[Calin]

I think with ANY correction, you run the risk of the dog associating you with 'bad things.' I think a lot of people here will put down a spray bottle, yet will verbally correct their dogs or give them leash pops with prongs and/or chokes. What's the difference, really?

I think the most effective corrections are the one that dogs doesn't realize is coming from you. Like, to them, it has to seem like something strange that just happens when they are doing a particular behavior.

That's why, when I used spray bottle, I didn't spray the dog in the eyes or the face. I sprayed her in the butt. Then, she's turn around with this 'what the heck was that?' look on her face and it gave me that split second I needed to redirect her.

This was good for 2 reasons:

1. It distracted her without scaring or hurting her.
2. She didn't know I was doing it.

I never had to carry a squirt bottle around with me wherever I went or some other such nonsense because she never made the connection between the squirt bottle and the wetness on her butt. I used this method to get rid of my pups nippy behavior and she hasn't laid her teeth on me since she was 4 months old.

Bottom line is I'm always immediately wary of anyone who say that there is only one 'right' way to train a dog. Dogs are dogs, true, but they also have some sort of individual nature.

I mean, do all HUMANS learn exactly the same way? No, some humans learn better with hands on stuff. Some humans learn best if they read it in a book. Still some other humans learn if they just see someone else doing it. We would never give a human a math book, tell him to read it, and then expect him to understand it at just the same rate as everyone else in the class, would we?

I think dogs, to some extent, are the same. They learn best with different methods depending on their own personality, strengths, and weaknesses. You can sit with a dog and try to train it the 'right way' (According to an internet forum) all you want. But if you're dog isn't getting it that way, it's just not getting it. If you keep on doing something that's not effective, then the only thing you're going to do is frustrate yourself and frustrate your dog.

To me, a good training method has to meet 2 qualifications:

1. It has to be humane.
2. It has to WORK.

If you want to train your dog, it's good to ask advice from others. But ultimately, you have to know the temperament and personality of your dog and go from there.

But anyone who says So&so is the ONLY way to get your dog to stop nipping or SO&So is the ONLY way to get your dog to not chase the cat....eh, I take all that with a grain of salt. There are more than 1 way to train an animal and any trainer who gets more caught up in what they personally think is 'right' without considering new information or the personality of the animal they are dealing with are selling themselves short and worse, selling the animals short.

I mean, if your kids kindergarten teacher said, "This is the ONLY way I know how to teach kids to read..." What would you think?

Personally, I would think they weren't very good teachers. To me, a good teacher has more than 1 trick up his sleeve.

Just my opinion.