"Suja" spoke these words of wisdom in
:


Since Pan's bitchiness towards Luna, we've instituted a zero tolerance
policy that has continued even after Luna is no longer visiting. She is
not allowed to look at her or anyone else cross-ways, no more grumbling
about much of anything except matters of consequence (she can protest if
someone else is being rude, but not be rude herself), severely curb her
tendencies towards being a bouncer, etc. It's basically been a lot of
redirection, recalls and leave-its, consequences for bad behavior, lots
of pets/praise/treats for being an angel, etc., and we've been making
progress. She is actually making play overtures (odd as they are, as
most dogs don't get the whole poking thing and don't associate it with
play), and is now making friends with one of Khan's girlfriends. I can
literally see the wheels turning as she catches herself just as she is
about to be bossy, and the last couple of days, she's been
auto-recalling to me when she finds stuff breaking out around her that
would've normally brought out the grumpy bitch in her.

Then today, I noticed something. Pan is walking up to Luna, wagging her
tail at her, and running right back to me for rewards. She's walking
next to Luna, not trying to control her or giving her the evil eye, but
looking back at me, and the moment she sees I'm watching her, recalls to
me for rewards. If she doesn't think I've noticed what she's doing,
she's standing there and woofing, then wagging her tail before running
back to me for her rewards. I think she's finally figured out, on her
own, that somehow Luna and her behavior towards her is responsible for
my generosity.

I think that I'm developing arthritis in my 'treat hand' from un-gloving
and re-gloving so much when it's chilly and windy outside, but Yay,
Progress! And I sure hope I haven't jinxed it all by saying all this out
loud.

Suja




I think you have discovered the "NOT ALLOWED" and "Don't let them do that"
Philosophy. Congrats. You just made a huge transition to a dog trainer.

Since Pan's bitchiness towards Luna, we've instituted a zero tolerance
policy that has continued even after Luna is no longer visiting. She is not
allowed to look at her or anyone else cross-ways, no more grumbling about
much of anything except matters of consequence (she can protest if someone
else is being rude, but not be rude herself), severely curb her tendencies
towards being a bouncer, etc. It's basically been a lot of redirection,
recalls and leave-its, consequences for bad behavior, lots of
pets/praise/treats for being an angel, etc., and we've been making progress.
She is actually making play overtures (odd as they are, as most dogs don't
get the whole poking thing and don't associate it with play), and is now
making friends with one of Khan's girlfriends. I can literally see the
wheels turning as she catches herself just as she is about to be bossy, and
the last couple of days, she's been auto-recalling to me when she finds
stuff breaking out around her that would've normally brought out the grumpy
bitch in her.

Then today, I noticed something. Pan is walking up to Luna, wagging her
tail at her, and running right back to me for rewards. She's walking next
to Luna, not trying to control her or giving her the evil eye, but looking
back at me, and the moment she sees I'm watching her, recalls to me for
rewards. If she doesn't think I've noticed what she's doing, she's standing
there and woofing, then wagging her tail before running back to me for her
rewards. I think she's finally figured out, on her own, that somehow Luna
and her behavior towards her is responsible for my generosity.

I think that I'm developing arthritis in my 'treat hand' from un-gloving and
re-gloving so much when it's chilly and windy outside, but Yay, Progress!
And I sure hope I haven't jinxed it all by saying all this out loud.

Suja

"diddy" none wrote in message:

I think you have discovered the "NOT ALLOWED" and "Don't let them do that"
Philosophy. Congrats. You just made a huge transition to a dog trainer.

We've always practiced the 'You can't do that' and 'Because I said so'
philosophy. It has always been 'Yes, I know you are a grumpy old bitch' and
'No, you can't tee off on that dog, because I said so'. The difference has
been that she has now been given something else to do instead. Before, I
would react to bad behavior, head her off when I felt she would start, now,
there are good consequences to good behavior, which was missing earlier.
She needed an incentive for good behavior, even if the behavior is just
standing around, doing nothing much in particular.

I will admit that my scrutiny of her behavior has also significantly stepped
up. Not only can she not do what she really wants to, she is no longer
allowed to even think along those lines. Her head needed to be filled with
other ideas.

Suja

"Suja" spoke these words of wisdom in
:


"diddy" none wrote in message:

I think you have discovered the "NOT ALLOWED" and "Don't let them do
that" Philosophy. Congrats. You just made a huge transition to a dog
trainer.

We've always practiced the 'You can't do that' and 'Because I said so'
philosophy. It has always been 'Yes, I know you are a grumpy old bitch'
and 'No, you can't tee off on that dog, because I said so'. The
difference has been that she has now been given something else to do
instead. Before, I would react to bad behavior, head her off when I
felt she would start, now, there are good consequences to good behavior,
which was missing earlier. She needed an incentive for good behavior,
even if the behavior is just standing around, doing nothing much in
particular.

I will admit that my scrutiny of her behavior has also significantly
stepped up. Not only can she not do what she really wants to, she is no
longer allowed to even think along those lines. Her head needed to be
filled with other ideas.

Suja




Right. You have taken a step forward in training tactics. Congrats

On 2008-02-28 20:00:10 -0500, "Suja" said:

I will admit that my scrutiny of her behavior has also significantly stepped
up. Not only can she not do what she really wants to, she is no longer
allowed to even think along those lines. Her head needed to be filled with
other ideas.

Good for both of you. We can never make any progress with our dogs
unless we give them another behavior. It's a lot easier to say than do,
but your perseverance is paying off.

On Feb 28, 6:43 pm, "Suja" wrote:
Since Pan's bitchiness towards Luna, we've instituted a zero tolerance
policy that has continued even after Luna is no longer visiting. She is not
allowed to look at her or anyone else cross-ways, no more grumbling about
much of anything except matters of consequence (she can protest if someone
else is being rude, but not be rude herself), severely curb her tendencies
towards being a bouncer, etc. It's basically been a lot of redirection,
recalls and leave-its, consequences for bad behavior, lots of
pets/praise/treats for being an angel, etc., and we've been making progress.
She is actually making play overtures (odd as they are, as most dogs don't
get the whole poking thing and don't associate it with play), and is now
making friends with one of Khan's girlfriends. I can literally see the
wheels turning as she catches herself just as she is about to be bossy, and
the last couple of days, she's been auto-recalling to me when she finds
stuff breaking out around her that would've normally brought out the grumpy
bitch in her.

Then today, I noticed something. Pan is walking up to Luna, wagging her
tail at her, and running right back to me for rewards. She's walking next
to Luna, not trying to control her or giving her the evil eye, but looking
back at me, and the moment she sees I'm watching her, recalls to me for
rewards. If she doesn't think I've noticed what she's doing, she's standing
there and woofing, then wagging her tail before running back to me for her
rewards. I think she's finally figured out, on her own, that somehow Luna
and her behavior towards her is responsible for my generosity.

I think that I'm developing arthritis in my 'treat hand' from un-gloving and
re-gloving so much when it's chilly and windy outside, but Yay, Progress!
And I sure hope I haven't jinxed it all by saying all this out loud.

Suja

Good Job!! Just remember to keep on her if she starts acting up again.

Suja wrote:

We've always practiced the 'You can't do that' and 'Because I said so'
philosophy. It has always been 'Yes, I know you are a grumpy old bitch' and
'No, you can't tee off on that dog, because I said so'. The difference has
been that she has now been given something else to do instead. Before, I
would react to bad behavior, head her off when I felt she would start, now,
there are good consequences to good behavior, which was missing earlier.
She needed an incentive for good behavior, even if the behavior is just
standing around, doing nothing much in particular.

You've got a key concept here - it's much easier to train a dog
NOT to do something if you train a substitute, preferably
incompatible, behavior in its place, than if you just focus on
the NOT.

FurPaw


--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dogs.