Wednesday, February 4, 2009

How Dogs are like Kids.. at least that's what I imagine.


It doesn't seem right that I spent good money on training courses for my dog and yesterday at the pet store when tempted by a treat he puts his paws up on the check out stand and the clerk says "have you done any puppy classes through our store?" Really? You can't tell my dog is trained... really? (ok, so though he knows all the commands he definitely has his own agenda when it comes to obeying).

I found this info that so perfectly describes what I'm sure goes through Moose's head everytime I give him a command: "to call bulldogs lazy or stubborn is a bit restrictive. What appears as laziness or stubbornness is in fact an incredible capacity to prioritize. A bulldog will never jump at your every command. He will evaluate each of your commands or invitations against his own priority-setting and value system before deciding whether this is a good thing to do and how urgently this action should be accomplished." (http://www.bulldoginformation.com/temperament-personality-character.html)

Who knew the reason it takes so long for him to react was because he was still processing the decision in his head. All I know for sure is that food is right at the top of his value system because he reacts on a dime when a food reward is involved!

Now Moose is finally starting to play fetch for real. We tried introducing the game to him many times since he was just a small puppy. It always resulted in him playing keep away with the ball (either with you, or with other dogs when he was at the dog park) or attempting to play tug-of-war with it. Nevermind that it took over 2 months of serious training to get him just to drop the ball because now he's actually doing it!!! However, you must always keep in mind that Moose will only fetch AND return the ball when the mood so strikes him.

Having attempted to seriously train Moose with moderate, inconsistent results makes me feel pretty prepared for parenting. Of course I say that now and will be eating my words in a few short years.

1 comment:

Just Only Me said...

I think that you're definitely on the right track as far as thinking that cute dogs are just like kids! We have a store up here that is called Pets Are People too which Moose would just love, they dote on all of their customers, even the ones that can't see over the register. Come up and visit!
I heard that you just moved, I'm so jealous that you get to see my sister!