To Tassle: I find your comments very logical
I think with CSV it's worth trying various methods, because the dogs vary from each other a lot. What works with one, does not necessarily work woth another. That's why following blindly somebody else's advice (even the best!) may not be always the best idea.
For bringing up a vlcak, I wouldn't even use the word "training" but rather "devloping communication patterns".
Any methods (even the most crazy ones) are OK as long as they're efficient and do not destroy the owner's relationship with the animal.
I remember at some point my pup was biting me (and other members of the family) when coming back from walks. She used to jump on our sleeves and tear them, sometims in the middle of the street! I interperted her behaviour as calling "I don't want to go home yet! I want to go on playing with my friends".
I understood her messgage, but had to inform her that such behaviour would not be accepted.
I took a leash with a steel thread inside (for her safety), and the moment she started biting, I tied her to the nearest solid item (a pole, a bench, once even a church door
) and walked on about 10-20 meters without her, while she could see me all the time. Then I stopped and watched her for a couple of minutes, returned, untied and we went on together. When she was walking nicely - I was giving her treats when started biting again- I repeated the whole process. Sometimes it took us an hour instead of 10 minutes to get back home, but in the end it worked - she understood what I wanted her to understand.
I'm not saying this method would work with every vlcak, but that in most cases it's possible to find a way to pass the information to the dog efficiently. It's just the matter of imagination and non-conventional "tailored" thinking based on the observation of a particluar dog.
It's true that separation works, but for the CSV pup it's one of the most severe punishment, so it has to be used with great caution, as it might impede the relationship. We used it only for the "worst crimes"
and only for short periods of time (from 3-5 minutes to half an hrs when she was older). Besides the difficulty with separation is that the dogs must never be let out when howling (it would be a reward for howling
)