Breaking a bad habit

[BtheBrit]

My eight month old brittany's terrible habit is chewing/biting at her check chord at the beginning of every training session. She will run around the fenced in back yard all proud to be carrying her check chord in her mouth for about 5 minutes or so until she calms down and that is when we usually begin training. I have allowed her to run around because I don't want to play tug-o-war with her. Once she is calm, she leaves her check chord alone for the most part with the occasional bite at the chord right next to where it is connected to her neck but does a good job listening to the "here" command. I have been trying to work on "woah" with her but she can't stand the check chord tied around her flank when tied in a suitcase knot. She will do everything under her power to try and undo that knot and I am not sure how to get her to walk normally while she has the suitcase knot around her flank so we can have a successful training session. I make sure I can fit four fingers in between her skin and the rope.

Having something tied around her flank is not new to her. She has a GPS collar that was a little to big on her so we tied it around her flank from 5 months to 8 months.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Sharon]

"terrible habit is chewing/biting at her check chord at the beginning of every training session. She will run around the fenced in back yard all proud to be carrying her check chord in her mouth for about 5 minutes or so until she calms down and that is when we usually begin training."

Maybe the dog just needs to burn a little energy before starting the training time. What about a ball fetch or something else , and then start with the cc. Shags ( a member here) is an expert on the flank e collar technique.

[gonehuntin']

You're TRAINING the dog. When she picks up the cc in her mouth, pop her hard with it. She'll only try it a couple times. If she doesn't like the cc on her flank so what? Just let her buck and roll and laugh at her. She'll stop when she sees she can't win then the training can begin. Work her on a whoa post with it on the flank first away from any birds. Actually, I think she may be training you more than you're training her! Frustrating isn't it? But fun.

[ezzy333]

You're TRAINING the dog. When she picks up the cc in her mouth, pop her hard with it. She'll only try it a couple times. If she doesn't like the cc on her flank so what? Just let her buck and roll and laugh at her. She'll stop when she sees she can't win then the training can begin. Work her on a whoa post with it on the flank first away from any birds. Actually, I think she may be training you more than you're training her! Frustrating isn't it? But fun.

+1

[Trekmoor]

I am a long way from being knowledgeable about check cords because I so seldom use one so feel free to ignore this.

Wouldn't letting her off in the yard to release energy with nothing attached to her for 5 minutes before putting on the check cord work ? Then, once the check cord goes on work begins at once in much the same way that a guide dog for the blind comes to know that without the harness on it is free to be "just a dog" but once that harness goes on it will be working.

Anyway, as I said , I know nothing about check cords so just ignore this if it would not work.

Bill T.

[AZ Brittany Guy]

BetheBrit,

You need to stop what you are doing and enroll in a Huntsmith foundation seminar. You need to learn the "right way" to use a checkcord and flank training. No offense, as I did the same thing years ago.

[shags]

You're TRAINING the dog. When she picks up the cc in her mouth, pop her hard with it. She'll only try it a couple times. If she doesn't like the cc on her flank so what? Just let her buck and roll and laugh at her. She'll stop when she sees she can't win then the training can begin. Work her on a whoa post with it on the flank first away from any birds. Actually, I think she may be training you more than you're training her! Frustrating isn't it? But fun.

Yep.

Just don't permit that behavior with the CC. Your're allowed to tell a dog "no".

If you use a flank CC and the whoa post, you will find out what kind of dog your have. It's a great lie detector.

[BtheBrit]

Thanks Everyone for the info, it sounds like I need to be tougher on my Britt. This is the first dog I have had the opportunity to train and I am constantly questioning how much pressure is to much pressuer. I have watched a couple videos on how to use a whoa post but was wondering if you guys had any recommendations based on your experience?

[setterpoint]

i would do nothing let the dog run without cord the dog maybe just geting ect.. i could put up with dog chewing on cord because once the dog is broke you will not need the cord no more but if you want to stop this just tell the dog no and make the dog stop it

[skunk]

Despite what some other folks here are saying, I would NOT yank on the check cord when the dog has it in its mouth.

I did that with my pup when he was young and ended up breaking off a puppy canine tooth. Unfortunately, the tooth was not ready to come out on its own so I had to get it surgically removed at the vet... $500+ for that.

Then as his adult tooth grew in, I found there was an enamel defect in his adult tooth. Either the trauma of the original puppy tooth breaking or the surgical removal of that tooth caused damage to the adult tooth growth. His canine was was darker in color and I worried about it going bad so I took him to a dog dentist at University of Wisconsin Madison. They quoted me a ridiculous price of almost $900 to put sealants on it. I decided against it, thankfully because a couple of months later the dog was chasing a rabbit through our yard in the dark and ran into something (not sure what) and guess what, that bad canine had broken right off at the base. Another surgery to remove that tooth and another $500+

All of this would have been avoided if I simply hadn't yanked on his check cord when he was a puppy.

I think you're better off just ignoring it. The more attention you pay to the dog over it, the more they'll turn it into a game. Alternatively, if the dog knows "leave it" (or whatever you use) and you have them e-collar conditioned to that, you could enforce the command that way. Much more gentle and you won't find yourself with a bunch of large vet bills.

[polmaise]

Alternatively, if the dog knows "leave it" (or whatever you use) and you have them e-collar conditioned to that, you could enforce the command that way. Much more gentle and you won't find yourself with a bunch of large vet bills.

NOT THIS!

[gonehuntin']

Skunk, you're jumping to a lot of conclusions there. That tooth probably would have broken if it had been damaged or not. You sure he didn't have the choke chain in his mouth and not the cc? I've popped a leash out of a ton of dog's mouths and never, ever, harmed a dog.

[Sharon]

Get to a Huntsmith Seminar for how to use the whoa post and flank collar. Not cheap but worth every penny. One in MN in June.

http://www.huntsmith.com/

[AZ Brittany Guy]

I agree with Sharon, you are getting one sentence and one paragraph answers that need to be explained over two or three days hands-on with your dog at a hunt Smith seminar.

[skunk]

Skunk, you're jumping to a lot of conclusions there. That tooth probably would have broken if it had been damaged or not. You sure he didn't have the choke chain in his mouth and not the cc? I've popped a leash out of a ton of dog's mouths and never, ever, harmed a dog.

Hey gonehuntin.

The puppy tooth broke off because it was either stuck in the rope of the check cord or the metal snap on the end of the cord caught him. I am not sure what caused it exactly but it happened when I yanked on the cord as he was biting it as a pup.

However, I feel pretty confident his adult tooth broke off because of the enamel defect he had in that tooth. It was darker colored like it had plaque build up on it right after it came in. The dog dentist at the UW Madison vet school also told me the enamel was thin. They couldn't even apply a crown to the tooth because there wasn't enough solid structure.

Regardless of whether a normal adult canine would've broken or not, I still caused the damage to his puppy tooth and the adult tooth that came in. That was an unnecessary cost that I didn't need to incur so I'm just sharing my experience so others can learn from my mistakes and make their own judgement.