Dogs With Attitude

[W Sibs]

For the pass few morning now it has been cold and my fella, Charlie, isn't a fan of cold. It takes me quite a while to get him off the bed and with his situation, manhandling him is done with care... so it's not easy for me just to pick him up and put him on the floor. But, the little fella, finally gets up and I lifted him up and put him on the floor.. he either goes to his heated bed in the corner of my room or he curls up on the floor to continue his snoozing...

So now, i simply just carry him to the backyard so he can do his business. As soon as I put him on the cold and wet grass, he starts grumblings. Not whinging or barking, my real grumbles. He tries to go back inside the house but I won't let him in till he does he morning wee. He walks to the edge of the path and pee, gives me a look as though saying 'there, i did it' and then waddles back into the house still grumbling till he goes into his day bed. He stops grumbling then but that's because he fell back to sleep.

He doesn't wake up when I take my girl, Emmy, for a walk. When I do come back and say 'Charlie. Your turn. Lets Go'.. he open his eyes and lays there to think about it. Then ever so slowly gets up and walks to his area he goes to so I can leash him up. If it's cold, we walk to the letter box and he turns around back to the house again, but if it's a nice morning, we will walk down the street.

He is such a funny little fella... he is a senior citizen by the age of 2 years old!!

Anyone else dog has an attitude problem? :p

[corvus]

Er... Erik only knows attitude. Yesterday we were practising targeting and every time I signalled above his head he'd do this growly grunt as he jumped up to hit it. He seems to think a lot of things require emphasis. It cracks me up when I'm eating ice cream and he sits in front of me and growls this little frustrated "I hate that you won't give me any" grumble. He makes a sound exactly like a person growling in frustration when things aren't going their way. He gets the chesty quality, and upward inflection at the end, and the sense that it's being expelled out in a forceful huff. Penny used to do that on occasion, but Erik does it all the time. He apparently needs to tell us when he's unimpressed about not getting his own way.

[W Sibs]

Erik is quite the character I love hearing about his cleverness ;)

Charlie had his really sad expression on his face as though the world is sooooo mean and we have to all feel sorry for him, sometimes he adds in the sigh to let us know he is putting on that face... :p

[Kynan]

Kynan is Mr Attitude and vocalises a lot with groans, grunts, whines, and sighs. He lets us know by grunting or sighing loudly if we are talking for too long in bed before going to sleep. It is as if he is saying "will you two please stop talking and go to sleep"

[Akay]

When Bailey and I are out somewhere, markets, walking etc, he decides when he's ready to go home, which is sometimes only 10 minutes after we arrive. He lets me know by crying, then taking the lead in his mouth and will only walk if we go in the direction of the car. If we walk in another direction he tugs and tugs on his lead and will not walk. It's amazing how strong he is at 15 kgs.

This ends up being quite a battle with him not budging and sometimes we've been in the middle of a market with people having to walk around us because I couldn't even get him to come closer to me. Like it or not, he always draws attention to me. He digs his little feet in the ground, sticks his bum up and tugs and tugs. Most people laugh and others give me a dirty look, which I have never been able to figure out (maybe it annoys them that I have a dog that tells me what to do).

Out of the house Bailey often starts the walk, markets etc with the lead in his mouth and people say "look, he's taking himself for a walk". When we were at the dog park once (which Bailey doesn't like) another dog growled at him because Bailey unknowingly went too close to his ball. When this happened bailey jumped up to my hand, grabbed his lead and trotted off with the lead in his mouth, back to the car. It's so cute when he has the lead in his mouth because he holds his head up high in the air and trots like a pony. It looks so posh.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Akay

[Akay]

Er... Erik only knows attitude. Yesterday we were practising targeting and every time I signalled above his head he'd do this growly grunt as he jumped up to hit it. He seems to think a lot of things require emphasis. It cracks me up when I'm eating ice cream and he sits in front of me and growls this little frustrated "I hate that you won't give me any" grumble. He makes a sound exactly like a person growling in frustration when things aren't going their way. He gets the chesty quality, and upward inflection at the end, and the sense that it's being expelled out in a forceful huff. Penny used to do that on occasion, but Erik does it all the time. He apparently needs to tell us when he's unimpressed about not getting his own way.

Hehe... this reminds me of Bailey who will wait patiently for something I'm eating and then if I finish without giving him any he actually does a "pffft" and walks off in a huff, it's so funny. He also does this laugh thing when he gets in trouble, kind of saying like it doesn't bother him, but I know it does.

[Keira&Phoenix]

Er... Erik only knows attitude. Yesterday we were practising targeting and every time I signalled above his head he'd do this growly grunt as he jumped up to hit it. He seems to think a lot of things require emphasis. It cracks me up when I'm eating ice cream and he sits in front of me and growls this little frustrated "I hate that you won't give me any" grumble. He makes a sound exactly like a person growling in frustration when things aren't going their way. He gets the chesty quality, and upward inflection at the end, and the sense that it's being expelled out in a forceful huff. Penny used to do that on occasion, but Erik does it all the time. He apparently needs to tell us when he's unimpressed about not getting his own way.

OMG this sounds exactly like Phoenix!! When I do targetting with her my trainers have called it punching lmao she is so over enthusiastic about it!

She does the grunting/growling/whining too. I make her sit away from me when eating dinner. Well how rude of me!!

She gives the cats attitude too if they won't play with her (which is always)

Edited April 29, 2011 by Keira&Phoenix

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I crack my agility instructor up because my evil hound and I frequently have (loud) conversations about getting on the table or off it, especially if it's too short to bother with (in her opinion), and coming off the scramble without leaping from the top (dog is supposed to touch the bottom of it - contact).

So she yells at me, and I ask her to do it properly and she yells some more.... mostly she yells I'm not running fast enough.

[Little Gifts]

My sister has a husky/shep cross and it is a total dibber dobber. When we get home from work she spends about 15 minutes 'telling' all the things the others did wrong that day. If we are all in the house but one of the others is somewhere they shouldn't be or doing something suspicious she comes looking for one of us mouthing off about it till we go and check. She also has this look on her face afterwards like she is telling the other dogs "I told you I'd dob but you wouldn't listen!" She's our doggy fun police. Actually she reminds me of Sheldon off Big Bang Theory - she has all these self-imposed rules about how she is fed and where she will or wont sit or sleep.

[W Sibs]

LOL

Emmy targets with a lot of enthusium too.. she growls when she targets, especially when I made her sit after every target. But she doesn't give me attitude (too much)... she is too much of an airhead and too happy to give me attitude.

[corvus]

My sister has a husky/shep cross and it is a total dibber dobber. When we get home from work she spends about 15 minutes 'telling' all the things the others did wrong that day. If we are all in the house but one of the others is somewhere they shouldn't be or doing something suspicious she comes looking for one of us mouthing off about it till we go and check. She also has this look on her face afterwards like she is telling the other dogs "I told you I'd dob but you wouldn't listen!" She's our doggy fun police. Actually she reminds me of Sheldon off Big Bang Theory - she has all these self-imposed rules about how she is fed and where she will or wont sit or sleep.

That's hilarious! My previous dog, Penny, was also known as the doggy fun police. She had a particular bark that meant the other dogs were up to something she didn't approve of, usually trying to escape the yard. She would run to the back door and do the "The others are being naughty!" bark until someone came out to stop them. A couple of times the dogs had already escaped and she would lead you right to the spot where they dug or climbed out. My mum used to say she didn't know how she would ever cope without her policeman.

Erik gives you this look if you ask for a down for a life reward he normally gets for free. He's all like "But... I don't have to down for this. It's not in the rules. I get it for free." When he eventually accepts that he really does have to down for it this time (may take a full minute of me silently waiting), he will very slowly sink into his down as if I am utterly humiliating him and it is emotionally trying and thoroughly degrading for him to prostrate himself for this particular life reward. *sigh*

[Katie P]

When it is too early in Chases mind to wake up, he refuses to! In his mind, any time after 9:30am is acceptable! He will open his eyes and be like "what are you doing mum?! Its FAR too early"! Then start sleeping again. I will pick him up and put him gently on the ground and he refuses to stand up and will just lie there sleeping froggy style . I will then have to pick him up and he goes all grumpy and grumbly and will just lie there limply in my arms! He is not a morning person...ahem.....Dog!

Not really attitude, but usually when he knows the rest of my family want him to do something he will run around and around the exercise bike because he knows they will try to catch him and they never can get around it quick enough!

[Christina]

Had a Great Dane once. Acquired as an adult. Fabulous well trained & obedient dog. Adored him. Only 2 faults.

Him weighing over 9 stone & me being just under 8 didn't help (Kilos not used much then).

Used to have a go on the trampoline outside after the children had gone to school. Fun alone. He would not let me off

Every time I went to get down he charged under it & started lifting it up. Great game for him, tail wagging & woofing. Terror for me gripping the edge & trying to lie flat on my belly. I was over 40

Finally people walked past the back gate & he charged over barking so I got off. Tried it all again but this time when I was not home alone. He did the same again, twice. Funny he never did it when the children were on there but he had come from a home with 3 young children.

Other thing was if he got in the hallway & did not want to go out. Obedient anywhere else but here he would lie on his back with his legs in the air, head back & lip flaps wobbly on the floor No amount of asking nicely, getting firm, trying to physically lift him would get him to roll over & move. The trick was to make a chocolate spread sandwich & form a trail, like in Hansel & Gretel story, to lead him through the house & out of the back door. He would not follow a trail of any other food & didn't do this in any other room in the house.

He was 5 when I got him so maybe these were habits he already had.

[jacqui835]

Haha this is a cute thread. My dog has a few attitude problems... Firstly, there are tricks he likes to do, and tricks he feels are beneath him. If for example you ask him to speak or to jump up, well these are desirable activities. If however you ask him to roll over, he is less than impressed. Firstly, he'll try and walk away. When we tell him off for that, he'll start whinging and whining and trying to 'talk' over the top of you asking him to do the command. I know we shouldn't tolerate his little tantrums, but it just cracks us up. We do always make sure he follows through in the end.

[mita]

We had a sheltie girl, Shelley, who was a committed greenie. She hated anyone trimming branches off a tree or bush....or, worse still, cutting it down. It had nothing to do with noise, because she hated it, even if the person was pulling off branches with their hands.

She'd retreat up onto the deck with head & long nose stuck around the doorway, with a look of outraged horror on her face. The man next door used to apologise to Shelley as he trimmed down the boundary trees & bushes. He used to say it was tough living next door to a dog that was a card-carrying member of the green movement. :D