Message from discussion Muttley's First Class (double entendre acknowledged)

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From: "Paul E. Schoen" <pst...@smart.net>
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs.behavior
Subject: Muttley's First Class (double entendre acknowledged)
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 01:00:25 -0400
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Tonight I took Muttley to his first night of obedience training. I had 
thought he would do better, but the prospect of 20 or so dogs and people, 
and an array of irresistable smells, made him hard to control. After 
struggling for a while with his "choker" chain collar, we tried a "pinch" 
collar. He seemed to respond better with that, but still he was easily 
distracted. I'm sure the prongs did not really hurt him, and probably would 
do less damage than a tightly pulled choke collar, which often caused him 
to gasp as he struggled against it.

It's really his choice, after all, to struggle uncomfortably or allow me to 
follow him (mostly) where he wants to go on a loose leash. I would not want 
to cause him any extreme pain or damage, but he has a very tough muscular 
neck and a very willful disposition, and he needs to know when he needs to 
obey my commands, for his own good. It is not too much unlike Army and 
Marines boot camp, which can seem very harsh (and sometimes does exceed 
reasonable limits), but the end result is (usually) a well trained and 
effective member of a team with extraordinary capability.

I find it hard to be harsh with Muttley. When he is not distracted, he 
seems to listen well to even soft spoken commands (at times almost 
suggestions). Perhaps he does not fear me as he would someone who was a 
very strong disciplinarian, but in a way I also admire his strong spirit of 
independence, hopefully also coupled with respect and affection for me.

This evening, upon returning from the lessons, Photon jumped onto the hood 
of the car, and apparently did not see Muttley riding shotgun. He saw her, 
of course, and he tensed up and did not seem to want to leave the car 
(where usually he would crawl over me to get out). When he finally came 
out, somehow his leash became unhooked from his collar, and he ran into the 
woods where Photon had retreated only moments before. Fearing the worst, 
and hoping he would not run into the road, I called and whistled for him. 
Soon I saw him looking at something on the ground, and he came past me when 
I called, and then went up the steps on the porch. His first order of 
business was to devour what was left of Photon's food, but then he 
willingly allowed me to refasten the leash and let him in the house. After 
feeding him, I went out, called Photon to the porch, and fed and petted her 
briefly while Muttley watched.

It's hard to say what Muttley would do if Photon would allow him near 
enough for real physical interaction. I think she has enough wild smarts 
that she would play it safe and not allow that to happen. I think he would 
be OK as long as she did not run. He seems OK with smaller dogs (well, most 
dogs are smaller than he is), but I don't know if a cat invokes other 
reactions. At least it seems like Photon is doing OK now with the whole 
world outside of the house as her domain, and Muttley is King of the house 
and outside to the extent of his tether.

I will do some more work with Muttley using the small prong collar, and I 
may try a larger one which may provide better control. It may just prove 
necessary to use such a fearsome contraption on my dog because he is so 
literally and figuratively headstrong. Maybe once he gets my attention, he 
will not need such strong correction. I will certainly still make sure his 
attitude toward me is one more of respect and affection, rather than fear. 
I think his overall lack of aggressiveness, and general calmness, show that 
he is not overly stressed, but fairly well adjusted. I hope he/we can make 
good progress over the next several weeks.

Paul