In some cases the dogs are in conflict with their physical environment or external social elements, such as fences, tethers, neighborhood children, cats, other dogs, mailmen or visitors.

A dog that wants to control these elements or to lead the activities of its human family pack, is doomed to a life of frustration.

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Leader-type dogs exhibit any or all of the following behavior, both on and off their home territory:

- Precedes owner through doors or when walking in almost any direction.
- Does not obey the owner’s commands.
- Displays anxiety about new people or situations.
- Interferes with the owner’s interactions with other people.
- Nudges the owner persistently for physical petting.

When a dog assumes a leadership role in its owner relationships, it usually exhibits behavior that provides clues, even off the home property. Some easily detected signs are:

- Protectiveness of the owner.
- Nervousness (anxiety about the new area, scouting the area).
- Lack of response to the owner’s direction.
- Rushes in or out of doors ahead of the owner.
- Interferes with the owner’s interactions with other people in the new situation.

The skin on their bellies is thinner than skin elsewhere, and there’s not a lot of fur.

As a result, the belly is exquisitely sensitive to touch. Dogs enjoy physical affection just like we do.

A dog who’s getting his belly rubbed enjoys the attention.

He likes the nice sensations. And he likes knowing he can attract people like a magnet just by rolling over and putting his feet in the air.

It’s A Trust Factor

Dogs use body language to convey very specific messages. As a dog behavior, rolling on their backs and exposing their bellies is a sure sign of submission.

It’s a way of telling other dogs, “I’m at your mercy; do what you will.” A dog who’s being threatened and wants to avoid a fight will expose his belly to signal his noncombatant status. Conversely, a dog who’s at peace and relaxed will go belly up just because he feels safe to do so.

That position is the ultimate dog behavior regarding vulnerability.

People only reveal their softer sides to those they love and trust. It’s the same with dogs. It takes a lot of trust for them to expose their bellies in front of people, and that’s one of the reasons that belly rubs are such blissful experiences.

When your dog looks at you, lies down, and flops over for a belly rub, that says something about the relationship you have with him. It tells you that your dog knows that you are in charge, that he loves and trusts you, and that he’s happy with that arrangement.

The unique thing about this behavior is that it presents one of the few opportunities that dogs have to set the agenda.

It’s usually the people who decide when to spend time with their dogs. We choose when we’ll go for a walk, when we’ll take a ride in the car, when we’ll sit on the deck and throw tennis balls.

But here’s an opportunity for dogs to say, “I’d like to spend some time with you now.” They know that their people will be more than happy to comply.

Selective Love

Some dogs are promiscuous with their affection. They’ll roll over for anyone at just about any time. This is especially true of Labrador retrievers, who are known for their people-pleasing personalities.

It’s not uncommon, in fact, for Labradors to walk around a room, pause in front of each person they come to, and flop onto their backs.

Other dogs are much more cautious about revealing themselves. It’s not a matter of love or affection, just one of temperament. There are dogs who love you but who just don’t want to be that vulnerable.

Akitas, for example, are known for being independent and somewhat reserved. They’re less likely than most dogs to ask for or even tolerate a belly rub.

This dog behavior is true of huskies, Alaskan malamutes, and other breeds with strong, assertive personalities.

Corrective measures should never include shock collars, hobbles, physical punishment, electrified fences and toxic chemicals applied to the wall. Though they work in some instances, the risk of injury and adverse behavioral side effects is greater than the benefit. Complications from use of such measures to the dog have included viciousness, displaced aggression toward family, death from hanging by a collar, and self-mutilation from hobbles.

With “invisible” electronic shock fencing, an electric shock is emitted from a collar to the dog’s throat if the dog crosses a wire around the perimeter of the yard. To delineate for the dog the area beyond which the dog should not pass, the perimeter is initially marked with obvious cues. The procedure requires a great deal of time and effort, and the devices are expensive, considering the electronics involved is slightly more sophisticated than a remote control garage door opener.

While manufacturers and adherents of the “invisible” fencing devices claim many successes to using this method, the system cause very serious drawbacks relative to safety of the dog and possible trespassers. These dangers warrant careful consideration, since there may be heavy legal consequences should serious injury to passersby occur. There is also the danger that a frustrated, electronically confined aggressive dog may redirect or displace his anger and frustration and turn on his family.

Aggressive stray dogs or malicious people are free to attack or harass the electrically confined dog. The conditioned pain and frustration associated with the perimeter may also be associated with passersby, including children. If the “fenced” dog feels aggressive toward outsiders and they cross the property line, the result could be unfortunate for all parties concerned. Electric shock has also been shown to induce acute stress in dogs. And stress has many undesirable side-effects, both psychological and physical, especially on their immune system.

Dogs have come to associate certain sounds with certain actions, but those associations are often extremely dependent upon other contextual cues that we may not be aware of. One way to show this is to try giving a dog a familiar command over an intercom. Even a command that the dog is highly motivated to carry out is often ignored unless it is accompanied by some additional cues in our body language.

Indeed, for all of the many continuities that link humans with nonhuman animals, one of the great discontinuities is the way we use language. Human infants, almost as soon as they begin to learn the names of things, take a manifest pleasure in using the name for its own sake. They will point to an object and say what it is – not because they want it, but for no other reason than to share the pleasure of calling the attention of another human mind to it. Even language-trained animals, such as chimpanzees, that have been taught to create “sentences” with computer symbols or sign language expend something very close to 100 percent of their utterances on demands for food, toys, or attention. There is no evidence that they have an independent notion of the symbols as standing for concepts. They have, rather, learned to manipulate series of symbols to get results. Dogs have certainly learned to look at us, or come, when we speak their name, but there is not a scrap of evidence that they grasp the notion that their name is their name, in the sense that it stands for or represents them.

Given all that, however, it certainly seems odd that dogs can distinguish words in human language. Studies by Russian speech scientists found that dogs can readily be trained to distinguish the vowels a and i produced by an audio synthesizer; even when the base pitch of the vowels was changed, the dogs had no trouble telling the two apart.

Dogs may often be confused by substitutions of one consonant for another – try saying “Fly clown” instead of “Lie down,” and your dog will probably react exactly the same. But the ability to distinguish vowels depends on rather precise analysis or the higher-pitched resonances that accompany their base pitch. Dogs do not utter vowels themselves; why should they be able to tell them apart when we say them?

The simple and general explanation for this happy circumstance is that ears are older than speech. Mammalian ears have been around for tens of millions of years, and the ears of all mammals have much in common. Human speech, however, has been around for only 100,000 years or so, and the human vocal tract is a unique and late development. Only humans possess the vocal apparatus needed to generate the sounds of speech.

First of all, it is not advocated to administer protection dog training a family pet. There have been too many unfortunate incidents involving people who have been talked into this type of training by the local guard dog trainer. Veterinarians have encountered an endless number of dogs who had to be euthanized because they had become vicious. Not all of these dogs had protection training, but a great many had. Some guard dog trainers will argue that if the right dog is properly protection trained, he will never become vicious and randomly bite.

While this may be true, the bottom line is that the average family cannot handle an attack trained dog. Most people find it difficult enough to get their dog to come when called and not drag them down the street at the end of the leash. Attack-trained dogs are very useful; to the police and military, and in most cases that’s where they belong. The average family certainly does not need a dog who has been conditioned to attack and bite on command.

Most dogs are instinctively protective. Rarely does a dog need protection training to be wary of intruders. This is particularly true of dogs who have been selectively bred to guard, herd, or protect.

Examples of such breeds are the German shepherd, border collie, and Rottweiler. In the wild, canines naturally protect territory and fellow pack members. The protective instinct is further strengthened when the individual feels that he is an integral part of the pack.

Keep in mind that your domestic dog views your family as his pack. If he lives in your home and is part of your family, chances are good that his protective instincts will emerge.

The instinct to protect territory and fellow pack members develops with age. Many people are dismayed that their five-month-old dog is not the least bit protective.

It is not a puppy’s job to be protective! A well-adjusted puppy of any breed should be friendly and love everybody. It is the role of adult pack members to be protective. The puppy instinctively expects you to protect him.

With most dogs, the sense of responsibility for being protective of the pack begins at around one year old, give or take a couple of months depending on the breed and the individual dog. At maturity – eighteen months to two years old – the dog should show even stronger signs of the protective instinct and not need any protection training.

2. Are your other animals spayed or neutered? Many shelters won’t adopt a dog to someone with an unaltered dog at home – mostly for practical reasons, and partly on principle. If you have a grown dog who is not yet spayed or neutered, tell the staff that you intend to correct that situation before you introduce another canine into the household. Then make sure you keep your word and do it.

3. Have you had dogs in the past, and where are they now? It may seem like an odd question, but shelter employees can tell a lot from an answer like “I had two dogs who died of natural causes at thirteen and fifteen years old,” as opposed to, say, “I had a dog that ran away and two cats that I gave to a family on a farm when I moved.” A good “track record” with dogs can indicate that you’re an experienced and committed dog lover who’s likely to give a new dog a terrific home.

However, keep in mind that the shelter staff understands that accidents happen and people make mistakes. Even well loved and well-supervised dogs get lost, stolen or hit by cars. If you’ve lost pets under unfortunate circumstances in the past, be honest about it; if you’ve made mistakes but learned from them, tell the shelter employees so. They’re not interested in judging you; they just want to make sure you’ll take good care of the dog you adopt.

What if you’ve never had a dog of your own before? Well, everyone has to start somewhere, and your inexperience doesn’t have to be a disadvantage. If you’ve ever helped care for someone else’s dog or worked with animals (at a vet’s office or an animal shelter, for instance), those are strong points in your favor. And at the very least, you can tell the staff that you’ve been reading up on the subject of dog adoption and dog care!

The Scenario: A dog starts to growl when his owner approaches him while chewing his pig’s ear. You can correct this behavior when you are prepared to teach the dog to act in a less defensive manner around his pig’s ear. The technique requires you to first offer the dog his pig’s ear, then walk away. Get out one of your dog’s favorite treats, making it the best it can be, so it is much more appealing than the pig’s ear. Throw or drop the food directly in front of the dog and walk away. If the dog growls, however, as you approach him, walk away and leave no food. If the dog growled, you went too close to him and you should throw the treat from a distance, so as not to elicit any aggression from the dog.

You may decrease the space between you and the dog gradually. This process usually takes several weeks of slowly building the dog’s trust so that he understands you are approaching him to give, and not to take away from him. Generally, these sessions should be very short, but frequent. The treat is fabulous, but each repetition should only give the dog a small amount of food so as to keep him interested in learning how to earn greater rewards. Five or six repetitions per session with about four training sessions daily will generally do.

It is wise not to leave anything for the dog to “own” while you are training him. That includes toys, chews, beds, empty food bowls, and pigs’ ears. Provide the treats when you are practicing your approach conditioning. We will move along to the point where we drop the treats between his legs or have him directly take the food from your hand. We will proceed to the point where you can take his pig’s ear, give him a treat, and then return his pig’s ear to him to chew.

In this way you can functionally teach your dog to look forward to your approach when he has an object, and if necessary allow you to take the object with no anxiety or aggression from him. This will work only if you follow the procedure and do it slowly. After you have achieved success, continue this process intermittently forever. Also, note that a dog that knows how to drop something out of his mouth on command tends toward less possessive aggression.

It is critical that all members of your family participate in this program in order for the dog to generalize his correct behavior. Always be aware that this possessive aggression may arise again if an unforeseen incident provokes defensive actions on the part of your dog. Your dog’s aggression is an action that occurs in hopes that the target of his aggression will exhibit avoidance behaviors and walk or run away, therefore allowing him to fulfill his defensive drive.

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By feeding the dog a food that is highly palatable, he will eat to satisfy his appetite and not his hunger. The only way to remove the excessive fat from a dog’s body is by reversing the way it was put on, which is feeding the dog fewer calories than he will burn for energy. When this is done, the dog’s body will burn up energy stored in his body to obtain what he needs.

Fat is the most efficient source of energy and will be used in the greatest amount whenever energy is needed. A reduction in caloric intake cannot be achieved by just cutting down the quantity of food you feed your dog. Drastic cuts in the quantity of food fed will only lead to deficiencies that pose an even greater threat to the dog than the obesity does which are deficiencies of proteins, vitamins and minerals.

It will also make your dog ravenously hungry! Fats and carbohydrates that contain the most calories should be replaced by ingredients that are less digestible and lower in calories.

The diet of an overweight dog should not contain more than 1400 calories per pound of dry matter. This is approximately 1250 to 1300 calories per pound of dry food or 330 to 350 calories per pound of canned food. A more accurate and convenient way of obtaining a reducing diet is to use a dietary animal food specifically designed for that purpose.

This food can be obtained from a vet. It contains 330 calories per pound and is balanced to provide the correct amount of other nutrients for the dog when fed at that caloric density. Whatever the food used, the quantity of it that should be fed has to be estimated.

Portion control is the only method of feeding that can be used during a weight reducing program. Treat or supplement should not be given during the reduction program. If a dog is more than 10 pounds overweight, (over his ideal body weight) begin your weight reducing program by feeding him only 2/3 the quantity calculated to maintain his desired weight.

The full amount of food should be given once a reduction in weight begins to occur. For dogs that are less than 10 lb overweight, begin with the full amount calculated. In dogs weighing less than 10 pounds, use the two-thirds guide for any dog that is more than 33% of his desired weight overweight.

It may require several months or longer before a dog reaches his optimum weight. Do not expect your dog to lose the weight in just a few days. Taking off weight too fast can be dangerous to a fat dog. Once optimum weight has been attained, most dogs will have to be kept on portion control feeding. Dogs that tend to get fat need to have their intake closely regulated to prevent them from gaining back the lost weight.

The key activity is to simply handle your puppy as often as you can during the day while concentrating on one particular part of the dog’s body for each session. Spend a few minutes handling his feet, then the ears, etc.

Getting Your Pup Used To Nail Trimming

Of all of the grooming activities that we must engage our pets in, nail trimming is probably the hardest for your puppy to get used to. And if you neglect to practice trimming your puppy’s nails at an early age, it may be virtually impossible to do so as he grows older.

Here is how to get your puppy accustomed to having his nails trimmed:

1. Touch your puppy’s paw and then click your clicker while giving him a treat. If he pulls back nervously then go a little slower next time. Your goal is just to be able to touch his paw without him pulling it back from you.

2. Once your dog is comfortable with having his paw touched, push the envelope a bit further by picking up his paw and moving it around. Whenever he lets you do so without flinching, click and offer a treat.

3. The next step is to start fondling the toes by separating them and wiggling them around some more. Press on his paw pads. Go slow and take your time.

4. Now it is time to introduce the nail clipper to your puppy, but do not click just yet! The first stage in the process is to get the dog used to having this shiny piece of metal up and close around its paws. Whenever he sniffs at the nail trimmer and does not appear to be scared, click and offer a treat.

5. Still yet, do not clip! The next baby step in this process is to fit the nail clipper over each of your puppy’s nails, but without clipping. Just add a little pressure. And again, click and treat when he appears to accept this activity.

6. Now it is time to make the cut. Clip the first nail, click your clicker, and offer a treat to your puppy. Be sure to be enthusiastic with lots of affection. When you feel he is ready for the next nail, move forward and clip the rest in a timed fashion. Remember to go slow and make the process fun.

Whatever the basic motivation, the act can be both financially and emotionally costly. Such door-dashing has seriously injured children and elderly people, caused premature birth in pregnant women, resulted in injury and death of the dog and, in many cases, causes an automobile accident when a motorist swerves to miss the dog.

When the problem involves a dog that dashes merely to get out there to run about the neighborhood, avoiding its owners’ pleas to return, the pet is usually unruly in other circumstances as well.

These cases often involve an independent, self-oriented (spoiled) dog. Other factors may involve an early history of unrestricted outdoor activity, followed by restriction because of some problem that has arisen outside (fighting, car chasing, etc.).

Some cases involve continuous frustration relative to neighborhood activities, such as the dog’s “fretting” behind a gate or at a window.

Depending on the excitability of the animal, it may develop the same type of stereotyped behavior seen in fence-running dogs.

Simple freedom-dashing may be tension relieving in itself, or the escaped dog may have a frustration target, such as passing cars, playing children, mail carrier or other animals.

Correcting The Problem

1. Approach the door or gate. (Of course, the door-dasher will be close by.)

2. Given an inward-opening door, abruptly open it no more than 2 inches and abruptly close it. An outward-opening door should be opened no more than an inch and then closed very quickly, or the dog may push through or get a pinched snout.

3. As the door is closed, the owner must abruptly move away from it at least 8 feet and praise the dog for following, after which the owner should be encouraged to remain still for at least a minute. If the dog remains at the door, steps 1, 2 and 3 must be repeated until the dog retreats along with the owner.

4. Step 3 must be repeated until the dog stays away from the door when the owner approaches it and when the door is opened. When this occurs, the door should be opened a full foot. If the pet dashes, the door should again be slammed shut and Step 3 applied with this larger opening.

5. Step 4 is repeated until the door can be opened to its normal exit width, with the dog staying at least 8 feet away from it. When this is accomplished the owner must stay inside, close the door, return to the dog and praise it quietly. Then the owner should remain in the house, going about some other activity for at least half an hour before repeating the procedure.

6. When the dog stays away from the door on the initial approach, the owner should then proceed outside, close the door and stay away for at least 15 minutes, after which she should return as nonchalantly as possible

If this method is applied daily for a few days, most dogs begin to ignore the comings and goings of their owners.

Dogs that are extremely tenacious in their efforts to dash through a door ahead of people often have a long history of frustration about barriers, or are highly motivated by a strong stimulus on the other side of the door.

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