Our dog is a brat. He's an elitist. He's a loner. He's also adorably neurotic, paranoid, and…read moreskittish. Though his name is Watson, he's a lot more like Sherlock. Naturally, my husband and I are to blame for his behavioral indiscretions, and coke habit.
It all started when we let him sit at the dining table with us--for the record, he's always eaten from his dog bowl on the floor, and we never shared our food with him. It's really not that ridiculous; it's not like we let him sleep in our bed. At any rate, a post-breakfast sobre-mesa was immortalized in my yelp photo.
But when he snapped at his best dog friend, we realized that maybe his haughtiness was getting out of hand. It seemed that other dogs were a painful reminder that he too did not have opposable thumbs. You hate those who are most similar to you.
A couple years earlier we had taken a group obedience class with Sharon at K9s Only. She was great with Watson and all the other dogs. She understands the psychology of dogs and humans, and yeah, we're basically the same. Not to mention she runs a rescue/adoption and therapy dog program, so she's an all-around good person. When I saw she had her own business I was excited to enlist her help for dear Watson.
Her free consultation was an eye-opening lesson in itself. She acknowledged that Watson had down the basic obedience, but that our boundaries were a little murky. I was comfortable moving forward with the four private lessons she suggested.
After the consultation, she emailed me a detailed synopsis of our meeting, our concerns, and what we need to do to ensure that Watson is happy and comfortable when face to face with other dogs. She gave us several exercises to practice (after every lesson she'd do this so you don't have to worry about taking notes during the session). Probably the most essential thing we learned was that he should work for our affection. It's all about making sure he knows we're in charge and that he actually listens to us because when he does good things happen. That will also make him feel safe and protected, not like he has to protect us.
One suggestion that helped immensely was telling him to go to his bed. Whenever we cooked, Watson would stand beside us waiting for that bruised piece of bell pepper, carrot or apple, sometimes a nice piece of gouda or goat cheese, a crumble of tuna. He always sat and waited for it, so we thought he was minding his manners, and deserved the treat. But now, whenever he's in the kitchen or any time he's a little too close for comfort (licking my legs), we tell him, "go to your bed." These four words have become our "Nam myoho renge kyo."
Watson will now chill out and wait for us to give him a snack or love or whatever it is he wants--usually food related. Friends and family have noticed a huge difference in Watson. He's calmer and definitely listens to us more, and when we say leave it, for the most part, he does--dogs included. We have Sharon to thank for that.
Watson is still very Sherlockian, he's just more controlled, and happier as a result.
