# Craziest training method/advice you've heard?



## Cottonflower2 (Sep 24, 2017)

I just thought this would be an interesting and funny story I overheard from a trainer that was testing a method of potty training
Basically what she did when coming across a puddle of pee was make a big scene out of it: she looked down directly at the pee and started throwing a tantrum, jumping up and down, flailing her arms and saying "Bad pee!!! Bad bad bad bad PEE!!" all while avoiding eye contact and interaction with her dogs. Then when she's done yelling at the pee she just cleans it up and leaves. And surprisingly, it worked, she didn't come across another accident after that. The most amusing thing to me was her reenactment of it and her context of what her dogs were thinking while watching this whole scene "holy smoke that was weird. I'm never doing that again"

What's the craziest training method or advice you've ever heard?


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## CometDog (Aug 22, 2017)

Uh, had a friend with a big Labradoodle that had supposedly gone through advanced training. When he met me and my small daughter he tackled her and started humping. The dog's teenage family member dragged him off of her, pinned the dog and started humping him back. It's what the "trainer" told him to do to establish dominance and extinguish the humping behavior. True story, swear on my 1st born.


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## Bramble (Oct 23, 2011)

Biting a puppy back if it bites you, and taping an item inside a dog's mouth so they would learn not to chew on it again.


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## ausdland (Oct 21, 2015)

Don't put obedience on a trailing dog.


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## GypsyGhost (Dec 29, 2014)

The craziest advice I’ve heard actually came from this forum, and it had to do with socialization/exposure for a dog that was fearful of strollers. A member suggested the person with the reactive/fearful dog seek out strangers pushing their babies in strollers and have their dog “investigate” the stroller. I just thought that was bonkers and dangerous. 

I hear bad training advice given for fearful/reactive/fear aggressive dogs all the time, usually from people who have never had a fearful or reactive dog, and have no real experience in training whatsoever.


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## Sunsilver (Apr 8, 2014)

*taping an item inside a dog's mouth so they would learn not to chew on it again.*


 That's right out of the 1960's (WilliamKohler). Honestly, Kohler trained both cats and dogs for movies (That Darn Cat was one of them) so he couldn't have been all that bad a trainer. Unfortunately, some of his ideas were abusive.

I constantly see people training things that are going to have to be UN-trained in order for the dog to master the whole task, and it really makes me shake my head. For instance, if you want your dog to surrender the dumb bell to you, WHY are you letting him wrestle with you, as though it's a tug toy??


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

the craziest training technique I've done and never recommend is tripping and falling over your dog. My ridgie mix was supposed to be heeling as we jogged down a hill. A squirrel ran right across our path and the dog turned in front of me to chase it. I crashed into her and flipped right over her. Luckily the worst I suffered was some bruising but my dog heeled much better after that.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

_taping an item inside a dog's mouth_

Well it actually works, was a tried and true method for decades. It's aversion training. And while it is not something I would do, I did stuff some underlay in my Danes mouth and hold it shut for a few minutes while making it clear I was un amused. It worked.


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

I extended my hand for an intro hand shake while my boy was sitting quietly and the trainer looked at me and said "don't you know that your not suppose to do that". I must have given her a very confused look because she then said "That's a signal to bite". A few other misunderstandings that day. No Shepherd experience but it worked out.


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

Sabis mom said:


> _taping an item inside a dog's mouth_
> 
> Well it actually works, was a tried and true method for decades. It's aversion training. And while it is not something I would do, I did stuff some underlay in my Danes mouth and hold it shut for a few minutes while making it clear I was un amused. It worked.





Well........since you are being forthright....I've been known to bite back a few times when the doggy-wrassling was getting a bit too heated.........they gotta learn bite pressures/inhibitions one way or another.....it did work but I don't know that I would recommend it to those that don't want to get down in the dog trenches.....and risk taking a hit to the face.




SuperG


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## Sunsilver (Apr 8, 2014)

Sabis mom said:


> _taping an item inside a dog's mouth_
> 
> Well it actually works, was a tried and true method for decades. It's aversion training. And while it is not something I would do, I did stuff some underlay in my Danes mouth and hold it shut for a few minutes while making it clear I was un amused. It worked.


I have to confess, I've been desperate enough to try it, too. It did NOT work! The only way to prevent a certain dog from chewing up carpets was keeping her OUT of the room where the carpet was! 

That, and getting over the puppy stage, which took a couple of years!


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## Gwyllgi (Aug 16, 2017)

I remember back in the day being told to rub the dog's nose in the carpet where it had peed

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

Gwyllgi said:


> I remember back in the day being told to rub the dog's nose in the carpet where it had peed
> 
> Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk





Yeah....I hated that one....my mom must have done that to me until I was 12.............




SuperG


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## Gwyllgi (Aug 16, 2017)

SuperG said:


> Yeah....I hated that one....my mom must have done that to me until I was 12.............
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Just be glad you didn't do a number 2 

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk


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## CometDog (Aug 22, 2017)

SuperG said:


> Well........since you are being forthright....I've been known to bite back a few times when the doggy-wrassling was getting a bit too heated.........they gotta learn bite pressures/inhibitions one way or another.....it did work but I don't know that I would recommend it to those that don't want to get down in the dog trenches.....and risk taking a hit to the face.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have bitten back too, just hard enough to teach a lesson. And I may not be talking about dogs and puppies lol I don't recommend it, but sometimes ..you just can't help it.


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

Sunsilver said:


> *taping an item inside a dog's mouth so they would learn not to chew on it again.*
> 
> 
> That's right out of the 1960's (WilliamKohler). Honestly, Kohler trained both cats and dogs for movies (That Darn Cat was one of them) so he couldn't have been all that bad a trainer. Unfortunately, some of his ideas were abusive.
> ...


Well...I put pressure on the dumbell to get my dog to commit and hold it better. I got a dumb bell with strings on it. He has an awesome out. It helped his whole retrieve a lot.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Bramble said:


> Biting a puppy back if it bites you, .


My MIL did that to one of our Boxers. My son described it to me while we were in line at Pittsburgh Penguins game. 

T: Bandit bit Grama.
Me: Bandit?? Bandit BIT your grandmother?
T: Yeah.
Me: Why?
T: She was painting his nails
~Guy behind us chokes on his drink
Me: Painting his nails? So what did she do?
T: She bit him back
~Guy behind us trying very hard to laugh
T: Grama is so lazy she doesn't sit up to eat.
~Guy behind us falls down.
T: ~stomping his little feet at us~ It's not funny!!!!

No little dude...that was hysterical.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Thecowboysgirl said:


> Well...I put pressure on the dumbell to get my dog to commit and hold it better. I got a dumb bell with strings on it. He has an awesome out. It helped his whole retrieve a lot.


yup. If they aren't holding it tight, they lose it. No reward. They grip harder.

The hold and the Out are two different commands, each have to be obeyed separately. 

If I want my dog to out the sleeve, why have the helper fight them? :wink2:


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

GypsyGhost said:


> The craziest advice I’ve heard actually came from this forum, and it had to do with socialization/exposure for a dog that was fearful of strollers. A member suggested the person with the reactive/fearful dog seek out strangers pushing their babies in strollers and have their dog “investigate” the stroller. I just thought that was bonkers and dangerous.


It's hard to hear this and not clarify, since I am the crazy person who posted that advice! Of course, what you said above is not at all what I suggested, but your memory of what I did say clarifies why you reacted as you did ? Here's the quote from the thread:



> So if the child was in a stroller and Moose hasn't seen one up close I'd suggest letting him sniff one up close (without the child present) and that should help.


Here's the link to the thread if anyone wants to read it for themselves:

https://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/general-puppy-stuff/717258-barking-hair-skittish.html


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## GypsyGhost (Dec 29, 2014)

tim_s_adams said:


> It's hard to hear this and not clarify, since I am the crazy person who posted that advice! Of course, what you said above is not at all what I suggested, but your memory of what I did say clarifies why you reacted as you did ? Here's the quote from the thread:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Tim, you are not the only person on this forum. I was not referring to anything you said. Please stop taking everything I say as some sort of attack against you. The person to whom I was referring is not even a member anymore, and this happened long before you joined here.


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

GypsyGhost said:


> Tim, you are not the only person on this forum. I was not referring to anything you said. Please stop taking everything I say as some sort of attack against you. The person to whom I was referring is not even a member anymore, and this happened long before you joined here.


Please, post a link to the thread you're referring to! Of course I'm not the "only" person on this forum", but you mist admit the similarity to the thread I participated in not so long ago is uncanny....

If there is another thread with such a similar subject matter, I'd love to read it! Sorry if I made an incorrect assumption!


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## GSDchoice (Jul 26, 2016)

Well, here is a training method I hate...(does anybody actually teach this method, I hope not...)

Reactive lunging barking dog ( or, attacking dog! )
Owner hauls the dog back, screams in its face, and hits it.
I have seen this dog/human behavior about 5-6 times now, with different owner/dog pairs.

I started to wonder if there is a correlation between angry dogs and their angry owners?
There is! 
Studies have shown that hitting a dog makes it more likely to behave aggressively.


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## GypsyGhost (Dec 29, 2014)

tim_s_adams said:


> Please, post a link to the thread you're referring to! Of course I'm not the "only" person on this forum", but you mist admit the similarity to the thread I participated in not so long ago is uncanny....
> 
> If there is another thread with such a similar subject matter, I'd love to read it! Sorry if I made an incorrect assumption!


I did not even remember that there had been a somewhat recent stroller thread. That one did not stick in my mind as having horribly bad, dangerous advice. As for the bad advice to which I am actually referring, I am not going to look through every post that a banned member made to post a link here. Also, they are not a member anymore. I’m not comfortable allowing someone to be attacked when they cannot even defend their own words.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

GSDchoice said:


> Well, here is a training method I hate...(does anybody actually teach this method, I hope not...)
> 
> Reactive lunging barking dog ( or, attacking dog! )
> Owner hauls the dog back, screams in its face, and hits it.
> ...


That is because dogs, and children, learn what they live. 
You cannot teach an animal to be gentle and kind by raising them with violence and deprivation.


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

tim_s_adams said:


> Please, post a link to the thread you're referring to! Of course I'm not the "only" person on this forum", but you mist admit the similarity to the thread I participated in not so long ago is uncanny....
> 
> If there is another thread with such a similar subject matter, I'd love to read it! Sorry if I made an incorrect assumption!


I usually don't butt in between a disagreement, but I remember Tims thread well and remember what his quote was and being relieved that he did state with out the baby. **** also remember a thread pretty long ago and I believe it is the one GypsyGhost is referring to because I remember being horrified that the poster would advise having a dog approach a carriage with a child in it. If that is the same thread GypsyGhost is referring to, I may have even participated in the thread with other suggestions.

Maybe this helps clarify a disagreement.


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

*Duke got the last laugh*



Gwyllgi said:


> I remember back in the day being told to rub the dog's nose in the carpet where it had peed
> 
> Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk


We only had one dog when we were little. A 6wk old sweet Beagle. Paper trained first for about two weeks then taken out. At that time, neighbors who also had dogs used that method.

Well one night my dad was working with some nautical charts (we all were taught not to touch his charts) while watching tv and left a chart on the floor. Ya know where this is going lol. Us kids woke before dad and praise the heck out of Duke but real worried. my dad came in, saw what Duke did, must have seen the justice in it and didn't say a word. Just picked up the mess.

I think that was Duke's last accident.


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## Max Rockatansky (Dec 16, 2018)

SuperG said:


> Well........since you are being forthright....I've been known to bite back a few times when the doggy-wrassling was getting a bit too heated.........they gotta learn bite pressures/inhibitions one way or another.....
> 
> SuperG


I've never tried it on a dog, but I did bite a horse once. It fixed his habit of biting me on the bum when I was climbing up.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Max Rockatansky said:


> I've never tried it on a dog, but I did bite a horse once. It fixed his habit of biting me on the bum when I was climbing up.


My horse stopped biting when he had s tantrum at the fence line and as he went to take a chunk out of my daughter, He got a mouthful of electric fence. Zap zap.


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

Jax08 said:


> My horse stopped biting when he had s tantrum at the fence line and as he went to take a chunk out of my daughter, He got a mouthful of electric fence. Zap zap.


I can definitely see how that could work! lol

I've seen so many stupid training advise things that I can't keep count. From alpha rolling an 8 week old puppy to stop her from humping toys (because DOMINANCE!!) to biting the dog to putting YOUR poop in the holes that the dog is digging so that you have "claimed" the hole

The most dangerous advice I've seen goes above and beyond the normal "alpha roll" OP was a smallish female with some mobility issues. Dog was a large male intact GSD that had escalated from growling and grumbling at her commands to move him out of the way/off furniture to biting. She had already had one trip to the ER to get stitches and was extremely scared of the dog. Advise was of courese to drag the dog off the sofa, alpha roll him and get straight in his face and growl back at the dog. The person said that 1) it would give her increased confidence in dealing with the dog in future and 2) that the dog would get the idea that she is alpha.

She didn't post anymore after this question so I'm hoping that she just lost interest in the group's advise or rehomed the dog and not because this guy's advise sent her to the morgue


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## herojig (Apr 3, 2013)

*Krypto the Super Dog was afraid of thunder / lightning / rain, so the trainer...*










Krypto the Super Dog was afraid of thunder / lightning / rain, so the trainer brought him up on the roof deck and had me hold him on a lead, sitting next to me, and started lighting off fireworks in front of him, scaring the crap out of both of us. I suppose if guns were legal here, he would have tried that instead. 

Suffice to say, this may have been a good idea, but it did not work. After that, if a door slammed, Kdog would jump and run for cover, and continued to live in fear of monsoon weather until he passed.


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## Datura (Feb 16, 2018)

Before I brought my bulldog Ella home I was talking to the petsmart trainer about starting classes. I was really exited because she had a bulldog herself. 
I became less excited when she told me bulldogs aren't stubborn, but physically unable to sit and down. 
I ended up deciding not to waste the money on the class and trained her myself. She does sit and down quite well lol


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Poor Krypto!My ears are ringing just thinking about it


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

Keeping in mind that Bud weighed 95lbs lean I to had someone tell me to pin him and snarl in his face.


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## GSDchoice (Jul 26, 2016)

That brings to mind a weird moment we had...we were walking, calmly passing a man who was standing by the sidewalk waiting for the bus. He commented to me,"That's a big dog. You better be the Boss of that dog." 
I was slightly offended (was he implying that a woman can not be the Boss of a big dog?).
But then Rumo took a few steps past him, stepped onto the grass and calmly lifted his leg! He has NEVER marked anywhere near a human being before.
If I didn't know better, I'd think Rumo was expressing contempt for his advice...but, nah.


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## Dunkirk (May 7, 2015)

herojig said:


> Krypto the Super Dog was afraid of thunder / lightning / rain, so the trainer brought him up on the roof deck and had me hold him on a lead, sitting next to me, and started lighting off fireworks in front of him, scaring the crap out of both of us. I suppose if guns were legal here, he would have tried that instead.
> 
> Suffice to say, this may have been a good idea, but it did not work. After that, if a door slammed, Kdog would jump and run for cover, and continued to live in fear of monsoon weather until he passed.


I remember when my son was 4 years old, my first german shepherd was lying next to him on our back deck. My son had a sheet of caps, meant for a toy gun. They made a loud sound like a gunshot, and a puff of smoke, when my son hit each cap with a rock. My son was having a great time making all that noise, while the dog was relaxing next to him. I have wondered if this experience was why that dog ignored thunder and enjoyed watching fireworks.


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## coolgsd (May 1, 2010)

What?


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## coolgsd (May 1, 2010)

Great color, nice ears and head - one handsome boy.


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## Sunsilver (Apr 8, 2014)

Nerves are mostly genetic. Puppies are tested at 8 weeks for gun sureness. If they don't pass then, they probably never will.


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## germanshepowner (Oct 26, 2018)

My all time favorite craziest... “Yelp” when your puppy bites you to show it hurt you.. Sure, maybe this works on another breed. But it’ll just get a German Shepherd even more amped up. ?


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## Colorado (Nov 25, 2007)

germanshepowner said:


> My all time favorite craziest... “Yelp” when your puppy bites you to show it hurt you.. Sure, maybe this works on another breed. But it’ll just get a German Shepherd even more amped up. ?


What if you yelp not on purpose but because it hurts like a [email protected]&^!? I see videos where people are like "Try to be as unreactive as possible when you 10 week old GSD puppy bites you." That sounds like a good plan until those needle like teeth make contact LOL.


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## coolgsd (May 1, 2010)

If you buy a GSD pup, expect the same as if they were in the wild. They sort out who is the alpha as they grow. If they nip an ear of an adult, they get snapped - hard. For us, we play like normal and expect some blood from those little needle teeth. But we correct them when they seem to be a little overly zealous about it. They quickly learn they can play but you are still the alpha. If you want a GSD that respects you then you need to be the alpha and if you have children they need to be higher on the totem. Never growl at family, never play bite with children, if they get too rough grab them by the scruff and shake them with a loud correction. Fail to do this and you may have an alpha and the family will be subordinate. If they are a strong alpha, they may end up challenging you later. They are very loyal but they respect a pack hierarchy.

GSD's are IMO the greatest dogs on the planet but training them is all with discretion and common sense. You can also end up making a pup fear you and that is not good. Most US lines are not aggressive but some European lines are. There is a segment of people that think it is cool to own a GSD but don't have the temperament themselves or have a clue how to raise them - and should not be GSD owners. They are not neat pets - they are part of your family, your "pack".


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

germanshepowner said:


> My all time favorite craziest... “Yelp” when your puppy bites you to show it hurt you.. Sure, maybe this works on another breed. But it’ll just get a German Shepherd even more amped up. ?


I want to find the person who started that lie and beat them. Seriously. Do bodily harm.
That myth has caused more grief and harm.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Many many years ago when I was training Tara for the CDX and we were working on the broad jump (this was when it was a 72" spread) I was having issues with her wanting to walk through the boards. I had an instructor suggest I put poop between so she wouldn't want to step there. :surprise:


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## Dunkirk (May 7, 2015)

GSD's are IMO the greatest dogs on the planet but training them is all with discretion and common sense.


Nailed it!


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