Yes I am old enough to say 'I do not belive it'. There are at least 2 threads running at the moment with people pontificating about the correct way to train a dog, and the passion generated could start a war. Don't any of you have anything else to concern you, advice and help are always welcome, but no one wants to be ranted at. Dog training is not rocket science and nobody holds all the answers. Lets exchange views and learn from one another and stop beating each other over the head with dogma and insults. Please Jackie

Not trying to be funny - but in the overall scheme of things does it really matter how people train their dogs as long as there's no cruelty involved??

Fiona
x x x

Not one dot. My point exactly. Jackie

Sorry Victor :-)!

I started one of them, but as most of us will always have some problems with some dogs, the subject will always arise so it was an attempt to have a passion free thread in the absence of a specific incident/problem.

Take your point though - it isn't working too well and I for one intend to shut up entirely on the subject of training from now on.

Your etc, Margaret Meldrew (Mrs)

Don't want to stop people asking for or being given advice on training, it's just that of late it would seem that it is writen in stone that, thou shalt do what I say and if you consider any other way, thou shalt commit a sin. I've had dogs for over 50 years and I've not found the definitive way yet, and I've looked. All I'm asking for is a little humility please. Ja:)kie

All I can say is *I agree* :)

It is totally confusing to a novice for one thing ...having one person say something nicley and calmly ..and then someone else pops up and starts shouting the odds :(

No names and no blame ..lets just appreciate we ALL have different ways of helping and if you DO post a helpful note ,,,,do NOT be derrogatory to anyone else

:)

Melody

Hi Jackie, most of it is probably down to the difficulty of communicating in writing. There are a few things I'm reasonably confident about (some houndy and a few health issues rather than training), far more where I've had success doing X with one or two dogs, but am far from sure that it'll work for anyone else.

We need new some emoticons, eg

"I feel qualified to say that X is probably the answer"
"X has worked for me in certain situations, but I'm far from sure it will work for you"
"I don't have direct experience of it, but it might be worth trying X"

Trouble is Sharon there are those who would only be able to remember how to do the "I am qualified" emoticon. And it does not realy matter how qualified one may be it is still what worked for you and for any number of reasons it may not work for someone else, they may not be able to apply it, may not comprehend or may be, just not wish to try. Lets all give advice if and when we can, accept that others have different, even opposing advice to give, but if we do it gently & with the understanding it may not work or be acceptable to the recipient, then, with hope, it may help but not offend. Above all lets steer clear of offering advice as if it is the only way, it wont be. Jackie

Jackie,

I would never have thought you were over 50 ..not for any reason but we all picture people in our heads for some daft reason , Don't ask me what I thought you were I am not sure .. mind you you always talk wiht experience , unlike me LOL mines is opinions LOL.

Glad you are keeping the peace we could do with some.
Pam

Pam, had me wondering how you knew I was over 50, then remembered saying how long I'd lived with dogs. Stupid or what, just goes to show what happens to the mature brain, can't remember what happened a moment ago but ask us about the war................;)

wish I was 50 again

Ja:)kie

Jackie if you were 25 you would not give us so much info.. :-))

Pam

Ah Pam, when I was 25 I knew it all :)

just forgotten most of it. ;)

Jackie when I was 25 I knew it all too. lol, It is only now im double the age I realise I know very little . :D :D

Sorry Jackie. ;)
I've had my tuppence worth on Sharons thread, but that will be it, honest.
Nicky :D

Well I Think you all brilliant, for me personally I have an untrainable dog
which is hell. the other one is doing fine and it really is not me it's the Dog
Pat xx

I completly agree ,I am new to this site and to be totally honest some of the posters replys frighten me to death !!!!.I have only posted on a couple of things and have recieved lovely polite considerate anwers and adviceand I thank you all for that BUT some of the directions of some of the threads I can't believe what I'm reading !!!!! Sometimes it makes me think twice about asking a question for fear of being spoken to like a blithering idiot ( not far from the truth ;) ) I need all the help I can get and I'm sure ( or hope ) I'm not the only one .It has been said before -the whole point of a board like this is to pool knowledge and for people to glean what they can from others with more experience than them .
as granny said ' if you can't say anything nice then say nothing ! '
LIZ :)

To be honest I have ignored most of it because I find it unnecessary and if a post is too long I don't have the patience to read it so it's wasted effort too.

Yes dogs are animals and not humans but they are also individuals and what works for one will not work for another. The knack is finding what makes your dog tick - I'm still looking;) and ensuring no cruelty is involved. Other than that it's donw to individual styles and dogs. We are all different people and will have methods that suit our personalities and lifestyles better. Doesn't make it wrong that fact that it's different to someone else. jmho

The objective a happy dog and family.

Pam n the boys

I agree Jackie. The worst thing of all, that I can see happening from all this is that I know of a couple of people who've said they are now *afraid* to ask a question:(

Also people are becoming wary of answering training questions because then they have to sort out the put downs they recieve afterwards. Neither of these situations is good for dogs and their owners is it?

What suits one may not suit another. I only have one dog (at the moment:D), but he is an individual, and I firmly believe he has a *personality*. If I took an authoritarian approach with him, yes he'd do what I told him but he'd just *do it*, where as if I asked him he looks like 'go on then seeing as you asked':D Oh I can put my foot down and sometimes I have to, BUT I am perfectly clear that what works for him MAY not work with another. If I had a question I'd like to be able to come here and ask it - see how people would deal with it, then take from the information the bits that I think will work with *him*. And if I get another dog I suspect I will have to be different agian (actually I'm sure of it:) )

People respond differently to different approaches (bit like my kids really:D ) so I don't see why it should be different for dogs, you have to use the one that works for you.

I think Sharon's thread was a good idea to try and take the discussion to a less personal level because I'm one who did ask the question and began to wish I hadn't :( But I wouldn't let it put me off.
I do know everyone has different methods of training etc. and I'm sure I could take something from everyone's methods.
What I don't like is unfounded insults directed personally at me and/or my dog and there was one poster who seemed to feel such respones necessary. But, at least I'm big enough and ugly enough to see through that and it won't stop me asking anything else. (I'll just make sure I duck ;) ;))
See, you're not getting rid of me :p I enjoy the things I've learned from this board and the chat :D :D
Dot

please don't stop answering training questions ---It's like when you have the kids and people say 'try this or try that ' some of it doesn't sit right and some does so you pick out the bits you like and if it doesn't work then you come back and ask again. I've only just started here and I'm sure I'm going to pester the life out of you all ;) If I'm brave enough to ask then be brave enough to answer !!!!!!
LIZ

Hi dot, dont ever let anyone put you off asking questions. There are bound to be occasional posters who think their way is THE only way. Sadly for them, they have an awful lot more to learn, than you do :D

No one should ever be afraid to ask a question, there is no such thing as a stupid question if you don't know the answer. I've lived with dogs all my life and I still have only stratched the surface of what makes them tick, they sure as hell don't read the same books I do. Ingrid

LIZ, Speaking for myself, and that is the only person I can speak for, just try and stop me...........;)

Aw shucks. Thanks Philippa :o :D
Dot

Sorry for any offence I may have caused
Anne

Im sure we all must of offended someone at some time and I'm sure most of us would be sorry if we realised we had, but nice of you to say so although I don't remember you saying anything offensive but then I don't remember much. Ja:)kie

I totally agree Jackie., I haven't got involved in these threads., the way I see it, people offer advice, you either take it or you don't. At the end of the day you train your dog how YOU want to train it...no one else., so what is the point in getting all airy fairy, and as you say, people beating each other up...it's not their dogs...so why worry....offer the advice...if its taken...great...if not....well cest la vie....

JMHO

Natasha

23 posts on this thread now, and not a cross word. Is this a record I ask myself. Great aint it. ;)

i agree that a fair few of us will of offended someone----as for im sure theyd be sorry :rolleyes: . it would depend who it was and what theyd said :D

hi all ,
read all the post and a nice calm thread for a change,there are lots of us out there that have had dogs all there lives,what about a thread with some of the mistakes we have made, then perhaps the newcomers to the world of dogs can see that everyone started someware and made some mistakes along the way,i just want my dogs to be safe and happy to be around.when i had a g.s.d as a pup training was going well, then one day in the park he would not come on the re-call, called him and called him, no he was not going to come,started to try and catch the little sod,as soon as i got near him he ran off, lost my patience with him and when he did come i told him off and gave him a wallop on the bum, from then on he would not come back, why,i asked myself, would i want to go to some one who walloped my a*** when i went to them , no, i had done the damage, so from that i learnt to be patient even if it took a hour to get a dog to come still praise it,sooner or later it will click as with everything , time and patience and each breed is different. regards tina

Listen you lot this is a novice talking :D

I am a new dog owner (Barney is just 1 and Molly is nearly 8 months). My biggest queries are about illness (my vet loves me cos I am there every week in a panic if I think my babies are ill) and BEHAVIOUR as are most posts from new owners. How do I stop Barney picking on Molly, keeping him top dog (and hoping top dog below me, my husband and daughter). How do I tell him that he can play fight but has to stop before he shakes her to death. How do I tell Molly that she isnt top dog - too small for top dog and she must let Barney be top dog - but she can be a little bitch to Barney. How do I know there should be a top dog - from you lot on here no-where else as I didnt know of such things. I have had so much help but when you rant and rave amongst yourselves I listen and listen. I then decide that that "person" posting is not the sort of person I will listen to and I ignore them and take the advice of the others who I believe are giving me good advice. What I find frustrating is that the person doing the antagonising may have a lot of good advice but because they are so horrible I see their name in other posts and ignore what they are saying ... I am being truthful now and dont like doing this but my dogs are the most important things to me at the moment when I post on this board so if I find you are being rotten to others then I am sorry but it sticks in my mind and I find I dont want to listen to you. SO what I am saying is that you can argue as much as you like but I will only take advice (and I have been on the board now since last November) from the people I TRUST. BUT please all of you dont stop posting cos I would have been absolutely lost without you but also remember that us novices have long memories and although I must admit I am frightened sometimes to post I will instead send an e mail to those of you I trust if some of you do frighten me off posting openly. I hope other novices will agree with me and do the same thing. Being a normal inquisitive person I do enjoy the heated debates but really hate any personal attacks on a poster. I hope I have said I what I am trying to say :D :D

Also this post is not against ANYONE POSTING ON THIS THREAD because you are all good people who love their dogs but said in case there are others "reading" but not posting on this thread at the moment but who may want to post and antagonise people in the future.

Phew never posted so long before because I am normally asking questions and not replying so hope you realise what I am saying :)

Regards Gina

Hi Gina Your heart is in the right place girl lol Mari

dont be shy gina, if youve got something to say,, out with it :D :D :D

Oh Gawd :o :o
:D