I don't :) One of our major malfunctions is that we subscribe to the "dogs as kids" model... and we both work an eight hour plus day. The wife usually gets home before I do and feeds the "hungry babies" Each dogs is required to sit, before they get food. MacGregor is required to go through his whole gamut of tricks, before food or treats, as an aside the research we did on Pyrs told us that while they have a great personality, the dog must know that he's not in charge. Pyrs being huge dogs can be quite dangerous if out of control. I think we have Mac pretty well under control.
Our dogs are pretty mindful, If I tell any of them "off" (which translates to "Your sitting in my spot") they immediately move so I can sit down. We do need to do alot of work with them. Michael Grant [Modus I.S.] wrote: > Please don't take any criticisms I'm about to make personally. Take them > objectively and in regards to the dogs, not the dog owners. :) > > >> 1) yes..(and the bed) frequently, although Mac, with his size and >> abundance of fur gets hot pretty quickly and will retreat to the floor >> where it's cooler. >> > > This can cause problems. Kind of blurs the line between humans and dogs. We > have a 100% "four on the floor" rule with dogs. Beds, chairs, couches etc are > for people. You may think it sounds mean, but trust me, the dogs don't see it > that way. At first the dogs may whine but just stay consistent and they will > forget about it altogether. Remember that dogs live in the moment. They don't > think "I used to be able to go on the couch and now I can't. My owner is > mean." Buy or make your dogs each a bed. Generally dogs love it when they > have their own little spot. Also, you'll have a better sleep with a dogless > bed. > > > >> 2) not often enough.. >> > > This will help a lot to enforce that they are all a pack and that you and > your family are the leader. > > > >> 3) Protects his food, first one out the door (unless I'm going out with >> them), bark and growl when either my wife or myself isn;t in the room, >> were interpreting this as "Mom and Dad aren't here so I'm in charge". >> 4) He will protect his food, though not from my wife and I, we can >> simply walk up and take it from him >> > > You need to try and put a stop to this. Growling is the early warning system > before attacking. You need to try to snap the dog out of that frame of mind > altogether. It will require staying by the dogs during meal time and use the > discipline method I described last time to try and break this habit. I don't > know if you have kids but this is one of the biggest reasons to put a stop to > this behavior. Children have no qualms about sticking their hand in a dogs > food bowl while he eating. This could obviously have dire consequences. And > don't only correct the dog that's growling, correct the dogs that are trying > to get to his bowl too. > > It's a little harder to enforce behavior when they are in the yard alone, but > if you hear/see any of your dogs posturing as alpha you need to get in there > and remind them all that it's you. Correct the dogs, make them sit. Dogs > can't be aggressive while they are sitting. > > With all of this it just takes a bit of dedication and a lot of consistency. > Try to relate all your dogs behavior to how a pack would operate. With you of > course being the alpha. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:281226 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
