Better relationship without full contact?

Something said on KB's thread got me thinking. Do dogs respond better to commands etc when they don't have constant access to their owners? I don't mean like when you go out for a few hours - but when you're in the house and they aren't allowed upstairs etc.

I've thought lately that Louie gets to be with me all the time and no matter how much training I put in, he doesn't always listen, however Benjie and Sadie - who I don't have with me all the time, listen almost perfectly (no ones perfect).

Now I know other things factor in, Louie is young and still learning, he has his hormones racing round and all that.. but I can't help but feeling if he wasn't able to be around me all the time, would his behaviour improve?

Am I just asking something ridiculous or can this be the case..

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

The value of something, is in direct inverse ratio to its availability.

I think I might put it to the test..

Yes it can do - but it depends on why you want dogs and what kind of relationship you want with them I feel

TBH - I love having him around and when I have Sadie the pair of them are my shadows, but I just want to know if he isn't with me all the time if he would listen better? But I suppose more training would combat that too..

I don't really know.. it was just something that's been on my mind all day..

I know what you mean I have thought it too
But at the end of the day I have pet dogs because I want to, I want them to work for me because of my training and the bond I have with them
Not because they are craving my attention because it is a rare thing

Many trainers with working dogs e.g sheep dogs, gun dogs, working terriers, keep the dogs outside and away from them when not training, hence the training the treat of social interaction with their handler, and the intrinsic reward of the opportunity to fulfilled a genetically motivated desire of working.
Part of the skill of training is having the dog co operate with you to be "allowed" to do that work, as opposed to having it learn it can ignore you and so independently fulfill its instinctive drives.
Only having the dog have access to this work when with you adds to the positive associations of working with you and enables you to prevent it having opportunities to learn the wrong things, if you do it well.

To a dog with near constant social access to the owner and lots of stimulation activities for "free", "work" can be a negative, interfering with its independence and self determination.

For a separated and possibly kenneled dog, "work" and social access can be the stimulation/occupational highlight of the day.

But most of us pet owners are looking for different things than work performance, and more than just a working relationship with our pets.

My sis is looking after an adorable springer at the moment.... but she is allowed to sleep on the bed at night at home....

Not at my sis's...........Meg is such a spoilt little girl.......... and Karen treats her own dog (and anyone else's) to be a dog. i.e. they sleep in their own beds at the side of hers.

See, this is where this theory/statement differs. Sadie is a downstairs only dog at her owners house, whereas here she has full run like the rest of them, yet she listens better than Louie and responds better to me than her actual owners, who don't spoil her or anything, she's just a pet. I suppose it could be an age difference though..

But saying all that - she is a different dog and I shouldn't be comparing them..

And how does that contradict the theory?

If she lives with OTHER people, and her access to you is rationed, she listens to you better than YOUR dog who is with you all the time.