[nagdu] Refusing to Work

[Buddy Brannan]

On May 24, 2009, at 6:55 PM, Julie J wrote:

> Yup.  I have.   It's not a sign of good things to come.

I'd agree with Julie on this one. Having said that, the question is  
fairly general. Do you mean that your dog refuses to work (i.e. you  
get the harness, he isn't interested and won't go at all), or he  
refuses to work in specific situations, specific areas, or under  
specific conditions?

It's not a good sign in either case. How can you assure you won't run  
into said specific conditions, for instance? Depending on what those  
conditions are, it might be possible for you to avoid working your dog  
in those situations. But then you had better watch for generalizing of  
the behavior anyway.

My first dog had a bladder infection. After about three weeks of it  
not going away, he started standing across the room from me and not  
coming when I got the harness, very out of character for him at the  
time. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he was  
telling me he was done. Miraculously, right after the retirement, his  
bladder infection went away. One thing about Karl was that he was  
always on, even when he was off. I mean, even out of harness, he was  
still watching and seemed to feel on duty and responsible. Constant  
vigilance like that undoubtedly takes its toll and causes its own  
special brand of stress, and I'm sure that that contributed to his  
somewhat shortened working career; he worked for six and a half years  
and retired roughly six more before his passing. (Chet doesn't suffer  
from hypervigilance; when the harness is off, I could fall down a well  
and, unlike Lassie, he probably wouldn't notice. In harness, however,  
he's super and loves his work.)
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: (814) 746-4127 or 888-75-BUDDY