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Old 13-02-2013, 10:16   #10
saschia
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This kind of showing the dominance might be fine in the situation when YOU are the owner = alpha and DOG is showing tendency to dominate you, or tells you to F off... or if the dog is aggressive towards you.

The thing is, this is a very strong show of dominance. You can do it safely with pup, during fighting game, that you playfully show that you are the boss. With grown-up - well I wouldn't do it with somebody else's dog unless circumstances really required it. I mean if you do it in a wrong context the dog does not understand and can get frightened.

The following is my opinion on solving the situation, based on my experience, while not being qualified dog-trainer...

What you can try first is do the training with the dog. I mean teach / train with him basic obedience commands, and insist on doing them at least at the same level of quality as he does with his owner. Show him by your presence that YOU are the one who says we are going to to this now and DOG just has to follow. Give most of praise with words/tone and/or touching mostly, give some with food too. Don't keep it too long, just make sure he understands that you are deciding in this relationship.

If the dog obeys but slowly or does not do the command properly, give just verbal correction (or physical in form of correcting the position). Make sure you show by your voice you are annoyed. If the dog shows aggression, you can use physical punishment (clapping over muzzle, holding the muzzle, if he persist, than you can submit him).

It is very hard to explain in text what I mean, so I hope I was clear enough. If you have experience with dogs, you should be able to ascertain your position with body-language. With wolfdogs it is extremely important that you are communicating your real emotions. If you don't care, the dog knows. They can read us like comic books. That's also why you don't have to communicate your dominance over-aggressively, unless it is really necessary.
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