Today is 11/30/2010, last post of this month, sorry for the non-dog-lover, it is all about Samson again. Well, I have been busy in taking care of him while Victor is feeling better.
Samson is now officially adopted by me and Victor, I am happy that we have found him and he happens to like our household. Even there was some dangerous moments (biting Victor), Victor realized it was probably his fault to force himself onto Samson while he was still new to all these actions / environments. Now they are all cool, Samson would follow Victor while he is munching something, hope there was a crumb here and there which Samson could lick on.
I digested 7 books in 10 days about dog's behavior and training, one book about grooming technique, the rest are all technical handling. I actually read all of them in great details except one book I found it was cruel to train the dog the way the author suggested, which was the Kolher Method I believe, encourage to hold the food for a few hours late or crate the dog for a long time before starting certain training section, I personally found it was very disturbing and un-humane, I did not finish reading that book.
In order to achieve true harmony inside the house, a packing order and certain rules must be enforced. Samson knows very well that he was not allow on bed sleeping with us, his own dog bed is along the side of my night table. At the first few nights, he whined and hope he could get on bed with us, Victor was soften because we allowed our dear friend's dog (the other good-looking cockapoo) on our bed, now we do not allow our own dog to go on our bed?!
The reason here is packing order related, I need Samson to know Victor is the man of the household, he deserves his spot next to me and no one can take away that spot, even my favourite dog, in relation to Victor's important role in the household, no one should challenge that position. You'd be surprise how many dogs growl at the husband and loving to the wife, it becomes a challenging situation if the dog thinks it can get ahead.
Samson now response to another command --- come when call. I would let him out at the yard, call him from a distance and he would come back to me then I would give him a treat. This command is very useful if the dog may gets in a dangerous situation, you would have to call out loud then expect the dog come running back to you. But you would have to bond with the dog first, it does not work if the dog has not put his trust on you yet.
Some people might think all these trainings are too harsh for the dog, just let the dog enjoy itself and have some love and attention from me, that is so not true. In order for the dog to gain the maximum amount of joy, freedom and happiness in a household, proper training is essential. For example, after Samson response to "Come when Call" consistently, he gained the freedom to run unleash on a 80 yard wide par 5
fairway while Victor and I are walking. Because I know whenever I call him, he would run right back to my feet, which he did, and every time he did what I expected I make sure Samson gets lot of praise and a dog treat as encouragement.
In fact I saw a lot of joy in his eyes while I let him run without a leash, his tongue was just hanging out on the side of his mouth and ran like a greyhound, it was quite a scene. Somehow when you get a dog out from the shelter, the dog was either being abused before, or someone just dumped it there for whatever reason, the dog feels very insecure. And that is what I see in Samson's eye even in the most comfortable moment inside the house, he couldn't help himself but think: Yeah I feel warm and fuzzy now but later Joey might just dump me like my last master did!
It will take time and patience to melt this insecurity away, but I am confident that Samson can do it!
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