On Apr 24, 4:43*pm, "Paul E. Schoen" wrote:
"Avid Fan" wrote in message

...







I do not put a collar on my dog in the backyard. * You can't have it both
ways you cannot have a collar that they *can get out of so they don't
accidentally hang themselves and expect them to be secure when you take
them for a walk. * It sounds like your yard is not secure is that right?
So you have to keep muttley tethered by a rope in the backyard - is that
right? *If it is it very tough. I have a lot of trees in yard. A rope
would be a disaster. *I really don't know what I would do.

When Carina was a pup and we went to the beach for a holiday. *I tied the
lead to a pole when I went into a take away shop to get dinner for the
family. *I had barely placed my order when I hear yelping from outside. *I
run out find her on ground with the lead completely wrapped around her in
a knot. *Legs everything was wrapped up in this mess. *She was bound tight
even after I unclipped the lead.

When I first got Muttley in 2006 I was clueless and I kept him tethered with
a choker chain collar and a chain leash. I also tried to contain him in an
outdoor kennel, but he soon pushed through the chain link fencing where it
was tied at the bottom, even though he was still wearing a cone collar.
Fortunately he was also still tethered. I continued to keep him tethered
outside for about six months, sometimes for 12 hours at a time while I was
away, and sometimes he did get wrapped around a post, but never like you
describe.

Now I only tie him out while I am here, at times when I can't (or don't want
to) go out with him. Usually the tether is clipped to his flat martingale
collar. I've been using a longer tether which allows him to go as far as the
end of the deck where he can watch the front of the house, but it also lets
him go up the steep hill, and sometimes he has gotten wrapped around a small
tree. Sometimes I can give him directions on how to go back around the
obstruction and get free, but often he will just sit and make me come to
him. That was almost impossible sometimes when there was a lot of snow and
ice and I'm not too steady with my back problems. Sometimes I just unclipped
the other end of the tether and let him drag it down to me; other times I
was only just able to get to him so I could unclip it from his collar and
trust him to run back into the house, until daylight and better conditions
allowed me to fix it safely.



Over here microchiping of your dog is compulsory. *All pound and vets have
the equipment for detecting microchips. *Part of the deal was that every
council must provide an off leash parks.

Harnesses IMHO are necessary for cars. *I had one for my dog when she was
a pup. *Thanks for reminding me. *I will buy one for her tomorrow.
I have a station wagon. *I need to either get a harness or a cargo shield.

I have had a car harness for him for quite a while, and always use it for
longer trips on the highway. For local trips I don't always use it, and I
realize it's still a risk. But he's very good at staying on his side of the
car and he's not reactive to other dogs or people outside.

Harness IMHO are no good for walking your dog as they pose no deterrent
against pulling. I am no longer a fan of the check/choke chain. *When I
was a member of the German Shepherd club we had to have them.

I bought a soft collar and a horse lead. *Horse supply shops have them
they are nice and long *and virtually indestructible.

If my dog was unruly on the lead and I had to struggle to walk her I would
use a "Halti" *They are brilliant they will turn the most unruly dog into
an Angel! *But! they can back out of them. *You can get leads with two
clips. *I would get connect one to the Halti and the other to a soft
collar.

I've never tried the Halti, and I've heard that they are very good for many
dogs. I think Muttley would tolerate it well enough. The Easy Walk harness
has a clip on the chest, and when properly fitted, it is effective in
pulling the dog around to face you, but it does not work well if he has
pulled far ahead. You need to be able to pull him to the side and then
toward you. Otherwise it tends to twist the harness and eventually he can
get out of it. But he does not tend to try to escape by backing up. His
movement is always facing away from me, so his flat collar is OK.

I know it is really a matter of training and consistency, and the various
collars and harnesses are merely tools. Today when I was walking Muttley I
was feeling out of sorts and tired and achy and I just didn't feel like
fighting with Muttley to make him walk on a loose leash. When we got to the
steep part of the trail I was glad to have him pull me up the hill. He was
better on the parts where we had to negotiate a steep downhill section and
then a narrow trail where walking at my side would have been awkward at
best. When we got back to a wider section enroute back, I got him to "heel"
reasonably well for a bit, but I just didn't feel up to enforcing it as I
should. I try to reserve the "heel" command for times when I can make him
obey reasonably, and I also concentrated on having him stop and look at me
before proceeding. As simple as that seems, I often lapse into just pulling
back when he surges ahead. But if I cannot enforce the "heel", I pull him
next to me and stop for a second, and then say "OK" or "Go Ahead" or a
similar release word.

I took Carina into the bush for a walk and let her off the lead. *I heard
the characteristic thup thup of a Kangaroo and she was gone. Called and
called she is normally pretty good at recall. * I despaired it was a steep
incline *I was afraid that she may have fallen. *I called and searched for
an hour. *Nothing. *We were visiting my mother outlaw in the country and I
had left my mobile charging.

I went back to my car with the intention of driving back collecting my
phone and resuming the search. *Walking back to my car a kept calling -
nothing. * When I got back to my car *I found Carina standing on the roof
of my car.

I think that proves that she is bonded to you and is smart enough to know
where she is and how to get back to "home", whether it is your house or your
car or wherever else you may be. Even at your mother-outlaw's ROFL! I
don't worry about Muttley coming back, but the real danger is the narrow
road with maniac drivers. There are also lots of wildlife, including fox,
deer, and a coyote, which are very attractive to a dog with high prey drive.
And of course there are places where he could fall or get stuck in a fence
or otherwise be unable to get back.

I have thought about getting an inexpensive video camera (Muttley-Cam) and
put it on his collar to see the walk from his viewpoint. And I would love to
have footage from his off-leash escapades. If it could be rigged with a
transmitter maybe it could record in real time and I could see his
whereabouts on a remote monitor. But I don't think that's practical on a
limited budget. Maybe a cell phone with a GPS device? A two-way radio
collar?

Paul and Muttleywww.muttleydog.com

Hello Paul and Muttley,


As you may have noticed and experienced, there is a wide, wide variety
of collars designed, in one way or another, to cause pain and
discomfort to the dog. The reason why there are so many different
types of collars from haltis, to chokers, to prongs to martingales or
whatever....is because the people who design collars are, well,
barking up the wrong tree.

The reason there are so many different types of dog collars (and
corresponding methods to cause pain to the dog with that specific type
of collar) is because none of them really work, fully.

Before I go any further, let me show you the revolutionary method that
I developed called the "Fo Paws" methodology, where by the type of
leash/collar is absolutely irrelevant because they are not used in the
training. Here it is, featuring unwanted pit bull type puppy dog
Jackie Brown. Astounding offleash pit bull training with NO collar
corrections whatsoever.

Is this possible? I know it is, because I invented the method.

Fo Paws offleash dog training in action

http://vimeo.com/10857281

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