She was definitely not impressed and ran outside. I followed and held onto it till she let go. I suspected I heard a tiny growl but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt as she did let me take it. I mentioned this incident to Jabari's mum and she said she always teaches her dogs to give up their bones if asked. I guess we'd better get onto it! Little does Penny know what a stressful time is in store for her. I think I'll just ask her occasionally to give up her meal and then give it right back.
As for her toys, she likes to lie with them gathered around her, but is more willing to give them up, probably because we have always expected that of her since she was young. She has two new toys today, imported especially from New York by a household member who has been on holidays there.They've both been a great success - so much so that Penny keeps them tucked up beside her safely while she rests.We took the Roller Bone to the creek today and it did, as advertised, float. And it was easy to pick up in the water, too.
I'm not sure if the "Roller Bone" is available in Australia but I think the "Spider Ball" probably is. This toy seemed to be making some interesting noises as she mouthed it.
6 comments:
Oh oh...She may be a little possessive about her bone. Good thing she still allowed you to take the bone away becoz once, Faith tried to bite my mommy's hand when she tried to take her chew away. Faith was very hungry then so she became a little possessive about it. Mommy was worried why she behaved like that & she was just a very young pup. But that only happened once & today, she doesn't do it anymore. Non of us are possessive over our food but if there's another dog who comes close to faith's & my bowl, we get a little grumpy about it but we don't really attack unless that dog is very stubborn & tried to challenge us. Mommy accepts us behaving like this if another dog tries to steal our food in OUR home but if outside, she corrects us. Ofcourse she does not praise us behaving like that, she just keeps quiet & scolds the other dog instead of us. We have the right to behave like that in our home... In Penny's case, you'll need to teach her to 'leave' her bone on command. This is one of my mommy's methods of doing corrections instead doing it verbally or by whacking. She uses a normal plastic coke bottle filled with rocks. She tells her students in hr basic class to use this correction object to correct the dogs & when I watch the handlers using it on their stubborn dogs, WOW! It's sooo effective! It doesn't hurt the dog, it just scares them. Ofcourse you'll have to say a firm "NO!" too when you shake the bottle right in front of their faces to startle them... So try this with Penny. It won't hurt her or anything... Give her a bone or chew, let her chew on it for a few seconds then after that ask her to "leave it" clearly. If she refuses, shake the bottle right in front of her face, closely just to make sure she sees it & gets startled by it whilst saying a firm "NO! Leave it, Penny!" When she backs up & leaves it, praise her verbally in a very high tone. No treats for this training. Later, try again, do the same thing again & again. She refuses or growls at you, shake the bottle hard again near her face asking her to "leave it!". Later, hold the bone in your hand, tease her with it but don't ask her to come & get it. Just tease her so that she wants to take it from. When she grabs it, say "leave it Penny!" but if she refuses & tries to pull it off your hand, shake the bottle hard in front of her face whilst saying the command. If she does, praise her verbally. Do this many times everyday until one day, you just throw the bone on the floor & when you say "leave it Penny" she should ignore it & walk off. This is how you teach dogs who are food, toy, people or dog aggressive... I know Penny is not really aggressive but it's good to teach her good manners now becoz she has started to learn to growl at you when you try to take her bone away. Hopefully this will work & do update us on the progress.
Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer
Amber-Mae, thanks for that very clear explanation. Do you think it would work just as well to reward giving up the bone, instead of using the coke bottle correction?
The whole idea of this training is actually to teach her to 'leave it' on command. And I mean not just leaving her bones. Her toys or whatever things you want her to leave... I wouldn't encourage you to reward her for giving up the bone becoz this may confuse her. For my mommy, she prefers the coke bottle correction. But ofcourse, up to you! Try all types of methods, maybe only one will work. Use one method that works best...
Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer
Amber-Mae, I think we'll try it your way, because 'leave it!' is one command we just haven't been able to conquer. Penny grabs food in the street every time we walk.
I can't believe how many chop bones there are in a seemingly tidy street. And don't even ask about how many cooked chicken bones there are! Of course, I don't see them because they're usually in the long grass or behind a plant. But Penny smells them and then we have a struggle.
Sometimes she chomps them up before I can get them from her and then I'm worried for days as to whether they will damage her digestive system.
I'll let you know how we get on with it. I guess it won't happen overnight.
Leave it is a big command for me, cause I like to graze the ground some. Mum taught me leave it early, I leave it, she gives me a treat - works great!
And I am sometimes 'shy' about giving up my 'high value' treats like marrow bones. But Mum makes sure everytime I get one, I have to give it up to her a couple of times while I have it. She says "I'll take that", then I take a step back look at her and she gives me a treat. Sometimes I get the bone back, sometimes I don't.
She started it with a treat trade and it progressed to what it is today. Works very well. And remains completely positive.
Johann, all my good resolutions about working on 'leave it' went by the wayside when I got overwhelmed by a spate of work. So, I'm nearly ready to give it another go. I'll try taking her food bowl away and giving it back and see how that goes. It's not as high-value as a bone, I think ,so it'll give me an idea of how she is going to react. Thanks for the help.
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