Urgent: Big Problems

[Cerander]

Well, we recently were forced to get the invisible fence. A neighbor was complaining. We installed it yesterday.

After we installed it, my stepdad decided to get all the dogs shocked once so they know what it felt like. I was powerless to stop him as he is the adult, and thinks he is smarter than me, although he is so ****ing stupid ( pardon my laungage. I'm VERY angry. )

Then, the dogs all ran back into house, scared, and refusing to go back out. Then, today, while I was at school, he did more of his "Training"

This training made the dogs incredibly scared and irritable. They shouldn't have gotten shocked, and I am very angry with my step dad. One dog, our rotweiller ( spelling? ) was so scared, he refused to go outside again, and when we were trying to get him to go out to make him less scared, he became viscous, and bit my mom in the hand ( not breaking the skin )

This is terrible. None of the dogs have shown any signs of being viscous before. My mom is also angry at my stepdad, and he will not be allowed to touch the dogs EVER again. I am here to ask help on how to reverse the damage done to them. THey are so scared that when we get the other 2 dogs ( not rotweiller ) out, they stand as far away from edges as possible, shaking, and then they wont go to the bathroom. They have been going to the bathroom in the house.

[That_girl]

I would start by taking off the collar that has the transmitter so they don't associate it with going outside (for right now).

Then I would leash your dogs, one by one, and go to the door. Make them sit quietly. When they are calm, give them a treat.

Then open the door, and walk through giving a quick tug on the leash for the dogs to follow. If they resist, be calm and assertive and let them know you are not asking, they must just do it. Once outside, make them stand and give them a treat.

Then I would walk around the yard, take them for a walk, etc. They need to re-associate going outside with postive experiences. Treats, praise, play, whatever works for your dogs.

I would repeat the door thing a few times a day, for about a week. Does the fence have different shock settings? If so, you need to turn it down because it was too much. Shocking a dog at too high of a setting does more harm than good - training and physically.

Eventually, you'll want to associate them with putting the collar on and going outside, but right now they sound scared as hell. This is going to be a retraining process because your stepdad screwed up. The dogs should have been allowed to discover the fence on their own.

You should be prepared though that this process can take a while. It sounds like they were pretty traumatized and aren't trusting you. You're going to have to build that back.

Good luck.

[kurikim]

Did he shock them while they were on a leash?

Maybe you could just take them all out on walks, and when you get home hang out in the yard instead of going straight back in. You could also try leaving treats out in the yard so they can associate yard=treats. Maybe have an extra special treat, like lunch meat or peanut butter, that you only even give to them when they go outside or perform commands outside. Don't force them though, that will only make them more agitated (as your mom can probably attest). Just try to make the yard as pleasant an experience as is possible.

Know thatit will probably take some time and effort. Sucks that your stepdad did that. Overly harsh correction does so much more harm than good.

[Cerander]

Thanks for replys. The problem is, we Cant get one of them to even go outside. He will take one step past the door, turn around, and walk back inside. We will ease them back into taking walks outside though.

[That_girl]

That's why I suggested you leash them inside and lead them outside without giving them the option to go back in. If they have that option, they will take it everytime and they won't learn to get over their fear.

[5kidsnadog]

That happened with our neighbor's Chow -- he wouldn't come outside at all after his first encounters with the electric fence. I don't know that they tried very hard, but they've never used the electric fence since -- even for their other dog. The chow is pretty mellow, though, and just kind of wanders the 3 or 4 houses in his vicinity (with people screaming at them to LEASH their dog -- he's pretty scarey looking if he walks up to you on the street). I would think that you would have to back off from using the collar for a good while and then ease them back into it with lots of positive reinforcement while using the lowest settings possible.

A lot of people in our neighborhood have their dogs trained so that they don't even use the collar after a while. The sheltie next door never leaves her yard despite the fact that she hasn't worn the collar in years. The dog still associates the point in the yard where the fence is with the shock, and won't leave even if it's not turned on. I'm not sure I'd ever do it, because the one time the dogs leaves the yard can be fatal, but there are plenty who do.

[kurikim]

One of my bosses has her boxer trained to stay in the front yard. She started using a shock collar at a very low setting, but doesn't use it anymore. Course, she also never lets the dog out front without going out front herself. Partially because they have bad neighbors that have on more than one occasion actively tried to lure Roxy (her dog) out of the yard just to cause trouble.

[Cerander]

Yay! They are STARTING to get better. Lots of treats and positive reinforcement. We can get 2 ( rotweiller included ) into the yard easily. One isn't really scared to go out in the yard anymore. One of the dogs ( shepard ) is still pretty scared, but in time..

They all stay away from flags still. When we first start using the electricity again, we shall use the lowest setting, which is only sound. It should be enough to start training.

[kurikim]

I'm glad it's working out for you!

I might suggest getting them aclimated to the collars too, before you start training with them. If you can, put them on the dogs inside the house (but have the collars turned off) just so they can get used to them being on. Then turn the collars on and try it outside.

[xpalaboyx]

using invisible fence, shock collars (http://www.petstreetmall.com/shock-collars.aspx) and similar devices has some bad effects to your pets specially if used the wrong way... anyway... looks like you know how to use it properly...