Thinking about a dog

[Clancey]

What I mean by corrective is she is responding to the correction - this is related to the choke collar and any time you are correcting her by pulling - but if you pull on her and she doesn't respond, continuing to use a choke collar or continuing to pull is ill-advised.   All it does is hurt them for no point then and the dog learns that your pulling on her has no meaning.  

Harness is definitely the best way.  much better to pull on their chest than their neck.   Consistency is the most important thing I can tell you to do.  Every time she messes up, she is corrected.   The affection and love comes after she has responded the way you wish her to and each time she responds, and not too much of it.  This applies to everyone in the house too, though I know its hard with kids We continually have dogs falling back on their training because children just don't quite understand the rules LOL

Walking: One of the best ways to prevent her rushing out of the door when you go for walks is to make her sit a little away from the door before you open the door.   then stand in her way and in front of the door before you go out.   Its called "claiming".  If she tries to rush the door, she is told firmly no with the method of choice - that is a corrective "shh" or "no"  - and the door is yours (meaning you move in between her and the door no matter what she does) until she sits patiently looking at you.  Remember that continually pulling on her is not the right way either.  The same "shh" or "no" can be used while you're walking when accompanied by a directional tug, not one that just pulls back on the dog.  As soon as she responds, preferrably to your voice alone, the leash relaxes in your hand.  

Both of these things will take some time to perfect, so don't lose hope You're doing great so far it sounds! Exercise is sooo wonderful for their behavior!  The bad thing is, if you let her get out the door ahead of you, she will think she is the leader, not you

As far as feeding her, I believe that what the bag says is at least a good place to start.  What kind of food is it?  Some of the lower-end foods do not have enough "stuff" in them to fulfill the dietary needs of dogs despite all that stuff about being balanced.   My only suggestion would be to feed her twice a day instead of once.   Once a day is fine and there isn't anything wrong with her gobbling it up as soon as its down, though.  The truth of the matter is, you want them to be a little hungry when its time to eat, so they eat all of their food.  

A tip:  going off the bag is just a basis for deciding where to start.  The dogs tell us how much to feed them by their body condition.   The way we tell if a dog is too fat or too thin in the clinic is by putting our hands on their sides.  If you can feel ribs without having to push in, they are not too fat.  If you can feel ribs immediately or can see them, they might be a little thin.  

One of my vets has two dogs and she only feeds them once a day, and both of them are lean and healthy, and both of them gobble up their food immediately too lol.   You do NOT want her to be other than lean.   Weight is almost as hard to get off dogs as it is off people and has all the same bad effects LOL

If you feel sorry for her, you can feed her a few carrots at other times during the day.    Those won't put weight on her and she might feel more satisified.

Regular walking time doesn't have to be walking. Walking is only a method to exercise, and running is exercise too! But the same rules apply to running as they do to walking.  she doesn't lead you, you lead her

WOW: these are getting longer and longer, Cali!! Sorry!!

[Cali]

Carrots?  Really?  Huh...

Thanks for all the advice, I'll be trying it out in the next couple of days that's for sure!

[Amanda N]

Clancey,

I've actually had great success with choke collars.  I've found the key isn't in just pulling, but snapping back quickly and giving a corrective command at the same time.

That's just my experience. :}

[Avery]

I hated it, but we eventually had to use a choke with my beagle. We had HAD him on a harness, but this dog could get out of it! No joke. He would just sort of put his head down and squirm and pull it right over his head, step out, and then take off. ANd he was a fat beagle, too! We had the harness on tight and he could swtill get out- we never figured out how. :/