Eleanor is a 5 year old German Shorthaired Pointer. Among her litany of unwanted behaviors – she’s an escape artist, a counter cruiser, a door answerer, and a people jumper – is, at least to her discouraged owners, the most annoying characteristic of all: Eleanor has Attitude with a capital A.
Whenever she is asked to do something, skills that she KNOWS inside and out, Sit for example, Eleanor not only will not do it, but she will sass back in various irritating ways.
For example, when she is outside in the fenced yard and is called to come in, she will promptly lie down. It could be raining or snowing. A piece of yummy bacon might be proffered. The box of biscuits is being shaken to tantalize her. No matter. Eleanor drops to her belly and looks at the door. As if to say “is that ALL you got?”
If she is requested to Sit so her leash can be attached to her collar, she sighs, she yawns, she stretches lazily. Her human companions know she loves to take a walk, so why is she being such a pain-in-the-rear when clearly putting the leash on is the first step literally to going for a stroll?!
Eleanor dearly adores a game of catch with anything that can be tossed – a ball, a stuffed toy, a stick – but at some point early in the game, she will watch the ball fly through the air, land on the ground, and she will turn her back to both the toy and the person who threw it.
At other times, when asked to do something like Come or Sit, Eleanor will ignore the request. She will look away, or even walk away. She might eventually do it, but only after Sit has been repeated over and over and over.
Her owners are frustrated, to say the least.
There is actually a pretty simple fix to being dissed by your dog.
Like most dogs, Eleanor wants attention. It can be good attention, like being petted, or bad attention, like getting yelled at. Eleanor craves a human audience.
So, at the first sign that Eleanor is about to go into Sassy Dog mode, her human friends stop the pleading and the commanding. Instead, they stand still, calmly and quietly. No eye contact, no talking, no touching. Just stand.
When Eleanor’s family tried this approach, she was startled but determined to get their attention by jumping on them, barking at them, stealing items, anything she could think of. But they were more persistent and consistent than she was, and eventually, she saw that her antics had no affect.
And magically, the dissing stopped.
#GermanShorthairedPointer#obedience#attentionseekingbehaviors