{22sept2012: prong collar}

People have expressed concerns about our use of a prong collar on Darwin, but we have good reason for using it. Before we moved to Singapore we were worried of Darwin being in a place that was not as dog friendly as Seattle. We had been experiencing problems of Darwin barking at people who approached her to say hello. We'd be out, on a hike, on a walk, at the park, etc, and someone would come up to us and ask if they could say 'hi' to Darwin. We'd say yes she's friendly, and as they'd approach she'd start barking. It was not in a vicious or aggressive way, but it made even dog people nervous (a 130lb dog barking would make anyone nervous) and we were sure it'd scare the daylights out of non-dog people. Also while she's a decent walker on leash (we were using a Wonder Walker Body Halter) she also would sometimes still pull with the harness on. We also heard from Darwin's holistic vet that using the harness a lot was not good because of the way it would rub against her shoulder muscles.
We wanted to correct the barking and work on her leash walking before we moved so we went to a trainer in Seattle. Kristie, Boo's mom, had nothing but good things to say about the trainer she's used, Steve at Nitro K-9, and we've seen how well behaved Boo is so we contacted him. His training method uses prong collars and part of the training was showing/teaching us the correct way to use it. 
At our first evaluation meeting with him we told him our concerns and he did a quick bit of leash work with Dar.
{hanging out waiting for our evaluation}




He noticed she was little gimpy (her back had been acting up again in the last couple months before our move and we had been back to seeing the holistic vet for acupuncture and chiropractic work) and mentioned that part of her barking at people could be related to her being in pain.
Because of her gimpiness he broke up her training sessions into six 30minute sessions rather than three hour long sessions. 


Due to the craziness that comes with moving we ended up missing our last session but still feel we were able to learn a lot from Steve and were able to address the main concerns we had about Darwin being in Singapore. She no longer barks at strangers who approach her (the few that do here) and she's also stopped barking at dogs who bark at her while we're out walking. She's also a much better walker with the prong collar. Every so often we'll switch back to her "pretty" collars but if she starts acting up we'll go back to the prong collar for a refresher.
I used to look at prong collars and think they looked really mean and cruel (ok really I'm still not a fan of the way they look) but after learning the correct way to use it I have to say I am amazed at how well it works. I don't think it's something you should go out and buy and use on your dog without the correct training first, but I think once you are taught the right way to use it it is quite an effective tool. 

{28may2010: Woo hoo!}

It's a three day holiday weekend!  Woo hoo!
Hope you all have something fun planned!


Thank you all for your input on Darwin's barking issue!  A really big thanks to Honey's mom for her always helpful tips! 
We went for a family walk after work yesterday up to the farmers market in our neighborhood.  It was the perfect chance to work with Darwin with the tips from Hsin-Yi.  We had Darwin in her "sports bra" (which we've taken to calling it after Mango called it that in a comment) and had a bag of treats and the clicker handy.  We worked on her heeling on the way up there, and once we got to the market there were a lot of dogs around (and people).  Darwin got tons of attention from everyone, and we managed to get through the whole market without her barking at any of the other dogs!  I didn't get any pictures though (I was too occupied eating my ice cream cone).   
On the way home we stopped at a little park and entertained ourselves by swinging on the swings, which Darwin did not like.  

We had found a ball on our walk up to the market and Darwin had a blast playing with it at the park.

So yes!  Training has been successful so far!  We'll be keeping up with it for sure!


So after we got home and Darwin got her bland dinner of chicken and rice she was in the living room playing with her ball, and all of a sudden walked over to Jason with it.  We thought she wanted to play, but then we noticed she had got her bottom teeth stuck in a hole at the end of the ball.

It's not that big of a hole, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch big, but boy does it stretch!
We were shocked, but then had to laugh and run and grab the camera and I took a video on my phone before we helped free her (hehehe we're so mean).

So far it just looks like she's biting it right?

But, nope... not biting it.  It's stuck.  
(Jack, do you like our contribution to 'cut off part of your head' day?)
Sorry for the dark video... 


So after Jason freed her from the ball, we got comfy watching Jason's favorite show (The Wire) and not even five minutes later, she got it stuck again!  This time though instead of walking to Jason she walked down the hallway (I think in shame), so we had to follow her and get it off her. 
Now that we know she can get stuck on that ball, we've hidden it while she's home alone to prevent any further ball-lip incidents.

Have a great weekend everyone!