Should I continue making the dog(s) move out of my way when they're laying/sleeping in the middle of a walkway (we have a small house)? I've been doing this for years, after reading that the alpha doesn't step over or walk around pack members, with my old dog and it's almost always been greeted with a "grump". I touch him with my foot (like rousing someone with a hand, not a kick or a push) if he's asleep and then say "move".

I'm wondering if the grumping is just his social-climber temperament or if I've been an unfair alpha out of misinformation? Since discovering Leerburg I've changed more than half of what I do and this question just popped up in my mind. Thanks for your time.

Personally, I'd give them a place out of the way to lay so I didnt have to.

I don't know if this is right, so I'll be curious what people say, but if the dogs are asleep somewhere that I want to go I just walk over them. I don't think they fell asleep there with the express purpose of blocking me or something.

If they are awake though, I get them to move.

We've only got the one hall, but to be honest they don't really sleep in it so it's not much of an issue. Mostly it's if I'm on the couch/bed/bike (trainer) and they've gone to sleep next to me, and I'd feel like a real jerk to make them move in that situation.

I have wondered the same thing.
If they are really truly sound asleep I will leave them alone a lot of the time.
But my footsteps coming towards them tend to wake them up and then I will have them move.
If they are just standing or walking in the way I do make them move out of my way, not the other way around.

I gently nudge them with my foot too and tell them to scoot.
They will sometimes groan or grump a little but I don't take it as social climbing, just sleepy groaning. Growling would be a different thing all together.

Nico is the one I never have any behavioral issues with but she is also the one I always make move.

Simply because she tends to startle and stand up while you are halfway over her. Which causes accidents since she is taller than my legs.

I always make mine move, but she is small and isn't in the way much.

Scott, I have a small house, too, and when my ex and the boxer were here, she was always in the way. He won't work with her that way, but when she is in my way, I urge her out of the way and don't step over her. I never have a problem with dominance with her but he does.

My little dog, on the other hand, is a constant social climber, or so I think. I, too, changed my way of thinking after I discovered this web site and ordered a couple of CDs last year. This is the greatest philosophy of training dogs that I have ever experienced and I have had dogs for fifty years. Big, small, pure breed, mutts, you name it.

Well, I am all alone here. I trained my dog to NOT move. He would literally sprint out of the way. Except he couldn't get away fast enough for me to not trip on him. Now, he waits until I say move or back, and then he does what he is told. Other than that, he hunkers down, hugs the floor, and hopes for the best!

I would be afraid to step over my dog because of his height: if he startled and stood up I'd be in trouble. I tend to keep my dog's beds out of the way of traffic, but my dog is a sweetheart; if he's underfoot he almost always gets up on his own and moves out of the way. If not, I just say "excuse me" and he moves.

 Quote: jo harker

Well, I am all alone here. I trained my dog to NOT move.

A lot of this probably depends on the dog and the household. I won't say that we expressly taught Oscar NOT to move out of our way, but we've always stepped over him - knowing FULL well that if and when we DO want him to move, all we have to do is say "UP". Oscar has never so much as mumbled, nor delayed, upon being asked to move (and he rarely sleeps in the "thruways" of the house), so I don't sense that us stepping over him is any kind of relinquishing in power. It would be a different story if he ever disobeyed or seemed grumpy about it, but he never has, and things as they are, I kind of like it that he trusts us enough to stand over him without freaking out about being stepped or fallen on.

A good example of how it works in our house is when I'm in the bathroom for longer than 2 minutes (shower, getting ready to go out, etc.). Our bathroom has all of 3' x 4' of open floor space in it, not filled by sink, tub, toilet. Oscar has always been my shadow and much prefers to be in whatever room I'm in - so when I go in the bathroom for something like the length of a shower, he comes to. If I'm not in the tub, I literally have one foot on either side of him, because laying on his belly, he takes up the length of the floor space. Call me crazy, but I don't mind the inconvenience of him being under foot in there - but it's a good thing he's so mellow and comfortable with me moving about over him because just like Jennifer and Nico, if Oscar bolted up in such a small space, I'd probably end up on my a$$ with a concussion. I decide when I want to leave the room, and I ask him to get up (because I can't even open the door with his feet in front of it!) - which he does immediately, and then waits for me to exit the room first.

Sorry if I just set a hideous example, but that's how it's done in our house, with our dog (who is very secure in his "omega" role in the family pack...).

~Natalya

I was thinking further about this and Nico is the only one who ever groans when I make her get up, she also groans a bit when she gets up on her own.
She is also 12 so I don't blame her for groaning and moaning a bit when trying to get those old bones up and moving.

this is also part of the reason I don't let the dogs in the Kitchen and my workroom, I don't like having them underfoot when I am really moving around and busy in a confined space, I am just to clumsy and tend to step on them.

Hmm. Seems to being going either way.

He's fine if we step over him whether he's awake or asleep, so we thankfully don't have to worry about that. He does have a few places to go but we generally let him have the run of the house (our room is invite only) and he always ends up in somebody's way. I don't so much think he's intentionally blocking walkways so much as just finding somewhere to stretch out. He's a generally happy, go-lucky, kind of guy but if I give him an inch he takes three miles.

What would an actual alpha dog or wolf do if a pack member was asleep and stretched out in front of the entrance to the den?