Question:

For the past several weeks I have been carefully reading the posts to this newsgroup, and I have asked for and gotten help on my dog, Playful, going wild over going for a walk, whether to clip her for the summer, and, most recently, her fear biting. I have also been reading the FAQs on dog behavior, and I have tried to enlist the aid of a trainer who will work with my dog and me on a personal basis rather than in a large class full of puppies. None of the trainers my vet recommended has panned out yet, and my next step is to call the obedience association mentioned recently in this newsgroup. In the meantime, however, after WallyCycle answered my post regarding my 6 year old sheltie’s fear biting, I really started some serious research on dog behavior, spending most of the weekend at the bookstores and the library reading not so much about how to train a dog but about dog behavior, body language, and how to communicate to a dog. Well, basically I found out that I knew very little about how to communicate with my sheltie, who had been in an obedience class with me when she was a puppy. She was a very poor student, because, according to the instructor, I was too soft hearted and Playful was too stubborn. It actually took us four years to get her fully housebroken, and she has been doing as she pleases otherwise ever since. I remembered several references to being alpha dog in this newsgroup, and over the weekend, I have become alpha dog, and Playful is now ranked below all humans in our house. The main reason I got a sheltie was because I had read how easy they are to teach. In fact, one book said they practically train themselves, and this really sold me on shelties. This weekend Playful did almost train herself. As of Friday she had never done much of anything nothing I had asked her to do except "go wet grass", which she has done consistently since I finally got her housebroken. Today, Monday,she comes, sits, stays in the sitting position, does not drag me down the street when we are walking but instead walks at the same pace I walk, stops barking on command, and no longer "fear bites" her comb when I groom her around her ears and her "sensitive" shoulder. The first thing I tried to teach Playful was not to go into a barking frenzy whenever anyone leaves the house. After doing all of my reading on dog behavior, I left the house, and the minute she first barked as I was going out the door, I said "no barking" in what I thought was an appropriate alpha dog tone. She was so shocked that she stopped barking and started to slink off, but she then came back one more time, I suppose to see if I had completely lost my mind, and again gave one bark. Again, in the same tone, I said "no barking", and she immediately stopped barking and got lots of verbal praise and petting. Our housekeeper just could not believe the "new" Playful today. I have even trained her to stop barking when strangers come to the house or into the yard by saying "it’s all right", and then if she does not immediately stop barking saying "no barking" in my alpha dog voice. I know we still have a long way to go, but I feel that Playful has accomplished more than I would ever have hoped for. I think the biggest job will be to train the humans in Playful’s life to be consistent, to never permit her to snap at her comb, to stop playing the tug-of-war games she loves so much, and to always be alpha dogs. I also wonder whether Playful is learning so quickly now, because I sent her to dog boarding school after she did so poorly in obedience classes. She would do all kind of complicated maneuvers for the trainer, but she had no clue what to do when I said "sit" in my gamma (or more likely, omega) dog voice. She must remember something from her early education. But you can certainly teach an old dog (she’s 6) new tricks, if you can just train the owner! I am still going to find a trainer, because I want to make sure she remembers what I have taught her, and also because I don’t know quite how to teach her to do certain things I want her to do. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has posted advice to me and this newsgroup, particularly "Wally Cycle", who owns several shelties, and to Bob Maida, both of whom have given advice to me and have given advice to others that I benefitted from.    

Response:

Lynn, I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear your good news! Can you post a summary of the good advice? Is there a good book or two that you now recommend? -Jennie — ~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~ Max’s activities: swimming, hiking, chasing the cat, eating sticks… —-check out Max’s Home Page: www.slip.net/~vanheuit/max_page.html

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