The Evil Coke Can Of Doom!

[deltron]

As some of you might recall, I have a very stubborn 'bite happy' little dog.

He loves to bite feet, pull the hems of pants, bite hands, faces etc.

We have been trying many methods to stop the biting including 'uh uh', 'puppy yelp', lead corrections, spraying with water, scruffing him etc. None work well for us.

I was reading a book called "Good Dogs, Bad Habits" which suggested getting this little contraption:

Take one empty coke can*

add roughly 10 5c pieces to the can.

Tape up the top.

You now have assembled the evil coke can of DOOM!

Whenever you dog is in the middle or starting to do a REALLY naughty behaviour, shake the coke can once.

It makes a godawful noise, and it makes my dog nearly pee his pants (metaphorical pants).

Every time I do it, my dog stops what he is doing and looks like he has been anally probed and he comes over to me and acts like the nicest dog in the world.

I am using it sparingly and only for when he is being truly naughty so he doesn't become desensitised. I also try and use it when he doesn't know I have it because if he sees the coke can, he is careful to be on his best behaviour, and won't exhibit his naughty habits in it's presence.

Hope this is of some help to you all!

* diet coke for the health concious

Edited September 4, 2007 by deltron

[Ons]

one of the flysprays now has some sort of ball in it, that rattles when you shake the can, it's supposed to do something to make the spray better or something.

But it's great for shaking at Onslow when he is misbehaving, he is absolutely petrified of it

[alananddora]

That's funny.... our little one is starting to exhibit the same bitey behaviour. Will try tonight and see what her reaction is..!

[Dogsfevr]

When you shake the coke can what training do you use??

If you want to show this pup also be aware that the can could create an associtian with being naughty & you get a response you dont want especially around strangers.

[deltron]

When you shake the coke can what training do you use??

I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you are trying to say...

Primarily, the noise interupts what the dog is doing, and then right after you say 'uh uh' aso the dog knows that it was doing something bad, and then as soon the dog is good/calm, you praise it. Same principle as using a water bottle to spray the dog.

[Mystiqview]

sorry, if you are not careful, the dog will learn that when he sees you...he will learn more quickly to chew when you are not around..

One method to stop biting of the hand is to when the puppy is biting, is to for want of a better description hld the bottom jaw or move the flat of your hand right to the rear of the puppies mouth and hold it there until the puppy tries to spit your hand out. Repeat each time puppy tries to mouth your hand.

As for chewing other things.. best to remove all items from puppy levels as best you can and do not let puppy full run of the whole house. Baby gates are great to restrict puppies only to certain areas of the house. Also try and work a swap arrangement for inappropriate chews... swap a sock for a toy, etc.

same is cuffing a dog with a rolled up newspaper.. when dogs sees newspaper... that is the correction... It picks up on your body language FAR before you say Uh Uhm or get there to shake the can.

[Dogsfevr]

Remember though the dog is learning to respect the can not you & thats where this method doesnt always work.

[Tofuloaf]

As some of you might recall, I have a very stubborn 'bite happy' little dog.

He loves to bite feet, pull the hems of pants, bite hands, faces etc.

We have been trying many methods to stop the biting including 'uh uh', 'puppy yelp', lead corrections, spraying with water, scruffing him etc. None work well for us.

I was reading a book called "Good Dogs, Bad Habits" which suggested getting this little contraption:

Take one empty coke can*

add roughly 10 5c pieces to the can.

Tape up the top.

You now have assembled the evil coke can of DOOM!

Whenever you dog is in the middle or starting to do a REALLY naughty behaviour, shake the coke can once.

It makes a godawful noise, and it makes my dog nearly pee his pants (metaphorical pants).

Every time I do it, my dog stops what he is doing and looks like he has been anally probed and he comes over to me and acts like the nicest dog in the world.

I am using it sparingly and only for when he is being truly naughty so he doesn't become desensitised. I also try and use it when he doesn't know I have it because if he sees the coke can, he is careful to be on his best behaviour, and won't exhibit his naughty habits in it's presence.

Hope this is of some help to you all!

* diet coke for the health concious

That's all very well and good, guys, but does your method have a name that is as catchy as the Evil Coke Can of Doom? Does it create an "anal probe" reaction? I think "no" is the answer to those questions.

Deltron, I have no idea if your method works, but you get a million billion points for comedy

[Poodle wrangler]

I had a giggle too .

Sounds similar to the throwing of a length of chain Bark Busters used to do (still does?). Was for noise only, not to be thrown AT dog. BBusters not popular on DOL.

I'm a broken record, but have you done TOT (Triangle of Temptation) with your very cute dog? You have to feed your dog and this takes only 5 minutes extra to do. It's in Training/ Obedience/ Dog sports pinned to top. Steve explains why it's useful better than I can.

Ideally you're the source of most good things for your dog. I suspect the other problem with the Coke Can of Doom is that he'll associate you with a negative consequence which can teach a dog to be afraid of you.

[Sezy]

I tried the chain thing once with Cally and she thought that it was a great game. She picked the chain up and ran with it, so that was the end of that one!!!! We changed trainers after that and got a better result!

[Rainey]

Love the description! Our puppy is a little bit bitey but the fingers on his tongue and jaw seems to work well.

[Ms James]

At least you're not using Pepsi *squinty eyes*

[Tonymc]

Deltron,your using the Coke can to break a pattern of behaviour which is fine.I would just be using the Can in a manner so the Pup associates the Noise with the behaviour and not you.Your wanting the Dog to learn he or she does not feel that good when behaving in that manner.One has to be jut a little careful that the Pup does not associate the Noise with you,as that could start to build resistance towards you. Tony

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

I'm pretty sure Deltron mentioned that she makes sure the pup doesn't see her with the coke can... If her pup doesn't see that she's the one making the noise, Charlie is less likely then to associate Deltron as being the noise instigator.

Good work Deltron - loved your op, gave me a chuckle too :-)

[Dogsfevr]

"Every time I do it, my dog stops what he is doing and looks like he has been anally probed and he comes over to me and acts like the nicest dog in the world."

Rhi & Jak this reaction as mentioned by Deltron is because the dog knows the can is associated to the handler ,so whether it hidden or not the can is shaken & then the handler gives the discipline word so it assocaited the noise with the owners voice of being in trouble.

Deltron would be better using "clicker Training" or as mentioned TOT

[deltron]

"Every time I do it, my dog stops what he is doing and looks like he has been anally probed and he comes over to me and acts like the nicest dog in the world."

Rhi & Jak this reaction as mentioned by Deltron is because the dog knows the can is associated to the handler ,so whether it hidden or not the can is shaken & then the handler gives the discipline word so it assocaited the noise with the owners voice of being in trouble.

Deltron would be better using "clicker Training" or as mentioned TOT

I do use clicker training. There are many different techniques I utilise. I don't believe I said that this technique is the only one I use.

The can is working well for me, as Tony said, to break a cycle. Essentially, it takes the dog out of prey drive, which he spends the vast proportion of his time in. It's good for when the dog is biting the living crap out of my feet, or barking at the neighbours.

It stops him doing something that is really offensive very quickly.

t's a last resort option and i've used it maybe 8 times and have eradicated some behaviours that clicker training would have taken weeks to do.

Maybe it's not the 'best' way but it works and perhaps you should accept that other people are allowed to have different opinions to you.

Edited September 6, 2007 by deltron

[Dogsfevr]

Maybe it's not the 'best' way but it works and perhaps you should accept that other people are allowed to have different opinions to you.

I do respect other opinions but have also been around dogs long enough to now the dog is respecting the can not you & when all is said & done it wont solve the problem long term & thats why i dont agree with it.

You cant carry a can around all the time to get the dog to stop & when the dog does play up & no can is available the dog has learnt that it can be a free for all.

The dog is a Tentie so you cant change its Prey drive .

The only reason it is doing its bad stuff is it knows its higher up in the leadership

[Cosmolo]

So showdog do you believe that every time a dog exhibits a bad behaviour, they do so because they believe they are higher in rank? Not every dog is rank driven.

While you can't remve prey drive you can teach the dog when to exhibit the drive and when not to. Using the can, as with any other effective correction allows the owner to get the dog to stop doing a bad behaviour so that they can then reward more frequently for the good behaviours!

Deltron- i don't think there is a problem with it (and i have used it before with some dogs) provided you balance it with lots of rewards and be very matter of fact about the correction- no emotion from you, no verbals etc.

Does the dog know its from you? Maybe. Does the dog respect the can? Maybe. But if you can use it to get good behaviours out of the dog, it allows you to spend more time rewarding than if you were to just ignore and wait for the right behaviour (which is often not possible when the dog is mouthing and it is painful!)

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

I guess I just know what it's like to have tried 10 "fixes" and then finally try the 11th one and it gets results. You grab onto that 11th fix for dear life.

I went through the same thing with Jak mouthing, nipping, latching onto my pants etc. The puppy pre-school lady suggested that I basically lather my pants in a foul tasting substance so that Jak would associate that eating my pants tasted horribly. Is this not along the same lines as the coke can? By Charlie doing something he shouldn't, he gets the crap scared out of him and therefore learns not to do that particular behaviour?

I've also read that a "fix" for stopping a dog from taking clothes off the line is to rig up a balloon of sorts, so that it bursts and the water falls. Not a nice thing I'm sure. Does the dog then learn not to take the washing off the line or does the dog just think "I respect that balloon, but these clothes are still free game?".

I respect that everyone has their own opinions on what the best and/or ideal methods are for eradicating unwanted behaviours. But sometimes those best and/or ideal methods simply don't work for a particular dog and we work with what we can :-)