Comments on: How do you know if you pet enjoys training? http://www.arkanimals.com/how-do-you-know-if-your-pet-enjoys-training/ Tue, 23 Aug 2011 18:22:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ark Lady http://www.arkanimals.com/how-do-you-know-if-your-pet-enjoys-training/comment-page-1/#comment-2700 Ark Lady Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:38:29 +0000 http://www.arkanimals.com/?p=1192#comment-2700 Hi Mary, as usual it is good to see you comment on the blog! No, you are right, people don't think about behavior other than when it is inconvenient or escalated to a point that they must take some action. Any animal training tool is beneficial in the right hands. You have to train a head collar just like anything else. Horse have to be trained to accept halters on their heads and so do dogs. There are some trainers that use choke collars without causing injury but ask any veterinary clinic about misuse of the device and tracheae or vertebrae damage...and don't get me going on those people who use choke chains as collars and then are surprised when the dog chokes to death when the collar catches on something or the dog catches its paw nail in the live ring. As for the dog fighting the head collar, they can protest if they are not correctly trained or habituated to it. Some of that is because it feels funny and people tend to put pressure on the leash which makes it pull on the dog's face--kinda like if you pushed on the bridge of the glasses someone is wearing, then it also gives people control over the animal--those critters that are used to having the upper hand tend to hate that. There are pros and cons for training tools and skill levels of the people using different training methods but I see more animals happy in progressive classes versus the more traditional. Hi Mary, as usual it is good to see you comment on the blog!

No, you are right, people don’t think about behavior other than when it is inconvenient or escalated to a point that they must take some action.

Any animal training tool is beneficial in the right hands. You have to train a head collar just like anything else. Horse have to be trained to accept halters on their heads and so do dogs.

There are some trainers that use choke collars without causing injury but ask any veterinary clinic about misuse of the device and tracheae or vertebrae damage…and don’t get me going on those people who use choke chains as collars and then are surprised when the dog chokes to death when the collar catches on something or the dog catches its paw nail in the live ring.

As for the dog fighting the head collar, they can protest if they are not correctly trained or habituated to it. Some of that is because it feels funny and people tend to put pressure on the leash which makes it pull on the dog’s face–kinda like if you pushed on the bridge of the glasses someone is wearing, then it also gives people control over the animal–those critters that are used to having the upper hand tend to hate that.

There are pros and cons for training tools and skill levels of the people using different training methods but I see more animals happy in progressive classes versus the more traditional.

]]> By: Mary Hunter http://www.arkanimals.com/how-do-you-know-if-your-pet-enjoys-training/comment-page-1/#comment-2696 Mary Hunter Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:15:31 +0000 http://www.arkanimals.com/?p=1192#comment-2696 "Just why my client didn’t think there was anything wrong with the training they were undergoing prior to our relationship confused me." People just don't stop to think about their animal's wants needs and feelings. If a horse is hard to catch (which many are!) it's the horse's problem, not the owners. Want an easy to catch horse? Try changing your behavior and your interactions with the horse. As for head collars, I think they are beneficial in the right hands (i.e. if the person using the device is educated it the proper use and fitting of it and knows how acclimate the dog to it.) I've seen A LOT of unhappy dogs with head collars, mainly because they are fitted wrong or (usually) because the owner did not take time to train the dog how to wear it. In one of the classes I took last spring, a participant had head collar on her Springer Spaniel. The dog spent the majority of the class (when they weren't doing the exercises) lying on the ground trying to get the stupid thing off. Dog was definitely not having fun. Mary “Just why my client didn’t think there was anything
wrong with the training they were undergoing prior
to our relationship confused me.”

People just don’t stop to think about their animal’s wants needs and feelings. If a horse is hard to catch (which many are!) it’s the horse’s problem, not the owners.

Want an easy to catch horse? Try changing your behavior and your interactions with the horse.

As for head collars, I think they are beneficial in the right hands (i.e. if the person using the device is educated it the proper use and fitting of it and knows how acclimate the dog to it.)

I’ve seen A LOT of unhappy dogs with head collars, mainly because they are fitted wrong or (usually) because the owner did not take time to train the dog how to wear it.

In one of the classes I took last spring, a participant had head collar on her Springer Spaniel. The dog spent the majority of the class (when they weren’t doing the exercises) lying on the ground trying to get the stupid thing off. Dog was definitely not having fun.

Mary

]]>