What should I name my azteca gelding?

MotherofOrpies said:

I sometimes wonder if dogs train us, he does something, gets a treat, so he does it again…for example, whenever my dog goes away too far, I call her, she comes and gets her treat, I now think she intentionally goes away far so I call her and she gets a treat , also, she doesn’t like coming inside, she is a guard dog and loves sitting at the fence, watching the going ons and barking whenever something comes by, my neighbors get peeved if my dog barks all the time so I give her a treat whenever she comes inside, I sometimes feel she intentionally slips outside, just to get called in to get a treat so, who is training who

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BigBlueHen53 said:

That's a very good point! And so true.
My Sheltie runs straight in his crate at night when DH and I come to bed, he knows he will get a little treat when he does this. And every day he gets fed his second meal at noon, and about 20 till he will sit in front of me and stare at me! It is so disconcerting! I hold my phone in front of my face so he can't see my eyes and after a bit he will go away but then he comes back, lol. He knows if he stares long enough I will give in and feed him early. Definitely a case of the dog training the owner!

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A_Sparrows_Song said:

ours does the same thing! begs until you give her something!

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BigBlueHen53 said:

Little dogs run to the door barking and what happens? Someone picks them up and cradles them in their arms, stroking them while the dog growls and cusses at the visitor and before you know it you have a vicious little dog that runs to the door ready to bite someone's leg off. Now who taught it that?

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BigBlueHen53 said:

This is a terrible habit! I try to ignore him until he goes and lies down, THEN I get up and give him his lunch!

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A_Sparrows_Song said:

Yeah we have done better in ignoring her. Since we have learned that it's a bad thing, thankfully she doesn't do it nearly as much as before

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BigBlueHen53 said:

When extinguishing a habit it helps to remember that it will first get worse before it gets better. It's the vending machine syndrome. If you put money in a Coke machine and push the button but nothing happens, what's the first thing you do? ... NO, you don't kick the machine, why are people so violent? The FIRST thing you do is push the button again. And again and againandagainandagain .... THEN you kick the machine, lol! So the dog will "push the button" because it worked before. He'll try harder. But eventually he'll give up. You just have to resist during that "try harder" phase.

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