I was casually discussing training the other day with a woman who has a very
large dog and it won't heel, causing her problems. Although I'm hardly an
expert trainer, I can teach a dog to heel, and I offered to help. "Oh,
thanks, but no," she says, "Barney trains my dog."

Barney was in the group. The tool I use on large rowdy dogs (prong collar),
he declared, is cruel. He uses a baseball cap.

His method: You walk with the dog beside you on a short leash, wearing a
ball cap. If it doesn't heel, you can quickly reach up to your head, pull
off your cap, and whack the dog with it.

I kid you not. This is what passes for training "expertise" in that circle.
Sheesh.

flick 100785

Many Dogs (flick) wrote:
I was casually discussing training the other day with a woman who has a very
large dog and it won't heel, causing her problems. Although I'm hardly an
expert trainer, I can teach a dog to heel, and I offered to help. "Oh,
thanks, but no," she says, "Barney trains my dog."

Barney was in the group. The tool I use on large rowdy dogs (prong collar),
he declared, is cruel. He uses a baseball cap.

His method: You walk with the dog beside you on a short leash, wearing a
ball cap. If it doesn't heel, you can quickly reach up to your head, pull
off your cap, and whack the dog with it.

I kid you not. This is what passes for training "expertise" in that circle.
Sheesh.


In those situations, I casually ask "how's it working?" If, by some
miracle, it quickly taught the dog not to pull on the leash, I'd have no
complaints.


--Lia

In article ,
Julia Altshuler wrote:
In those situations, I casually ask "how's it working?" If, by some
miracle, it quickly taught the dog not to pull on the leash, I'd have no
complaints.

Aside from the question of where you draw the line, I expect
that some people are a little more concerned about what else
the dog is learning in addition to how to heel. I am - I'm
not convinced that calling something a "side effect" is
particularly meaningful. If the dog learns to fear men, or
Barney, or baseball caps, or leashes, or *whatever*, that's
a training effect as well. Keeping an open mind doesn't
mean keeping it so open your brains fall out.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"Julia Altshuler" wrote in message
. ..

In those situations, I casually ask "how's it working?" If, by some
miracle, it quickly taught the dog not to pull on the leash, I'd have no
complaints.

I'd wonder what happens when a friend comes over, wearing a baseball cap.

Self-evident that it doesn't work, at least not with that woman's big rowdy
dog.

flick 100785

On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 08:58:24 -0500, "Many Dogs \(flick\)"
wrote:

[...]
His method: You walk with the dog beside you on a short leash, wearing a
ball cap. If it doesn't heel, you can quickly reach up to your head, pull
off your cap, and whack the dog with it.

Was he a member of the "reality-based" community, by any chance?

--
Handsome Jack Morrison

"Reality-based" thinker claims that torturing and killing dogs is no worse than eating at McDonald's!
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gla...-catching-fish

Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week - October 22-26. Be there, or be square.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles...A-08CF7750A063

*This* is the *real* reason why the "reality-based" community pushes global-warming hysteria.
To push you around and take your money. Senator Dingell now wants a cap on the Mortgage Interest Deduction!
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007...ll_wants_c.php

Freakin' Democrats. spit

"Reality-based" community clamors for housing bailout (at taxpayer's expense, of course).
http://michellemalkin.com/2007/08/24...using-bailout/

The "reality-based" community: Hopelessly Devoted to Failure.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...ZhYjU5ZjEzNDE=

Why "liberal" doesn't quite fit:
"In the short term, this reflects the failure of the Republican Party to secure its hard-won victories. In
the longer term, this may provide a new opportunity for the heirs to authentic liberalism - today's conservatives -
as they often thrive when lovers of big government, by whatever name they go by, overreach."
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/...beral-doe.html

"The main proponents of 'universal coverage' want to throw more money at the current health care system,
which strikes me as unwise. I believe that the 'universal coverage' mantra is dysfunctional for the same
reason that 'more money for public schools' is a dysfunctional mantra for education. When your current
approach is digging you into a hole, the sensible thing to do is not to dig faster. It is to stop digging."
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=080607B

"Many Dogs \(flick\)" wrote:
His method: You walk with the dog beside you on a short leash,
wearing a ball cap. If it doesn't heel, you can quickly reach up to
your head, pull off your cap, and whack the dog with it.

Barney's a little person? Or does Barney only work with dogs tall enough
to be whacked by a fully extended baseball cap? Are Dachshunds and JRT not
sufficiently rowdy to benefit from this most excellent technique?

I'd love to see Barney take on an ACD. He'd get one whack in, then the dog
would grab the cap in mid-descent and use it as a tug toy. Don't ask me
how I know that g.

Mary Healey wrote:

Barney's a little person? Or does Barney only work with dogs tall enough
to be whacked by a fully extended baseball cap? Are Dachshunds and JRT not
sufficiently rowdy to benefit from this most excellent technique?

Small dogs do not need training. HTH!

I'd love to see Barney take on an ACD. He'd get one whack in, then the dog
would grab the cap in mid-descent and use it as a tug toy. Don't ask me
how I know that g.

Heh.

And, I would not be at all surprised that if some random guy pulled
that crap on Harriet, it would turn her into a biter. Not cool.

--
Shelly
http://www.cat-sidh.net (the Mother Ship)
http://esther.cat-sidh.net (Letters to Esther)

"Mary Healey" wrote in message
.4...

Barney's a little person? Or does Barney only work with dogs tall enough
to be whacked by a fully extended baseball cap? Are Dachshunds and JRT
not
sufficiently rowdy to benefit from this most excellent technique?

He does have big dogs, but lol.

I'd love to see Barney take on an ACD. He'd get one whack in, then the
dog
would grab the cap in mid-descent and use it as a tug toy. Don't ask me
how I know that g.

Heh.

flick 100785

On Aug 27, 12:47 pm, Mary Healey wrote:
"Many Dogs \(flick\)" wrote:

His method: You walk with the dog beside you on a short leash,
wearing a ball cap. If it doesn't heel, you can quickly reach up to
your head, pull off your cap, and whack the dog with it.

Barney's a little person? Or does Barney only work with dogs tall enough
to be whacked by a fully extended baseball cap? Are Dachshunds and JRT not
sufficiently rowdy to benefit from this most excellent technique?

I'd love to see Barney take on an ACD. He'd get one whack in, then the dog
would grab the cap in mid-descent and use it as a tug toy. Don't ask me
how I know that g.

I've seen it happen myself. Quite entertaining from the sidelines. I
love ACDs, but I'd never own one... They take a special kind of owner
and I don't think I'm it.

Nick