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Yuppie Puppies |
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Dogs
provide many with a good reason to go home at the end of the day but there
are issues that need addressing when an owner is gone for 8 to 10 hours at a
stretch. A big issue is that owners
often feel guilty about that long absence (and well they should!!) but
compound the problem by over-indulging Left Alone Lisa in a futile effort to
make up for the alone time. Lisa’s
loving owner loves the fact that Lisa shows her a big welcome by leaping up
and placing great big paws on her shoulders as she wiggles and carries
on. What Loving Owner doesn’t realize
is that Lisa may well be showing a form of dominance. Dominance is kind of a dirty word these
days in positive training circles but until I can come up with a better word
I’ll continue to use it – sparingly. Since
Lisa is so sweet most of the time and she has been left for so long she gets
lots of special treatment. She gets a goodie while Loving Owner is preparing dinner. Lisa drags out all her toys and is
immediately catered to with tosses and tugs.
Later in the evening, Lisa is of course allowed to get cozy on the
sofa and gets lots of pats and scratches.
What L. O. doesn’t realize is that Lisa sees all of this as a case of
Lisa dictating the rules and that begins to take on a hierarchy issue. Social
status is a big issue to canines and if Lisa happens to be a social climber
and is matched up with a wuss for an owner she will
definitely slide into the role of leader bit by bit. Of course, this same Loving Owner will be
shocked one day to see sweet Lisa’s exposed canines as L.O. decides to take a
nap on the sofa and asks Lisa to get off.
Big surprise!! Lisa says – YOU lie on the floor. I am comfy right where I am. Yet – it has been coming step by step as
sure as day follows night. Often
the dog in such a scene is declared “aggressive” and in need of behavior
modification and – very popular these days – drug therapy to relieve the
tensions and problems. Loving Owner
may have had many dogs in her day and never had these problems. She is
certain that the origin must be in Lisa when what may well have happened is
that L.O. had “easy” dogs in the past – dogs that were not social climbers
and just fell into line. Now she finds
herself with problems previously not encountered and – of course! – it must be the dog!! The
answers to such issues are really quite simple but, sad to say, Lisa may not
be lucky enough to get a second chance should she make the mistake of taking
the next step in her social climbing program and plant her teeth on L.O.’s
arm as the latter reaches down to recover that stinky bone that was just
dragged onto the carpet. To Lisa, L.O.
would have asked for the bite. To L.O.
Lisa would have gone mad and out of the blue attacked her. Yeah – right. It doesn’t happen that way but L.O. isn’t
going to buy into the truth because it would mean she needed to take
responsibility for what has happened.
Not many people want to be responsible for their behaviors – it is
much easier to blame someone or something. So
the easy solution? Raise dogs in a way
that is suitable to dogs. If you have
to be away for long periods of time be certain that your very social canine
buddy has exercise, activity and breaks in the routine to maintain
sanity. Keep homecomings simple and low
key. Make certain that your dog has to
work for most of the fun stuff in life; sit to have the leash attached,
down/stay during YOUR dinner, play games when YOU initiate them not when the
dog does, teach good manners and require them as a way of life and not just
when Aunt Josie comes to visit, and be on the alert for indications that you
have a social climber. If you do, seek
help from someone who will teach you positive ways to deal with the issues
and not compound them with punitive and threatening forms of treatment which
may well increase the problems rather than solve them. Does
this mean that you cannot “spoil” your dog?
Of course not. It simply means
choose sensible ways to do so and your dog won’t live to regret your system. B |