Establishing Dominance

[MyboyTank]

I agree with your ideas here because i have found that with many dogs body language plays a huge role in how the dog behaves. A good trainer would be someone who can not only exert the pressure without touching the dog, but also someone who can get a dog to react to their movement. Ie. movements of hands, arms, legs.

A good example of this would be that if I go into my dining room and place my hand on the handle of the sliding glass door both dogs come up at my side and sit, waiting for me to open the door, or that if I point my arm and hand away from the couch and across the room they get down off the sofa and move in the direction of where my arm/hand is pointing. It doesnt have to be forceful, you just have to provide direction when it is needed.

Some people are misguided enough to think that all you should have to do is teach commands and then the dog will be perfect all the time. They fail to realize that its better to teach the dog to do things a certain way by doing it when it should be done. I havent had to worry about my boys knowing what I want from them because if I want them to do something I tell them to do it right then and there, Ive found that this automatically gets them paying attention to see if I want them to do something.

[webzpinner]

My wife is easily Alpha... which is funny since she weighs little more than Jake... but she establishes Alpha anywhere she goes with any species on God's green earth.... she's got the "Icy Glare of Death and Destruction" (patent pending).

Swear to god that she could stare down a great white shark and it'd flee with it's tail tucked between it's fins!

It's funny, coz if Jake chews something he shouldn't or dump the trashbin, my wife will glare at him, and he'll slink away, into his kennel, lay down, and hide his head. He KNOWS he's in trouble. It's adorable.

[carmspack]

Were there too many monks making cheese.

I spent many years talking to new pup owners to not do the alpha roll, to not tie their dog to the back of a car to exercise them . The book was very popular based on the romanticism of "artisan" monk - breeding .

I haven't seen any stars or even great companions from the breeding program. There may be some or even many , just not the ones I have seen.

Just the other day I had to do the old reality check. After some 50 plus years one of my husbands high school friends decided track him down and drop in out of the blue. I guess he saw the dogs and assumed it was Pauls interest and then continued to regale me with stories of the breed and how to train and control "them". He was adamant that you had to let them know who was boss by biting them , on the ear , on the nose. YIKES ... does it ever stop .

Carmen
Carmspack Working German Shepherd Dogs

[JOSHUA SAMPSON]

Originally Posted by webzpinner

she's got the "Icy Glare of Death and Destruction" (patent pending).

must be a good poker player. It's all about the poker face, with dogs, people, etc.

[webzpinner]

Originally Posted by JOSHUA SAMPSON

must be a good poker player. It's all about the poker face, with dogs, people, etc.

hehe... you could have a royal flush, and she could have nothing, but she'd still win, coz you'd show your cards, she'd glare, and you'd say "nevermind, take it!" and run away!

[Texas_Eva]

I'm new to the forum and to being a pack leader. There's so much amazing info on this forum!

Anyway, in my house we have a nice little chain of command. I take orders from my girlfriend, and the pup takes orders from me.

[Lauri & The Gang]

Originally Posted by Texas_Eva

Anyway, in my house we have a nice little chain of command. I take orders from my girlfriend, and the pup takes orders from me.

Sounds about right!!

Welcome to the board.

[robertm]

Anyone see that documentary where they compared dogs with wolves? They put them through a battery of exercises where they proved that both could be trained but when it came to testing where each had to be intuitive or try and take cues from the human only the dogs passed.

What we learn is that dogs want to please us, we just have to show them how.

I guess every situation is different but I avoided the don'ts that made a dog think it was an equal and did a few of the do exercises like establishing that their food was mine (to avoid food aggression) and they couldn't have everything on their terms. I really didn't think of it as establishing dominance as reinforcing their place in the pecking order.

[John 57]

First let me say I am new here. My dog is a primarily black shepherd, about 3 years old. She is a rescued adoptee that was very severely abused and mistreated by whoever previously owned her. There is also some behavioral evidence she was overly caged. She was not properly socialized but seems to get along well with most dogs, but can be somewhat aggressive with smaller dogs initially. All of her "issues" have exaggerated the "aloofness" into almost abject fear of strangers. She is very curious and wants to go for walks, but can become highly stressed and start pulling away and such, especially if there are kids playing and riding bikes, razor scooters, etc. She has never acted aggressive and if prodded will let them approach her and pet her. The same holds true for adults, with her taking far longer to warm up to men than women. Once she has gotten to know someone, she is fine, but it can take quite a while and a lot of work. Here is my dilemma: I work hard with her every day, and in the 7 months I've had her she has made tremendous progress. However, she can still act terrified on a walk if there are people around. She has good days and bad days, but often there is no pattern or constant "trigger" for her fear. A sunny day with lots of activity might make her especially nervous, but them lately, on a cloudy day with no one around she will still act nervous and look over her shoulder a lot. I have tried just about everything including a thunder shirt which didn't work for her. I think I am maintaining alpha status and she is generally very obedient and very smart. But for example, when on a walk where we go by a very small park or a house nearby that has five kids (all of whom she has let pet her a couple of times), she can become so upset and scared that she seems unable to listen and/or focus on my command. She will try to pull away and "pull out of her collar". Even if I make her sit and try to get her to look at me, do the dog whispering thing, etc., she keeps turning her head away to be sure no one is coming to get her or whatever it is that drives the fear. One other note, outside of a particularly aggressive game we play involving wearing gloves in which she only play bites with a firm grip when the gloves are on (she is reluctant to mouth and will not actually bite a bare hand), she shows no aggressive tendencies. I also want to add that in the beginning she would pee a bit when she thought she was in trouble or was being disciplined, but that stopped after a month or two when she started trusting me. I also should add I don't believe in beating dogs into submission or beating them in general and have tried to be creative in disciplining her because of the previous abuse. Except for the fear issues described, she has responded quite well to instruction and is a smart learner, when she isn't too scared to stay focused...Can anyone offer any suggestions for retraining a shepherd with these types of issues? Again, at home and around people she has had a chance to get to know, she is a completely different dog Thanx!

[gsdraven]

Hi John,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for adopting. You should start your own thread to let people know about your situation.

Also, if you go to your User CP and add your general location, maybe someone can offer suggestions for a good trainer/behaviorist.