Stubborn? Guilty? Or Polite? Be surprised!
 

http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/calmingsignals.html

Just found stuff about "Calming Signals" in dogs. I put Chewey into one of his situations where he seems "willfull" to me. Then I tried the advice in this article. Not only did he snap-to, but he then was happy to do as I asked! It seems that what I mistook for "Tude" was really his attempt to tell me that he was stressed out and needed reassurance.

very interesting article, I'm going to go home and pay attention to this . My pup is always licking my face, maybe I should calm down huh.... the butt sniffing I found very interesting..... go figure! :)

I have been trying this, especially the "glance away, blink, and yawn." methods. This works WONDERS for calming Chewy down. Today, we introduced the clicker. He was kinda scared of it, and thought the click was a reprimand. He avoided the treats that came with the click (EVEN STEAK!). So I clicked, gave a treat and when he winced, I yawned, looked around and blinked as if dissinterested, and he went for the treat. After a few times with this, he wasn't scared of the clicker, and started really trying to see what made me click it!

Also, when we went for pee-breaks, he just sat in the grass and was soaking up the sun. I let him do this while I smoke. When it's time to go, sometimes he won't budge. This time: "Chewy, Come!" (nada).

Look around, blink, yawn, glance back. He's looking at me allright.
I turn my back to him (this is not a threat, see?). "Hey Chewey!" I repeat in my happiest voice.

I'll be darned. He stands up and shakes off (releasing stress). And he comes without me ever having had to repeat myself.

"Good come!" I exclaim as he comes towards me. I reinforce the positive by chasing him around the house once we are inside.

It's worked all day.

Very interesting!!!! Wish I could get this guy to come to my house and train me and my dogs.

Very interesting article!

Along those lines, I am reprinting a post (with permission) from the clickersolutions mailing list about dogs' body language, especially staring, that they use with each other. I found it very informative.

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Most people are surprised when I tell them about the dog's perception of direct eye contact. Yesterday we had an aussie in the shop for a bath who was, according to the owner, a bit aggressive towards some other dogs and also required a proper introduction from strange humans. While he was in the tub, I approached him from the side, not looking straight at him, and handed him treats from an open palm. That was all it took for me to make friends with him (enough for him to greet me with a kiss once he was out of the tub).

The owner was a little surprised at how easily he took to me, especially since he was stressed about the bath. But she noted the way I approached him, and said that most people came at him straight-on, with direct eye contact.

After his bath, she walked him around the store - and I saw her allow him and another strange dog to greet head-to-head, standing stiffly and staring at each other! I quickly distracted them, and it worked - they looked up at the crazy lady sailing across the room crying out obnoxiously, "Look at the good boys! What good boys!" :} and broke eye contact with each other.

I think the problem is that to the average human, two dogs calmly staring at each other is interpreted as a good thing. Hey look, they're interested in each other and neither one is barking or lunging. They must be making friends. The explosion that I guarantee would have occurred in this situation would have appeared to come out of the blue, with no provocation. I explained it to both sets of owners, and told them to cheerfully distract their dogs away if they see them staring for longer than even a second.

Even though I had already discussed eye contact with the aussie owner (who was an intelligent woman, not a dolt), she still was surprised at the exttent of its importance. And in my observation, direct eye contact was the only trigger for her aussie. He passed in close proximity to many other dogs without reacting anxiously. That's why she said he was aggressive to "some" dogs, but she couldn't figure out why he picked these certain dogs. I think she understands now.

It's natural for a human to make steady eye contact when greeting a stranger. In fact, it's rude not to. But the average human doesn't know that the rules change in the dog's world. :}

Leah Roberts, Family Pet Dog Trainer APDT Member #67824 DOG WILLING Positive Training Solutions Sanford, FL http://pawparkplace.com
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