it's funny. my wife was an animal trainer. she has trained many, many dogs and cats. always with positive reinforcement. and they all were very well trained. she had even trained cats to use a toilet. something else that's funny: the more you use negative reinforcement on any animal (this includes humans), the more likely they are to turn on people.
if you were to "train" your children with the same negative reinforcement, it would be child abuse and they would be taken away from you.
I've never had problems training any animal of my own, nor have I resorted to using pain. This is someone else's dog running loose...... Not a situation where I am going to resort to conventional "training". He cruises by and checks to see if I've put anything out for the birds and makes his raid with enough frequency that I can't leave anything out for the birds without taking measures to thwart him. The fencer is simple and effective, and it is not the kind of "negative reinforcement" he associates directly with me, as it would be if I shot at him with a pellet gun. He will associate raiding the bird feeder with getting shocked, rather than with me shocking him as there is no visible action on my part.
My solution to dogs or any animal that becomes aggressive toward people is simple and final, effective and permanent. Dog bites me without "justification", dog dies.... No trial, no appeal, it's final.
As a teen, I implemented this the first time when a German Shepard attacked me as I walked down the sidewalk on a public street. The dog attacked out of nowhere for no discernible reason. It was wintertime and I was wearing one of those heavy navy P-coats. As he attacked, going for the throat, I gave him my right arm, knowing he couldn't hurt me seriously through all that wool fabric. I went down on the lawn, taking him over with me, pulled his head back and broke his neck, just that quick. This happened on a residential street in Portland in the late 60's. The owner came out of the house just as we went down, and started screaming at me, and his wife called the cops. I was not even aware of the dog until he charged me, I didn't know the dog or normally walk down that street. When he came at me, I went into "primal survival mode". At that point nothing would have saved the dog. Something inside me snapped, and I "saw red" as they say.
I've "put paid in full" to the account of two pit bulls, and numerous dogs who were "just having fun" chasing and tearing up sheep over the years since. My tolerance for that kind of behavior is less than zero. My custom built 257 Ackley with Shilen match barrel, Mauser action, etc is extremely effective.......There are no appeals.
People who own dogs are responsible to train them to live in human society. If they fail in that, the dog pays the consequences. The consequences may be a harmless but painful shock, or it may be a well placed bullet. They are not people, they are not children, they are animals, and sometimes people seem to forget that. Dogs I've owned have never run loose, bitten people, chased livestock, spread people's garbage down the street, etc. They have known what is acceptable and what is not, and it does not require extreme measures like shocking or beating to instill that knowledge in them. I have been on good terms with every dog I've had for a neighbor in the 20+ years I've lived here and generally get along with this one, but he's been problem from day one. He will either learn to behave, or he will suffer the consequences. That's all there is to it. I'm not going to go out of my way to accommodate a problem dog.
H.W.
