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Originally Posted by BigZeus  What I mean by him cowering after doing something wrong is something like, him repeatedly ignoring my calls for him to come if he's ran across the yard to my neighbors house. When I come to get him after him not listening, he'll know he should have listened and cowers down to me when we meet. Or, if he's chewing on the carpet or something in the house and I go to point at the carpet and tell him know, he'll cower backwards slightly thinking I'm going to smack him. |
In order for him to understand what you want, you need to show him.
He doesn't know to come when called...if he did, he would. He cowers because he senses your anger, not because he knows why you are angry. He should be kept on a lead while you work with him on his recall. That way, you can reel him in if he doesn't respond, so he SUCCEEDS in accomplishing what you want him to do. He should be rewarded for coming with something he really loves, whether it be a piece of chicken or a game of tug, or a toss of a ball. It has to be rewarding for him to come to you, more rewarding than what he's giving up to do it....otherwise, why should he come? You need to condition his recall by setting him up to succeed, not fail.....so you CAN reward him....and I would reward him HIGHLY for any effort. If he thinks you are the best game in town, he will come FLYING to you. It's your job to convince him you are.
Switching from punishing him to loving on him is only reinforcing the cowering. It doesn't help him when you swing from one end of the pendulum clear to the other...he's trying to please you, but he doesn't know how in this situation because he doesn't understand what you want.
As for chewing things you don't want him to chew.....chewing is a dog's way of relaxing and eliminating stress and that's a good thing. However, he doesn't know what he's supposed to be chewing, because he hasn't been shown...so show him. When he starts to chew the carpet, say "Ah! Leave it! C'mon, Zeus, let's go get your bone!" and give him something he CAN chew (a bone, a toy, a nylabone, etc.). Move him to a different place, away from what he's not supposed to chew and
praise him for chewing what you give him to chew...."GOOD Boy!" You do have to be consistent and always supervising for the best success. If you do that, he'll learn just by redirection what he's allowed to chew and what he's not.
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Originally Posted by BigZeus Second to my son, Zeus is my best buddy in the whole world and he IS a GREAT boy. Loves my son, VERY gentle, knows his nibbling/biting limits on pressure, lets me know when he needs to go outside, doesn't bark hardly at ALL, etc etc. Probably the most well behaved dog i've ever seen considering my lack of training knowledge/ability. I've gotten better, but could definitely use some pointers. |
He sounds like a VERY tolerant, wonderful dog with a great temperament. He just needs a benevolent leader (that's you
) instead of what must appear to him to be someone who behaves erratically for some unknown reason. That's why we spend the time to train our dogs - so they will understand, and we won't be erratic and confusing to them.
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Originally Posted by BigZeus Some of you need to chill a little. I have never "beaten" my dog, nor did I ever spank him as a very small puppy. |
Well, it did sound like it from your first post. And.....you don't have to "beat" a dog to be too harsh with them. How a dog responds to correction will depend on the dog, and yours sounds like a dog that doesn't need much correction....he sounds like he will catch on quickly if you are just consistent with teaching him what he CAN do, rather than punishing him for what he can't.
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Originally Posted by BigZeus Zeus is perfectly fine, and probably the most well-behaved Rott I have ever been around. I may have created a lack of trust or fear in him when it comes to his discipline, but he shows no love loss for me what so ever. He stays at my side 24/7. |
I have no doubt of his loyalty to you, but he isn't "perfectly fine". If he was, he wouldn't cower whenever he needed to be redirected/corrected. You have some damage control that needs to occur to repair your relationship with him. You need to learn how to set him up to succeed, so you can reward rather than punish. That's why I think a class is important, so you can learn that. Training classes are more for us people, to teach us how to work with our dogs, than they are for the dogs themselves. This is what you need.
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Originally Posted by BigZeus And FWIW, there's a LOT of people I know with dogs who use spanking as punishment. |
Well, it's not worth much.....they are WRONG. Just because a lot of people do it is a far cry from making it the thing to do. Dog training has come out of the dark ages, and using positive reinforcement to teach a dog before any corrections are introduced has proved very, very effective and results in dogs that are happy, understand the world around them, what's expected of them, and their place in it.
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Originally Posted by tcote My trainer is not too far from you..she is very good with large breeds... alot of positive reinforcement in training class....she also does Sunday afternoon classes... Dawsonville, GA 30534..you should be able to google and find her.... |
You can give her name and contact info here - it's okay to give trainer recommendations.