Do you mind me being honest?
Human/dog relationships are so much easier once owners ditch the dominance view

Reason being that usually with dominance based views, we start to read far too much into everything the dog does.

If my dog nudged me (which she does) I'd say "do you want to go out?" and take her out, to be sure. I'd then settle her with a chew toy or whatever she likes. It's teaching good behaviour but also keeping the communication lines open.

My view is that if we train our dogs, and they mostly do as we say, they really aren't being dominant. And most if not all so called dominant dogs are simply untrained :smt002

I know it's hard with a dog who is not necessarily the most chilled out in the world

Wys
x

i personally dont have a clue why your dog weed.but my dog does 'funny' things to let you no when she needs the toilet,ive also mistaked them 4 attention seeking in the past(yes,even me,when i think i no everything about the minds of dogs) i have been proven wrong! (just dont let my training instructer hear me say that). the other nite i was on the pc,in a world of my own like you are,when trinny started taking washing out of the washing basket?!
i cant explain why she would be doing that!
dogs have there own funny little ways

Excellent post - and I agree with every word

Syd sometimes nudges me when on the pc, and he is not an attention seeker, but if I am busy with something for quite a while he just comes to check in with me, and because it isn't something he does all the time when he does it he gets a " hello gorgeous " I cuddle his head and laugh and off he goes or just lays down.
The thing is I can ignore them because they will bark by the back door if they want to go out. I would do as wys says and ask if she wants out, take her for a wee and bring her back in and carry on with what you were doing. If you want her to tell you when she wants out then you do have to encourage it. If she does nothing while outside bring her in, it will take some practise but she will get the message.

Thanks guys, Wysiwyg - unfortunately as her stage in life the dominance issue has raised its ugly head once already, my OH was plastering the stairs last week and Roxy stood at the top of the stairs and watched him for ages, after a while she started growling at him and got her hackles up.

To me that says she is trying to be dominant. So I am in the process of maintaining rules and training.

Perhaps you are all right and I have looked into this too much.

Trouble - regarding Toilet training, she got used to the bell by the back door and then decided to start over-using it, so it has been removed as she will go out for a wee, come back up and start ringing it again

Now I have put some boxes between the lounge and the hallway and she will scratch that if she wants to go to the hallway, which usually means she needs a wee or the cat has run out there

Work in progress, problem is, she wants to be outside all the time!

That wasn't necessarily dominance either, dogs do sometimes growl and raise their hackles when they are unsure of things. Had she seen him doing it before?, in cases like that I generally show them it's nothing to be scared of, by showing them the brushes, wallpaper paste in the bucket and whatever and then just get on with it. Dogs are sometimes just daft and the things they see as fearful we see as everyday things, but it's only because they haven't seen them in that situation before. A bit like when they see a carrier bag attached to bushes and flapping in the wind, they might see carrier bags daily, but the first windy day flapping bags can worry them

I have sent that to my OH trouble as I cannot be sure of her actions as I was not there. I guess you'd actually have to see Roxy to understand my issues here as in words it can come across as though I dont know what im talking about.

There is a difference between nudging to say hello and nudging to get your attention. I dont mind her coming up and moving my hand if its in a playful way, but headbut nudging is not acceptable, if she needs a wee or not.

I think I need to re-inforce the scratching at the boxes for now if she needs a wee. I believe a lot of the issues this week has come from the fact OH has been working nights during a week, which means Roxy sleeps all night with me, goes out for a walk and then sleeps all day with my OH. Usually his night shifts run over a weekend which means she only has to sleep night and day for two days. the other two I am home and we go out, or play or do something. We are at training tonight, so i think that will help

That's one of the issues of a forum though Natalie it's difficult to interpret what the dog is doing and why without seeing it for yourself. I did think about pm'ing you because it's definately not a case of I don't think you know what you're doing, but sometimes we all interpret things differently, I know me and my OH do.

my dog acts differently when im not around to,she obeys every command i give her but wont listen to my OH,or if she does listen he really has to yell it.
she knows im the master i suppose,she even listens 2my kids more than paul.
he cant walk her as she 'WILL NOT' heel 4him,but then again,he doesnt make her!
he lets her get away with murder so its his own fault really.
but like he says'who couldnt resist that big drewling saggy,wrinkly face'!!