Mastiff Obediance
Problems
How Can Mastiff Disobedience Be
Treated?
There’s a difference between disobedience
and incomprehension. If your mastiff isn’t obeying a command
because he doesn’t understand what it is you want him to do,
that’s not a behavioral problem at all; it
simply means that you need to spend some more time together in
training.
True disobedience occurs when your dog
deliberately does not obey a request or command, although he
has full knowledge of what it is that you’re asking him to do
(and you know this because he’s performed it reliably on
several occasions beforehand).
Although this may seem like a relatively
minor inconvenience, it’s actually a pretty serious thing – not
only can it be dangerous for your dog (for example, if he’s
heading towards a busy road and ignores your ‘come’ command),
but it’s also detrimental to your relationship with your
dog.
Disobedience is rooted in disrespect. When
your masstiff deliberately does not obey you, he’s saying,
“I don’t respect your authority enough to do what you want me
to do”.
If you allow him to get away with this, you
are allowing him to form the habit of passive-aggression. This
is not something that can just be left to “fix itself” – the
problem will worsen, not get better, if you leave it.
It’s very important that your mastiff
recognizes that you outrank him in the social hierarchy of the
household. The concept of alpha status is one that you need to
be familiar with in order to maintain a healthy, functional
relationship with your dog.
It may sound cruel from a human perspective,
but your mastiff is happier when he knows that someone else is
in charge of making all the decisions – including his
day-to-day behavior and obedience levels.
It is not possible to have a good owner/dog
relationship if he does not understand that you are the
clear-cut authority figure: he must know that he’s beneath you
in the chain of command.
Your first step in dealing with generalized
disobedience is to reestablish your dominance. Here are some
tips on doing so: - When leaving the house and the car, you
must always leave before your dog. This is unmistakable alpha
behavior: to a dog, only the alpha leaves first. If you allow
him to exit the house or the car ahead of you, you are saying
to him, “You’re stronger than me; you should go first because
you’re the decision-maker”. Inside doors aren’t so important,
but every time you leave the house or the car to go outside,
you must make him wait for you to go first, until you release
him from the ‘wait’ with a release-word.
- Make him wait for his food. Your family and you must always
eat before him – if it means he has to wait an extra half hour
or so for his meal, it won’t hurt him any. When you put his
food down for him, make him sit and wait until you release him
to eat. Keep his feeding schedule varied, so he’s always aware
that you’re in charge of his food – don’t allow him to form
expectations of when he should be fed.
- Don’t allow him free, uninhibited access to the whole house.
The house is your den: you’re allowing him to be inside. Remind
him that you’re allowing him into your den – it’s a privilege
for him to be there, not a right - by sometimes allowing him
inside, and sometimes sending him outside for half an hour or
so. Keep certain areas of the house strictly for your own, as
well (such as your bed, certain pieces of furniture, or some
rooms).
- Never allow your dog to initiate play. If he’s nudging you
for attention or to start a game, you may think that it’s cute
and affectionate; but what he’s really saying is, “I’m the boss
and I’m telling you to play with me right now.” If he starts
bothering you for attention, ignore him for a few moments: get
up and do something else. Wait until he’s given up before
initiating the play yourself. Playtime is a fantastic way to
bond with your dog, but it should be done on your terms, not
his.
- When you arrive home, don’t rush straight over to him and
shower him in affection. That is not alpha behavior at all – an
alpha dog, upon arriving home, doesn’t go over to the other
dogs and throw himself at them, saying, “Here I am! I missed
you guys! Let’s have a cuddle!” – he ignores everyone else,
relaxes for a short while, maybe has something to eat, and only
interacts with them when he’s good and ready. Even though
you’re probably good and ready to interact with your dog as
soon as you get home, it will make more sense to him – and
underscore your authority – if you ignore him for just three to
five minutes upon arriving home.
Another fantastic way of counteracting
disobedience is to start – and maintain – a basic obedience
training plan. You don’t have to do anything fancy or
super-demanding; just ten minutes a day of learning and
enforcing commands. This can drop to five minutes a day once
your dog is completely reliable with the commands.
Here are some tips for a good training
program:
- Never give a command that you cannot reinforce immediately if
he chooses to disobey you. Every time your dog takes the
opportunity to ignore your command, he’s learning that it’s
both easier and a lot more fun to ignore you. For example, if
you call across the park for him to ‘come’ as he’s playing with
some other dogs, the choices are clear-cut to him: he could cut
his play-time short and come to you, or he could ignore you –
which is easy, since you’re so far away – and continue to have
fun. Until your dog is completely reliable with commands, he
should be on a long line or retractable lead so that you can
enforce them if necessary.
- Remember to use your voice to the best effect. Praise should
be in a light, cheery, happy tone of voice; if possible, smile
at the same time. It makes a difference to your tone of voice,
and most dogs will study your face to make sense of your
expressions, too. Corrections should be uttered in a stern,
brook-no-nonsense tone: you don’t need to shout, but your voice
should be low and authoritative.
- When you’re verbally interrupting your dog, it’s more
effective to shout, “OI!” or “Ah-ah-ah!” rather than saying,
“No”. The sounds are more clear-cut, and you’ll get a better
response.
- Do not repeat a command. Remember, you should be training on
a leash or a long line: if he ignores you, he gets a short,
sharp tug (some call it a ‘flick’) on the lead to remind him
that you’re present, and you’re in charge. Repeating yourself
teaches him to wait for the command to be repeated at least
once before he obeys you.
- Five to fifteen minutes per day is an adequate amount of time
for training. Any more than this in one sitting, and your dog’s
concentration will likely lapse: fifteen minutes of intense
training, where your dog is concentrating hard on what you
want, is enough to send even the most energetic dogs to their
beds for a snooze afterwards.
- You can move on to more advanced training and ‘tricks’ if you
feel like it, once your dog’s got the basics completely sussed;
but it’s not something that you should feel like you have to
do.
- Another great option is formal obedience training classes.
They’re a great way of socializing your dog (he gets to
interact with other dogs, and those dogs’ owners), and also
teaches him to concentrate on what you want despite the
manifold distractions taking place around him. It’s also very
helpful to have face-to-face contact with a trained
professional: they can pick up on any mistakes you might be
making, and give you advice for tightening up your training
techniques.
For more information
For further information on typical doggie behavior, including a
fantastic resource for training how-to's and loads of detailed
information on preventing and dealing with problem behaviors,
check out SitStayFetch. It is my personal
recommendation for any type of behaviorral issues with your
masstiff.
Written by a professional dog-trainer, it's an absorbing guide
that deals with all the subjects a responsible dog-owner could
ever want to know about - well worth a look.
To visit the SitStayFetch website, just
click on the link below:
www.kingdomofpets.com/mastiffbehavior
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