- Location
- Cornwall , UK
That was such a funny read, but just how I imagine dogs would think x
Velcro dog
- Thread starter Natalie
- Start date
@snowbunny that made me laugh out loud this morning, thank you, I couldn't reply then as I was curling my hair and that's a two handed job! I will definitely read some of the others now.
I am actually really grateful that I don't have a hunt-y dog, although he spends 70% of the walk sniffing, that seems to be simply for the enjoyment of the smells, not looking for a scent that he needs to chase. And I know it's not just about the treats - OH will probably only treat him 4-5 times in an hour's walk, but he stays close anyway regardless. Last week he got 50 metres away from us (by accident) and when he saw us, he had a definite look of concern and came right back to us when he realised the distance.Some dogs are just more velcroey than others. Squidge is a lot more than W&S. Part of this is down to a huge early reinforcement history, and part that she isn’t anywhere near as hunt-oriented as they are, so her environment has less pull. She would far rather be doing stuff with me than following rabbit scent. I understand it can be frustrating when you need to switch off your brain, and you want them to entertain themselves, but it’s really just back to the old adage that reinforcement drives behaviour. If the history of reinforcement is with you, the dog will stay with you. If the dog doesn’t actually find the environment that reinforcing, they are even more likely to stay with you.
If you want something different, you have to first define what it is, and then build towards that. Denise Fenzi actually posted one of her “talks with Raika” on this subject recently. I’ll see if I can dig it out
I think this is more about his relationship with me, actually, he is always at me for attention and food, not OH - sometimes I feel like the weak link and I feel a bit taken advantage of
