The videos show a lot of great information but I was wandering about affection or "petting" of your dog. I'm the one who feeds, exercises, grooms and so on but I rarely sit down to just give affection. What I've noticed is my dog is a affection / attention hound to everyone else. I could be taking this wrong as they could just represent distractions but would like to know what you guys/ gals think on this subject.
Not all dogs crave or seek physical affection. It sounds like yours does, though.
If you intend to be the primary trainer/handler of your pup, I would definitely encourage your dog to seek affection primarily from you. You want your dog to depend and rely upon you and you alone, to satisfy all it's needs.
When you create that drive in your dog, to seek all stimulation from you, that is when the dog will work it's hardest for you.
I let select folks pet and pay attention to my dog, on a limited basis.
My husband and son play with my dog, to an extent. But the truly fun stuff, the good stuff, all comes from mom. The belly rubs, etc, all come from mom.
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Sammy are you saying that your dog asks/demands attention from others but not from you?
I always thought if a dog came over and tried to get you to pet it then you shouldn't give it. You should initiate the affection not the dog - correct me if I'm wrong.
When Max thinks he needs some petting he'll come over and get in your space, often my husband will just pat him without thinking. Usually I tell him to go away or get him to sit or down or whatever first. And I've notice that he's quicker to go away when I tell him to go than with my husband. I don't know if it's a sign of respect for me or what, but I quite like that he'll back off when I tell him to.
But when I do tell him to go away he usually goes straight to my husband and gets what he wanted anyway.
So unless I'm way off course maybe your dog just thinks he can push others around more than you.
But you can always start giving your dog some affection when you want. Maybe after you've finished grooming just spend a few extra minutes petting etc.
I always thought if a dog came over and tried to get you to pet it then you shouldn't give it. You should initiate the affection not the dog - correct me if I'm wrong.
...
So unless I'm way off course maybe your dog just thinks he can push others around more than you.
This is definately true. The problem is getting other family members and guests to understand the principle. My older dog has a stellar recall, because he knows that is affection time. When I say "all done" after affection times, he quickly wanders of to do his own thing, but guests never pay attention to the "ignore him until he calms down" directive, and encourage a behavior pattern of him loving on guests more than myself. I don't let it bother me too much, because he is showing respect to me in not being demmanding, and this particular dog is very difficult to put into a drive that may cause an accidental bite. My younger dog though, stays in the crate when guests are around until I say she's ready. She has a very strong play drive, and is a big girl, so it's easy to convince the guests to leave her be.
Maybe it's focus that is bothering me. When we are doing anything and a family member or someone comes up she wants to run up to them for attention. The only exception is during fetch and then it is on the last part when she comes back to me. I don't mind her getting attention as long as she goes by my sit command and doesn't jump all everyone.
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affection
#212375 - 10/14/2008 10:55 PM 
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