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Cane Corso “Locking-In”

apollo92

Member
My puppy is almost 6 months, and one big thing I’m trying to work on is getting him to snap out of it when he sees other dogs or people(he locks in on them and totally ignores the commands I give even with a treat in my hand-by locking in I mean staring and trying to get to them) by him doing this he has no means to be aggressive he wants to go and say hi, this may be my fault because during his socialization as a puppy I wanted him to meet as many people and dogs as he could.Now when I take him for walks I want him to learn he cannot meet everyone we see.

I try pulling on his collar telling him leave it and walking the opposite direction, as I said he totally ignores me and him being almost 80 pounds it’s becoming a hard task. If I put my body in front of him to try and block what he is looking at it’s like he gets mad and tries nipping at my legs or jumping on me. I will be using a prong collar as soon as he hits 6 months and hopefully this tool will help him pay attention and refocus on me.

Any other advice/tips is greatly appreciated, thank you.
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
This is just reactivity. He's not just blatantly ignoring you. He's in a place where he can't actually disengage from the situation to do what you're asking him to do. How far away are you when he starts reacting? I mean the very first sign that he's reacting? What is the first sign he's getting overstimulated? What do you do at that moment? What have you tried besides what you've said above? Have you done any attention work in a less distracting situation? There are many, many resources to deal with this.

Can you tell me how you plan to use the prong when he's behaving like this? What will a correction look like? What will you do if the prong doesn't have the desired effect? I've made no secret that I do not think a prong is needed or desirable for a six month old puppy - or any dog, really. All other resources should be exhausted before upping the tool usage. When you're dealing with reactivity - especially with a puppy that goes through fear periods and makes quick associations - you run the risk of creating negative associations with the things the pup is reacting to and the situation can become worse. He's not aggressive now, but some dogs can and do become aggressive when those negative associations are made.

FWIW, I'm a crossover trainer. I've used all kinds of tools and methods.
 

apollo92

Member
This is just reactivity. He's not just blatantly ignoring you. He's in a place where he can't actually disengage from the situation to do what you're asking him to do. How far away are you when he starts reacting? I mean the very first sign that he's reacting? What is the first sign he's getting overstimulated? What do you do at that moment? What have you tried besides what you've said above? Have you done any attention work in a less distracting situation? There are many, many resources to deal with this.

Can you tell me how you plan to use the prong when he's behaving like this? What will a correction look like? What will you do if the prong doesn't have the desired effect? I've made no secret that I do not think a prong is needed or desirable for a six month old puppy - or any dog, really. All other resources should be exhausted before upping the tool usage. When you're dealing with reactivity - especially with a puppy that goes through fear periods and makes quick associations - you run the risk of creating negative associations with the things the pup is reacting to and the situation can become worse. He's not aggressive now, but some dogs can and do become aggressive when those negative associations are made.

FWIW, I'm a crossover trainer. I've used all kinds of tools and methods.

20-30 feet away is when he starts, and he will stare and want to go in the direction they are in. It is definitely worse when people are walking their dog. As sometimes people can walk by and he will pay them no mind- if they have a dog forget it.

I work on training with him everyday and his house training is very sharp, even outside on our walks we do training- he is a puppy and I’m working on it with distractions around but it is difficult at times because when he goes in his own world he won’t listen.In our subdivision many people own dogs and they are everywhere on our walks.

I’ve also tried placing him in a sit and stay when people/dogs are approaching - which is the only command he will do if he listens but I feel he can be intimidating to people because he will sit and stare them down until they are out of sight. Which I am trying to stop. I don’t mind if he does it on our property but not on our walks.

I feel the prong collar will help me redirect him to the opposite direction without battling him trying to pull.

thank you for your reply.
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
I don't think you need a prong for this. I suggest taking a step back and working on some basics. Start teaching a reliable focus. Teach your pup to target, or touch. That's in invaluable and underutilized training tool. Work on impulse control. Then take these things out into the real world. Always working at a distance BEFORE he's reacting and while he's still able to focus on you. None of these things require any corrections. No prong and no special tools other than something your dog finds super rewarding. Are these things you'd be interested in implementing? If so, I can give you links to articles and videos to help.

Just to start, this is a video of what you're looking at doing. Just because this is a dog that's younger than yours doesn't mean it won't work. It will. You just have to work at a distance where your dog is able to focus on you. What this guy says about not asking your pup to sit is spot on. We used to ask for a default sit, but many trainers and behaviorists are finding that's not the best way to do it.

 

apollo92

Member
I don't think you need a prong for this. I suggest taking a step back and working on some basics. Start teaching a reliable focus. Teach your pup to target, or touch. That's in invaluable and underutilized training tool. Work on impulse control. Then take these things out into the real world. Always working at a distance BEFORE he's reacting and while he's still able to focus on you. None of these things require any corrections. No prong and no special tools other than something your dog finds super rewarding. Are these things you'd be interested in implementing? If so, I can give you links to articles and videos to help.

Just to start, this is a video of what you're looking at doing. Just because this is a dog that's younger than yours doesn't mean it won't work. It will. You just have to work at a distance where your dog is able to focus on you. What this guy says about not asking your pup to sit is spot on. We used to ask for a default sit, but many trainers and behaviorists are finding that's not the best way to do it.


thank you I will try incorporating this into his training.