Re: [pyrnet] not sure about trainer's methods

[Dark Forest Mushrooms <mushroom@gator.net>]

Katie, I'm not sure about the bitter apple spray, but I have heard of
(and have done myself) the jumping encouragement.  The rationale behind
it is that you don't want a small child to innocently pat his belly for
the dog to approach and smell, only to have the dog jump up and knock
the kid over.  You teach that the dog doesn't jump up no matter what the
signal.  There really is no reason for a dog to jump on a person other
than for attacking an intruder, for which none of us (I'm sure) expect
to use a Pyr.

The barking, however, is odd, because there ARE times when I'd like Juma
to bark, i.e., a stranger coming up the driveway, or a bump in the
night.

As for the choker collar, it is used to teach the dog to focus on the
owner at all times.  A dog on leash is expected to be a dog on command.
I wouldn't want to have Juma pulling me along a busy intersection to
inspect a squirrel, and have the gumption to do so because she has no
respect for the leash.  We choker-trained her during the first few
months, and now she's on a buckle collar and KNOWS what it means to be
"on leash."  Much of this is doubly challenging because we're dealing
with independent Pyrs.

You have to ask yourself if this trainer is terrorizing the dogs or just
training them.  There is a distinct line separating the two.