Hi mojos,
Relax, your dogs not out to dominate you.

Read here about the Dominance myth.
http://www.4pawsu.com/pmdominance.htm
http://www.4pawsu.com/DebunkingDomMyth.pdf

There's more articles here about training your dog and and article about
seperation anxiety.
http://www.4pawsu.com/articles.htm

One more thing he does...Dogs are absolutely not allowed on the
furniture in this house and my bed is sacred...Period. .

Is there a reason for that?

I'm sorry that you feel you can't trust your dog. It can be frightening
when your dog bites. It will help if you stop thinking your dog is trying
to dominate you and remember your own words "He's a good dog, very
obedient,"
Alison



--
Alison

"mojos" wrote in message
...

This may be long..I'll try to be brief..Those of you with a genuine
understanding of dog dominance, please help me..
My 4 year old German Wirehaired Pointer has always tried to push the
envelope..He's a good dog, very obedient, some seperation angsiety..

The problem is the subtle things..Sometimes running through a door
before me...Resting his paw on my feet when I'm sitting...Stepping on
my feet when he's coming inside..You know, the subtle things that a dog
does when he thinks that Mom doesn't notice the subtle little things..
I know most people would just ignore these behaviors but I have never
in my life had a dog that absolutely will not give up these traits..

No, he's not aggressive BUT, he did bite me once..About two years ago
when I caught him in the trash and took a cat food can away from him..I
was telling him NO ! when he struck so fast I didn't have time to
react...Yes, he drew blood, he meant business..I've never fully trusted
him since and I HATE THAT.
I don't think he was actually trying to be aggressive but that it was
more fear aggression because I had seriously never been that mad at him
and I'm sure he felt that...No, it's never happened again..
One more thing he does...Dogs are absolutely not allowed on the
furniture in this house and my bed is sacred...Period.
Sometimes, I wake up and guess who's on the bed with me ? As soon as he
realizes I'm awake, he'll slowly creep off the bed trying not to get my
attention..(it's kindof cute actually).
So, is there some kind of program that I can use ? Training ? That will
turn his mind around to make him understand that I am 100% his master ?
Until this happens, I can't 100% trust him, ya know ?

Help ?




--
mojos

In article ,
Alison wrote:
Relax, your dogs not out to dominate you.

You know, most of the stuff she listed I wouldn't give a
crap about, except that the dog has bitten. That's a
problem. The suggestions for dealing with it have been
excellent, up until yours. I think NILIF is an excellent
suggestion and getting the dog into classes is an excellent
suggestion. Pretending there's not an issue: not a good
suggestion.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"diddy" none wrote in message
. ..
mojos spoke these words of wisdom in

. You need to get the dog off the bed (because it thinks it's
dominant... But it's being on the bed is a social
heirarchy structure that you need to control in this situation)

Do you mean *all* dogs are being dominant if they want to sleep on your
bed or just the OP's one?
Alison

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:55:09 -0000, "Alison"
wrote:


"diddy" none wrote in message
...
mojos spoke these words of wisdom in

. You need to get the dog off the bed (because it thinks it's
dominant... But it's being on the bed is a social
heirarchy structure that you need to control in this situation)

Do you mean *all* dogs are being dominant if they want to sleep on your
bed or just the OP's one?

I don't think Diddy's post said that. Note that she says this dog's
being on the bed needs to be controlled "in this situation".

I personally don't think being on the bed is the issue for this dog,
since he slinks off without being told. But when a dog is having an
attitude problem, denying/controlling access to furniture is part of
the solution.

"Melinda Shore" wrote in message
...

You know, most of the stuff she listed I wouldn't give a
crap about, except that the dog has bitten. That's a
problem. The suggestions for dealing with it have been
excellent, up until yours. I think NILIF is an excellent
suggestion and getting the dog into classes is an excellent
suggestion. Pretending there's not an issue: not a good
suggestion.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Melinda, I was responding to the OP not to the rest of the replies. I was
struck by how worried she seemed that she felt her dog was out to dominate
her and couldn't relax and always looking for signs.
I didn't say don't train your dog. I think training is important too and a
good idea for dogs to be trained to get on and off the sofa /bed, not rush
through the door etc for practical and safety reasons. I like my dogs to
earn their treats because I believe its rewarding for them to do so.
There's no harm in having rules and it helps the dog to know what its
allowed to do and not allowed to do. But I think that to follow these rules
because you assume that the dog will see all humans in the family as above
him and therefore won't be aggressive to them or harm them is risky.
If you think ok I've done the rules therefore I am safe, you might not be.

Alison

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:55:09 -0000, "Alison"
wrote:


I don't think Diddy's post said that. Note that she says this dog's
being on the bed needs to be controlled "in this situation".

OIC, I was a bit surprised but realised now I misunderstood what she
meant.
thx

I personally don't think being on the bed is the issue for this dog,
since he slinks off without being told.

I think so too.

But when a dog is having an
attitude problem, denying/controlling access to furniture is part of
the solution.

Yes.-
Alison

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:44:21 -0000, "Alison"
wrote:

Hi mojos,
Relax, your dogs not out to dominate you.

Read here about the Dominance myth.
http://www.4pawsu.com/pmdominance.htm
http://www.4pawsu.com/DebunkingDomMyth.pdf

I'd like to send you Mukluk for a month or so and then you can tell me
all about the dominance myth. I don't believe that dogs in general
are out to take over our households (today, but tomorrow the world!).
However, there are dogs that like to dominate as much of their
environment as possible, and for some of them, that includes all
objects, animals and people in the house, in the yard, etc. We've had
Mukluk for 10 1/2 years, he's now 14 or 15 years old and he still
wants to be the boss of everyone and everything. There are plenty of
dogs for whom dominance, and a sincere, heartfelt desire to move up
the ladder of social hierarchy, is far from a myth.

One more thing he does...Dogs are absolutely not allowed on the
furniture in this house and my bed is sacred...Period. .

Is there a reason for that?

Yes. The owner wants it that way. Some people prefer that their dogs
stay off the furniture, and that is their prerogative.

I'm sorry that you feel you can't trust your dog. It can be frightening
when your dog bites. It will help if you stop thinking your dog is trying
to dominate you and remember your own words "He's a good dog, very
obedient,"

Except that a dog that bites isn't trustworthy, and reading articles
really isn't sufficient for problems like that.




Alison

On 13 Dec 2008 09:51:23 -0500, (Melinda Shore) wrote:

In article ,
Alison wrote:
Relax, your dogs not out to dominate you.

You know, most of the stuff she listed I wouldn't give a
crap about, except that the dog has bitten.

That's what I thought, and the description of the circumstances didn't
sound like fear aggression to me.

In article ,
sighthounds & siberians wrote:
That's what I thought, and the description of the circumstances didn't
sound like fear aggression to me.

Yeah. I wouldn't be in a hurry to slap a label on this, but
I do think it needs to be dealt with and that NILIF sounds
like a good program for the dog in any event.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"Alison" spoke these words of wisdom in
:


"diddy" none wrote in message
. ..
mojos spoke these words of wisdom in

. You need to get the dog off the bed (because it thinks it's
dominant... But it's being on the bed is a social
heirarchy structure that you need to control in this situation)

Do you mean *all* dogs are being dominant if they want to sleep on your
bed or just the OP's one?
Alison

The OP's DOg, since this is an issue