Rhodesian Ridgeback Prey Drive
Tracey
I have a Rhodesian Ridgeback who is 2 years old and his prey drive is very
strong. He weighs about 10 lbs less than me, and has been seen dragging me
thru the local park after the squirrels. He actually broke his choke chain
trying to hunt. When I take him hiking (which is often) he tends to stick
near me, it's just in our local parks and walking thru my neighborhood that
he really tries to hunt. I am considering buying the prong collar for him,
and was wondering if anyone had a bad experience with it. Also, do you have
tips for keeping him in check thru the park? He has a 6' lead, which I hold
short if he is very excited and in "hunt mode". Any suggestions?
Thanks,
TJ
Helle Haugenes
wrote:
Hi Tracey,
Your post made me think of Susan Clothier's article about teaching the
dog self control:
http://www.flyingdogpress.com/selfpg.html It doesn't really give any
specific advice, but was quite an eye-opener to me when I read it, and
it has been helpful in dealing with my on-leash dog aggressive dog.
I would also look at ways to give him acceptable and interesting
activities to substitute his hunting desire. Tracking, searching etc.
type of work must be wonderful for a breed like yours. It will help
him with his self control and you both with communication and bonding.
As for using a prong or not; I would never advice anyone to use one.
However, whether you decide to get one or not, you need to teach your
dog self control (ie to not to hunt while on leash, but keep the leash
loose at all times). Nylon collar and leash are much stronger than
chain and more comfortable to wear/handle, so you may want to get one
of each. Also, an ordinary harness (tracking or skijourning(?)
harness) may give you better control, though some find that they cause
their dogs to pull more.. however, those are dogs that pull to begin
with with owners who don't do anything about it.
Hope this helps,
Helle :-)
--
God jul: http://www.idi.ntnu.no/~haugenes/julekort/
Helle Haugenes
http://www.pobox.com/~newshelle
roo
"Helle Haugenes" <news...@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:rtsm2u4jsujl514m5...@4ax.com...
Thanks, Helle, this is a very nice link, not only for Rhodesian ridgeback
owners, also for people with other breeds or mixes of pulling, lunging and
chasing dogs.
DH's Rug-handling skills leave something to be desired, as he tends to yank
the leash and shout at Rug, when Rug lunges and barks, thereby undoing my
efforts. Rug has improved over the years, but I think he'd have improved
faster if DH and I were using the same techniques! This article is excellent
for DH as it is clearly written and not very long. He will have it with his
morning papers.
I am reading Karen Pryor's 'Don't Shoot the Dog' among other books (whch DH
got me for Christmas, nice man), and I will see how far her methods can be
applied to training people. She does say they work on people too. Lugs and I
could do with a bit of help in the people training department!
Alikat
Helle Haugenes
>"Helle Haugenes" <news...@pobox.com> wrote in message
[..]
>> Your post made me think of Susan Clothier's article about teaching the
>> dog self control: http://www.flyingdogpress.com/selfpg.html
[..]
>Thanks, Helle, this is a very nice link, not only for Rhodesian ridgeback
>owners, also for people with other breeds or mixes of pulling, lunging and
>chasing dogs.
Absolutely, and for any dog owner really. We (owners) have a nasty
tendancy to physically control the dog without even thinking about it,
when all that is often needed is to teach the dog a command and be
patient. I catch myself doing it all the time.
>DH's Rug-handling skills leave something to be desired, as he tends to yank
>the leash and shout at Rug, when Rug lunges and barks, thereby undoing my
>efforts. Rug has improved over the years, but I think he'd have improved
>faster if DH and I were using the same techniques! This article is excellent
>for DH as it is clearly written and not very long. He will have it with his
>morning papers.
Let me know how DH likes the article, ok? Maybe you need to get him to
entire pamphlet :-)
>I am reading Karen Pryor's 'Don't Shoot the Dog' among other books (whch DH
>got me for Christmas, nice man), and I will see how far her methods can be
>applied to training people. She does say they work on people too. Lugs and I
>could do with a bit of help in the people training department!
I just realized that I am not practicing what I preach in the "people
training department".. when my SO does something I don't like or don't
do something I would like him to do, I scold him. He needs more
positive reinforcement .. hm.. but first I need to come up with PRs he
is willing to work for in order to get :-))
Helle
roo
Hi Helle,
I have learnt that shouting doesn't work with dogs or people, but do
sometimes forget. Praise (thanks) and back scratching seem to work with both
dogs and people.
Scolding does not work with drunken people, but they tend to fall asleep
fast, so I try to steer SO (DH) to a place of horizontal repose when he is
in this condition.
I think we Brits are bigger boozers than the Norwegians, ie go to the pub
more often. My friend in Finland says that people there drink spirits and
fall over in the street, which can be a problem when it is very cold. But
they don't drink as often as people do in Britain because alcohol is
expensive. Drinking a lot is also seen as sinful in Finland. Spanish people
drink more often than we do in Britain, but don't get as drunk, and have a
much more relaxed attitude to alcohol - Spaniards think the Brits drink to
get drunk. The intensity of drunkeness seems to be greater the further north
you go, and the feeling of sin also, whereas the frequency of drinking
sessions is greater the further south you go.
People are supposed to be capable of insight, and dogs are not supposed to
be capable of this. But insight and memory seem to be deficient in drunken
people. Methods based on operant conditioning are therefore probably more
appropriate for training drunken humans than are training methods relying on
encouraging insight.
DH is in bed with a cold, and being kept warm by the dogs. I wonder if the
ability of dogs to keep people warm in cold winter months was selected for
by our ancestors. Will see if Coppinger and Coppinger mention this.
Alikat
beezer6636
is normal for it. I can not help but ask if you researched the breed before
getting it? Did you get it from a reputable breeder? If so they should have
coved this with you. Please contact the national breed club for assistance
in dealing with your RR.
Tracey
I rescued my RR from the local humane society, and I do take him out to lure
courses and we hike just about every weekend. He also goes to the dog park
virtually every day and is well socialized to other dogs. The problem I have
is the leash pulling to try and hunt squirles. I have taken basic training
with him, and some of the techniques work, where others just seem to fail.
The other night I purchased a prong collar and I work with him to remain
calm so that seems to be good advice. Other owners of ridgebacks in the area
seem to benefit from the prong collar, so although it looks pretty nasty, it
seems to be more humane than the choke collar (which he had, and it broke
when he was trying to hunt squirles...). I know he is a hunter, and I am not
looking to break him from his natural drive, just trying to control his
walking thru parks. I know his attention is on hunting, my concern is him
pulling the leash out of my hand and possibly putting himself in harms way.
Thanks for everyones help!
Trace
I knew that he would have a high prey dirve, which is understandble he's a
hunter! Because
"beezer6636" <beeze...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:6gvX7.7173$yi.7...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Jean L. Atkinson
seems they work well. Jean
"Tracey" <tjac...@cypresscom.net> wrote in message
news:u39emar...@corp.supernews.com...
KrisHur
will stop it permanently. For example, I used the prong on my lab until I
could get her to heel, she would lead but not pull on the prong. My neighbor
uses one on her golden who has never taken anything other than puppy
obedience and at first she wouldn't pull, just lead, now she pulls too.
Take him to some classes, they're fun and the more self control he has, the
greater freedoms you can offer. Obedience classes can teach him a good
"leave it" that can be used when he sees a squirrel.
"Tracey" <tjac...@cypresscom.net> wrote in message
news:u39emar...@corp.supernews.com...
torjetson
Maddie's" advice (seen during a pbs funds drive) who explained the theory
behind the "choke" collar, which is to copy as close as possible the
dominant male assertion/reassertion to all others in his "pack", where he
grabs them by the throat,and squeezes, then releases.
When your dog pulls( or does anything you want to "cure" them of) pull the
choke collar downward (constricting the dogs' neck) and release. It's not
necessary to yell NO or anything, but it is necessary to PRAISE the dog once
it
does what you want it to do(heel,stay down,sit,etc.)Positive feedback only.
Remember, the strongest part of ANY
dog is their neck, for many reasons, one of which is the dominant males
discipline. And Thee Shall Let Your Dogs Chase Squirrels For The Health Of
The Dogs, Squirrels, And Humans Running After.
"Tracey" <tjac...@cypresscom.net> wrote in message
news:u2mo6sc...@corp.supernews.com...
Emma Pullen
live in the UK so i'm not sure if they are available elsewhere.
Emma
Lushious Lugs
news:u3bonvq...@corp.supernews.com...
> I have a ridgeback/staffordshire mix that used to pull until I took "Uncle
> Maddie's" advice (seen during a pbs funds drive) who explained the theory
> behind the "choke" collar, which is to copy as close as possible the
> dominant male assertion/reassertion to all others in his "pack", where he
> grabs them by the throat,and squeezes, then releases.
> When your dog pulls( or does anything you want to "cure" them of) pull the
> choke collar downward (constricting the dogs' neck) and release. It's not
> necessary to yell NO or anything, but it is necessary to PRAISE the dog
once
> it
> does what you want it to do(heel,stay down,sit,etc.)Positive feedback
only.
> Remember, the strongest part of ANY
> dog is their neck, for many reasons, one of which is the dominant males
> discipline. And Thee Shall Let Your Dogs Chase Squirrels For The Health Of
> The Dogs, Squirrels, And Humans Running After.
>
I would be very, very worried about applying such a technique...
Firstly, choke collars are responsible for damage to the neck and windpipes
of many, many dogs. The neck vertebrae encase the spinal cord and damage to
this means paralysis naturally* meaning death so it is instinct in all
mammals, including us people, to be very protective of our head and necks.
Sure, a dogs neck is very strong but it wasn't designed to be yanked about
on chains. The contact area to the amount of pressure applied, much like
when a lady wears stilletto heals (which banned from aeroplanes as /sq. inch
they <dramatically> (Pete, my husband knows the exacts but he's yet to
surface this morning. He enjoys his weekend lie-ins). increase the *weight*
of person wearing them.
Anyway, point being you've got a thick strong muscular neck yanked by a thin
metal chain. Can you feel the vertebrae of your own neck? ...and you dog's?
....about a fingerspace apart?.... chains about the same width as a
finger...eek, makes me squirm to think of what could happen if it all just
got a little too caught up too heavily in the wrong place. Hanging kills by
snapping the neck vertebrae apart.
Second issue: Anything to do with *copying* wild dog behaviour is a little
like writing in a foreign language without a translation guide or any form
of reference.
A dog wags his tail - you wag your hand behind you bum (I'm UK ~ you call
it what you will, that's rude over here!) what does your dog make of it?....
s/he might think it part of a funny game, a/he might just dismiss it as 'one
of those crazy things people do' but he certainly won't associate it with
what s/he's doing. Your dog is not a human and does not think or talk human,
s/he's perfectly fluent in 'Dog' and so is *qualified* to speak 'Dog'.
We are people. We do and think as people do, we understand each other
because we have evolved to consider the same needs and wants from our
environment and so aree basically 'tuned in on the same wavelength' as each
other. This even applied to people of romote tribes and of very different
cultures be it some Amazon tribe, the Japanese, white and coloured people ~
we ll have pretty much the same basic needs so can sympathise with others of
our kind and communicate on the same level, to a great degree regardless of
language. i.e. I don't speak anything but gibberish and English but I can
pick up a peice of paper and draw just about annything well enough for an
Italian, Russian or Malayan to understand what I mean and what I need.
We are *qualified* to understand and speak *human*.
We do not think like dogs. Dogs have evolved along side us but with their
own needs and wants which are not and are different to people needs and
wants. We, even the most experienced of us, can not think as a dog because
we do not have a dogs thought process. We have a human's thought process.
Dogs can not and do not unerstand us because they do not have a human's
thought process...
This amount to, in relation to:
>which is to copy as close as possible the
> dominant male assertion/reassertion to all others in his "pack", where he
> grabs them by the throat,and squeezes, then releases.
Suggests that we should use a language we do not understand to teach our
dogs how to behave. How can you be sure you know what you are saying by this
very powerful gesture? You can not because you are not a dog and do not
think dog.
A monkey may pick up a mirror. A child (or even me sometimes!) will pull
faces and associate the image in the mirror with his own facial expressions.
A monkey (I am not so sue of some of the chimps & larger apes) will not. It
is not a thought that enters a monkeys head so he can not understand it.
So, unless it is part of your own thought process you can not be sure of
what you are communicating. Anybody can guess. A fool would presume his guss
must be right because he sees no argument against himself.
The most dangerous thing here, as I see it then, is that you are using
corrupted dog language (because not being a dog you can not understand how
to apply it properly) to demote the dogs rank and assert yourelf as a
leader. Thing with leadership or the *Alpha* position is that it is a prize
that will always be worth a challenge. You've already shown weakness by
using dog language wrongly (as you would not be impressed if you took your
child to a school and found that the teachers were illiterate).Most dogs are
happy to be just part of the pack, but this does depend very much on the
quality of the leadership. Oppression never goes down well (such as one of
my grave concerns regarding shock, choke, prong and pinch collars as well as
the more traditional English approach of a good sound thrashing). So, two
stikes against you... thereafter your own confidence and demenour come in to
play... are you a strong person (mentally)? ..or do you fluster, get upset
or panic easily?... is your dog a 'cool' dog or is he wary?.... do you
albeit unwittingly provoke other strong emotions to your dog.. i.e. does he
spend longtimes along whereby he might feel he has been banished, or is he,
again maybe unwittingly teased by any member of the family?
I hope you can see muy point here... now moving on to:
> "Tracey" <tjac...@cypresscom.net> wrote in message
> news:u2mo6sc...@corp.supernews.com...
> > Hi All,
> > I have a Rhodesian Ridgeback who is 2 years old and his prey drive is
very
> > strong. He weighs about 10 lbs less than me, and has been seen dragging
me
> > thru the local park after the squirrels. He actually broke his choke
chain
> > trying to hunt. When I take him hiking (which is often) he tends to
stick
> > near me, it's just in our local parks and walking thru my neighborhood
> that
> > he really tries to hunt. I am considering buying the prong collar for
him,
> > and was wondering if anyone had a bad experience with it. Also, do you
> have
> > tips for keeping him in check thru the park? He has a 6' lead, which I
> hold
> > short if he is very excited and in "hunt mode". Any suggestions?
> > Thanks,
> > TJ
> >
Keeping a dog "in check" and giving him 'something to pull on"... like a
nice short lead is only going to make him worse. Not only is he excited by
the squirrels but he is doing as you would... someone goes to grab your arm
you will pull your arm away, it's instinct. You put prongs in his collar and
he pulls it will hurt him. The logic is simple and it's easy to see how this
will 'fix' him. What it doesn't do though is teach him how to work with you.
Dogs being pack animals evolved along side people because they have a strong
and natural sense of teamwork. Much more so than us... I hate football
(soccer) & find it very boring but consider the way each player works
together as being very much like how a pack would bring down their prey.
Members of the same team don't jostle amongst themselves for ball control,
they let the best man for each job do the job at which he is best, be it
attack, defence or whatever. This teamwork is so instinctive in dogs
(although not always in us) and it is our no 1 most powerful ally in
creating a great bond with our canine pals.
If you can work on developing and tuning his instinct to *work* with you as
a team player and that you are the 'captain' and will decide when and when
not to give chase you will very soon find that he does not pull and walks
nicely beside you. Not because you've taught him, not because you've forced
him but because he respects you as a team player and wise pack leader.
OK, the ideal is wonderful and practically it's a tough challenge. My dog
will occasionally try it on and be an absolute pig on the lead but this is a
blue moon occurrence and usually down to me being either under the weather
or indecisive as to where we are going. These are things I am now aware of
and have just about wrapped up.
Diana
--
alt.animals.dog website: www.ourdogs.chilly-hippo.co.uk
There are many great games you can play with your dog to help build that
bond so that he sees and respects you as a team player... I've typed for
long enough now but maybe they can be something this group can work on for
the website?