@Lacey1 wrote:
@JeanLouiseFinch wrote:
@Lacey1 wrote:
I've owned dogs all of my life and consider myself a pretty good dog person. I would NEVER let a dog lick my face. Not only is it pretty unhygenic-it's a dominance thing. If you let a dog lick your face, paw you, nudge you with a toy, or make you do something-he/she is exerting dominance. You need to be the pack leader.
This can manifest itself in lots of undeirable behaviors, including separation anxiety. If the dog feels that he/she is the pack leader-and a subordinate member of the pack leaves without their permission, (you going to work, for instance)-they don't understand.
Read up on dog behavior. Especially if this dog has come from a bad home situation. Good luck!
@Lacey1 I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, but how do you differenciate between exhibiting dominance and the dog communicating with the master? My dog exihibits some of the behaviors you deem "undesireable" as his way of communicating (needing attention, wanting to play, showing love, etc.), yet when I command him to do something else, he knows who is boss. He's three and we still crate him every night. He knows that's his place and we say, "go to bed" and he goes whether it's night time or we're puting him in thre while we're going to be away running errands. He even knows to go in there all on his own if we happen to take a plate of lunch or dinner downstairs and eat while watching a tv program.
Not picking a fight either. When a dog comes and stares at you because he needs to go out-he's communicating with you. When a dog is laying on the bed and growls at you when you tell him to move-he's dominating the situation. Any time the dog dictates your actions, you have to decide who's in charge. Seeing eye dogs are taught to ignore their owner's commands if there is unseen danger-but that is a learned, accepted behavior. Don't confuse repeated licking as 'kissing'. Would you like it if your boyfriend/husband licked your face repeatedly? Or, would you find it annoying?
Thanks for responding. You may have had a longer experience owning dogs than me, but I strongly disagree with your point of view and several aspects of your argument. Dogs have wills and needs beyond just needing to relieve themselves. They crave interaction, affection, feeling part of the pack so to speak, learning their place in the pack, etc. but they also want to show attention and affection to their family (pack). The ways they communicate are limited to bodily actions (pawing, leaning, nudging, getting close, licking) because that's how they were created to communicate. They can't use words like we do so your point about a boyfriend or husband licking isn't a good comparison, IMO. It's the way a master learns their pet and understands them that enables an avenue of communication. This is not to say that the dog controls the household, but the family makes a place for them and the dog learns his place through obedience training, proper correction and positive reinforcment when appropriate. Maybe it's true that a seeing eye dog is trained as you say, but that's a specialized training and not how a normal family pet is trained. JMHO We'll just have to agree to disagree.
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