bonzo

I totally agree with ellenm, a young dog shouldn't be wearing a pinch collar. Actually I'm against a pinch collar even for an adult dog. I think that when you use a choak collar the correct way you can get all the results you want. Some people (I'm not meaning all of them) put a pinch collar on their dog because it looks tough. Try this: let your dog pull on a choak collar and let him pull on a pinch collar when he's used to it. He will pull as hard on the second one as he will on the first one. It's the correcction that makes the difference not the collar he has around his neck.

Blitzkreig

Mars recently grew out of his chain collar so it was a hand me down to Kali, but unfortunatly i may have made the mistake of teaching Mars that the chain meant buisness and the nylon collar meant play time and he definatly knew witch one was witch. because when he finally grew out of the chain i completly lost control of him. So bad in fact that i just recently purchesed a Pinch collar thinking he was just being stubborn. But since weve got him back on a training collar (pinch) i have yet to have to apply a single correction. Mars fell straight back in line. no questions asked. So i imagine i will go back to a simple chain. As a Pinch collar is kind of difficult to keep in position, and a little to cumbersome. For me at least.

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dobesanddragons

This could lead to problems. That is called collar wise. Ideally, the proper way to use a pinch collar is as a tool in training, it is a training tool. It isn't a substitute for actually spending the time and energy training your dog. Don't you want your dog to behave all the time if it is needed, instead of only in specific instances when you have "x" certain collar on him? What if there is a situation when you need him to behave but don't have "x" collar for whatever reason? What if suddenly the dog cannot wear that collar for various reasons? What then?
I am not against using a prong collar properly for training your personal dog, but it should be used as a tool, not a crutch IMO.

If you have to rely on a collar for your dog to behave, then you might want to rethink how you are training your Dobe, this is just my opinion. For instance, I found when training my first Dobe for competitive obedience that I was relying way too much on my training tools (collar and leash) and at the instructors recommendation I started to trust the dog more off leash (in a secure fenced in area) to work for me and with me and it forced me to be more in tune with my dog and give the dog more trust and helped us to be a better more reliable team. I used a mixture of praise, tug, ball, and treats. I now do a lot of my foundation work off leash in secure fenced in areas when I can even starting as young puppies, as it helps me not to rely so much on training tools such as leads and collars, and more on building the solid foundations with my dogs and having them be a lot fun for both owner and dog.

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dobesanddragons

I wish I couls say by age "x" the dog will suddenly listen to your every word, but this isn't true. Some dogs may never act "trained" if they aren't required to do so or have excuses made for them by their owners, which is common. I can't give you a timeline as so much depends on the owner themselves.
My questions to you : what are you doing to teach the recall? Are you consistent? To reinforce this? What times do you call puppy to you, for what, in and what setting? Are you doing formal training at an obedience club?

I play recall games with my puppies starting from day one. Inside the home, outside the home, with lots of people, with just me and puppy, on leash, off leash, etc. Puppy learns coming is the greatest thing ever. I run and they chase to get me, I don't chase them, this game only goes one way. I give out treats when they come, sometimes jackpot treats of special treats. Sometimes they get a special toy only used for recalls. I never call puppy to me for nail time, grooming, or to get scolded. This takes away from the good of the come foundation I am aiming to teach IMO. I also set puppy up to succeed. I don't call puppy when I know puppy won't come or the chance is low, I don't let them have chances to blow me off, I make sure if I am going to give a command, they will follow thru.

Walking on lead. Same questions as the recall...
What are you doing to teach this? How often are you doing this? Are you consistent? When he pulls, what do you do, what have you tried? Are you trying for a heel or just nice loose leash walking? What problems are you having? Are you doing formal training at an obedience club?

There are lots of ways to teach a dog to walk nicely on a loose leash. This will vary per dog. I have two Dobes that are like night and day when it came to teaching a nice loose leash walk. One was a dream; the other a nightmare But we worked several times daily on it. And I had to be creative and find out what would best for that particular dog, what motivated that dog the most to walk nicely and I had to learn the things I could do to help that dog's success in this.

And remember, six months is still very young. Don't expect perfection, this is a dog that also happens to have the puppy attention span, not a robot. Be fair, consistent, and clear. If you say sit, follow through on this and just say it once, don't repeat the command and nag at the dog until it might sit or down or walk off. Everything you say matters, commands aren't requests. Dogs are learning ALL the time. If you act like commands are suggestions, then well, they are to the dog. I see this when the dog only obeys one member of the family and not another. Remember to set the puppy up to succeed, don't tell the puppy to sit unless you mean it, don't tell puppy to sit when puppy is doing zoomies off leash making circles in your backyard that is an acre, lol. This is setting puppy up to ignore you, not setting them up to succeed and creating solid foundations.

Remember you are setting foundations for the puppy to become a well adjusted well rounded adult, see the bigger pictures. Hard work in puppyhood will pay off later. It is an ongoing process, training dogs, not something that happens overnight or in "x" amount of time. Socialization is so important. Get your dog out daily for mental stimulation as well as physical! If you haven't already, enroll in a course at an obedience club, read up about training, work in short sessions with your dog daily and make them fun. Your dog will more than likely become more consistent when you learn more about dog training and when YOU become more consistent and clear with what you want from the dog

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Our aspirations are our possibilities -- Robert Browning

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dusuwho

Hi thanks for your extensive reply. I can't promise an equal as I type like I just discovered the use of my hands and it would take several hours. We don't attend formal training classes yet. Does that make me bad?

I don't really have any issues with Max as in my opinion he's not bad at all. He responds well to all the commands mostly. His walk needs alot of work but he seems to be getting it slowly so I'm happy there is improvement. We're only going for a loose lead at present as a heel may be asking for too much of a crazy puppy brain to handle. We just position him with the lead at the moment, usng tugs with a command. Praising when he's doing it right, changing direction when he's not. When there's a distraction he finds it impossible to ignore at the moment, but he seems to be calming down.

I feel I am putting the hard work and consistency in and I am not expecting more of him at this stage. My reason for this thread was to set a target in my mind for a certain level of behaviour, so I knew if I needed to step it up or not later on.

We are always positive overload when he responds to recall. We train with him on a 10 meter lead so we can enforce the command if needed (and it is needed of course sometimes). When we do enforce the recall command it is always just as positive. He tends to be obedient and I'm happy.

The biggest snags are;

Jumping up at people to greet.

He's also becoming more vocal recently which I hope to manage.

The walk, but as I said it looks like improvement is happening.

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