We have a 5 month old blue heeler/golden retriever female, spayed 1 week ago. She spends all her time outside--occasionally allowed inside. She had a very hard time biting and chewing several weeks ago, but by using vinegar spray, we've been fairly successful controlling that.

However, she jumps non-stop. She constantly is in between your legs, in and out, back and forth. She will jump to try to grab what you have in your hand, but when you throw it to try to get her to retrieve, she just looks where you've thrown and goes back to jumping on you. If I try to hold her down, she'll be submissive for a very few seconds, then immediately starts squirming. The longer you hold her down, the more she squirms and seems to be more jumpy afterwards.

If we verbally scold her, she literally bites at the air, then barks. I don't feel the barking is aggressive, but I may be misreading her. Is this type of barking (after a scolding) aggressive?

I feel that we don't spend enough time with her, but she NEVER settles down, no matter how long you spend with her. She won't play and retrieve, just constantly tries to jump on you and nip and herd.

How do I go about finding a good trainer and do you think we're doing something wrong at this point?

Thanks,
kim08110811

We have one really good guy to advise you on this problem here and I hope he chirps up. But what I want to know is WHY VINEGAR SPRAY!! That would really sting her eyes and nostrils. That is for cleaning. Just use plain water in a spray bottle. I learned that method when traningf my lab/walker hound corss, a very big dog. She thought the spray bottle was play time. But I only used water in it.

She sounds like a very active, high energy dog,if she is spending a lot of time outside after being spayed, she is missing your attention. You just need to give her more of your time inside.

The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete For more on being top dog, see Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position I think the biting at the air is more questioning your authority than aggression.

At a training seminar I was at last fall, the presenter demonstrated the technique of stepping back and turning around when a dog jumped up on you. She also liked the technique of yelling ouch and leaving when bit. Both techniques worked very well on the dogs that brave volunteers let her demonstrate on. The dog I had there was a true sweet heart that I had easily corrected those behaviors while it was still quite young.

Spaying helps many problem behaviors, but is no cure all, and it takes a little while for the hormones to fade. Thank you for being a responsible pet owner. It also substantially reduces the chances of cancer later in life.

Nothing wrong with a little vinegar or lemon juice in the spray bottle. I don't like the spray bottle and many trainers are moving to the techniques above instead. I do hope it wasn't full strength vinegar.

I see not reason not to keep any dog in the house. Surely even the worst Aussies can't be worse than many Labs. Other dogs may
Not be as bad as the young Labs I am plagued with. Still your house and dog
Will be much safer with the dog in a crate when you are away. The dog may be
Happier in its den than loose in the house. It relaxes, it feels safe in its
Den. It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving
Its self. Dogs that have been crated all along do very well. Many of them
Will rest in their crates even when the door is open. I think the plastic
Ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling. They are harder for
Dogs to open too. Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with
Something the dog can't pull in and chew. Select a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

Leave it some toys. Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter. Don't leave
Anything in the crate the dog might chew up. It will do fine without even any
Bedding. You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

Accidents and damaged possessions are the fault of whoever was watching the puppy. When you are watching it, immediately correct it as soon as it goes for anything except its own toys. In a quiet, but firm voice ''Bad dog, its name drop!''. Gently remove what ever and replace it with one of her toys, or if older, hold eye contact until the puppy drops it.


A dog that has not been crated since it was little, make take some work.
Start just putting its toys and treats in the crate. Praise it for going
in. If you have been able to trust it with any bedding, put that in the crate.
Feed it in the crate. This is also an easy way to maintain order at feeding
Time for more than one dog.

Use the crate only when you must I have a short length of chain fastened to
My computer desk. With more mats around the chair mat, this gives a place
Where the puppy is with me, but about as controlled as in the crate, while
Still allowing me to get some work done, or at least answer AskMe questions.

The myth that creates opinions of 'breed specific' training is that heelers aka cattle dogs/shepards may be 'allowed' to nip. This is preposterous and untrue.

You must give your dog expectations based on the environment you actually have. Training should be reward based, not fear based nor control based. The 'alpha dog' model is directly related to the 'wolf pack' model that was abandoned over 40 years ago but has resurfaced, unfortunately, due to wrong headed thinking such as seen with 'the dog whisperer'. Though the name implies some 'magical' type of skill, the fact is, those methods are outdated and wrong. Dogs have not been wolves for over four THOUSAND generations. They do not 'pack' like wolves do and, in fact, the wolf model itself as it was once thought of has since been proven to be wrong as well. There is a co-operative spirit in the pack, not a dominance model as once thought.

Dogs are NOT out to 'dominate' people. Those who think this resort to negative counters that don't really teach the dog much but fear. The 'alpha roll' is not only dangerous, it tends to produce a fear-based relationship versus trust based. Respect is not the result of fear. It is the result of trust.

Calm, sane, reasonable training methods are used to reward positive behavior and virtually ignore negative. If you cannot consistently get your dog to 'sit' when you ask it to, how in the world are you going to stop it biting? Start simple and be prepared to have plenty of healthy treats on hand. The one thing few dogs will refuse is food.

Ask your dog to sit. Remember that dogs do not 'speak' English nor understand it. You can teach a dog to sit with a whistle, a hand signal, a strange throat noise, chinese, french.. whatever. If your dog sits, reward it. Until and unless your dog sits, no reward. This is often called the 'Nothing in Life is Free' approach. Treats and food should never 'fall from the sky' simply because the dog is cute or looks silly or makes you laugh or you are lazy. Do not allow the dog to 'push at' the reward either. You want it to do one thing and you want it done right.

You need to spend TIME with your dog and watch its body language. Most cattle dogs will 'low' before they nip. You can 'invoke' this behavior with a toy attached to the end of a stick. Drag it along the ground so the dog is invoked towards its natural body position before nipping. At that instant, clap your hands or say its name. Did it look at you? Reward it. Get its attention ( break its focus on nipping iow ), and reward again. Three simple control commands should be taught early on: sit, down, stay. Break these into three separate training sessions. Cattle dogs tend not to respond well to long training sessions, but rather short, interesting ones. You're not actually teaching the dog NOT to nip. That's a byproduct of your efforts. The dog does not think,"I get a reward when I don't nip." The dog responds positively to a positve reward.

I strongly discourage any 'alpha' nonsense training. Do not grab the dogs paws, hit it in the face with water/papers etc, knee it in the chest or any other such nonsense. Do not leave it to figure out on its own amongst other dogs whether it should nip or not either. That's a little like putting two toddlers in the back seat of a car to 'punch it out' and whoever wins is the one that stops getting hit. We'd say that's absurd parenting wouldn't we? Of course. So don't relay this sort of thing to your dog.

No dog should be allowed, in a domestic setting, to communicate with its teeth. You cannot control the pressure of any nip with ESP and the jaws of the dog are not attached to your brain. This is an all or nothing situation. Either the dog is left to 'figure out' on its own when it can nip and whom and how hard, or you teach it that nipping gets it nothing.

In a dog family, the nippy puppy is walked away from. Using ones teeth does not get it milk. Bite momma dog, and she gets up and leaves. The puppy learns that 'nipping' results in a loss, not a gain. You need your dog to start thinking in terms of 'gains' and the gain right now is that treat. BTW, treats are not used eternally. They are used to establish consistency as praise and affection are inserted in its place along the way. This is why an agility dog can finish an entire course without getting the treats it had while training up to such a thing. But at the end of the course, the finish line, the dog is rewarded and certainly has earned it.

ANY breed of dog will resort to communication with its teeth once frustrated enough. The heeler can be taught a variety of tricks or jobs or expecations by you, but it will take time. More often, it is the human that needs training than the dog.

When training, you need to pick an environment initaly that is free of distraction and have a plan for short sessions. No more than 15 minutes. It is better to do that 2 - 3 times a day than a long drawn out session. You are not punishing the dog for nipping. You are rewarding the dog for NOT nipping. You are actually rewarding it for giving you its full attention and doing the things you ask it to. But it's up to YOU how you show the dog a thing.

You will notice that a dog will 'focus' on your hands if you wait till a calm moment. Say nothing and just float one of your hands around. Notice the dog following the hand? You don't have to say a word to train a dog.

The HUMAN reflex is to shout the empty, nearly worthless command of NO! At every frustrating encounter with the dog. We are used to hearing that ourselves and tend to transfer it over to dogs. It's not necessary. Simply saying the dogs name should get its attention. But remember, every good job, no matter how trivial you think it to be, should be rewarded. Please do not use hot dogs as they are full of fat. Pick a lean treat of some sort and have plenty available to you while training the dog.

Every dog that jumps up must come down. When that dog goes down, say,"Good.." and treat. The dog will not jump with food in its mouth, though it may gulp it down. When it jumps, don't move and look somewhere else. Don't make eye contact. Again, when it's down.. treat and say,"Good.." in a praising voice. Trust me. Do this for ten minutes and your dog WILL get the point about how to get that treat. Do NOT hold the treat up above your waist or where the dog can see it. Keep it in the palm of your hand, fist closed. Every second you have that dogs attention is a chance to teach it what you expect. You want it to stay down and you want it to also Sit. But it must consistently be able to stay on the ground and treating when it does so will stop the jumping. Jumping does NOT = treat. Ever.

Please do not knee the dog in the chest, grab its paws, spray it in the face, or any other such nonsense purported as 'good training'. Those are acts of aggression and will be interpreted as such by your dog and even if it 'responds' by stopping, it's not actually LEARNING anything other than how to get you acting like a fool with no willpower.

Always, always, keep a calm, measure voice. Do not start yelling. Do not shout at it. It's not necessary. It's a negative reinforcement. The dog wants your attention. That's OK. What you have to teach it is that nothing in life is free, so if it wants your attention, it's going to have to learn how to get it in mannered way. Jumping is not it. Do not interact with the dog AT ALL when it jumps. Keep moving past it calmly. Have your treat source in a place you can get to them easily. Take them to a calm area, make the dog aware you have them. If the dog follows you, say,"Come along..." and give it a treat. Then stop. If the dog goes to sit, say,"Sit.." and treat it. Treat it again. Repeat these two stages for about five minutes. If at any point the dog starts to jump, turn in an opposing direction and walk again, repeating the previous two stages. Don't shout at the dog when it jumps, don't say 'no!', etc.

Verbally 'scolding' your dog makes little sense when she's not being counter-trained to a different expectation. You shout, and then she shouts. You shout, and she shouts more. You're teaching her to shout ( bark/bite at air ). She has your attention and that is all the reward she's looking for at that moment. She does NOT understand English, so yelling it louder doesn't make any sense. You're only practicing 'negative reinforcement'. The minute she stops barking, wave that treat near her nose and let her have it. If she barks, she gets no treat. You see, the same method can be applied to nearly any situation. Reinforce good behavior consistently and effectively.

BTW, dogs LOVE routine. They are not like us. Outside time and feeding time should have specific times the dog can 'register' in their memory. Defined parameters, especially for cattle breeds, is very important and they'll accept these definitions happily.

When you play with your dog, also use that time to train. Insert tons of praise when it does something well. Pick a toy that's durable and teach it using the toy. It can sit to get the toy too. It can get rewards if it brings the toy BACK to you. If it goes 'down' or 'stays' to get the toy, terrific! Be positive towards your dog in these ways. Dogs are way more intelligent than they are given credit for, but they are also emotionally responsive. A negative reinforcement program can quickly produce a neurotic, anxious, fearful, aggressive, destructive dog. And remember dogs have no value system like we do. Armani or a cardboard box, it's all the same to the dog. So its' up to YOU to instill values through intelligent training methods.

Please do not 'hold your dog down'. This too is an old method that has resurfaced and is absurd. What do YOU learn when someone holds you down? You learn to fear them, not trust them.

Your dog jumps for the toy because you're waving it around and kicking up its chase instinct. Throwing it out and expecting your dog to RETRIEVE when you can't even manage to make it Sit consistently is a cruel expectation of the dog on your part. I'm not trying to be mean, but the fact is it is the human that most frequently needs to be trained to train the dog. You're creating a frustration situation. You throw the toy WHEN the dog is jumping. You're waving it around in the air and you want the dog NOT to jump? Pardon me? You must see the error of your own actions and what you're telling the dog is confusing it.

The dog is NOT out to dominate you, so there's no purpose to thinking in terms of its' 'submission'. Honestly, please stop watching the dog whisperer. Most of his audience does not understand the footage and scenes are heavily edited. Even the show has a disclaimer for gods sakes! National Geographic was bombarded with pleading letters from around the globe by highly respected canide researchers, dog behaviorists, and trainers NOT to put that absurd show on. But Caesar looks good on camera. If you're going to look to some particular trainer, look to Ian Dunbar. He's a vet, a well respected researcher and trainer, a PhD and founder of Sirius dog training which has been adopted by everyone from police to search and rescue to military to security dogs to herding dogs to family dogs.

The cattle dog is bright, highly trainable to a variety of circumstances and verbose commands, and energetic. Keep the training interesting and positive. Dogs are not born understanding what humans want. They require TIME and consideration and understanding. You MUST take the time to train this dog every single day. Every single day. Every single day. Block out periods throughout the day to train and play. And please stop placing too high expectations on your dog, such as retrieving, when you have not taken the time needed to learn simpler expectations. She won't calm down because you are not calming down. You are letting that jumping work you and worry you. Then you get frustrated and shout and hold her down and hit her in the face with vinegar.

Sorry Mom, but YOU are the one who is out of line in this case. You're not taking the time to take the time. She needs to learn in EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE that jumping gets her nowhere. Do not put that leash on her till she stops jumping. You need to have tasty treats at the ready so when she goes down, BEFORE she springs to jump again, and get that treat to her. Once she's stopped the jumping, she gets the leash which gets her outside. If you go outside and she starts to pull, don't budge until she creates slack on the line herself by relaxing. Then walk her to a training area. Else, train her indoors if there is no outside area that is calm. Everyone in the family, every single person, needs to agree to the SAME command words and methods as well. Doggie doesn't get a treat until doggie does her job. And that job might be as simple as NOT nipping or NOT jumping or laying down calmly etc etc. When the dog has many humans to contend with, CONSISTENCY is crucial. No one should start shouting and pushing down on the dog and spraying stuff at it. That needs to stop and right now. That is NOT training.

The myth that creates opinions of 'breed specific' training is that heelers aka cattle dogs/shepards may be 'allowed' to nip. This is preposterous and untrue.

You must give your dog expectations based on the environment you actually have. Training should be reward based, not fear based nor control based. The 'alpha dog' model is directly related to the 'wolf pack' model that was abandoned over 40 years ago but has resurfaced, unfortunately, due to wrong headed thinking such as seen with 'the dog whisperer'. Though the name implies some 'magical' type of skill, the fact is, those methods are outdated and wrong. Dogs have not been wolves for over four THOUSAND generations. They do not 'pack' like wolves do and, in fact, the wolf model itself as it was once thought of has since been proven to be wrong as well. There is a co-operative spirit in the pack, not a dominance model as once thought.

Dogs are NOT out to 'dominate' people. Those who think this resort to negative counters that don't really teach the dog much but fear. The 'alpha roll' is not only dangerous, it tends to produce a fear-based relationship versus trust based. Respect is not the result of fear. It is the result of trust.

Calm, sane, reasonable training methods are used to reward positive behavior and virtually ignore negative. If you cannot consistently get your dog to 'sit' when you ask it to, how in the world are you going to stop it biting? Start simple and be prepared to have plenty of healthy treats on hand. The one thing few dogs will refuse is food.

Ask your dog to sit. Remember that dogs do not 'speak' English nor understand it. You can teach a dog to sit with a whistle, a hand signal, a strange throat noise, chinese, french.. whatever. If your dog sits, reward it. Until and unless your dog sits, no reward. This is often called the 'Nothing in Life is Free' approach. Treats and food should never 'fall from the sky' simply because the dog is cute or looks silly or makes you laugh or you are lazy. Do not allow the dog to 'push at' the reward either. You want it to do one thing and you want it done right.

You need to spend TIME with your dog and watch its body language. Most cattle dogs will 'low' before they nip. You can 'invoke' this behavior with a toy attached to the end of a stick. Drag it along the ground so the dog is invoked towards its natural body position before nipping. At that instant, clap your hands or say its name. Did it look at you? Reward it. Get its attention ( break its focus on nipping iow ), and reward again. Three simple control commands should be taught early on: sit, down, stay. Break these into three separate training sessions. Cattle dogs tend not to respond well to long training sessions, but rather short, interesting ones. You're not actually teaching the dog NOT to nip. That's a byproduct of your efforts. The dog does not think,"I get a reward when I don't nip." The dog responds positively to a positve reward.

I strongly discourage any 'alpha' nonsense training. Do not grab the dogs paws, hit it in the face with water/papers etc, knee it in the chest or any other such nonsense. Do not leave it to figure out on its own amongst other dogs whether it should nip or not either. That's a little like putting two toddlers in the back seat of a car to 'punch it out' and whoever wins is the one that stops getting hit. We'd say that's absurd parenting wouldn't we? Of course. So don't relay this sort of thing to your dog.

No dog should be allowed, in a domestic setting, to communicate with its teeth. You cannot control the pressure of any nip with ESP and the jaws of the dog are not attached to your brain. This is an all or nothing situation. Either the dog is left to 'figure out' on its own when it can nip and whom and how hard, or you teach it that nipping gets it nothing.

In a dog family, the nippy puppy is walked away from. Using ones teeth does not get it milk. Bite momma dog, and she gets up and leaves. The puppy learns that 'nipping' results in a loss, not a gain. You need your dog to start thinking in terms of 'gains' and the gain right now is that treat. BTW, treats are not used eternally. They are used to establish consistency as praise and affection are inserted in its place along the way. This is why an agility dog can finish an entire course without getting the treats it had while training up to such a thing. But at the end of the course, the finish line, the dog is rewarded and certainly has earned it.

ANY breed of dog will resort to communication with its teeth once frustrated enough. The heeler can be taught a variety of tricks or jobs or expecations by you, but it will take time. More often, it is the human that needs training than the dog.

When training, you need to pick an environment initaly that is free of distraction and have a plan for short sessions. No more than 15 minutes. It is better to do that 2 - 3 times a day than a long drawn out session. You are not punishing the dog for nipping. You are rewarding the dog for NOT nipping. You are actually rewarding it for giving you its full attention and doing the things you ask it to. But it's up to YOU how you show the dog a thing.

You will notice that a dog will 'focus' on your hands if you wait till a calm moment. Say nothing and just float one of your hands around. Notice the dog following the hand? You don't have to say a word to train a dog.

The HUMAN reflex is to shout the empty, nearly worthless command of NO! At every frustrating encounter with the dog. We are used to hearing that ourselves and tend to transfer it over to dogs. It's not necessary. Simply saying the dogs name should get its attention. But remember, every good job, no matter how trivial you think it to be, should be rewarded. Please do not use hot dogs as they are full of fat. Pick a lean treat of some sort and have plenty available to you while training the dog.

Every dog that jumps up must come down. When that dog goes down, say,"Good.." and treat. The dog will not jump with food in its mouth, though it may gulp it down. When it jumps, don't move and look somewhere else. Don't make eye contact. Again, when it's down.. treat and say,"Good.." in a praising voice. Trust me. Do this for ten minutes and your dog WILL get the point about how to get that treat. Do NOT hold the treat up above your waist or where the dog can see it. Keep it in the palm of your hand, fist closed. Every second you have that dogs attention is a chance to teach it what you expect. You want it to stay down and you want it to also Sit. But it must consistently be able to stay on the ground and treating when it does so will stop the jumping. Jumping does NOT = treat. Ever.

Please do not knee the dog in the chest, grab its paws, spray it in the face, or any other such nonsense purported as 'good training'. Those are acts of aggression and will be interpreted as such by your dog and even if it 'responds' by stopping, it's not actually LEARNING anything other than how to get you acting like a fool with no willpower.

Always, always, keep a calm, measure voice. Do not start yelling. Do not shout at it. It's not necessary. It's a negative reinforcement. The dog wants your attention. That's OK. What you have to teach it is that nothing in life is free, so if it wants your attention, it's going to have to learn how to get it in mannered way. Jumping is not it. Do not interact with the dog AT ALL when it jumps. Keep moving past it calmly. Have your treat source in a place you can get to them easily. Take them to a calm area, make the dog aware you have them. If the dog follows you, say,"Come along..." and give it a treat. Then stop. If the dog goes to sit, say,"Sit.." and treat it. Treat it again. Repeat these two stages for about five minutes. If at any point the dog starts to jump, turn in an opposing direction and walk again, repeating the previous two stages. Don't shout at the dog when it jumps, don't say 'no!', etc.

Verbally 'scolding' your dog makes little sense when she's not being counter-trained to a different expectation. You shout, and then she shouts. You shout, and she shouts more. You're teaching her to shout ( bark/bite at air ). She has your attention and that is all the reward she's looking for at that moment. She does NOT understand English, so yelling it louder doesn't make any sense. You're only practicing 'negative reinforcement'. The minute she stops barking, wave that treat near her nose and let her have it. If she barks, she gets no treat. You see, the same method can be applied to nearly any situation. Reinforce good behavior consistently and effectively.

BTW, dogs LOVE routine. They are not like us. Outside time and feeding time should have specific times the dog can 'register' in their memory. Defined parameters, especially for cattle breeds, is very important and they'll accept these definitions happily.

When you play with your dog, also use that time to train. Insert tons of praise when it does something well. Pick a toy that's durable and teach it using the toy. It can sit to get the toy too. It can get rewards if it brings the toy BACK to you. If it goes 'down' or 'stays' to get the toy, terrific! Be positive towards your dog in these ways. Dogs are way more intelligent than they are given credit for, but they are also emotionally responsive. A negative reinforcement program can quickly produce a neurotic, anxious, fearful, aggressive, destructive dog. And remember dogs have no value system like we do. Armani or a cardboard box, it's all the same to the dog. So its' up to YOU to instill values through intelligent training methods.

Please do not 'hold your dog down'. This too is an old method that has resurfaced and is absurd. What do YOU learn when someone holds you down? You learn to fear them, not trust them.

Your dog jumps for the toy because you're waving it around and kicking up its chase instinct. Throwing it out and expecting your dog to RETRIEVE when you can't even manage to make it Sit consistently is a cruel expectation of the dog on your part. I'm not trying to be mean, but the fact is it is the human that most frequently needs to be trained to train the dog. You're creating a frustration situation. You throw the toy WHEN the dog is jumping. You're waving it around in the air and you want the dog NOT to jump? Pardon me? You must see the error of your own actions and what you're telling the dog is confusing it.

The dog is NOT out to dominate you, so there's no purpose to thinking in terms of its' 'submission'. Honestly, please stop watching the dog whisperer. Most of his audience does not understand the footage and scenes are heavily edited. Even the show has a disclaimer for gods sakes! National Geographic was bombarded with pleading letters from around the globe by highly respected canide researchers, dog behaviorists, and trainers NOT to put that absurd show on. But Caesar looks good on camera. If you're going to look to some particular trainer, look to Ian Dunbar. He's a vet, a well respected researcher and trainer, a PhD and founder of Sirius dog training which has been adopted by everyone from police to search and rescue to military to security dogs to herding dogs to family dogs.

The cattle dog is bright, highly trainable to a variety of circumstances and verbose commands, and energetic. Keep the training interesting and positive. Dogs are not born understanding what humans want. They require TIME and consideration and understanding. You MUST take the time to train this dog every single day. Every single day. Every single day. Block out periods throughout the day to train and play. And please stop placing too high expectations on your dog, such as retrieving, when you have not taken the time needed to learn simpler expectations. She won't calm down because you are not calming down. You are letting that jumping work you and worry you. Then you get frustrated and shout and hold her down and hit her in the face with vinegar.

Sorry Mom, but YOU are the one who is out of line in this case. You're not taking the time to take the time. She needs to learn in EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE that jumping gets her nowhere. Do not put that leash on her till she stops jumping. You need to have tasty treats at the ready so when she goes down, BEFORE she springs to jump again, and get that treat to her. Once she's stopped the jumping, she gets the leash which gets her outside. If you go outside and she starts to pull, don't budge until she creates slack on the line herself by relaxing. Then walk her to a training area. Else, train her indoors if there is no outside area that is calm. Everyone in the family, every single person, needs to agree to the SAME command words and methods as well. Doggie doesn't get a treat until doggie does her job. And that job might be as simple as NOT nipping or NOT jumping or laying down calmly etc etc. When the dog has many humans to contend with, CONSISTENCY is crucial. No one should start shouting and pushing down on the dog and spraying stuff at it. That needs to stop and right now. That is NOT training.

Hi bleuarc, great post but not going to be read by the OP. This thread is from 2007 so unfortunately the OP won't back back.

Best to read the date of threads before you contribute.

Tick