----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Øsleby" Subject: RE: PESO: Another Dawg Picture
Thanks a lot William, for your detailed, descriptive and accurate reply.
You
are a diamond ;-)
Most of what you say makes a lot of sense to me. The idea that it could be
the sound of charging that trigs him is a very good idea. It is a lot
easyer
to work at a problem when you know what is causing it.
But there is one thing in your set of method that sounds a bit odd in my
ears. One thing that I have experienced a lot of times is to be very aware
of what you are doing when looking a dog (and most animals) directly into
their eyes. I have learned that a direct stare is a challenge in the dog's
natural language. I use this sometimes when he shows any kind of unwanted
aggression. After a brief moment he realises that I am the alfa, and looks
away. According to my logic the look at me procedure is similar to say
"challenge me". Sounds like "looking for trouble", if you see what I mean.
Please elaborate a bit on this.
It only sounds counterintuitive.
You can still stare a dog down if you need to, though once a dog is
comfortable with making eye contact, you will find that there is rarely, if
ever, a need to stare the animal down.
I don't ever challenge an animal to a dominance contest, and if the dog
challenges me, the consequences are fast and harsh, and don't involve making
eye contact. It's not often does a dog make that mistake twice with me, once
teaches them that it is a particularly unwise thing to do.
Generally, I have found that if I act like an Alpha, the dog is willing to
hand over the reins.
William Robb
