# Perfect Golden... gone wrong!?



## Pilot'sowner (Oct 29, 2008)

Hi everyone,

I have a 4 year old neutered Golden who is the perfect dog, most of the time. He recently has started ignoring my commands and making me feel like I am much lower in the pack. It's hard to explain, but he is being pushy and just like "why should I come/sit/down". Other times he just ignores me. I don't understand because most of the time he is perfect! How do I establish myself as alpha again in a nice way? Or do you think it's a lack of stimulation? Thanks! 

I forgot to mention I've only had him a year and he get's regular walks and play with other dogs.

Note:To show that he can be VERY good he is he passed his CGC last saturday! Woohoo!


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## OnceAGoldenAlwaysAGolden (Jul 8, 2008)

Our One year old Maggie knew the sit/come/lay down since she was 5 months and lately she too doesnt want to at all...we have to ask her numerous times to do so...I asked her last night was she going through her terrible twos early...lol...My advice and I did it last night was start using treats again (if you dont that is) and see if that will entice her again...Im no expert, lol...so lets see what others think...


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

I think you need to go back to basics with him, do some formal training sessions, or even take another class with him.

Mix it up too, do obedience commands at times and places he is not expecting, with treats to reinforce that he wants to obey no matter where or when.


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## hgatesy (Feb 14, 2007)

We go through this with Park every so often. Just every once in awhile he'll need a reminding about how a command is not optional. He'll try to run his own program. We just make sure when he gets in his "moods" (as we call them) that we re-enforce the basics and do a mini doggie boot camp for a few days. It doesnt' take long for him to remember that we expect him to comply with our requests and he doesnt' get to choose if he's going to sit, down, come, etc.


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

Welcome to the forum. They do sometimes test their bounderies but usually sooner than 4 years. When Caue and Oakly went through this at about 1 yr I just redoubled the training and somehow got through it.


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## wagondog (Aug 24, 2007)

I don't know how big your crate is but I had a submissive Rottie that suddenly started to test pack order in the house. I had coffee in his crate with him watching from outside, He quickly regained his place in the pack and I regained mine.
WagonDog

congratulations on the CGC to you and the pooch, things will get back to normal with the training that has been suggested by other posters.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

A great way to firm up commands, if you're going back to treats, is to use sporadic reinforcement. Don't reward with food every time the dog performs the set task, but less than half the time, completely at random. "Sit" is a good one to practice with, since you can lead the dog with the treat and then give or not give it. After a few successful tries, decrease the reward frequency. Once the behavior is fairly established, extremely sporadic reinforcement is very, very powerful. And even at the beginning and intermediate stages, being sporadic is more effective than regular rewards.

Also, if the dog is disobeying, work really hard to make sure you don't ask for behavior you aren't fairly confident will happen. Nothing confirms dog's sense that your commands aren't compulsory like successfully ignoring them. When you're standing there going "Come!...Trixie, Come!...Trixie!...Come!...Trixie!...Cookie!...Come!...Trixie!" your dog is learning exactly how powerless you really are. I'm reminded of the Newfoundland I saw last week at the park whose owner was a pleasant afterthought in her mind.

If you think it's a dominance problem, there lots of ways to non-coercively enforce your dominance. For example, when you feed your boy, hold the food bowl at your chest height and ask him to sit, then lower it down to him. You can make this even stronger by eating a few bites of something (not necessarily the dog food) yourself before you give him food. If he's totally nuts in demanding the food and won't behave, put it away for a while and try again later.

Or, when you go through a door he's eager to get through (like to go outside), use your physical presence (not just your leash) to hold the dog back from the open door and pass through it yourself first before allowing him through.

You also have to be careful not to accidentally encourage him to think of you like an equal or worse, a subordinate: letting him hook a paw over your arm when he's getting pet, letting him jump up on you when you come home, letting him grab food from you instead of waiting for it, barking at you when he wants something, playing tug-of-war, etc. Stuff like that is no biggie when you're not having dominance problems, but when you are, they're little clues to the dog since they're things a dog who's low on the totem pole can't do to/with a dog who's higher up.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.


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## avincent52 (Jul 23, 2008)

> I don't know how big your crate is but I had a submissive Rottie that suddenly started to test pack order in the house. I had coffee in his crate with him watching from outside, He quickly regained his place in the pack and I regained mine.
> WagonDog


You actually crawled into his crate and stayed there a while?
Interesting? Has anyone else tried this?

allen


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## wagondog (Aug 24, 2007)

avincent52 said:


> You actually crawled into his crate and stayed there a while?
> Interesting? Has anyone else tried this?
> 
> allen


yes I crawled into his crate and had coffee. I guess the operative word would be "his" crate. The dog immediately regained submissivness to me from that point on, there were other training methods used with Zack over the years but me in the crate worked as well. Takes alot for dog that thinks he is taking over pack leader status to give up his crate.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Hello and Welcome,
Good advice from everyone. You might google NILIF. Some people have said that is a good training to put you back as pack leader. Cant wait to see pictures of him.


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## Celeigh (Nov 29, 2007)

wagondog said:


> I had coffee in his crate with him watching from outside, He quickly regained his place in the pack and I regained mine.


:worthless

Did you take in a newspaper too? I think this is genius, but I also can't help but laugh at the image!


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## Mandy's Dad (May 27, 2008)

Welcome to the GRF from North Carolina!!!


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