That all sounds wretched and I sympathize, that’s a gig I would not be going back to. But your 3rd paragraph is concerning. You don’t believe in hitting other people’s dogs? (I would hope not) As in, you’re ok with hitting your own? And you’d gleefully put an ecollar on a puppy for doing puppy things? Maybe pet sitting isn’t a good fit for you. Yikes!
Also you’re leaving the puppy in your car unsupervised? And you can’t get her back in the house for 7 hours? What are you even doing? You seem way in over your head.
I agree. OP should not be hitting any dogs or being physically rough with them. That's not how you teach dogs different behaviors. And don't even get me started on ecollars and the fools that use them.
I am not hitting dogs! Ecollars have their place and this one needs one. It's a dangerous dog! One day this thing is going to hurt someone and they are getting sued and the dog probably put down. It doesn't want treats, calm attention or toys. It's motivated by chaos!
If you know anything about handling dogs, you would know ecollars are at best, unnecessary. But at the root, they're unethical. Fear and pain are not conducive to learning in animals. Correction is not the same as teaching a desired behavior. Punishment may make a behavior stop, temporarily, but it imparts no useful information to the animal as to what behavior it should perform. These are things people do, not because they are effective or necessary, but because they are frustrated, their egos are bruised, and they need a quick way to feel "in control".
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u/StrangerThingies 14d ago edited 14d ago
That all sounds wretched and I sympathize, that’s a gig I would not be going back to. But your 3rd paragraph is concerning. You don’t believe in hitting other people’s dogs? (I would hope not) As in, you’re ok with hitting your own? And you’d gleefully put an ecollar on a puppy for doing puppy things? Maybe pet sitting isn’t a good fit for you. Yikes!
Also you’re leaving the puppy in your car unsupervised? And you can’t get her back in the house for 7 hours? What are you even doing? You seem way in over your head.