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| Tafia | Feb 7 2006, 08:01 PM |
Total Gas Bag!
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Well you've certainly got me on the experience front. My background is farming and the attitude was "terriers are not house dogs", they did their job and stayed in the yard. However, my issue was the quick jump from "pack" to "dominance". It seems knee jerk and raises the heckles on the back of my neck. The most useful tool I've found is encouraging "calm", dogs are fed when they behave in an "calm" fashion. I don't want to take wound up or overly excited dogs out for their walk, first and last 5 minutes of every walk are always calmly on lead and this behaviour is expected before we even leave the house or have collars and leads on. I expect my dogs to treat me with the gentleness and respect that I treat them. I do not want dogs running past me when I'm going up or downstairs - its dangerous. Nor do I want them competing for who's first to go through doors - again - dangerous. I don't want my dogs bolting in the opposite direction (as I see clicker/obedience trained dogs do) if a firework goes off suddenly. I want to feel confident that immediately after they've chased a rabbit they'll come bounding towards me (one dog yes - everytime/other dog - not such an instant reaction but on her terms). If either dog is walking "calmly" on lead, neither would jerk the lead to chase a rabbit - but off lead would be gone like a shot. Granted, they'll stand on tip toe, their bodies will shake with the excitment of a missed opportunity but they'd not jerk the lead or half strangle themselves to get at it. (But, if I'm in a rush, minds not on the job - they'll pull my arms out of its sockets.) That's not done by either the tasty treat or beating with a stick but by encouranging calm. Personally, I've found many similarities between what JF says in her books and the ways the "old style terriermen" treat their dogs. It may well be considered old hat, she's not the world's greatest writer and she does a pretty sharp job on self marketing which unfortunately gives folks carte blanche to deride some simple, tried and tested ways of encouraging calm in what is, otherwise, a very excitable terrier. As for the above quote, I'm sure it is not aimed as a response to my post. If it was, then you'd be presuming far more than you're currently qualified to do. |
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| The Dog Whisperer · Books | |
9:32 AM Nov 27
