Dogs That Can On Be Handled By One Person

[aussielover]

So we did a training exercise on Tuesday, where handlers swapped dogs for the session. Unfortunately, my dog went nuts and no-one could handle her at all, even the instructor struggled. She kept trying to get back to me, if I went in front she pulled like a steam train, which she usually never does (she is quite lazy) and if i went behind she wouldn't move at all or keep trying to run backwards to me. Even food could not keep her interested in the other handler (she is usually totally food obsessed and will do ANYTHING for it).

She was the only dog in the group that had this problem, the dog i swapped with was fine with me and all the other dogs were fine as well. It was quite embarrassing really as she is usually the calmest and best behaved dog there. It was like she turned into a monster or something! Interestingly, her brothers behave like this all the time.

She does not have any other separation anxiety issues as far as i know, I have been away for a month and she was fine with my parents. I can leave her at home and she doesn't bark or destroy things (she has full run of the house and yard too). I have had my friends help out with her training by doing her tricks with her and taking her for short walks at uni and work so she should be used to going with other people.

My parents also tell me she is more naughty with them on walks but I know thats because they let her get away with stuff.

Can some dogs only work well for one person?

I suppose if I am not there, she wouldn't be as naughty?

[Bundyburger]

I'd be curious as to what people suggest, as I have similar issues with my boy. OH cannot handle him on walks because he just won't listen and pulls like a steamtrain.. but for me he's an angel!

[corvus]

I think sometimes you being there but not with the dog is wildly upsetting to some dogs. Erik is like this. He just goes nuts if the pack splits up and he can see where the others are going but can't get to them. I have practised getting him walking on a loose leash in these scenarios when they come up. While he can now actually do it whereas before he'd be so over threshold we basically just had to pick him up and carry him, he still finds it really hard and I suspect he always will. Mostly because I don't have the motivation to do the work required. In my mind, to fix it I would need to start small before he starts getting anxious and get him doing easy exercises, then increase the distance between him and the other dog and person. And once I was happy with it I would need to switch handlers and do it again. And then I would have to get a new handler and do it again. I would also be doing Karen Overall's Protocol for Relaxation and probably Aidan's Calming Yo-yo exercise. How does she react if you go into another room and shut the door to prevent her following? Or if you go outside without her?

[Mason_Gibbs]

I'd be curious as to what people suggest, as I have similar issues with my boy. OH cannot handle him on walks because he just won't listen and pulls like a steamtrain.. but for me he's an angel!

My lab is a bit like this, he hardly listens to my husband but always does what I ask, I think he sees my husband as his playmate as he is always wrestling with him etc. If I am not here though my hsuband walks him and takes him to the park, Mason does listen to him but not as well as he does to me.

[Bjelkier]

Mistral is like this with me too, if my OH takes him or god forbid someone else should take him in the show/obediance ring he is a total ass.

A good friend of mine recently offered to take Misty is for the run off at a show and I have never seen him play up like that ever.

[whiskedaway]

Akira does this too. I had a trainer take her from me and she said that she was badly trained and undersocialised because she wouldn't work for her but she would for me. She works better for my OH than she does for me, which is the reason I do her obedience training, because hopefully she'll then get used to working with both of us.

[Bundyburger]

I'd be curious as to what people suggest, as I have similar issues with my boy. OH cannot handle him on walks because he just won't listen and pulls like a steamtrain.. but for me he's an angel!

My lab is a bit like this, he hardly listens to my husband but always does what I ask, I think he sees my husband as his playmate as he is always wrestling with him etc. If I am not here though my hsuband walks him and takes him to the park, Mason does listen to him but not as well as he does to me.

I made OH walk him down the road near my mums, he'd been heeling wonderfully with me, but the second I handed him over to OH and stepped back.. forget it.. then on their way back to me he was RUNNING and dragging OH back to me :D Course then he was good again! It's awful and embarrassing, and OH refuses to walk him at all now.

If Bundy is at training though, he will work for the trainers and not worry about me at all (He looves Stuart from Underdog). He won't work for the local obed trainers though...

Edited February 11, 2011 by Bundy's Mum

[Janba]

Cole is like this if I get someone else to work in on sheep. If I'm there he will work for some people but comes back to me when he thinks the jobs done even if it isn't whereas if I'm not in sight he will work well for those people. There are other people he won't even stay with if they try to work him.

[wuffles]

Yep I think having a dog not work for an OH or someone else in the family is probably a different issue to not working for random people :D Mine will both work for anyone with food and... here's the important part... consistency. OH is always complaining about our little one but she's an angel for me. I have watched him with her and he lacks consistency and patience and I can see why he has problems

Mine do hate any 'pack separation' in public though. I can't take them both out and tether one, for example. They scream. A few days a week, OH takes the little one for a run and I take the big one for a walk. No problems. Unless we cross paths, in which case we both have to put up with pulling, screaming dogs until we're out of sight again...

[pipsqueak]

So we did a training exercise on Tuesday, where handlers swapped dogs for the session. Unfortunately, my dog went nuts and no-one could handle her at all, even the instructor struggled. She kept trying to get back to me, if I went in front she pulled like a steam train, which she usually never does (she is quite lazy) and if i went behind she wouldn't move at all or keep trying to run backwards to me. Even food could not keep her interested in the other handler (she is usually totally food obsessed and will do ANYTHING for it).

She was the only dog in the group that had this problem, the dog i swapped with was fine with me and all the other dogs were fine as well. It was quite embarrassing really as she is usually the calmest and best behaved dog there. It was like she turned into a monster or something! Interestingly, her brothers behave like this all the time.

She does not have any other separation anxiety issues as far as i know, I have been away for a month and she was fine with my parents. I can leave her at home and she doesn't bark or destroy things (she has full run of the house and yard too). I have had my friends help out with her training by doing her tricks with her and taking her for short walks at uni and work so she should be used to going with other people.

My parents also tell me she is more naughty with them on walks but I know thats because they let her get away with stuff.

Can some dogs only work well for one person?

I suppose if I am not there, she wouldn't be as naughty?

Just curious if this is your guide dog puppy or your Aussie Shepherd?

[aussielover]

This is the guide dog puppy, my aussie actually died a while ago :D

My Aussie also only worked for family members but it didn't really matter in her case.

How does she react if you go into another room and shut the door to prevent her following? Or if you go outside without her?

She gives me sad eyes if do that, but thats all.

Given the chance though, she follows me from room to room. She is not a velcro dog ie. she doesn't have to sit right beside me, but she does like to have me in her sights.

[corvus]

How does she react if you go into another room and shut the door to prevent her following? Or if you go outside without her?

She gives me sad eyes if do that, but thats all.

Given the chance though, she follows me from room to room. She is not a velcro dog ie. she doesn't have to sit right beside me, but she does like to have me in her sights.

It might just be a matter of reward history, then. If she thinks you're training and she can't physically get to you to train, that might be quite upsetting to her. What if you were to tie her up somewhere off your property and duck out of sight, but where you could still see her?

[pipsqueak]

This is the guide dog puppy, my aussie actually died a while ago

My Aussie also only worked for family members but it didn't really matter in her case.

How does she react if you go into another room and shut the door to prevent her following? Or if you go outside without her?

She gives me sad eyes if do that, but thats all.

Given the chance though, she follows me from room to room. She is not a velcro dog ie. she doesn't have to sit right beside me, but she does like to have me in her sights.

I'm soooo sorry, I didn't know about your puppy :D I only asked as it might be something useful to mention to the guide dog trainer, as it might have implications for her later training, if she doesn't "transfer" to someone else.

[aussielover]

It might just be a matter of reward history, then. If she thinks you're training and she can't physically get to you to train, that might be quite upsetting to her. What if you were to tie her up somewhere off your property and duck out of sight, but where you could still see her?

Sorry i don't quite understand what you mean by reward history in this context?

She is used to being tied up and not seeing me, at obedience and also at the shops sometimes. She just lies down and waits for me.

I think the issue is when she can actually see me, she isn't able to be on lead and under the conrol of another person.

Guide dogs certainly know about this problem, it was at one of their training sessions she turned into a demon lol

[raineth]

I have this problem with Delta.

She only wants to work with me. This morning my husband tried to take her out the door for a walk and she put on the breaks and turned around and tried to run back to me.

She is really only like that when going for walks or when out and about. at home she is happy with anyone.

I think she finds it harder to understand what someone else wants and then that is stressful for her.

[corvus]

Sorry i don't quite understand what you mean by reward history in this context?

Could she be recognising the context as a training situation and therefore particularly want to be with you because you reward her a lot in training situations when she's with you? Or it could just be that she hasn't generalised away from you=okay in every scenario.

[Vickie]

My Zeus was like this. He only ever had eyes for me & would strain & struggle if someone, including my husband even tried to walk him away on lead. He did get better once we started agility & his confidence grew.

In the end my daughter could run him, so long as he knew I was around. I always found it amusing that he would run for her but never wanted affection from her.

We started very slowly by getting her to ask him for very simple things with the promise of a good reward. I think in the end his love for agility overcame his need to be with me and he was willing to run full courses. Lol, he still always came back to me for his reward at the end though.

With the confidence he gained in agility, he became much more willing to do everyday things for other people. So long as I was around, he was happy to go have fun with someone else.

My other dogs will all doing anything for anyone & seem to forget I even exist once they see agility or sheep.

[Jigsaw]

Sorry i don't quite understand what you mean by reward history in this context?

Could she be recognising the context as a training situation and therefore particularly want to be with you because you reward her a lot in training situations when she's with you? Or it could just be that she hasn't generalised away from you=okay in every scenario.

I think Corvus is on track. Looking at the training history it's possible that your dog has a history of high reinforcement from you, especially in a training session whilst previously little has come from another person. Sometimes it pays for you to hold the lead but the other person works with the dog providing all the reinforcement while you be a "disinterested" party, ie no eye contact, no verbal, no food, no touching. You are close to the dog distance wise so the dog is not distracted by looking for you. This enables the dog to work out more easily where the reinforcement is coming from. There are of course a few other variables in the equation depending on the temperament of your dog too.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Susan Garrett calls it "relationship building"

At the seminar in November she worked with some of our dogs, with varying success. The ones that were more friendly and tug or food orientated were easier for her to work with than the ones that only cared about their owner.

My dog wasn't one of the ones she worked with, but is a good example of a dog that is a tad obsessed with her owner. However she will (eventually) work for anyone with a treat. It's a matter of establishing the relationship ie charging up the "yes"/"clicker" with a new person.

Except - with our agility instructor - if I'm there, she won't work for him at all even though she loves him to bits and he gives her treats. She has worked for him when I wasn't there.

And loads of people offer to give her a new home or even just a walk and sometimes I hand over the lead and say off you go... and she just pulls with all four paws after me. Once she notices I'm not going with her. But she is ok at the boarding kennels, and works for the staff there ie when I'm not around.

[aussielover]

Sorry i don't quite understand what you mean by reward history in this context?

Could she be recognising the context as a training situation and therefore particularly want to be with you because you reward her a lot in training situations when she's with you? Or it could just be that she hasn't generalised away from you=okay in every scenario.

I think Corvus is on track. Looking at the training history it's possible that your dog has a history of high reinforcement from you, especially in a training session whilst previously little has come from another person. Sometimes it pays for you to hold the lead but the other person works with the dog providing all the reinforcement while you be a "disinterested" party, ie no eye contact, no verbal, no food, no touching. You are close to the dog distance wise so the dog is not distracted by looking for you. This enables the dog to work out more easily where the reinforcement is coming from. There are of course a few other variables in the equation depending on the temperament of your dog too.

Interesting, because she will work for friends and family OFF the lead, like do her tricks, obedience etc, but they don't treat her at all when they walk her on lead as they only walk her, where as I actually train her on walks (doing her GD stuff).