with them too much.
@Jan Hankins That’s fair. I felt the same way about it for the longest time. I only decided to try the collar after my dog ran out and got close to getting run over as we live two blocks from a highway. Totally my own fault of course, but I couldn’t risk it happening again. I did end up changing my mind on e-collars only after working with one first hand. So I definitely understand your point of view.
@R C Well see, this is why I said they are fine, IF used correctly. You do not “zap” your dog every time he does something wrong. You also do not use the e-collar for punishment. Those are misconceptions/misuse of the collar.
The best agility dogs (and likely dogs that excel at other canine sports like frisbee, dock diving, and fly ball) are high-drive dogs. I’ve never seen anyone any of these sports using anything other than positive reinforcement. Dogs that are not high drive enough “flunk out” of scent work (drug detection dogs, explosive detection dogs, etc.). These extremely high drive dogs are all trained with positive reinforcement. No, high drive dogs don’t NEED aversive training. They do just fine with positive training methods (watch good agility dogs work and watch scent detection dogs work). And I was always told “you work with Great Danes and Irish Wolfhounds. Those huge dogs NEED aversive training. You can’t teach them using positive reinforcement–they won’t “respect” you and won’t listen to you.” Well, happily, I didn’t listen to those comments and I found the huge dogs responded quite well to positive reinforcement.
I suggest aversive training for high-stupidity dog owners.
E collars strengthen the communication with your dog from far away. The noise function is the same as clicker positive training. You people are weird.
Agreed. My dog knows when he hears the beep, to come and pick up a treat from me. And I don’t have to worry about him not hearing me calling him when we’re at the beach and it’s windy or he’s further away.
I love my high drive troublemaker but staying calm when we are not interacting with her is very hard for her but oh boy does she learn quick when we do give her attention! Her being a VERY food motivated lab mix does also help 😂