need some advice on 'Dax'

[fergie]

Hi everyone...

Finally, the day of reckoning has come...there is a rottie at our local animal shelter who I think I could adopt. He is about three years old. I will be going to take a look at him on Sunday. I talked to the kennel tech at the shelter, and got a bit of information. He apparently has no manners...was adopted by an older couple who couldn't handle him, because of his size(?) She told me he has a fairly typical temperment for a rottie- not aggressive, but you have to be the boss...the main thing is that a choke chain will not phase him, she said. I am wondering if there are any tool alternatives for training a big dog, and what that would involve. If you have any suggestions, please post them...I have had a great deal of experience with more assertive breeds ie. dobermans, german shepherds and plenty of crosses. Rotties will always be my favorite, though... thanks.

-Sarah:D

[LavenderRott]

I think my best advice would be to get him into a class as soon as possible and start training him. He could learn manners and bond with his new mommy at the same time.

[Rott-Wiley]

With a dog like that, I think I would go right into a "Nothing In Life Is Free" program. If you're not familiar with it, do a search on NILIF.

You might want to try him on a Gentle Leader and see how well he does on that. Have you ever worked with one? I personally don't like them but they do have their place as a training tool.

[Carina43]

A prong collar is a great tool! Dutch was very much the same way - ignored whichever human attached to his leash and just wanted to do whatever he felt like. He's a stinker. :p I don't think he'd even notice a choke collar (I don't like them anyhow.)

A prong collar was practically a necessity with him - his attention and controlability were 500% better. And he learned WAY faster when he realised lunge = Hey, OUCH and not lunge = good boy and a pet. :)

If this dog is quite hard, get the smaller link prong collar, it is much more effective.

And NILIF is a great idea for teaching manners in a hurry!

[danyp1]

I had a shep. rescue and he was fine at home but out he went for anything smaller on four legs for a while. And he was rather large. About 110 lb.. So the prong worked great to get my point across. I`m 5'6 so if I would not have been able to controll him he would have just send me flying down the street..
People do not seem to like prong collars but I think they are better than those electrical one`s(which where not available at that time but I would not have considered them)