Thanks for your post Cazzie and you do sound a little put out by my comments by your use of capitalisation.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and everyone works differently with their dogs and indeed each dog is different.
My personal belief is that the methods mentioned could have a detrimental effect in some cases so I would not reccomend them myself.
You are free to choose whatever method suits you and your dogs.
please do continue to post on here about behaviour as a discussion does need alternate points of view and if you put ten dog trainers in a room they would all come up with different solutions to the same problem.
Cazzie what do you achieve by holding the pups muzzle?
Does it stop biting?
If so why do you think it does it?
Do you think your dog would generalise this to everyone or does everyone your dog meets need to do this too?
I hope you can see where I'm going with this, as just because an aversive method(which is what it is) worked with one dog it does not necessarily mean it would work with all.
In fact holding a biting dogs muzzle could lead in some situations to a more severe bite in the future.
For me advising anything that could have the potential to go wrong is a no no on public forums as there are already a lot of people damaging the relationship with their dogs through taking the advice of so called experts ( I see enough of them ).
Some advice in the wrong hands in my oppinion could have serious consequences for the dog and owner.
I for one minute saying that I am always right but at least if my advice goes wrong there is less potential for the breakdown of the dog owner relationship.
please do not feel offended by the chat on here as we are all here for one reason and thats our love of all things cocker
please keep posting as i for one look forward to reading your posts.
Mark
Hi Mark
I am not offended or put out in the slightest by you're comments and I am always open to new and other idea's on anything to do with dogs and animals. I do not wear blinkers.
If a puppy does bite me in an unacceptable manner ie: bites too hard and gets carried away I will hold its muzzle and say "No biting". They will stop, I have no idea why they stop its something that has always been done around our dogs for years. It does not hurt them as if it did I would certainly not do it, once its been done the pup does not go away and sulk or hide in a corner it will continue to play without the biting. I have very rarely had to do this with any dog but have done on a couple of occassions with my own.
Im not sure what you mean about the generalisation to everyone, but no one who comes here to visit my dogs has any issues with them as they behave. Sweepie may jump up to be cuddled or Goose may pick up someones bag or shoes and Daisy may stick her tounge down you're throat but to me that is acceptable behaviour from my dogs, they are not causing any potental harm by sinking their teeth into anyone.
Also To respond to another post regarding working with aggressive dogs, I have and I do work with adult aggressive dogs and do not have one bit of bother with any of them, they are treated in a totally different way to a young pup. I have a male Chesapeake who I sometimes care for who I get on with like a house on fire. He can be extremely frightening but to me is a big attention seeking baby. Dont ask me how I deal with them it just comes naturally to me and just seem to hit it off with all dogs. I also have another 2 aggressive dogs who are muzzled most of the day as they would rip each other to bits, but again I never have a bit of bother with them. I also one day walked into a house where my father was working and saw a alsation lying in a bed with bandaged legs, I went up to the dog and said "Oh poor baby whats happened to you" her owner then appeared and said "Good god" i cant believe she didnt take your hand off, she was well known for biting people. I certainly would NOT grab an aggressive adult dogs muzzle and never have said I would.
I would NEVER tell anyone how to treat their dog. It is their responsibility as a responsible dog owner to gain help from a Pro or porven dog traininer if they have major issues with their dog. I comment on what I would or do in my own situations and would for one minit not even type down what I do if I knew it caused my dogs mental issues.
My life is my dogs and animals, I could not continue through my life without them. I do EVERYTHING in my power to make sure they enjoy and live their lives to the full and if this includes holding a new pups muzzle for biting then I will continue to do it as it works for me.
If we were all the same life would be a tad boring and I have the greatest of respect for ALL dog trainers. I certainly would NOT disagree with any of their methods, unless they were to hurt or be cruel to an animal.
Cazzie
Sotty Mark meant to add: I do see exactly where you are coming from, there are dogs out there who have issues and will have issues all their days, and these require different approaches
