Am I In The Wrong?

[hankdog]

I've read heaps of conflicting advice and generally most of it is right. It depends on which dog and what you want from them.

Have a clear idea of what you want from him and then it gets clearer.

With Jake the presumed aim was to make him dog friendly and since that was never going to happen I got the appropriate advice for that aim. Once I realised I needed to clearly assess my dogs potential and moderate my aim then I was able to make a plan.

If you want him to be dog neutral ask yourself if that's a likely aim for Ronin abd yourself and set out a plan. If you would rather he was a social butterfly then follow that plan. If I've learned anything it's that there's no absolute ideal dog, different dog and human combinations want to be different things. It's fine to have different expectations, you just have to adjust your actions. There's a lot of dogs that enjoy Ronins play, if you see a dog that doesn't then pop a leash on until that dog isn't around and off you go again.

[Yonjuro]

See if I want my dogs to compete around other dogs - at obedience, agility, showing, I want them to have no value for other dogs. They know they are there, they know what they are and are not worried about them, but have no value for them, they have value for me.

So if I wanted to do dryland mushing I would train him around otehr dogs but wouldn't not or do not see it necessary for him to actually play with other dogs.

Not sure if I am making sense. But my dogs who have been neutralised around otehr dogs are actually better with them than the one who initially played with other dogs.

What you are saying does make perfect sense. Its a tough one for sure as he no doubt benefits physically from running with the greyhounds but you are right I don't necessarily want him to desire "play" so much. The thing I love so much about the greys is that the play is simply full pelt running without things like wrestling or bighty face.

More to ponder I guess.

[Yonjuro]

I've read heaps of conflicting advice and generally most of it is right. It depends on which dog and what you want from them.

Have a clear idea of what you want from him and then it gets clearer.

With Jake the presumed aim was to make him dog friendly and since that was never going to happen I got the appropriate advice for that aim. Once I realised I needed to clearly assess my dogs potential and moderate my aim then I was able to make a plan.

If you want him to be dog neutral ask yourself if that's a likely aim for Ronin abd yourself and set out a plan. If you would rather he was a social butterfly then follow that plan. If I've learned anything it's that there's no absolute ideal dog, different dog and human combinations want to be different things. It's fine to have different expectations, you just have to adjust your actions. There's a lot of dogs that enjoy Ronins play, if you see a dog that doesn't then pop a leash on until that dog isn't around and off you go again.

Thanks Hankdog, You make some very good points, I really need to get my plan in order. I also think you have clarified what should theoretically be a simple concept - I should just be a bit quicker to pop a lead on in this environment and not feel "put out" by doing so.

I will ponder this further as I am probably doing a bit of everything.

[OSoSwift]

Yep one to think about. I often see people in class at training who try and take their lead off and the dog legs it to go and play and they have no idea why. The fact that they let them play before/after class or at the park beach etc means that their dog has a high value for that - and/or other dogs.

As I said, easy for me to say, I have multiple dogs and acerage, so mine do that every time they step out the door.

Edited October 6, 2014 by OSoSwift

[huski]

Definitely consider what your goal is and what you really want as it will help you to become more consistent.

I don't want my dogs to have value for other dogs, which makes it clear to me what things are worthwhile doing and what is counter productive to my goal.

At this point Ronins value for other dogs has already been set, he has a reward history with them and knows other dogs can be super fun.

But you can obviously work to desensitize him to the distraction of other dogs if this is what you want to achieve.