Originally Posted by
Someone
...[snip]...
I don't believe in dominance stuff and I like the dogs to go through the door first, it makes it easier to turn around and shut it without dogs in the way
Unless I am going just across the road to the little shop without her, in which case Pereg knows to keep away until I am out and the door is closed and locked, she
must always go through doors [I only have the one] or doorways [all interior doors having been removed for ease of chair access] in front of me.
That way I not only know where she is but to make sure that she does not get under my wheels, or, on the rare occasions I am on my crutches, knock me flying.
It is definitely not dominance on my part. It has always been a part of teaching a young puppy [she was approx 6 weeks old when I adopted her] how to act with a person who uses wheels instead of legs. I already had Little One when I adopted Pereg, and she also had to be taught to keep clear of wheels or crutches.
Little One always waited until her food bowl was down before eating - I did not have to teach her that, but Pereg, being one of five from a pregnant stray picked up by volunteers from the local voluntary shelter, took a long time to understand which was LO's bowl and food, and which was hers, even though I then fed them separately. LO was also such an easy pup to housetrain, Pereg came with explosive diarrhoea which lasted for nearly three weeks. And LO was healthy until she just went to sleep one night cuddled up to me and died.
Pereg is also 100% healthy - she just happens to be epileptic, and she
needs her routine. And if her routine is that she does not eat until she looks at me and touches her nose to mine - frequently no words said, just sign language - and will not eat until I say so, or point, or make a sound/gesture, so what?
Does that mean I am being dominant and following CM?
No way.
I have posted before about asking Pereg to Sit and Stay in the middle of the salon floor, put tiny treats on each paw, down her tail, balanced on her head and nose, and said STAY - and she will not move until I say she can.
Is that dominance or is that just training a dog to do as they are told? I have also asked her to do a Sit and Stay while I throw tiny treats around, and she will not move until I tell her to.
Is that dominance or just basic training?
Because if that is dominance then how come everyone applauds dogs doing perfect obedience and other sorts of things? Nobody says their owners are being dominant, so why was I accused of being dominant towards my beloved Pereg?
Is the following demonstrating dominance or training? Most evenings Pereg gets her treats. Three tiny treats. They are actually very small bone-shaped biscuits which I break in half, so she has just three halves, ie one and a half little biscuit.
And she has to "work" for them as part of her ongoing training.
1 - she has to Sit and Stay in the kitchen while I come back into the salon, until I call her.
2 - she has to go into a proper Down and Stay until I call her.
3 - she has to sit, quietly and without asking, beside my chair, until she gets the third and last treat.
Is that wrong or is that part of training? And is it wrong to keep training as an ongoing thing or should it be forgotten when the dog has done it once?
Or maybe I really am CM in disguise after all and I have "ingrained" into my beloved Pereg so much that she is "afraid" to eat unless I tell her she can.
I love Pereg more than I have ever loved any of the many dogs I have owned in my life. That does not mean that I did not love them because I did, with all of my heart.
But Pereg is different. She is epileptic and needs me probably more than any other of my dogs ever did. And I love her more than I could ever explain, even more so because of her epilepsy and because I am fully aware that at my age and my stage of disability, she will be the last dog who will ever share my life. I live for her, and I know that she lives for, and, most importantly,
because of me.
So being accused of using CM dominance training just because I forgot to turn round and tell my beloved Pereg that she could eat yesterday, has been like sticking red hot knives into me.