Quickasyoucan Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I have been thinking about this a bit prompted by things people have commented on in various training threads. When we are training our dogs to be responsive to us, we work on excluding distractions, on building up our status as leader etc (I am generalising here but I am not talking about any training method in particular). However, is there a danger, depending on the dog's personality that the higher the level of responsiveness a dog has to us, the more dependent it becomes on us and that this could spill over into things like separation anxiety. To provide a basic example, I have a friend who has a rotty with fairly weak nerves. Obedience wise (without much training in fact) her recall is 100%, basic commands have been easily taught. But her responsiveness to me seems to be tied in with extreme dependence on her owner. If he leaves her with someone else she is extremely anxious, stresses constantly and cannot settle. When he has been away for some time she shows signs of separation anxiety. So my question is, given that some dogs obviously would have a predisposition to be more dependent, how do you strike a balance in training between achieving responsiveness and not letting this turn into an unhealthy relationship of dependence if the dog sees you as the centre of their universe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildatHeart Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 My dog is very reponsive to me and she shows anxiety when someone else leads her away from me and cannot settle. At home when i'm not there she is fine. On the other hand, she does not respond to my OH (ok, maybe a little when he is holding a big slab of steak) and she doesn't really care whether he's there or not.- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 (edited) I think it depends on the temperament and probably the type/level of training you are doing. Both my girls are extremely responsive in training. If I leave them with someone & walk away they will calmly stare in my direction till I return, but neither have any form of separation anxiety. I can easily hand either of them over to another person they don't know & they are happy to totally forget I exist when doing agility or working sheep for someone else. For agility & sheepwork, I like to think I have trained them to be responsive to commands given, not necessarily from me. At home, they are more responsive to me than any other member of my family. Edited February 9, 2009 by Vickie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 My dog is very reponsive to me and she shows anxiety when someone else leads her away from me and cannot settle. At home when i'm not there she is fine. On the other hand, she does not respond to my OH (ok, maybe a little when he is holding a big slab of steak) and she doesn't really care whether he's there or not.- You've just described my Dally lad to a tee I've had experienced Dal people try and take him around the show ring and they come back out of breath and exhausted with a dog who misbehaves like I've never seen I certainly didn't plan it that way - but it has probably come about because he is SO independent and was a rather challenging youngster that I've had to work very hard with him. He's funny at the beach - will respond beautifully when asked but as soon as he is released he bolts off to sniff and pee or meet other dogs with the occasional glance over his shoulder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 The least responsive of my dogs is the only one who has a dependency problem Well, OK Zoe is not always that happy for me to leave her with others (on lead) either. Diesel barks and howls if I leave him with someone else, Kaos is not too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildatHeart Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 My dog is very reponsive to me and she shows anxiety when someone else leads her away from me and cannot settle. At home when i'm not there she is fine. On the other hand, she does not respond to my OH (ok, maybe a little when he is holding a big slab of steak) and she doesn't really care whether he's there or not.- You've just described my Dally lad to a tee I've had experienced Dal people try and take him around the show ring and they come back out of breath and exhausted with a dog who misbehaves like I've never seen I certainly didn't plan it that way - but it has probably come about because he is SO independent and was a rather challenging youngster that I've had to work very hard with him. He's funny at the beach - will respond beautifully when asked but as soon as he is released he bolts off to sniff and pee or meet other dogs with the occasional glance over his shoulder. Its annoying isn't it? And my OH is always getting the shits that my dog plays up with him and will never let him catch her and just always has the comeback of 'I thought you were training her'. Ha, i tell hom what he can do but he doesn't listen. Sometimes i think the dog listens better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 My dog is very reponsive to me and she shows anxiety when someone else leads her away from me and cannot settle. At home when i'm not there she is fine. On the other hand, she does not respond to my OH (ok, maybe a little when he is holding a big slab of steak) and she doesn't really care whether he's there or not.- You've just described my Dally lad to a tee I've had experienced Dal people try and take him around the show ring and they come back out of breath and exhausted with a dog who misbehaves like I've never seen I certainly didn't plan it that way - but it has probably come about because he is SO independent and was a rather challenging youngster that I've had to work very hard with him. He's funny at the beach - will respond beautifully when asked but as soon as he is released he bolts off to sniff and pee or meet other dogs with the occasional glance over his shoulder. Its annoying isn't it? And my OH is always getting the shits that my dog plays up with him and will never let him catch her and just always has the comeback of 'I thought you were training her'. Ha, i tell hom what he can do but he doesn't listen. Sometimes i think the dog listens better... What do you mean "sometimes" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandgrubber Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 The least responsive of my dogs is the only one who has a dependency problem Well, OK Zoe is not always that happy for me to leave her with others (on lead) either. Diesel barks and howls if I leave him with someone else, Kaos is not too bad. ditto that . . . though it's past tense . . . the dependent one recently passed away. I got her at two years. She had mama-itis all her life. Nothing to do with training . . . she was house trained, but little more when I got her. I'll never know whether her early life made her dependent . . . I tend to think she was wired that way. Dependency may be related to responsiveness, but I don't think it's a close relationship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickasyoucan Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 (edited) The least responsive of my dogs is the only one who has a dependency problem Well, OK Zoe is not always that happy for me to leave her with others (on lead) either. Diesel barks and howls if I leave him with someone else, Kaos is not too bad. ditto that . . . though it's past tense . . . the dependent one recently passed away. I got her at two years. She had mama-itis all her life. Nothing to do with training . . . she was house trained, but little more when I got her. I'll never know whether her early life made her dependent . . . I tend to think she was wired that way. Dependency may be related to responsiveness, but I don't think it's a close relationship. Perhaps I did not explain myself clearly and my title is a little misleading, I am thinking more of the methods we use to obtain the responsiveness rather than the actual responsiveness itself ie by building up our status through training up in the eyes of the dog to the exclusion of others is there a danger that in some dogs, those with a natural predisposition to dependency, might become over dependent upon us? If so how do you avoid that pitfall when training are there things that you can build into your training? Obviously with some dogs they are never going to become dependent I have a dog, who though his responsiveness has increased markedly through training and I like to think his respect for me, is happy in his own skin and always looks like he can't wait for me to get out the door in the morning so he can get his head down :D Edited February 9, 2009 by Quickasyoucan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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