Who is ruling the roost?

Driving home after a day of training I thought about the dogs I had seen. Two were little fear aggressive terriers that had bitten houseguests. Another bigger dog was leash reactive, lunging and barking at dogs, cats, squirrels, or anything else that moved. Needless to say his owners had no control over him when he saw something in the house through the window or outside. The fourth dog just didn’t listen. She helped herself to whatever she desired; couch pillow, loaf of bread on the counter, $100 shoes. Didn’t matter, whatever struck her fancy at the moment was hers. Or so she thought. All four of these dogs lead their owners when walked, charging ahead and acting as if the person on the other end of the leash didn’t exist.

These owners are good people who love their dogs. All have one thing in common. Their dogs rule the roost. They love their dogs unconditionally, allowing them full run of the house and provide no structure or rules of behavior. Nothing is earned and the dogs do not have to work for anything. Affection is given indiscriminately and frequently. The dogs see their people as soft and weak and are making their own decisions because no one is doing it for them.  What these dogs need is guidance and less unconditional affection. I asked all of them to do one thing this week besides the individualized homework I had assigned. I asked them to withhold affection for the week and to ignore the dog when they are not training, feeding or taking bathroom breaks. No belly rubs, no baby talk, no cuddling. The dog stays off furniture. Just for one week. I suspect that the dogs will begin to learn to stop taking their owners for granted and will become a bit more attentive to them. 

How we live with our dog 

determines the dog 

we ultimately get

Should I Call a Dog Trainer?

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There are many reasons people give up their dogs. First and foremost it is because of seemingly out of control behavior issues. Issues ranging from destructive chewing, house soiling, uncontrollable barking, jumping, lunging and growling at other dogs to more dangerous behaviors including food guarding, biting and fighting with another dog in the home. The reasons are varied and I could go on and on adding to the list. What matters in the end is that if that dog’s behavior doesn’t change he will end up either re-homed if he is lucky, or more often than not, he will end up in a shelter where he has a good chance of dying.

 I know you love your dog and I know you have reached your limit.  You have poured through training books trying to make sense out of the often conflicting advise you are told. You have listened to your friends, your relatives and the so-called dog experts in your neighborhood or local dog park. But still, the bad behaviors persist, or worse, they become more pronounced. So now you have a choice to make, either get rid of the dog or bite the bullet and seek professional help.

 How I wish you had called me early on, before the bad habits had taken hold. It is so much easier to instill good habits than it is to break bad ones.  If there is one piece of advise I could give to new dog owners it would be this: Don’t wait until your dog’s behavior is out of control or dangerous before you seek professional help. The sooner a problem is dealt with, the easier the fix.  If you’ve never had a dog before, or never had ‘that type’ of dog before, call a trainer. Call us when your 12-week-old puppy can’t play with you without biting. Call us when your puppy is a bundle of energy that seems to never subside. Pay attention to his behavior. If you see behaviors that make you uncomfortable give us a call.  Don’t wait until the choice is between a trainer and a shelter.  There is help out there. It is up to you to ask for it.

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Me

Summertime, with an eye on the dogs.

This was posted on Facebook. I wish I could remember who created it to give him/her proper credit