After Hershey chewed up the magical “must-behave” harness, (I guess she really didn’t like it so much, after all) I figured we needed another visit from fairy dog mother. Hershey still isn’t giving up her dominance and is barking at strangers like crazy when we’re outside.
FDM (fairy dog mother) agreed that we had to escalate our training to show Hershey who’s boss. “We’re going to have to pin her down,” she told me.
“Pin her down?” I gulped.
“She needs to know you’re in charge.”
FDM tried it first. We took Hershey outside and sure enough, she pulled on the new harness as FDM took her for a walk. So, FDM gently pushed her down to the ground on her side and held her there. Hershey struggled to get up. Then she tried to pretend she was having fun, by chewing on the grass and ignoring FDM. But eventually, she relaxed under FDM’s hands and behaved a bit better on the leash when they both got up off the ground.
Then the mailman started walking up the street. Hershey went nuts, barking and leaping. FDM kept her on a short leash and tried to block Hershey’s view of the man, who hesitantly walked up our sidewalk.
“Don’t worry, she’s in the hands of a dog expert as we speak,” I tried to reassure him.
“When she’s barking at someone, try to distract her or block her view,” FDM told me, and handed me the leash.
Apparently being pinned down by one person doesn’t mean you’ll give up your dominance to another. Hershey still tried to pull me, and wouldn’t let me be the lead dog.
“Pin her,” FDM said.
I swallowed hard and pushed her on her side. Hershey was not happy. She tried nipping at me and struggled even harder than she had with FDM. Then she started eating the grass again, then she’d struggle again, and when she finally seemed as if she was relaxing a bit, FDM told me to try walking her.
Hershey kept to my side for a bit. Then FDM lined up down the sidewalk, and I was supposed to keep Hershey at my side. But Hershey wanted to rush right over and tried pulling me along.
“Pin her again,” she told me.
I hesitated; I felt kind of bad doing this.
“Don’t feel bad, this is what happens in litters of puppies. You’ve got to show her who’s in charge, and right now that’s not you.”
So I pinned her on her side again, and she didn’t struggle as much this time.
“You’re going to have to keep doing this, you know. She’ll get the idea soon enough.”
Once she gives up the power to me, my husband and kids might have to take a turn doing the same thing. But if it means a well-behaved dog that doesn’t drag us around the neighborhood and bark at everyone in a half-mile radius, I’ll pin the dog no matter how lousy I feel about it.
I guess it bothers me more than it bothers Hershey; she still laps my hand and sits at my feet as usual. I just hope I don’t have to do this too many more times. It may not be mean, but it feels mean.
—————–
Have you missed any of the articles in this series?
If so, you can find them at:
The Bringing Up Puppy Series page.
Related posts:
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – The Fairy Dog Mother
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Not Such a Notable Nose
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Who is the Boss?
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – The Worst Lab
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – So Big
