My Dobie girl Helga, She is super when it comes to obedience , but she just needs too much petting and attention. She constantly nags me and others for caressing and petting.

She will literally stand for 10-15 minutes if I caress her. And she will have this look on her face like she is enjoying a "drug trip". If I stop, she will come and nudge my hands and put her face on my lap and all that.

It has gotten to the point where it is not cute anymore. I am very physical with my dogs, and I give them tons of hugs and kisses , but I cannot keep up with her demands.

She is a very soft and submissive girl. And If I get angry at her for being a pest, she will make a sad face and slink away, but will be back in 2 minutes trying to "score" a hit.

I do not want to punish her for coming to me for a hug, but I can't be her personal petting man.


I am especially upset with myself when I caught yself petting her with out my own knowledge. I have been conditioned to pet her !!

Is it normal for some dogs to be addicted to petting?

Any help is appreciated.

I don't know if that's a behavioral problem. She loves it and you have taught her how to get it (by nagging).

You know that the nagging would have fallen away if unrewarded. You know that it is being
rewarded.

And you have probably taught her now that it takes LOTS of nagging before you give in, so you have created the exacerbation you write about. Right?

Anger for indulging in a behavior that you have rewarded .... yes, you could create problems there!

"I am especially upset with myself when I caught (m)yself petting her with out my own knowledge. I have been conditioned to pet her !! "


Yep.

I'm not seeing "behavioral problem."

You know her currency, as Bob Scott phrases it, and you might want to use it differently.

Yes, I know Ihave created the problem and that is why I am upset with myself.

But my question would be, Are dogs supposed to like petting so much? I pet all my dogs equally, but she wants 50 times more than what the others want.

I don't think it's way weird.

I have one who would lie on his back for hours if someone would give him belly rubs.

But he doesn't get them by demanding them. So he doesn't bother demanding them.

My male will come up to me & stick his head on my lap & look up with those sad pathetic eye look, or nudge me etc to get attention. I have gotten so that I just tell him no & send him away & tell him to go lay down. A few minutes later I will call him over to me to get some petting. This way it is on my terms & not his. He is very 'needy' when it come to this...my female & other males that I've had just arn't that way. They'd like attention but not the way that he does. :-)

 Quote: Anne Jones

My male will come up to me & stick his head on my lap & look up with those sad pathetic eye look, or nudge me etc to get attention. I have gotten so that I just tell him no & send him away & tell him to go lay down. A few minutes later I will call him over to me to get some petting. This way it is on my terms & not his. He is very 'needy' when it come to this...my female & other males that I've had just arn't that way. They'd like attention but not the way that he does. :-)

This is what I do with my Belly-Rub Slut.

"A few minutes later I will call him over to me to get some petting. This way it is on my terms & not his. "


And do you try to incorporate this high-value reward into training, like for a exceptional or difficult behavior or at the end of a routine/session/chain?

Capturing a behavior- My Cody man could not relax and one thing I did was reward behavior when he laid down on his mat. I kept treats in my pocket and when he went to his mat and laid down, I would give my marker word ("good!") and toss a treat to him. This worked very well. After a little while as he continued to offer the behavior i added the cut,no play, rest. Now at this time I can say, no play rest, and he will just go lay down.
Do you do Marker training? catch the moment your girl is laying down, reward it. Reward her relaxing away from you. She will catch on soon.
When she tries to push you to pet her, why not put your hands under your arm pits to get the point across that you won't right now. Don't give her any attention when she does something you don't like, Not even bad attention. She will learn pretty quickly that if she wants something from you, she has to do what you want.
After a while, when she has learned the other behavior you want to replace the petting with, every once and a while, go by and pet her. But when you want to, not when she asks for it. Let us know how our suggestion work. It takes time, but it is well worth the effort. Sharon

I knew a couple of Dobes who were very needy, one of them would literally shove his nose between peoples legs, and stand there dribbling and 'hmmm'-ing while he got his love up

I have a desperately needy boy in Kaiser, he will sit in front of me with the most heartbreaking face imploring me to love him, and like you Ram, I completely fall for it, and if I stroke that big velvet head, he inches nearer and nearer, until I have a ten stone Boerboel on my lap!

I have found that pushing him away and sending him to his bed has little effect, so I simply ignore him, don't even make eye contact, and it may take ten minutes, but he will walk away, always turning with that look of 'why don't you love me?!' and he has to suffer the horrors of a big fat squashy bed a whole 6 feet away, but seconds later he is snoring and farting contentedly!

I know I am one of those sad sacks that is guilty of humanizing her dogs at times, and it is the most natural instinct to heap affection on them, but the voice of reason tells me they are not thinking anything like I am projecting on them, and they won't feel rejected or unloved, just because they are having to do as they are told.

For what it's worth Ram, I would take your adoration and devotion to your dogs over the indifference and business like attitude some of the people in my own circle have any day of the week

I don't discourage my dogs from seeking me out and depending how cute the approach is, is directly related to how much petting they get. Yes Ram, I'm a sucker too.

I do discourage any kind of pushiness though and use these times of self-initiated engagement for things that they don't care too much for.

Nail clipping, a quick vacuuming, ear cleaning, teeth brushing, down the hatch with vitamins or supplements.

Or I'll take the opportunity for a quick training session on something they don't particularly care for.

A perfect time for a longer sit or down as I head to another room for a few minutes, then a recall with a praise reward. You tend to get a lot of speed at these times and no treats required.

I think it's only a behavior issue if you're now viewing it that way.

Turn it around so that you're actively driving the interaction instead of passively complying with her request.

If I'm really busy, relaxing (that's got to be an oxymoron) a quick "No" will usually do the trick. If they're really intent on the interaction, I may even stand up and back them up a few steps with some pretty serious body language.

It's tough because we do love them so much. Petting can be as self-rewarding to us as it is for them and they can give us some pretty dejected looks. In human terms it might even seem rude to dismiss them like that but these guys can be opportunists that would manipulate our every waking hour if given the opportunity.

Just say "No" and take it one pet at a time. You can do this Ram.