Leadership

[Franklin927]

Does anyone have any suggestions for leadership building activities? We love that Franklin has a job to protect us but we also want him to respect us. Our trainers are telling us that he definately responses better to me but he totally takes advantage of my wife, who he knows he is bigger than and can boss around.

Because of his size many times during our training sessions the traininers will have be take control of Franklin. I worry that by doing this, his respect for me may grow but not change his behavior with my wife.

To sum it up does anyone have suggestions for me and my wife on leadership activities that she can be perfroming with him that can be done while he is not bulllying her or trying to get his way?

Thanks!

-Mike

 

[DennasMom]

Some thoughts... just brainstorming...

Can you let her lead the walks? You keep Franklin with/next to you and follow your wife around the block, then let her take the lead and make sure he doesn't move in front of her. Maybe give her a walking stick to put in front of him if he tries to move ahead?

Does she need a confidence builder too? Maybe have her train some tricks for him to do - since tricks are "fun", it puts a different spin on the attitude of the trainer (i.e your wife)... and that can help the process, too.

I'd also make sure your wife has tastier treats in her pocket than you do for a little while... but that's just me.

And, make sure you support anything your wife does - if she says "sit" and he doesn't... "growl" (i.e. show displeasure) at him until he does (don't repeat the command, or he's just doing what you asked, and not responding to her).

You might also want to talk to your trainers - let them know that one of your goals is to make sure Franklin responds to your wife... they need to stop relying on your size. Training should be a mental exercise, not a physical one... IMHO.

 

[musicdeb]

Agree with Denna. Walking is the best bonding exercise followed by training followed by just loving on the pup on her terms and on her time.

 

[Kate Williams]

Feeding time has worked for us. I feed and I control Hank's entrance and exit to the home. If he doesn't obey the series of commands that I give, he waits for his dinner. If he doesn't sit and wait patiently at the door for exit, he doesn't go out till he does. It helps him learn to respect me. I also claim the space around me very firmly. For Hank the closer he stands to you the less he respects you. He'll give my husband a wide breadth but with me he tries to match my steps and strides. I am very touchy about my space and he seems to get better every day of course he's stubborn so it's one step forward, two steps back. If she shows any signs of being uncertain he will take the lead. They're funny like that.

---------- Post added at 09:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 AM ----------

Oh yea, and I also never allow him to walk through a door way ahead of me. When we are going into or out of a room together I am always on point no exceptions.

 

[Kate Williams]

Oh yea, and I also never allow him to walk through a door way ahead of me. When we are going into or out of a room together I am always on point no exceptions.

 

[Rogue]

Rogue always responded better to my partner, as she was my first "large" dog I didn't have as much confidence with her as he did and she never listened to me. We started training classes and I took the lead in her training. This really increased my confidence with her and she respects me more now because of it. She had her exam last night and I did it with her and she passed top of her class. I was always a soft touch with Rogue and really babied her because of her past (Rogue's a rescue dog), this didn't do me or her any favours! I definitely agree that training should be a mental exercise and not a physical one. Is Franklin food motivated? Before your wife feeds Franklin, let him see her eat first because the pack leader always gets to eat first and that might help establish that he is below her.
We now put Rogue's food down but make her sit and wait until we give her the command to go. She's also not allowed on the couch until we invite her up, she's always on the couch anyway but now she waits until she's invited up. We also go through all doorway's first and never leave her in front of us on walks. It took a while for me to get the confidence to take the lead in training but with practice we got there. I don't think the trainer should be taking control in training away from your wife as this would just undermine her, maybe one to one training may help at first, the training class we did with Rogue only had three other dogs in it so they were able to do one to one training with myself and Rogue and this helped to keep Rogue focus on me, that and me having truck loads of treats!
These are just some of my experiences and thoughts, I'm by no means an expert but I have such a better connection with Rogue now from doing this and so much more confidence with her ).

 

[Franklin927]

Thanks for the feedback!!! We have been trying the food thing over the last couple of weeks but he is not food motovated...We will have him sit and stay before we give him his food, but after he does this and we put his food down he will walk away as if he is not interested.

the other thing that I am noticing and really starting to bother me is that he does not look at us while on walks. the reason I notice this is because there is a lady in my neighborhood who has several pitbulls. she will walk them on a loose leash but they stick to her hip and stare at her the entire time. When I walk franklin i have a very short leash that he keeps tight sometimes pulling but usually just tightbut he is always looking around and not at me. so when he sees anther dog or person approaching he will puff up and bark.

Any suggestions on how to get him to look to me while on walks? I have been carrying liver treats on walks and when we see other dogs or people I will try to get his attention that way. Does this help? I feel like this is more of a bribe rather than leadership or bonding...

Thanks!!!

 

[Geisthexe]

Mike,

Do you feed your dog before you train?
What kind of treats are you using?
Have you built a focus with your dog?
Do you interject with a toy for praise, if the dog is not food motivated?

Sorry for all the questions but you are never gonna build a focus heel until you build it standing still.

If you search my name you will find a thread called "focus heeling"
I put two mini videos in there to show how to start a focus.

Remember you can own a dog but does the dog own you?

You have to build a bond and folks always wanna state it's building by walking, & prettying but it is not. Dogs need structure, training and interjection between owner and dog. By building this you will have a dog that doesn't wanna just follow you around but a dog who desires to be with you and no where else.



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