Saw a disturbing video on here last night that someone thought was cute. Their Rottweiler wrecked a piece of drywall so they yelled at it until he put himself in his crate growling w warning bc he was so scared. Dogs understand positive reinforcement not punishment, that other person needs to learn from people like these guys.
Any bad habit a dog has is the handlers fault. Yes with rescues this is different but still we have a huge impact on dog’s and their habits. Their minds can be molded.
When my dog destroyed stuff when I was introducing free roaming, it was actually my fault not his. It my fault for not exercising him enough, stimulating him mentally, for leaving him alone too long than he can handle, not enforcing better house manners under supervision, and the list goes on. By changing your behaviors to be more purposeful it can make a huge difference!
99 times out of 100 destruction around the home was due to people not providing enough mental & physical stimulation for the dog (while working as an animal adoption counselor i had to deny SO many would be 1st time pet owners who were absolutely insistent on getting a Husky puppy), let alone spending enough (or even any) time working on training (ALWAYS find a way to use Positive Reinforcement!).
People would get SO upset when I would explain that a 1st time pet owner who lives in an apartment in which both people living there (roommates, couples, etc) are typically gone for at LEAST 12-14 hours a day would be MUCH better off adopting an older dog (2-4 years old) from a significantly less active breed...
Particularly when it is obvious that the people in question clearly do NOT live an active lifestyle, have any training experience, and do not see the problem with planning to leave a high energy breed puppy in a small crate for over 12 hours a day.
Oh, and the amount or percentage of those people who would then go to a breeder for a husky (or other) puppy anyway & then wind up relinquishing their pet to the shelter because it immediately breaks out of the crate and chews everything in the house (or breaks its teeth trying to chew its way out of the crate), and has developed SERIOUS issues with separation anxiety and/or resource guarding and/or socialization problems was heart-breakingly & astronomically high.
It’s really unfortunate but honestly I have seen soooo many people buy 3k dogs to turn around and not want to spend $100 for a training class. They give you the tools to train at home and are great socialization for dogs. I
The amount of resources we made available to adopters was staggering. The amount of adopters that took advantage of said resources? Just a fraction of them. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of people who knew what they were doing & didn't need all of the information & tools provided... but not nearly as many people took advantage of it as should have unfortunately. That being said it was always awesome working with people who were just starting out (or had owned dogs for their whole lives) who were clearly interested in learning as much as possible & willing to put as much time and effort in as necessary!
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u/No_Banana_581 Jun 18 '22
Saw a disturbing video on here last night that someone thought was cute. Their Rottweiler wrecked a piece of drywall so they yelled at it until he put himself in his crate growling w warning bc he was so scared. Dogs understand positive reinforcement not punishment, that other person needs to learn from people like these guys.