On Sep 30, 3:31 pm, Blothar von Wombat wrote:
Does anyone have
experience with these devices? They don't seem very humane, but
Poodles are supposed to catch on quickly and we are at our wit's end.
Help!

Hi, Blother.

I vote with a number of dog-lovers who vote for 'de-barking'. Talk to
your vet. If you don't need a scary sounding watch dog (you've got
poodles for cryin out loud , then a gentle raspy bark might be music
to your ears...and silence to the neighbors.

I have a good friend who is much happier. As is his dog, that doesn't
get yelled at anymore.
Colleen

Blothar von Wombat said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

First, BB explained that we always need to stand when
correcting the dogs and crouch when wanting the dogs to
come. Second, we received a spray bottle that has a 10%
mix of vinegar to water. Third, we received small cloth
bags with chain links sewn in. Then, it was explained that
in order to stop the barking cycle, we needed to break the
dogs focus. If we were close we would spray with the
bottle. When not close, we toss the cloth bags near the
pups.

Aversives and distractions are pretty common. Did they go
into any depth as to when these should be applied? And
especially when they shouldn't be used?

The one dog I knew who was on BB escalated his unwanted
behaviour, sometimes a sign of inappropriate corrections and
poor timing.

In either case, we must yell "Bah" in a loud,
gravelly, and authoritative voice to accompany whichever
action we selected (there was no mention of grring).

At the time, I found it odd that my client was saying this to
her dog. I've nothing against verbal distractions, but she
was cowing her dog.

I
improvised for the back yard by tossing water balloons,
because I got tired of retrieving the chain-bags. Next we
received quick-release choke-chain leads. These work
pretty well, but cause the dogs to "hack the hairballs."

Is this what happened even when the instructor demonstrated
choke chain use?

BB comes back (and has on a couple of occasions) for
re-training at no cost, which seems only fair for the
original $700 price. The trainer also left a full set of
instructions that we were to follow. One directive that
has been an absolute bust is insisting that our poodles not
get on the furniture. Poodles and pillows are an absolute
required pair, and having the pillows on the floor does not
fool them. We sit on the furniture, so they have
determined they will, too. All the training accomplished
was to have them get off the furniture until we left the
room, then it was back to business as usual.

You've reinforced my opinion that the "one size fits all"
approach which BB seems to be using doesn't work. Your
experience jibes exactly with the one second-hand experience
I've had.

The botton line is that I cannot, in good conscience,
recommend the BB approach unless you have at least thirty
days to spend training your dog non-stop. There has to be
a better way for working folks. Besides, the neighbors have
told us our yelling "Bah" is as aggravating as the dog's
barking.

Thank you for spending the time relating your situation.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.