When my current Dobermann b*tch was a pup she has the annoying habbit of grabbing trousers legs {usually mine} & more often that not pinching the skin in the process {she was corrected & gave the “game” up}
I mentioned this to the ex police dog trainer who helped run the obedience club I attended & he advised that I let her carry on uncorrected & she would soon get bored of it!
When I had an overly dog aggressive Boxer I was trying to socialize & work on her focus and control, with intentions of eventually being able to bring her into the Obed ring….
Somebody actually suggested REALLY harsh collar corrections, practically “hanging” her, front paws off the ground….with a PRONG COLLAR. Lady who gave me the advice was an Obedience competitor with a lot more experience than me, so I figured she knew what she was doing. She even asked to “borrow” my dog so that she could demonstrate exactly what she was talking about. We were in a public place with other dogs around, so all she had to do was put my dog in a position where she was triggered to lunge and snarl at another dog. Her snarl went immediately to a scream and her feet came up off the ground…but the whole time she was fighting, gagging, trying to growl and bite at whatever she could. It certainly didn’t neutralize the situation, it only served to help her associate other dogs with fear and pain :(.
I have nothing against prong collars when used PROPERLY and this was definitely not what I consider proper use of one. I felt so bad that I actually put my dog in someone else’s hands & let this happen to her, And I vowed from that point on, I’d NEVER let anyone else handle my dog. Ever.
Fortunately, another person who saw what happened, took me aside privately and put me in touch with someone who was better equipped to help me & my dog. I learned that day that just because someone’s got a few dogs with an “alphabet soup” of titles, doesn’t mean they know everything about training.
It took about a year of hard work, but I was able to teach her to focus on ME and ignore other dogs, without inflicting prong-collar puncture wounds on her.
My parents know nothing of dogs, and they taught us to spank them, rub their nose in their poo if they aren’t going in the appropriate area, allow them to breed if they are intact because it’s “good for them”, etc. etc.
It’s a good thing that as a very young child in elementary school I loved reading and was encouraged to go to the library. I got lots of dog books and learned a lot about them and how horrible all this advice was.
Problem is I can’t convince my parents they are wrong no matter what. Close minded ignorant people are the worst.
Worst advice I hear and a LOT of trainers are okay with this… is allowing your dog to pick up food from the floor, for training or anything else. It has been nothing but a huge problem because when your dog should be focusing on you, it is instead sniffing the ground for tossed and missed treats.
I no longer permit that and our focus has indeed improved.
Shock collars. That’s the first and last advice I ever got from a “professional” trainer.
My dog has the habit of barking at the dogs next door [they feel the need to come to the edge of their fence and raise their hair at our dogs, so, naturally they return the “favour”] every few times she’s out there.
So when I called up a professional trainer, his advice was either “put a shock collar on her to stop the barking” or “slap her on the nose and tell her no”.
The shock collar is just cruel, in my opinion. That’s stopping a dog from doing something their instincts tell them to do.
The “slap the nose technique” is just stupid, really. The dog’s already angry and on it’s toes, so why not slap it and make it even more so?
Yeah, right.
I did have that same advice about the dog getting bored, in regards to my dog chewing our toilet paper.
There are too many to list or even think of off the top of my head, but here are a few:
To stop a dog from pulling on leash, whack him over the nose with the handle of the leash.
To stop a dog from getting into the trash, put a plastic trash bag over his head until he goes limp from nearly suffocating to death. (I think this actually happened to my dog before I adopted her.)
To stop a dog from killing chickens, tie a dead chicken around its neck until the chicken rots off or force dog to sleep in chicken pen and beat him if any chickens are harmed.
To stop a dog from running off, leave him out overnight in the rain or snow.
To make a dog pay attention to you, boot him in the *** any time he is not looking.
Geez… I must have known a lot of ignorant people in my life…
I have to go with Got Boxer’s answer. That is the worst piece of advice I have seen yet.
Also my brother had his dog boarded while he came to visit. He lost some weight in there (was there for 7 days) due to separation anxiety and just wouldn’t eat. He was told his dog need to go see a dog psychologist because he had horrible issues. (give me a break)
A long time ago I had a friend who self-proclaimed himself a dog trainer. NOT! He told me to throw lemons (we had a lemon tree in our back yard) at the dog (aiming at it’s behind) to get it to stop barking. I thought he was kidding but he was absolutely serious. That was the end of that relationship, let me tell you. What a troll he was.
“If she doesn’t wanna walk on a leash, don’t make her”
^^advice given to me, by my brother, when my dog had serious leash/collar issues.
Haha. Just the other day he said to me (as I was telling him dogs are horrible Christmas gifts) “Well, dogs are just dogs to some people”.
Made me smile:)
My worst advice was given in a group training class. All of the dogs in the class were puppies and teething. (I’m sorry I don’t know how to spell it, I’m only 13.) Anyways… they told us if our dog was chewing on something he wasn’t suppose to chew on, to grab it out of his mouth. Yes, I tried this and I ended up bleeding. Lol. From now on I never bring my dogs to those classes; and it helps!
Was told by a trainer once, the best way to stop an attacking dog is to spray with mace and run as fast as you can…….huh, I said what, he said don’t stand around after you do it…..trust me never took this guy serious anymore…LOL he was kinda off, dont you think
Shock collars. Sick and the main reason I hate cesar millan.
Oh, and the old classic, rubbing the dogs nose in it’s own poo. Yeah, that helps, and isnt gross. Why dont you rub your kids face in its own nappy when it doesnt become potty trained quickly enough?
Years ago, when my dog was young, he had a terrible habit of jumping up on people. So the trainer I hired (Canine Counselors) told me to knee him in the chest when he jumped up. So my smart dog began to jump on people’s sides!!!
“When your dog is bad, you have to spray water on her”
I did and she thought it was a treat. She started licking up the water and laid down like she was in heaven.
Dont use shock collars or Rub her face in her poo this is rediculous!
My Dog used too do this try everytime she does it spray her with a water botttle in her face this is what corrected my pup.
I was told not to bother trying to teach my dog to walk loose on a leash because he never would because of his breed. It would just fustrate me more than anything and not be of any use.
when your dog jumps..knee him in the chest as hard as you can
or
rub your dogs nose in its poo/pee when it goes in the house
LMAO! That’s what the pshrink told my parents about my messy room. Er…now I have a messy house!
The worst training advice ever is the “Alpha Roll”.
I was told this also when i went to dog traininig, yet still it carried on, and I was talking about myself as I don’t even have a dog!
the worst was to “rub their nose in the Poo/pee”
OMG CAN YOU SAY GERMS AND BACTERIA!
Just pay attention to your puppy/dog…ugg!
OK rant done!
i was told to take my dog to classes(yeah fair enough) and then trade dogs with other people for 10 minutes so my dog walks with anyone!! i don;t want my dog walking with strangers thank you
Yep- same thing as GB. I keep on being told to watch The Dog Whisperer. 😛
“Watch the Dog Whisperer” ahahahaha
i was tols that if a dog goes to the toilet in the house then you should rub the nose in there mess THIS IS ALOAD OF BOLLOCKSSS AND IS CRUEL
This does’nt sound like a very smart correction to me and I hope your still not going to this idiot??
to slap my dog hard everytime he did something wrong,
i was like, excuse me? its a puppy!
stupid people :@
xEmiiLoo
I was advised to alpha roll an aggressive dog. WTF? No thanks, I’d rather keep my face.
I’ve just got my worst piece of advice from some of the answerer’s here. Advice against e-collars NOT shock collars because there’s no such thing btw. E-Collars are the single most valuable tool in off leash obedience. I can’t say every, but more than most, definitely over 90% of the dogs in the Sch Nationals last year were trained with e-collars. More than 90% of the dogs in the BSP last year were trained on e-collars, sometimes a long lead just DOESN’T cut it, especially when you’re talking about a dog with a brain in it’s head who realizes “Hey, I’m not on a leash, what can you do about it…”. Also ever have a dog that digs? E-collars are the best and definitely most effective piece of equipment to tackle that as well as getting into the trash and other “bad” behaviors that require deterrent training. Also, and maybe even most importantly to this argument? E-collars are more humane than prong collars when used correctly, BY FAR. And I use prong collars every day, I love them, they’re the greatest, but once again for those out there with short term memory problems: E-collars are more humane than prong collars. Put one on your arm, it doesn’t hurt, a prong collar does hurt, it’s supposed to. The e-collar is simply “uncomfortable”, and obviously: A great deterrent/good reminder to obey.