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View Full Version : Those of you who get the "Calm Assertiveness" thing...



oceangirls
08-11-2006, 05:45 PM
Okay, trying to do some Dog Whispering here.

I've read the book. I've watched the show. I've notified the DH (who also watched the show) that he needs to try to cooperate. I can't say I agree with all of the methods (I'd rather die than walk for three hours a day - sorry Cesar! - and I know training is not "what he does" but IMO it goes hand in hand with the "psychology" so I would like to know how he does it!),

BUT I am totally convinced by the Calm Assertive Pack Leader approach. I can already see that it works :). Here are my questions. My first issue I am working on is that when I get home from work, the dogs are totally hyper, barking and whining, leaping on and off furniture, jumping on me, etc. They want my attention and they want to be fed. So I ignore them until the point where they finally calm down and lie down quietly on their beds for a while. Then I feed them. But I need to know what the good Pack Leader does when the subordinates are jumping on her, chewing on her toes (that is Cassie), poking her in the rear end (that is also Cassie) or trying to climb on her lap while she is trying to ignore them. Do I physically move them away, or do I just pretend I don't notice them? I am also trying not to make eye contact during this period - is that right?

Issue #2 is that I am trying to never repeat a command more than once (like "down" if one of them is jumping up to look on the table, or "hush" if they are barking at something). Can I make eye contact with the dog while I calmly give the command? And then if I don't get my desired result, what do I do? Do I physically move the dog if possible? Do I go in the other room to show my displeasure with the pack? Do I scream like a banshee? (kidding!... I know I don't do that) Do I say "SHHHHHT!" ? I don't think I can say "SHHHHHT!" with a straight face :ignore:

:thankyou: for any assistance you can give

P.S. I totally challenge Cesar to ignore a 9lb dachshund poking him in the sensitive part of his rear end!!!!!

jenfer
08-11-2006, 07:37 PM
I haven't been ignoring Gigi when I get home... because apparently I am more excited that she is. :rolleyes: Anyway, I'd love to hear some answer to Kim's questions too.

Mama S.
08-11-2006, 08:04 PM
I'm sending Casear an invite to come to sunny Columbus and show me how to calm the pack down when I walk in the door!! Try ignoring 9 lil screamers FEED ME, LOVE ME, SHADOW WON'T SHARE, HI MOM - YOU'VE BEEN GONE FOOORRREVVVVEERRR (ok you tok the trash out but still) I've done the same things you talked about with not much luck! Will love to see the answers!!
Mama

Jen
08-11-2006, 08:55 PM
We ignore Tasha for the SA and it does work. She calms down. Hard to take off your lace up shoes with a dog trying to lick your hands though.

As for the commands, I find she does even better with hand signals. I've starteed using just hand signals sometimes and she usually gets it the first time I give them.

lotsadox
08-11-2006, 09:17 PM
When I come home I totally ignore mine. When I first started if they wanted to jump on me, I'd just keep walking and not even look at them. If they were too persistent, I'd just push them gently away and move off. Eventually, they got the idea and now they when I come home and let them out, they run past me and out the doggie door.

When I took mine to obedience school, they told us to say their name and give the command ONCE. You could say their name again to get their attention, but that's all. If mine don't obey the command when I give it, I stare them down. If that doesn't work, I walk away (spend a lot of time walking away) and ignore them.

I don't know if that's Cesar's Way, but it works with mine. :banana: :hearts: :banana:

JanUet
08-11-2006, 09:30 PM
First let me get this out of my system :rotfl: :lol: :lol6: :rofl:

Okay! #1

When I come home, Iopen the door and I see Sophie in her bed down the hall and Casey is right besdie me jumping and whining and such.
I ignore Casey, cuz If i don't...he will PEE on me.

I don't untie my shoes, I just lick them off ( yes, I'm lazy!) I go about my business and ignore Casey and gently push himout of my way while he jumps on me.
I sit down about 5 -7 minutes later and Welcome them with open arms.

#2

I look at Casey or Sophie when I give a command --while pointing. If they don't "down" or "off" I give them the ice cold stare! (works fer me) I do not walk away! I then praise them.

When I need them to be quiet...I use the SHHHT! or clap my hands loudly!

Mission complete! :rotfl:

oceangirls
08-11-2006, 09:31 PM
When I took mine to obedience school, they told us to say their name and give the command ONCE. You could say their name again to get their attention, but that's all. If mine don't obey the command when I give it, I stare them down. If that doesn't work, I walk away (spend a lot of time walking away) and ignore them.



yeah! I have noticed if they don't obey and I give them a L@@K, that often seems to work :pinknana:

Patt
08-11-2006, 10:03 PM
As with all laws, every method of training is open to interpretation. Like most of you, we have watched Cesar and whenever possible have attempted to use our understanding of his ideas. Obviously our task was made much easier by the fact we only have one dog to deal with. The system works with more than one dog though. That said, here is how we have addressed these problems with Trixie.

Our first hurdle was placing ourselves in the mind of a pack leading dog. Initially that was extremely difficult, because “Trix” is our baby. However, acting upon our understanding of Cesar, we began trying to think and act like pack leaders and not simply loving Hooparents.

At first, Trixie did everything you describe when we came home. Excitement and joy is one thing, however bad behavior is unacceptable. “Top dog” returning from a hunt would never tolerate subordinate members of his pack jumping all over him or nipping [DH’s observations]. Verbal or Shhhhht sound corrections coupled with hand signals should be made right away. In Trixie’s case. Early on it was necessary for DH to copy Cesar and use his hand as a mouth, which resulted in her immediate submission. Then we ignored her for a time before going on with feeding etc. Since we started this “rehabilitation,” Trixie has, for the most part, gotten the picture and stopped all of her unwanted behavior.

You asked about the advisability of physically moving the dogs in order to prevent chewing and poking. Certainly that too can be handled as above, starting with sound and hand commands. If that fails, physically moving them is appropriate. Also, we find eye contact during correction to be very beneficial. As you pointed out though, calm assertive leadership is what works.

Tex
08-11-2006, 10:08 PM
Ok, I'm a big Cesar fan.....and I want to give answers here, but I'm not sure how "right" they are....but this is what I do:

We keep Julie and Jax confined to the bedroom when we're not home (brand new living room furniture!). Jax stays in his crate due to his "marking issues" (need a whole other thread for that one). Julie has run of the bed room. I usually wait a minute or two before I open the bedroom door. I'll come in, use the bathroom, whatever......by then they've heard me, but I haven't let them out yet.
When I open the door, Julie is always excited and I have to ignore her (thankfully no peeing issues here). I open Jax's crate door, but he has to wait until I "invite" him to come out (directly from Cesar!).
It took a little while for Ms. "I'm the important one" to get the idea that she gets affection after excercise and discipline, but we're doing pretty good now. The first think I do (after ignoring them for 3-5 min.) is take them out for 15-30 min. walk (also used for potty bc we live in an apartment. Then when we get back, dinner time!!!! (In the morning, the first thing we do is the walk, then breakfast). Always making sure that I'm the first one out the door-per Cesar.
I don't know about the repeating command thing. I've repeated commands, usually bc I don't think I said it while portraying the right "calm assertive energy" the first time. I definitly do the stare down thing though. Seems to help.
As far as Cesar's "shhhhht!", we do better with "heent" (it's a Texas thing)......sometimes I snap my fingers and that works well too. I think the point behind the "shhhhht" is to just have a sound that portrays your power as the pack leader....it can be anything you want it to be.
Sorry this is long....let me know how it goes.......

oceangirls
08-11-2006, 10:37 PM
This is great advice - thanks! It is very helpful to see how people put his ideas into use with dachshunds who don't have major issues - the show of course usually focuses on the more dangerous problems that dogs have (biting or aggression)... rather than things like jumping or being demanding.

I tend to snap my fingers to get their attention too... will have to be careful though because sometimes I think I just snap them when I get bored & I don't want to confuse anyone :D

Tanya
08-11-2006, 10:47 PM
I snap my fingers too! Snap and point where I want them. That actually is one of the most effective "weapons" I have! :) I aslo think eye contact when giving a command is very important. When they jump on me and I don't invite it, I simply remove them and block them from doing it again.

I am terrible about ignoring them when I get home. When I walk in the door, I walk right by them and don't look at them. Then they circle around me and go sit on their cot and watch me. I can't take the cuteness...so I'm like "HI WIENERS!" and they come flying over to see me. I am usually so stressed by the time I get home that I tend to let this one slip since it brightens my day so much! :hearts: SHHHHT...please don't tell Cesar! :D

badgerdogbren
08-13-2006, 12:55 PM
I also watch Cesar and have used his methods even before I knew about him. Pack leadership is sooooooo important and vital when you have multiples. I have a pack of 11 and have no behavior problems. If even a small problem arises I know it's me doing something wrong or I have been inconsistant. Our Doxies have a way of wearing us down to get "their way" and I think we all have days we are too tired to over power them.. LOL but we have to do our best as often as possible. I would still challenge Cesar to come into a doxie household with 8 or more rowdy Doxies and deal with that! LOL Think he is up to the challenge? :scratch: