OT - Dog Training For Dummies, I posted this on Rennlist but thought you might like it too. Options

[tyler]

Three suggestions (worked for my dobermans):
1. Watch "The Dog Wisperer" on TV (National geographic)
2. Get a cheap shock collar
3. Get a "Licker" at the pet store for an outside faucet and never have to deal with a water dish again.

[soloracer]

Here is a story regarding the shock collars and Riley:

Back when I lived in the ciy, Riley was barking non stop during the day while I was at work. A number of times I would get home and there would be a note on the door from the city saying a complaint was filed about a dog barking. I usually kept him outside and didn't want to keep him in his kennel in the house during the day as somehow it just didn't seem right to keep a full grown german shepard in a box for an entire day.

So I bought one of those cheap bark collars from Walmart - the kind that zap him on the throat whenever he barks. I remember well the day that I put it on him. He happily accepted the collar and ran out into the backyard to play. I watched him through the back window of the house to see what happend.

Riley ran through the yard and let out a big bark. Immediately he jumped - all 4 paws in the air - and looked around like "What the f**ck was that?" He then stood in one spot and this time let out a really timid test bark. Instantly he scooted forward, his back legs almost passing his front as if he got shot by a pellet gun. I almost died laughing. After that he was quiet all evening. Even when he came to the back door to be let into the house he just sat there without barking.

So I thought the problem was solved. However, 2 days later I get another notice from the city. He was barking again. So I observed him in the back yard and sure enough he would bark at anything and everything. His voice sometimes seemed a little warbled but that was about it. At first I thought that the collar wasn't working and that the batteries had died. I listened carefully and could hear the beeping of the collar every time it fired the shock. I went out and got him and took the collar off to examine it. That was when I noticed the large red patch on his throat with all the fur gone. It turns out that once he figured out what was shocking him he would just grit his teeth and bark through it. So basically the collar was ineffective as a treatment.

It is for the same reason that I won't get one of those invisible fences because I know that if he really wants to cross the boundary there is nothing that will stop him. Friends of mine actually call it a "Two Yip Fence" because their dog would charge full speed at the boundary and would get shocked twice - letting out two "yips" - before the collar got out of range.