[ Post a Response | Ripley's Retreat ]
Posted by Chinook's mom on 12/31/2008, 11:26 am, in reply to "Clicker training and breeds?"
Funny thing, the few bully breeds I saw in puppy class (before the breed ban) were some of the smartest, most owner-sensitive, trainable dogs around.
I think that one reason the yank-n-thank methods are still popular with owners of some breeds is that *they can get away with it.* Greta mentioned Golden Retrievers being a popular obedience dog. Goldens are extremely pain-insensitive AND respond to stress by becoming more frantic ("active") and wagging their tails. Superficially, that makes them look "happy" to the ignorant. Any method applied skillfully enough can be made to work eventually, if the dog doesn't end up dead (or just shutting down) first. You're more likely to get away with using force on dogs who are bred to be insensitive to pain in the first place.
Also, my impression is that herding dogs are a bit more likely than other groups of dogs to bite back at their owners for actions they deem unfair. So much safer to clicker train them than to try to force them to do anything. 
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