re: Who here has trained their own dog?

I read over a couple of books, including that one. What helped the best was getting basic commands set in stone, I mean, they listen 100%, 100% of the time to basic commands. A good foundation is where it starts. Ended up just winging it on my own. He will listen to my direction on retrieves half of the time, but I didn't teach him any of that.

I got him at 3 months, and started then. Shock collar literally scared the piss out of him, so I quit using it. He wouldn't do anything after i zapped him.


I can get him to hold off on chasing cats, release him, and stop him in his tracks when he is in full stride now.

Like I said, get the basics down to a T, and everything else will be easy. Do not try and jump ahead of yourself, or you will end up frustrated and disappointed at yourself and your dog.


Eta: You will learn the proper amounts of praise and punishment for the dog. After I whooped mine, I always made sure to make up with him 5 minutes later