Jagger the Magnificient!

OK, I got a funny one. Jag, the wonder dog enjoyed bringing sticks in the house for his chewing pleasure. I was getting irritated at finding pieces of stick here and there about the house.

I began picking up his sticks and telling them (the sticks) in my most Alpha voice "Outside!" and I'd throw them out the door emphatically. I've been irritated by these darn sticks in the house for at least six months. Within three days of training the sticks to stay outdoors, they've stopped appearing inside. Amazing!

I love my doggie!

Having made great strides in training a wonderful dog, I thought I'd share a recent personal training screw-up. These dogs are so smart, and learn so fast. I wasn't careful and confused Jag. I've undermined an established 'command' and actually disciplined him for obeying! Ugh! Jag tries to control games. This is old news. I've declared myself the sole-initiator of such games and it's worked well for me. He can still manipulate everyone else in the house, but not me. Jagger was beginning to stop playing fetch before I was ready to end the game. I figured that since he'd lost the battle of initiating games that he was trying to win a new battle, thinking "If I can't start it, I'll end it." So, when he ended the game prematurely, I'd do the indignant ignore thing which works really well with him but, he wasn't getting it. He hates being ignored and this was unusual for him. Jag has learned 'All-Gone' or 'All-Done'. I say the words, but the hand signal is what he really pays attention to. I wiggle my hand, showing it's empty. The other night I was sharing munchies with him and signaled 'All-Done' and he did the "doggie shut down", making himself so small, very pathetic. He was confused. I could not figure out what I was seeing. He wasn't disappointed that the treats were gone, he was confused. These were seemingly unrelated, but I finally figured it out! Duh! I finally realized this morning that I'm inadvertantly giving him the hand signal for All-Done when we're playing fetch! I'm shaking the dirt/slime off my hand from the previously returned stick, ball, whatever. I'm signaling All Done and then I get indignant when he stops playing!! Poor guy, I've confused him horribly. Darn, I've got some remedial work to do. I've got to figure out how to get the slime off my hands without making that motion. I guess I could just live with it, but yuck! I hate it when my ignorance confuses him. I know this isn't an earth shattering story with dire repercussions, but it does illustrate how we (I) can inadvertantly give mixed signals. >From a contrite doggie-mommy who promises to pay better attention, nancy

Jag the Mag is my first male of known breeding. I was raised on a dairy with Aussie's.

Elaine said:

>> I think the good ESs are Beta dogs. They are very bossy, but they want someone setting out the rules for them. Then they are the enforcers. (keep the hog in the pen, leave the trash alone, "you're not supposed to give me the treat now for heaven's sake!" etc.) Puppies like this (betas) engage in a lot of these behaviors to discover the rules and find their limits.>>

This is exactly what I see. "The enforcer" describes Jag perfectly. Like the whole stick training story I posted about earlier. His job is to keep the sticks outside! We have to be careful with Maxi the Maximum Cat. For example, if Maxi is interested in what I'm eating and I tell her "No", Jag will put his face right over my food and glare at her with a low growl. I need to be very careful that when I tell Maxi "No" that Jag knows I'm willing to enforce my own discipline on the cat - that I don't need his help. Fortunatly Maxi is an old Kitty with a good grasp of the rules. I wonder what new challenges a kitten would bring.