On Mar 18, 2009, at 10:53 , William Robb wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Waller"
Subject: Re: PESO - Outside the Cheese Shop
And the only type of collar I found that would help me with my 110
lb. Malamute.
You do realize that Malamutes are bred
A) to pull.
B) to not necessarily believe that the direction the boss wants to
take is the best one.
don't you?
I really wish that people who buy sled dogs would realize this and
just put the dogs on a prong and be done with it.
William Robb
Until 2006, I have had nothing but Malamutes as my, and my (ex)
wife's, companion animals. I never had to do any formal training with
any of them. With time (2 - 4 months) and patience they will learn
what is expected of them, what they can do, and what is forbidden. No
hitting, no choke or prong collars, a little bit of reward treats when
doing good, and a voice command when doing bad. No!
The secret in my case, due to my ability to raise my voice to a level
that stops a train, is to have one, just one, full bore outburst
communicating my displeasure at whatever caused the problem, while
making myself big and putting the dog down on the ground. I am now the
Alpha dog, and that dog will look at me before doing anything it
thinks might incur my wrath, or can be stopped in it's tracks by the
phrase No! spoken gently. Most often I just used "Eh!" spoken sharply
but quietly.
Spending some time laying on the floor looking into your large dog's
eyes, saying nothing, from time to time helps strengthen the bond and
the alpha position you should always maintain.
By the way, none of the above will teach your dog to "emergency come".
That takes real training and repetition. Everyday "come" is much
easier, that's just communication of your desire. Emergency come is
the ability to completely break the dog's intent under any conditions
and return to your side. That's very difficult with a headstrong dog
like a Mal. Even more so in the presence of another male Mal.
When I got my first Malamute, Zacharia Volkavoi, from a litter my
parent's bitch had had, I made the mistake 6 months later of taking
him up to New Hampshire to see my parents and Zak's littermate.
Shortly after we arrived and went inside, Zak ended up with his nose
firmly clamped in the mouth of his brother. I tried to separate them
by pulling up on that dog's snout, which quickly caused my left arm to
to them be firmly clamped in the other dog's mouth. I had to then drag
him down a hall while pushing Zak behind me into the bathroom, then
banging and squeezing the other dog's head with the door repeatedly
until he let go. Not a pretty situation, but it was my fault. Just
because they are brothers doesn't mean two unaltered males will be
buddies after any period of separation. It was my parent's and their
Malamute's house, and Zak and I were the unwelcome guests.
The newest dog I have now, Siutik, just over a year old, is falling
into line very well. He gets most of his clues from watching how
Alornerk acts around me, and is responding to my voice and mood like a
trouper. I haven't ever had to go through the Alpha Male routine with
him, because someone who had him before in eastern Washington had put
the fear of god into him. So I have had to actually be more gentle and
smooth for him to understand I mean him no harm. He is however very
responsive, stopping immediately when the rough housing between the
two gets too rambunctious and I say "hey!" or "eh!".
Love my dogs!
Joseph McAllister
Pentaxian
http://gallery.me.com/jomac
http://web.me.com/jomac/show.me/Blog/Blog.html
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
[email protected]
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow
the directions.
