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1 - My dog is afraid of me
"It is obvious
that you are the top dog. You have trained your dogs vicariously to
be quite submissive. Am I right in stating that you do not let your
Dog sleep in your bedroom or at least not on the bed? They do not
eat until you have eaten...
These are traits of a top dog; you get the elevated spot to sleep,
you eat first, you tell them when it's Ok to bark.
They have learned to follow you as their leader and in teh pack this
means that they need to be invited into your domain. They probably
even "ask" if they can jump into your lap. These are not bad
qualities and we should be teaching all of our pets to have these "manners".
What has happened here is that they have decided that they can't
function w/o your permission. It has nothing to do with abuse, just
a misunderstanding of the natural calming signals. Trying yawning or
licking your lips when they seem stressed and then reward them with
a pat on the head or petting or getting to sit in your lap. You'll
be amazed at how well the lip licking and yawning works."
"Try
getting on his level to be as unimposing as possible.
Get rid of his food bowl and feed everything by hand.
Sit on the floor 'Indian' style and cup small amounts of
favorite treats/food in your hands. BOTH hands. Offer it
to him with hands stretched out at first, gradually pull
elbows in toward you to get him closer to your body.
Talk gently to him. Once he begins to become comfortable
with this, slowly begin stroking him under the chin, on
the chest while he eats - - -these are two best areas to
get a dog used to touch / hands because there is no
reaching over the head/back, which they associate with
being dominated. Gradually move to the shoulders & other
areas if you can.
Make this part of your ritual before you put the leash
on and go for walks.
You can also incorporate obedience into this feeding and
bonding ritual. You need enough food or treat to keep
the dog interested while you start to apply a little
pressure. Keep a close grasp on the food and gently
raise your hand up and backward. If he maintains enough
interest to work at getting/licking the food, as he
raises his head up and backward to follow the hand, he
will hopefully discover it's easier to sit and eat than
stand.
If that works you can follow it with a down by using the
'treat hand' in a downward direction (between front legs)
toward the floor.You can gradually increase this to 'stay'
by dropping treats on the floor between the legs at
increasing intervals of time, and slowly increasing the
distance between you. If your standing is too
intimidating to him, try going from sitting to kneeling,
kneeling to sitting in chair, etc., until you find his
threshold. Then you'll just have to accept that limit."
If you still have
any questions or want to share some usefull information
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