HI, I HAVE A SHEPERD ONE YEAR. I HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH A TRAINER FOR ALL LEVELS OF TRAINING. IN NOVEMBER I HAD TO LET THE TRAINER KEEP HIM FOR A MONTH BECAUSE I HAD SURGERY AND HAD NO ONE ELSE TO WATCH HIM. THE PROBLEM WAS WHEN MY DOG RETURNED HE WOULD TRY TO FORCE ME TO PET HIM AND GO THROUGH DOORS AND DOWN STEPS BEFORE ME. THE TRAINER TOLD ME THAT WAS GOOD FOR HIS UPCOMING PROTECTION TRAINING, AND HE SHOULD GO THROUGH DOORS, ETC.. BEFORE ME. NOW I AM BEING TOLD THESE ARE SIGNS OF DOMINATE BEHAVIOR, AND I NEED TO RETRAIN MY DOG IN THE FOLLOWING MANNER: LEAVE HIM IN THE CRATE, AND ONLY ALLOW HIM OUT ON LEASE. BUT WHAT DO I DO WHEN HE WANTS TO PLAY IN THE YARD? PRESENTLY I HAVE HIM ON A 25" LEAD AND I ALLOW HIM TO PLAY OUT WHILE I CLEAN OR WORK INSIDE THE HOME. MY WORKING HOURS ALSO KEEP ME OUT 9 HOURS PER DAY, DO I LOCK HIM IN CRATE ALL DAY UNITL I RETURN? HELP, I'M FEELING A BIT GUILTY HERE.

JONI

I am closing this thread in recognition of all the honest and sincere dog trainers out there who have to put up with DUMB ASSES who call themselves "dog trainers" that polute unsuspectiong peoples minds with such GARBAGE !!!

Joni - you are obviously new here and you obviously don't like reading archves or articles and you have one of the dumbest trainers on
EARTH !!!!

I have this saying about listening to opinions on dog training - you need to be careful about whose opinion you listen to because EVERYONE HAS AN OPINION - in this case you found someone who not only has a stupid opinion they also coned you into believing that they were a dog trainer.

With this said - go read the article I wrote titled DEALING WITH THE DOMINAT DOG - we dont need to retype whats already there and spoon feed it to you.

I think I have been hanging around my buddy Will too long - or I should not read threads after 7 PM !!!!!!!

Also joni - the CAP KEY on your keyboard is the little key right under the "tab" key - if you play with it you will find out that it can turn some of the figures that you type into little charachters rather than bBIG CHARACHTERS THAT ACT LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING !!!!!