[ SHOWGSD-L ] An article in the Review
- From: MarcatoGSD@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 13:50:14 EST
I got my Review a couple days ago, and was looking at one of the articles
(Starting Your Puppy Right), and I had some concerns.
While a good article, three things really stood out to me:
1. Snapping Your fingers on the pup's nose when it is chewing something
2. Taking away a pup's food dish while it is eating
3. Never let it win at tug, it'll become dominant.
Why am I concerned? Because #1 your hands should only be associated with
GOOD things. It's your fault in the first place if the pup isn't chewing on
something it shouldn't, because either you aren't supervising closely enough,
or
you didn't put something out of reach and you should have. Why not just remove
the puppy and "exchange" with him? "This yummy bone is SO much better than
that stinky ol' shoe!"
Concern #2...you can create some mighty good food aggression problems by
taking away your pup's food. Why should I correct my dog if he growls at me?
I
took HIS food! I gave it to him and then took it away, and it's only fair that
he tell me that that's not right. Growling is a dog's warning system, and if
you take that away, they go right to biting. Who's fault is it? YOURS!
Dog etiquette says that once the leader (I refuse to use the term alpha
anymore) is done with something, the subordinate may have their turn, and once
it
is theirs, it's THEIRS. The leader of the pack won't come back and decide "Ok,
I want it again, give it up!" unless it's a crappy leader.
I put my hand in my pup's dish, sure, because there may be times I need to
put something in the dish or take something out. And I touch my dogs when they
are young (and randomly as they get older) because sometimes people brush
against dogs when they are eating something (not every family will crate train
their dog), and it's just good to have the dog desensitized to these things.
Sometimes I forget to add Strauss' fish oil pills to his food, so I tell him to
sit, I put the pills in the dish, pat him, and he goes back to eating. No food
aggression, and I never picked up his bowl or any such thing.
Concer #3, never let your dog win at tug, it will end up teaching the dog
dominant behaviors...is bull pucky. The game of tug is about two things:
confidence and control. I can tell Strauss "Aus!" at any time, and he WILL
give up
the tuggy, but sometimes, he pulls really hard, and I want to reward that
fight, so I let go (other times he does rip it from my hands, he is strong),
and he
parades around with it. I love it, and I LOVE that confidence.
Do I end the game? Of course I do. But to never let the dog win? I think
it's bologna, and people shouldn't be told these things that aren't true. My
dog has been winning at tug more often than me since he was 8 weeks old. We
have no dominance issues.
I probably sound like a jerk...wouldn't be the first time, but these are very
real concerns to me.
- Jackie
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