I booked an appointment with a Behavior Specialist at my Veterinarian’s office to learn a few tricks for training Huck. Believe me, this felt like I was calling up a dog whisperer. But I am in a place where I’d rather try the new wave method than yell at or beat my dog because I don’t know any better.
She asked me to describe our routine and what was going on at home. I am pretty good at schedules and consistency, so I didn’t need a lot of coaching there. I described how Charming Baby was afraid of the dog. Bless Sam’s heart, he thought the dog was trying to “hug” him every time Huck jumped up on him and asserted his dominance. I knew better than to think I had a cross-species rapist on my hands, but I didn’t know how to empower my son or get the dog to stop “hugging.”
It was a simple fix. Dogs are pack animals and they need to know their place. Instincts will drive them to vie for the alpha position. After I explained what was going on, the Vet said, “Right now your dog thinks he’s above your children.”
“Really?” Little fucker.
“A dog’s place is determined by how and when he gets his food. You need to have Sam feed him. That will tell him he is below Sam in the pack.”
Sure enough, as directed, Sam started putting the bowl down, then, when Huck goes for it, he picks it up and commands, “Wait.” When Sam is good and ready, he puts the bowl of food down and says, "Okay." Then the dog gets to eat.
Huck doesn’t whine or whimper, he sits there patiently watching Sam and then happily eats when we let him.
The Vet assured me it is not cruel to play this on a dog. A dog just wants to know where he stands and once he's figured that out, he is happy.
I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand…
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