Yeah, Kohler is to obedience/protection training as Wolters is to hunting dogs. Their stuff was really innovative 50-70 years ago. But I think there are better ways to get more consistent results out of your dog. The yank and crank stuff teaches fear more than respect. Most of the training done with the MWD and Police K9s is a combination of reward and corrections that are intended to get the dog's attention, and not punish them.
Most dogs tend one way or the other. Some dogs respond far better to attention and praise and reward than discipline, and some respond better to sharp words, non-injury strikes, whatever other "negative" stuff you can come up with.
I'm pretty lucky that I have two mutts who prefer praise and attention and will go out of their way to keep us happy with them. I've talked with some owners who's dogs simply didn't care but wised up at stiff corrections and displeasure. Ours retain and nuke habits far faster with praise but I know not all do.
And far more common than either, is the human who doesn't know how, can't, or won't, assume the pack leader role and wonders why their dog is completely out of control.
My challenge right now is that the new girl re-taught the big boy to jump up on some people. We are working on a four on the floor environment again, but she's fast and you need two people to correct and control both of them simultaneously and they're a tad confused at directions because they're interpreting the correction given to the other dog as for themselves at times.
Her favorite way to ask to be let out is to "pop" at the door with both front paws very quickly. She also seems to equate this with "hello" to people and while it's not painful nor does she do it hard, she's caught me in the groin before and I wasn't real pleased with that. So part of this training is that one must park one's butt on the floor in a sit before one gets any attention from me or the Mrs.
Got some work to do. Individually and together. At least she's a quick learner. Maybe a little too quick. She'll park the butt for ten seconds or so, and can launch herself to the "pop" straight from there now once in a while. But it makes it more difficult for her. We both just have to stay out of launching distance until she's settled down enough that she's making eye contact and not prepping to pounce/jump.
You can see it on her face when she's in the pop mood and just back up a bit and give the sit command again. She's obviously annoyed with us for mandating it, but like any habit it'll get easier for her with time.
Wife needs retraining too. She will carry in so much stuff that she can't even see the dog below and then wonder why she gets popped by the little one. Opportunities aren't missed by dogs. Haha. Duh.
Gotta get in the leader/trainer mindset before you even come through that door until the behavior stops.
May have to start putting the dogs in a sit stay in specific locations close enough to the door that they can see you and be happy you're home but not reach you until released.
Still thinking about that. There's disadvantages to having them build a habit of backing off of the door when someone we don't want coming in it, is outside.
The little girl is already 1000x the home protector/guard mentality than the big dumb boy is. He looks more intimidating but I wouldn't want to be the person messing with her or her territory. Her time before being rescued was obviously in some places she felt she needed to defend her turf but she also has that "I know how to get you to pause and scare you a bit so I can escape" behavior often seen in street savvy dogs. She always knows her "out" and won't make it easy to corner her.
Still kinda figuring her out. I do know if she is bored or wants to leave somewhere and has her full body harness on, she knows how to squirm her way out of it in a pinch. She did it once when frightened early on, and almost got away with it once later when she wanted to roam further than the leash would allow when we were talking to the neighbors outdoors. Was pretty funny to all of us to note some wiggling and light pulling and look down and see her with the harness half off and almost over her head. Haha.
She's way too smart for her own good and needs more "jobs". I've been encouraging her to round up her dumber older brother and herd him to the house when he's off somewhere out of sight in the two fenced acres or he doesn't look interested in coming in. "Go get him!" and she streaks off to go harass him. She gets praise for working him toward the house. He thinks it's playtime and will let her chase him at full speed sometimes which isn't the end result desired, but she'll generally bring him back with her if she's hungry and he's delaying mealtime. Ha. Figured that much out, at least. Better results when there's food to be had, and she often succeeds in bringing him back to the house.
Dogs are fun. Now that it's warming up I want to see how good she is at fetch at long range. Poor boy at first kept trying to show her what a ball was. He'd walk over and drop/bounce it at her feet and she'd ignore it. But once she found out that he liked chasing them after I threw them, all of a sudden she was in competition mode and decided she could beat him at that game. He sometimes looks at me sadly when she beats him to the ball and brings it back to me. So I strategically throw it so he can get to it easier than she can sometimes. Keeps them both entertained.
I think she'd be awesome at agility training but I just don't have the time to do it right now. It'd give her a lot of jobs to do and she would pick it up quick.
