Training Your Animals.

[Marie Mallory]

We are always trying to teach these animals, 2 are neurotic from horrible abuse, the other 2 are large and very intelligent not abused but some reason ended up in shelter.
Only thing we haven't taught them is to walk on a lease and the muscle bound Dogo may become a problem if our tri[p to the river several months is any indication of how she is NOT lease trained.
I have already had a similar experience with Leo the very neurotic abused large chow looking dog.
He pulled me to the ground snatched my shoulder out and it hasn't been the same since he did so in 2020. I was riding on golf cart with Leo's sister Foxy, she almost broke my hand when she jumped off and my hand went back and got busted up bad on metal cart frame.
I will never wrap a lease around my hand again.

 

[Don Alaska]

We are always trying to teach these animals, 2 are neurotic from horrible abuse, the other 2 are large and very intelligent not abused but some reason ended up in shelter.
Only thing we haven't taught them is to walk on a lease and the muscle bound Dogo may become a problem if our tri[p to the river several months is any indication of how she is NOT lease trained.
I have already had a similar experience with Leo the very neurotic abused large chow looking dog.
He pulled me to the ground snatched my shoulder out and it hasn't been the same since he did so in 2020. I was riding on golf cart with Leo's sister Foxy, she almost broke my hand when she jumped off and my hand went back and got busted up bad on metal cart frame.
I will never wrap a lease around my hand again.

Never have a dog on a leash that you cannot control. It can/will lead to trouble unless the dog is better trained than you or whoever is handling it is. The only dog I would not own is a pit bull, as I have dealt with several who terrified their owners and who attacked other dogs and people. They are bred to fight, and that is what thy do best no matter how well trained they are. It is somewhat easier to train a dog when you get them as puppies, as you can educate them from the beginning. rescued or shelter dogs are a toss-up depending on how they have been raised and treated prior to you acquiring them. Rescuing a large dog especially when you are older or handicapped/disabled in any way is especially difficult. Sometimes you can get help from a professional dog trainer, and that can make the transition easier.

 

[Marie Mallory]

Never have a dog on a leash that you cannot control. It can/will lead to trouble unless the dog is better trained than you or whoever is handling it is. The only dog I would not own is a pit bull, as I have dealt with several who terrified their owners and who attacked other dogs and people. They are bred to fight, and that is what thy do best no matter how well trained they are. It is somewhat easier to train a dog when you get them as puppies, as you can educate them from the beginning. rescued or shelter dogs are a toss-up depending on how they have been raised and treated prior to you acquiring them. Rescuing a large dog especially when you are older or handicapped/disabled in any way is especially difficult. Sometimes you can get help from a professional dog trainer, and that can make the transition easier.

We have 2 large yard's for these dogs to play and live in and separate.
We needed dogs that would bark not run like these two we adopted 5 years ago.
They are exactly what I wanted, nothing gets pass them, although both were obviously house dogs. love to ride in auto's and ran into the house like it was home.
The Dogo wants to lead on leach and that has to change, her breed was bred to hunt large prey like wild boars, so she is very muscular.
I would like to have a poodle but I'd be more afraid of people out here in the woods than dogs. Too many new people moving here from up north. I do try to be careful with them. The Goldie is ok she is just large and domineering to the other dogs sometimes.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

If you are planning on taking them on a trip to the river and doing things they have never done before at all, the sooner you start training them for the trip, the better,especially after the big fight they had last week. You do not want something like that happening in your van while driving on the highway, or while on the river in the boat, either.
For leash training, it is best to start in a confined area, like in the house, or in a small pen, where the dog is not apt to try to lunge around , and is comfortable to just walk on the leash, and then they can get the idea of how it is supposed to work, and also the basic commands for heel and sit, etc.

Once they are progressing well, then you can go into a larger area, like your yard, and walk them around there, and when you have trained more than one dog, you and Jake can try walking them together on the leash.
Also, it would be a good time to teach them to be tied and not try to get loose, so you can tie them when they are in the van for the trip to the river, and that should help prevent a big fight.

When we moved from Idaho to Alabama, we bought a small older motor home and made the trip out here with six little dogs. I got crates for all of them, 2 to a crate, and started having them sleep in the crates each night in our house in Idaho.
In the morning, I took them out of the crate one at a time, put them each on a 10 foot dog chain, and hooked it to the back fence (with space in between so they didn’t tangle up) and left them there to do their morning chores, and then brought them some food.

This way, they were used to going out on a chain and wearing their harness while eating and doing their doggie business, well before we started the trip. The only thing that was new to them was actually being in the motor home, and they loved that !
They really enjoyed the trip, and because they were always either in their crate or on the dog chain, I didn’t have to worry about anyone escaping and getting lost or run over.

Bobby and I developed a pattern, I would take a dog out of the crate and put on the chain and pass the chain out the RV door to Bobby, and he would hook it on a fence at the campground were we had stopped.
While he did that, I got the next dog ready to go, and once all the dogs were outside and on their chains, I started getting their food ready and taking food dishes out to each one.
It was a lot of work, but starting all the training ahead of time was well worth the effort, because it all went smoothly once we started the trip out here.

 

[Marie Mallory]

If you are planning on taking them on a trip to the river and doing things they have never done before at all, the sooner you start training them for the trip, the better,especially after the big fight they had last week. You do not want something like that happening in your van while driving on the highway, or while on the river in the boat, either.
For leash training, it is best to start in a confined area, like in the house, or in a small pen, where the dog is not apt to try to lunge around , and is comfortable to just walk on the leash, and then they can get the idea of how it is supposed to work, and also the basic commands for heel and sit, etc.

Once they are progressing well, then you can go into a larger area, like your yard, and walk them around there, and when you have trained more than one dog, you and Jake can try walking them together on the leash.
Also, it would be a good time to teach them to be tied and not try to get loose, so you can tie them when they are in the van for the trip to the river, and that should help prevent a big fight.

When we moved from Idaho to Alabama, we bought a small older motor home and made the trip out here with six little dogs. I got crates for all of them, 2 to a crate, and started having them sleep in the crates each night in our house in Idaho.
In the morning, I took them out of the crate one at a time, put them each on a 10 foot dog chain, and hooked it to the back fence (with space in between so they didn’t tangle up) and left them there to do their morning chores, and then brought them some food.

This way, they were used to going out on a chain and wearing their harness while eating and doing their doggie business, well before we started the trip. The only thing that was new to them was actually being in the motor home, and they loved that !
They really enjoyed the trip, and because they were always either in their crate or on the dog chain, I didn’t have to worry about anyone escaping and getting lost or run over.

Bobby and I developed a pattern, I would take a dog out of the crate and put on the chain and pass the chain out the RV door to Bobby, and he would hook it on a fence at the campground were we had stopped.
While he did that, I got the next dog ready to go, and once all the dogs were outside and on their chains, I started getting their food ready and taking food dishes out to each one.
It was a lot of work, but starting all the training ahead of time was well worth the effort, because it all went smoothly once we started the trip out here.

I think all these are great ideas. And some we have already done, like Jake putting eye hooks in both sides of the Jon boat to hook up the two big ones.
Your correct we do need to chain them now and then to keep them use to being restrained and maybe ad a eyehook to the van too. It is a 15 passenger with a tile floor and no seats, we converted it.

Here is one of Foxy and Leo on the river, 4 or 5 years ago.