[nagdu] How to encourage dog initiative

Ioana Gandrabur igandrabur at gmx.de
Tue Feb 16 17:54:21 UTC 2010


Hi all,

I find this topic fascinating. When reading about great initiative of dogs I
think that Adrian was not really doing this too much and I wonder if I
somehow discouraged it.

He did great to guide around people and obstacles that people would tell me
about and I had not even known were there. He was very safe and good about
finding his way in crowds etc.
However I found that when I was not sure exactly where I was going he would
not be too reliable especially when we were outside.
I would ask him for example  to find a land mark that he knew from before
but  we were not facing the right direction he would either stop or walk but
just sniffing around often disorienting me further. I admit I was then a bit
frustrated. It kind of felt like he thought "ok I'll mess around until she
figures out where she wants me to guide her" but this might be the
projection of my frustration.
then naturally I would tell him to stop that so he would then again just
wait for instructions. I would always make a big party and give treats when
we finally found it but I'm not sure what else I could have done.
Any ideas how I can as you put it encourage constructive initiative?

Ioana





More information about the NAGDU mailing list