I don't think this topic has been posted here, but if it has, come someone just point me in the right direction?
I posted somewhere else that Bella is coming into her "teenage years" and is beginning to test my fiance and me. She fights for attention ALL the time now (especially if my fiance and I are cuddling on the couch); she ignores us when we ask her to do tricks if we don't have treats in our hands (she was beginning to work for praise only...now she's regressing.) I pointed out that we make her work for her resources. Before she eats, we ask her to sit, stay, lie down, whatever. If I'm playing fetch with her, she has to do a trick for me every time I throw the toy. Stuff like that. Someone suggested that I need to be doing "dominance training" with her, and I'm kind of uncomfortable with this because a.) Bella is not a wolf, so a lot of these things just don't apply to her, and b.) I'm not a wolf, so I think some of these "training" techniques would blow right over her head because she just doesn't understand what I'm trying to do. Here are a few of the "dominance training" suggestions:
- if Bella were to get some table scraps, they would be given to her at the *very end* of a meal
- or Bella's meals made sure to be given after any meal you eat, so after your breakfast, etc. (alphas eat first).
- Some treats given to Bella from your mouth (alphas do this to show affection for the 'lower' ranks).
- some "rolling" - alphas will occasionally roll the lower ranks from laying down on their bellies to laying down on their sides or backs. Some folks aren't comfortable with rolling as a form of punishment (and I say a form of because it's really not *punishment* it's the equivalent of a very firm NO or 'This is not acceptable behaviour' in the dog world) - so it's okay to just roll her playfully.
Does any one have any advice/suggestions/experieces/etc.?
I posted somewhere else that Bella is coming into her "teenage years" and is beginning to test my fiance and me. She fights for attention ALL the time now (especially if my fiance and I are cuddling on the couch); she ignores us when we ask her to do tricks if we don't have treats in our hands (she was beginning to work for praise only...now she's regressing.) I pointed out that we make her work for her resources. Before she eats, we ask her to sit, stay, lie down, whatever. If I'm playing fetch with her, she has to do a trick for me every time I throw the toy. Stuff like that. Someone suggested that I need to be doing "dominance training" with her, and I'm kind of uncomfortable with this because a.) Bella is not a wolf, so a lot of these things just don't apply to her, and b.) I'm not a wolf, so I think some of these "training" techniques would blow right over her head because she just doesn't understand what I'm trying to do. Here are a few of the "dominance training" suggestions:
- if Bella were to get some table scraps, they would be given to her at the *very end* of a meal
- or Bella's meals made sure to be given after any meal you eat, so after your breakfast, etc. (alphas eat first).
- Some treats given to Bella from your mouth (alphas do this to show affection for the 'lower' ranks).
- some "rolling" - alphas will occasionally roll the lower ranks from laying down on their bellies to laying down on their sides or backs. Some folks aren't comfortable with rolling as a form of punishment (and I say a form of because it's really not *punishment* it's the equivalent of a very firm NO or 'This is not acceptable behaviour' in the dog world) - so it's okay to just roll her playfully.
Does any one have any advice/suggestions/experieces/etc.?