Posted by Cathy
on February 16, 2009, 1:42 pm, in reply to "Re: Common Sense as opposed to Theory"
When I took Bodhi to puppy kindergarden the trainer used the positive reinforcement style, which I agree with. With an obstinate, dominant mastiff type dog, you can never let your guard down though. I have trained Bodhi to never get on furniture, including my bed, always sit by the open door until I say his release word before he walks through that open door, never jump up on anyone -- mainly just to have good dog manners. I am aware that he could easily be enticed to charge through that open door, so he is always on his leash before the door is opened -- ALWAYS, there is no room for mistakes. He will still sometimes just stand and start walking through the door after I go through first -- testing me -- but I always make him go back and sit and wait for the release word. The key is consistance, you can never ever let them get away with an infraction. This trait makes the "muscle head" type dogs different from most other types. Mastiff type dogs will always test, they acknowlege your dominance, but they test. If you catch the little signs like walking through the door before you say the release word, usually you can keep the dog in his place without the challenge escalating. It means you have to be aware of what is going on around you 100% of the time. I have to be aware of his reactions to his environment -- that instant freezing for a split second before the agitation occurs -- you have to catch it and re-direct their attention (their eye contact) in that split second. Cesar Milan does do that in his training and I do agree with that. Once the freeze is over and the agitation has started, it's too late, you're in a bad situation that will go downhill quickly. People who end up with dogs fighting each other, 99% of the time, are not paying attention to the warning signs. All it takes is a nano-second eye contact between dogs. I don't frequent dog parks once Bodhi truned about 10 months old, but when we did go, most of the humans had no idea -- they were on cell phones, not paying any attention to their dogs. I knew from one day to the next that it was time to stop going, Bodhi in his puppy stage was content to run and play. Every day he just ran with the pack, no matter what any other dog was doing, the next day he stopped running, froze, the hair went up on his back, I was there in a split second with the leash before anything happened and we walked out of the park and haven't been back since. From one day to the next, he went from playful puppy to adolescent punk. That's how quickly it happens.
When I used to attend dog shows, a woman with a DDB used to walk her dogs straight up to other dogs before they were in the ring. I was aware of her tactics, so I would simply walk between her dog and the other dog to break the two dogs' line of sight. Dog shows are a whole other topic of disgusting human traits.
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