Does Desexing Really Make A Difference

[stormie]

BB - again I get what you're saying but it's not always as simple as just teaching the owners how to do it. You should come spend a week here with me and see the different types of owners you get walking through our doors. We often see out of control dogs, not because the owners are too soft, but because their dog doesn't BELIEVE their corrections. And that's the thing - you can't always teach someone to be more assertive and give off a commanding energy. Particularly if they have been scared by their dog once before.

Some people have a natural ability to be leaders, like animals, but some just don't, and it's here that you need to be able to compromise, because it's not as simple as just teaching someone how to correct harder. It doesn't matter how much you hurt or correct the dog, as I said before, because if you don't back it up with your energy, they don't believe you and it will mean nothing.

Take a friend of mine for example. Her family has 4 dogs. One of the dogs ( a small Shih Tzu X), can't be touched by anyone in the family, let alone picked up etc. It tries to bite them if they want it off the couch and also around meal times.

This dog came to stay with us for a few days. At no point whatsoever did this dog give us any cheek. In fact, when we approached him, he'd actually lay down and roll onto his back and submit. I was picking him up and doing all sorts of things with him because I had no idea at the time that he would normally bite his family.

And there's the difference - we were confident and assertive with him because we knew his behaviour was a result of their behaviour. But no matter how much we try to explain to her how to deal with him, no one in the family is capable. They are just not capable of corrections and even if you showed them how, they would never be able to replicate it because it's just not their personality.