# The Dominant Dog who Never Settles?



## pandaparade (Dec 29, 2010)

At our daily dog park adventure we see all types of dogs. It's like Dr. Seuss: Big dogs, little dogs, scary dogs, frightened dogs, furry dogs, shot haired dogs, fat dogs, skinny dogs, calm dogs, lazy dogs, and hyper crazy mode dogs. And this is where my story starts.

There’s this dog and this lady I see sometimes when we make it out to the dog park in the afternoon. She's a nice lady, but her dog is very, hyper. Ok, there is a better word for this, I shouldn't of said that... maybe overstimulated, yes overstimulated at the dog park. The dog cannot sit still the entire time and bothers every dog he sees including Jasper, who was calmly laying on the ground clearly telling the dog hey, I do not want to be bothered, please stop (with Jasper's lip licking, and rolling over on his back.) Ok do not get me wrong, Jasper DOES run and play but after about 30 minutes of good play, he lays down and just watches his friends romp around. In fact, I like that he can settle like that. It shows me that a high energy dog can relax and be just like any other dog, it just seems like high energy dogs get placed into the hands of people who do not understand these dog’s needs. 

So anyways, I was talking to the lady. She told me how he is part Rhodesian Ridgeback and that Ridgebacks need to be shown who is boss because they tend to be very dominating and control the situation at all times. She explained how the dog controls the house and basically tells her what to do. In other words, he is getting reinforcement for doing naughty or unwanted behaviors without any reason not to. He isn't getting punished, and he doesn't need to be punished either. He just needs to understand that anything he does comes from her and anything he wants, he has gotta ask mommy first. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to get exercised much resulting in more problems.

So we all know running with dogs at the dog park can be fun, however it can also be a very big distraction that can turn into a highly valuable reinforcement easily. Think about the owners who are being pulled by their dogs straight from the car to the dog park gate. Their owner unhooks their leash and lets them free. Take a moment before reading on and understand what the dog just gained out of this.

The dog learned that pulling on leash all the way to the gate gets him his highly reinforcing reward: running and playing with dogs at the dog park. And this is where us humans can sort of get in the feeling of being "dominated" because our dogs aren't listening to us. If the dog doesn't listen at the dog park, perhaps the dog is just too aroused in this situation to where he can listen. They are not blowing you off, they just cannot focus and it may take time for your dog to indeed focus at a dog park!

Look below at this graph. This graph is used a lot in psychology books I have noticed, but this does in fact comply with dogs as well. A dog who is highly aroused, just like a human who is highly aroused and anxious, may not perform the best at training in an area of arousal. This would be like us taking a major test at school. We may lose all thought of what we had studied for and completely shut down.










My dog, he loves to swim, but he knows I am the one who lets him swim, so when I tell my dog, "do you want to gooooo swim?" he knows to line up at the dog park gate, set his eyes on me, and when I open the gate, he doesn't bolt, but waits until I give a release. He knows that bolting to go swim will not get what he wants. When teaching him this, he was on a leash, so when and if he did bolt, he wouldn't get in trouble because he still wasn't able to reach the lake. He has learned to settle much more now when I tell him it is time to go swim and is able to listen to what I ask him to do. And this is it. We must set our dogs up for success. If we see something our dogs do that is undesirable, then we need to plan out something next time to help our dogs not yet again seek that undesirable problem and turn it into something desirable. If your dog likes to run with other dogs, have that be a big reward if you can! Let him work for something less desirable in order for him to get something much more desirable! 

I love learning more about the Premack's principle! 

I hoped the chart helped explain some things. After seeing it, it made a lot of sense to me!

And remember: Don't be too hard on your dog, think about what is not motivating him to work at the time and why he can only perform things in certain places.


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## Janet At Nutro (Mar 11, 2011)

Thank you for sharing this info!


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

I can't see the graph. :sad:


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Good stuff right there! :]
edit: And seriously, you need to be commended for bringing this up. The points you made are so key to training our dogs!


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## pandaparade (Dec 29, 2010)

Try it now 



Ania's Mommy said:


> I can't see the graph. :sad:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Awesome post! I always watch dumbfounded as people reward their naughty dogs at the dog park. Their sorry asses get dragged all the way to the park, while probably giving their dogs pointless corrections and punishments. And then the ultimate reward...play time!

A few weeks ago my trainer, classmates and I went to a local dog park just to observe some of the behavior there. Out of the maybe 50-75 people that came and went that day, only like two people tried working with their dogs on loose leash walking. Maybe another small handful had dogs that walk politely on leash without prong collars or shock collars, but some who walk nicely only because they have these things on. Its sad.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

That graph looks sort of easy to replicate!  I think I should break it out in class. You're so awesome for giving me this idea, Panda! Sometimes it seems so hard to convey the severity of the "arousalerformance" and "arousal:learning" ratio in class. But a graph is the perfect visual example. ;]


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

the dog park I go to has two sides - one of them is the "bad dog" side, where people are supposed to go if their dogs don't play well with others. When certain dogs are in the dog park, I take my dogs over to that side. Especially for Snorkels it's frankly cruel to subject her to dogs that will run at her at full speed and knock her over ass over teakettle, with their owners standing there going "oh he's only a puppy." And then when she snaps and growls at them out of fear, "oh look she's showing them who's boss." No, she's not. She's panicking. Poor little Snorkels is not the boss of anybody.

People appear to be blind to their dog's misbehavior, or even plain aggressiveness. There was a gentleman who brought his German Shepherd a few times and one day his dog was really challenging Rebel, very dominating behavior so I steppped between them. He said "oh he's being friendly his tail is wagging." Sorry buddy, you are an idiot.

And when dogs are coming into the dog park, it's a madhouse on the inside of the fence - I have seen some people try to come in and then see the dog pack and turn around and go home. In my opinion, this should be the FIRST rule at the dog park - don't go crazy at the fence.

But I never train Rebel in there. I feel like it IS his time to let it all hang out, so to speak. I only point out to him if he's doing something he really shouldn't be doing, like joining in the mob at the gate, or obsessing at the fenceline.

And please, for God's sake, keep your dog home if she's in heat.

Sorry, i don't think this was exactly on the point of your thread, but it set off my dog park rant.

Oh, or my favorite - the giant bulldog that walked into the dog park, walked directly to Snorkels who was sniffing around a bench, and deliberately peed ALL OVER HER.


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