As part of Tootie’s training I must ignore her when we reunite. This is the cornerstone to amichien bonding. If her song and dance of trying to reestablish dominance becomes aggressive, for instance scratching or jumping in the face and biting, she must be removed from the room and placed in time out. After she has ceased barking and whining for ten seconds she may be allowed back into the room with you. You must then ignore her once again. If her ritual of trying to establish dominance by jumping on you escalates to biting or aggressiveness once more, you escort her gently by the collar to the time out room (which you have cleared for any thrashing that may occur.) Each time she is led to the time out room for unacceptable behavior she must wait longer and longer after ceasing barking to be let back into the training room.
This is Tootie’s fourth time in time out. It is sort of like Super Nanny for dogs.
I just let her out of the bathroom, her designated time out room, and she came in and jumped up on me. It didn’t hurt, so I let her. I ignored her while I looked at a few photographs lying on the boyfriend’s desk. She calmed down for a minute, until I sat down at the computer. She then bit me on the knee. (Her bites are hardly painful–she is barely gripping me at all–she is just trying to remain the Alpha dog.)
So now this is fifth time to time out. She’s hardly putting up a fuss anymore. Just whimpering sporadically. I need to wait a minute and half now for silence before I let her out, since she’s had to go back to many times. I suppose this could go on all morning, though I suspect she’s pretty close to getting it now.
This requires a lot of patience. Something I am short on, so this is training for me, too. I was going to go to a yoga class at the Y at 8:30, but it looks like I’ll miss that now. I’ll just hit the treadmill instead.
If she’s quiet 30 seconds longer I can let her out. Hang on…
I let her out. It went well for a while. She even laid down and gave the sigh that they are supposed to give when they give up the Alpha role. But the second I sat down she starting the fake biting again. So Tootie is now serving her sixth time out sentence. She must wait two minutes after being quiet before getting out.
At this rate I won’t make it to the Y before it closes. This is only Day Two. Let’s hope my perseverance pays off.
4 comments ↓
Not trying to ruin your plan or nothing, but time out is not real effective on dogs (short attention spans). Ignoring them and acting ‘aloof’ when they’re demanding will generally get you a better reaction. Also, for dogs nothing in life should be free.
If the dog wants through a door, make it sit first.
If it wants a treat, make it sit first.
Prior to feeding, make it sit.
Prior to affection (petting, scratching, lap sitting) make it sit first.
Seriously. It will be rough for the first couple of days but it’ll take.
we tried the whole ‘alpha dog’ thing last year when we got our dog. we go in the door first and all that jazz so she knows Who’s Boss. And our dog would bite. oh lord did she bite. lucky for us our neighbour is a dog trainer. she said our dog was a tough case. our dog really wanted to do her own thing. we got a choke chain. didn’t even work. she would still jump on you and bite you. then we got a pinch collar. sounds very cruel. but worked like a charm. if you think about it, in the wild when a young pup, kitten or whatever steps out of line there are no time outs, no scolding. the parent grabs the baby (sometimes by the throat) and shakes the shit out of it. couples times of the and the thing won’t try it again.
i’m rambling.
i just don’t really believe in time outs for animals. they aren’t that smart. they don’t sit there and think ‘hmmm last time i was in here for 30 seconds now i am here for 40!’ they need immediate cause and effect. do that (correctly) and you’ll become the alpha dog pretty damn quickly.
but hey, not my dog.
everytime i read a post about your dog i think about that time you wrote about the lady and her dog. the one who scratched your car. you hated it. too funny.
and now… you could be the poster child for ‘a pet can change your life’ of something like that.
Nice place! I linked your site from my blog, hopefully you can do the same. Thanx. :)
lmao…ur stories have gotta be the funniest ones ive heard about training your dog mainly because i go through the same shit everyday. I espescially like where your boy friend suggested you take it back and tell them you think you got a broken one…lmfao. I’ve pretty much got my dog trained now. Shes a pitt/lab mix and shes extremely smart. I dont care who says dogs arent smart enough to realise there in a place for longer than before or in a place for doing something wrong i think that they do realise it but its just instinct for them to want to come back out and get some loving. Its like if your boyfriend put you in the bathroom for 10 minutes and then he let you come back out youd be wanting to kiss him and hug him and try to find out how to not be put back in the bathroom. The dog knows why there in the room they just cant figure out how to keep from getting put back in there after they finally get out. My dog is laying on my bed right now sighing cause im ignoring her. I started training her pretty much the first day i got her and she doesnt jump on me unless i pat my chest or something like that and she doesnt bite me or claw me unless we wrestle…when you wrestle a dog and they get to a point where they cant get out of a hold they’re just like fuck this person is stronger than me what am i thinking. But anyways you can email me sometime or something and we’ll share training tips. My email is drunkNun@gmail.com.
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