Thread: Teaching NO !

Originally Posted by Tussock

I sat most nights last year, drank a coke and watched four dogs eat from one bowl.

They ate in order, the same order every night.

The dog that ate first would growl, just a low rumble, if any of the other dogs came closer than was acceptable. If they really pushed their luck it would turn around a bit and snarl that was as far as it ever got. When it did fight one of the dogs it was a no contest, that dog that ate first came out on top, with the other scuttling off with its tail between its legs (this happened once, the loser was a younger, larger male, the winner a female).

The next dog would come in to eat and would growl in turn at the others, but would vacate if the first dog returned and would not growl at it.

The last two fought most nights unless I intervened.

So, if your statement is correct, the subservient dog ate first, followed by the dominant ones? I do not buy that.

I wasn;t selling anything.

several points... No tonal training I have seen begins with a low grumbling.

Any handler that sits back and watches this sort of interaction is a spectator, not a trainer.

I don;t see anything in your experiment, if that's what it was, that has any relevance to dog training.

Ultimately no one has to "buy" anything I say. I will take solace in comparing the dog work I get compared to what I see others get... while I am often told how wrong I am, I see few with evidence to substantiate it. If you have no issues to resolve there is no reason to care what they hell I advocate.