Buster_09

You can start training your dog whenever you want to start training your dog, however, it is advisable to train them as young as possible, they learn easier because they have the same intellectual capacity as an adult dog. I haven't use a martingale collar or any type of training collar yet, at the moment I am using a flat collar and a heavy duty rope lead (1.3m long). Start in the back/ front yard or even inside the house (just short walks until he gets use to lead walking (probably best to do it outside because you got more room)), you need to train your dog not to lead (you are the pack leader). At the start until he gets use to the idea of you leading, do not use any commands or treats, just eye contact only. When he takes off stand there like a tree and wait for him to stop and look at you, after he looks at you start walking the other way, if he goes left go right (vice versa), speed up when he slows down and slow down when he speeds up. Depending on the temperament of your dog you might need to stand there for a long time, if you don't want to wait for him to look at you don't bother stopping just go the other way. Do this a few times until he gets use to it, now use yummy treats, when you walk with him call out his name (just once) and when he looks at you give him a treat (remember he's not looking at you he is actually looking if you are going to give him a treat) . If you give your dog treats every 1-3 paces extend it to 3-4 paces and so on. Now that you have lured him using treats, you can start using commands now. The basic commands that you should use are "heel, sit, let’s go" and once again keep using your treats, all these are conducted in conjunction with you acting as a tree when he takes off or if he goes the other way etc. By this stage you should now be able to walk around the neighbourhood with ease. Don't forget to praise him with treats or by patting your dog and telling him "good boy". If you want to use punishments, what I did with Buster was when he takes off I slingshot him back to my left side to the direction of our travel, as I pull the lead I use the command "heel" followed by "sit" (I only give him sit when his right side is hugging my left side), after he is sitting nicely I just stand there for a while until I am happy that he understands. It doesn't take long for a dog to realise that if he can't move there is a problem so the dog will look for that problem so he can rectify it. If you want anymore advice without going to a proper dog school or seeing a dog trainer it's best to just surf the web for answers. Surfing the web is more fun, try and teach yourself instead of a teacher will teach you. Be aware of the answers out there, there are so many different ways of doing things, try and find one that best suits you and your dog. Good Luck!

What I have found that worked best for me is what I call the "Slingshot method". If the stand there like a tree and ignoring your dog until your dog looks at you doesn't work use the sling shot method. You don't need one on one training, if you have time posting letters on the internet surely you have time doing the research on what is the best way to walk your dog with a lead. Do you use treats while you lead walk? Go back to the basic, go for a short walk with treats and every time your dog looks at you give him a treat, if he starts looking at you every 2 second or so extend to every 3 second to give him a treat (and so on). If he shoots out to the front (starts’ leading) stand there like a tree until he looks at you or comes back to you then give him a treat, if he goes left go right or vice versa and if he starts lagging behind speed up. All this are done by just an eye contact (no commands). I will tell you what my daily walking program with Buster consist of, when I started walking him I normally use treats but now I don’t need to. To start off with I didn’t use any commands, eye contact is the key, dog’s needs to realise who is in charge (pack leader as they call it). I started off in my back/ front yard and when Buster got use to it we walked around the neighbourhood (extending the distance (not too far because his only a puppy still)). Also, started using commands and these are as follows: - heel, sit, left side, slow down, speed up, lets go and his praise is “good boy”. The only time I have a conversation with Buster is when he is in the sitting position on my left side about to cross the road. Let’s talk about my punishment with Buster. When Buster shoots out to the front, I slingshot him back to my left hand side, as I pull on the lead I use the command “heel” followed by “sit” (I give him sit when he is nicely hugging my left side to the direction of our advance), I stand there until he has realise what he has done wrong. I give him the command “let’s go” (when he looks at me) followed by “good boy”. A number of times I stood there for more than half an hour before we can start walking again, he just wouldn’t look at me. And now, I don’t have any hassle when we go for walks, the lead is always loose and he is always on my left (half arms interval). From time to time when Buster wants to play bite the blousing of my pants he gets close to me, what I do is I stand there like a tree and ignore him and when he starts bitting me and if he doesn’t stop I bark the “no” command and slingshot him back to my left side and wait until he sits down and looks at me (this is done by just ignoring him, no need to give him the “sit” command). There are so many articles on how to train a dog on the internet/ or books and don’t forget to surf this site (DOL forums), you need to find what suits best for you and your dog. What I don’t get is, so many of them have got a different ways of doing things. Mind you I am only new to this site and I have found that the search function is really annoying. Good Luck!

Same thing is happening with our 12 weeks old Rottweiler, I have notice that he only gets aggressive when he is outside and when we try to stop him from eating grass, wood chips, Kangaroo poo and doing his own thing. I have read so many articles on the internet and read so many books on how to raise a good family dog and at the moment I don’t know which one to follow, we are currently taking him to a puppy preschool, and soon we will be attending the obedience school. There are so many different ways on how to train a dog, as I am new to (Rottweiler owner) this however my partner isn't, IMO being an Alpha male is the key to success especially when it comes to having a larger confident type dogs i.e. Rottweilers. When Buster (our Rottweilers' name) gets out of control what I normally do is like an Alpha roll but a little different, instead of grabbing him by his coat/ skin I grab him by the collar and push him down to the ground on his side, when he is in this position he will try to do whatever he can to bite me. Before I can release him I have to wait until he settles down, when I’m telling him off I tell him off in a calm and soothing voice and after Buster has been release this is when I ignore him. I have tried so many different ways on how to teach our little (for now) adorable Rottweiler out of his bad aggressive behaviour and the only one that has worked for me so far is the Alpha roll. The way I look at it is that I need the upper hand right from the beginning; I am not going to have a Rottweiler that gets out of a secured area and start mauling an innocent person that is just walking by.