There’s a difference between disobedience and incomprehension. If your dog isn’t obeying a command because he doesn’t understand what it is you want him to do, that’s not a behavioral problem at all; it simply means that you need to spend some more time together in training.
True disobedience occurs when your dog deliberately does not obey a request or command, although he has full knowledge of what it is that you’re asking him to do (and you know this because he’s performed it reliably on several occasions beforehand). Although this may seem like a relatively minor inconvenience, it’s actually a pretty serious thing – not only can it be dangerous for your dog (for example, if he’s heading towards a busy road and ignores your ‘come’ command), but it’s also detrimental to your relationship with your dog. Disobedience is rooted in disrespect. When your dog deliberately does not obey you, he’s saying, “I don’t respect your authority enough to do what you want me to do”. If you allow him to get away with this, you are allowing him to form the habit of passive-aggression. This is not something that can just be left to “fix itself” – the problem will worsen, not get better, if you leave it.
It’s very important that your dog recognizes that you outrank him in the social hierarchy of the household. The concept of alpha status is one that you need to be familiar with in order to maintain a healthy, functional relationship with your dog. It may sound cruel from a human perspective, but your dog is happier when he knows that someone else is in charge of making all the decisions – including his day-to-day behavior and obedience levels. It is not possible to have a good owner/dog relationship if he does not understand that you are the clear-cut authority figure: he must know that he’s beneath you in the chain of command.
Your first step in dealing with generalized disobedience is to reestablish your dominance. Here are some tips on doing so: - When leaving the house and the car, you must always leave before your dog. This is unmistakable alpha behavior: to a dog, only the alpha leaves first. If you allow him to exit the house or the car ahead of you, you are saying to him, “You’re stronger than me; you should go first because you’re the decision-maker”. Inside doors aren’t so important, but every time you leave the house or the car to go outside, you must make him wait for you to go first, until you release him from the ‘wait’ with a release-word.
Make him wait for his food. Your family and you must always eat before him – if it means he has to wait an extra half hour or so for his meal, it won’t hurt him any. When you put his food down for him, make him sit and wait until you release him to eat. Keep his feeding schedule varied, so he’s always aware that you’re in charge of his food – don’t allow him to form expectations of when he should be fed.
Don’t allow him free, uninhibited access to the whole house. The house is your den: you’re allowing him to be inside. Remind him that you’re allowing him into your den –it’s a privilege for him to be there, not a right - by sometimes allowing him inside, and sometimes sending him outside for half an hour or so. Keep certain areas of the house strictly for your own, as well (such as your bed, certain pieces of furniture, or some rooms).
Never allow your dog to initiate play. If he’s nudging you for attention or to start a game, you may think that it’s cute and affectionate; but what he’s really saying is, “I’m the boss and I’m telling you to play with me right now.” If he starts bothering you for attention, ignore him for a few moments: get up and do something else. Wait until he’s given up before initiating the play yourself. Playtime is a fantastic way to bond with your dog, but it should be done on your terms, not his.
When you arrive home, don’t rush straight over to him and shower him in affection. That is not alpha behavior at all – an alpha dog, upon arriving home, doesn’t go over to the other dogs and throw himself at them, saying, “Here I am! I missed you guys! Let’s have a cuddle!” – he ignores everyone else, relaxes for a short while, maybe has something to eat, and only interacts with them when he’s good and ready. Even though you’re probably good and ready to interact with your dog as soon as you get home, it will make more sense to him – and underscore your authority – if you ignore him for just three to five minutes upon arriving home.
Another fantastic way of counteracting disobedience is to start – and maintain – a basic obedience training plan. You don’t have to do anything fancy or super-demanding; just ten minutes a day of learning and enforcing commands. This can drop to five minutes a day once your dog is completely reliable with the commands.
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It seems they entered a costume party with their bulldog cousin. The grand prize was a stay at a fancy Boston hotel for their humans. They not only looked adorable but they also won. (yay!)Mom and dad are very proud.
Their cousin as a hotdog, Dash and Ivan as the condiments.
Their cousin as a hotdog, Dash and Ivan as the condiments.
My sister is out of town so Minos is here for the weekend. Being a (yet) unneutered 10 month old male is making the visit just a little bit more interesting. There has been lots of peeing on things (dog beds that smell like other dogs are his favorite) and ardent pursuit of the Jenny. (He looooves her.) Jack is still happy to play with him but a little less tolerant of some of his antics then previously. Add to that Missy's occasional accidents as a side effect of her medication and I am already doing an extra large load of laundry tonight. Thankfully in all other respects he is an easy keeper. No food aggression or toy possessiveness, eats on a schedule, good recall and crate trained. It could be so much worse. I am still tired of cleaning up dog pee though. Thank goodness for natures miracle.
Missy looks happier in this pic because there was food involved.
He's my sweet and beautiful boy!
Mixing it can be time consuming and I will need to figure out the schedule for that. I do prefreeze all the meat first to kill parasites as an added safety precaution. So there is a need for a thaw and mix schedule so I can overlap and not run out of ready to go food. I also need to find a better storage container. I need one with an airtight lid. Tonight was their first raw moose meal.
