Is Your Retriever "Green"

written by Butch Goodwin
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Northern Flight Retrievers  

Sometime back, I had a reader inquire by e-mail about “jealousy” and how to deal with a dog that was apparently jealous of the time he spent with his other dog. He described how, particularly when he was training his male, his one-year-old Labrador bitch would yap and defecate in her kennel, smearing it all over and creating a colossal mess. He had gone so far as to put her in a crate in the garage when he took the other dog out so that she couldn’t see or hear what was going on, and she still wreaked havoc and messed in the crate. Apparently neither of these two traits were normal for this dog, as most of the time she was pretty quiet and clean in her kennel.

He went on to describe how, when he had the two dogs out together on a walk or for a run in the field, the young female would stay close to him and constantly jump up to grab his coattail or sleeves then take a few steps in front of him and suddenly stop so that he would almost trip over her, all the time looking up at him as if to say, Pet me, pet me. When he did pet her, she would grab the sleeve of his coat and hold it while he was petting her. When the older male dog would come too close, the female would nip at him and try to chase him off.

On the other hand, when he took the female out by herself to train orfor a walk, she showed none of these traits and would run freely in the field. This behavior apparently only revealed itself when he had both dogs out together or when he was spending time with the male and paying little or no attention to her.

The writer said he had ignored the problem when the bitch nipped at the male, but the grabbing at his shirt-sleeves (even though it wasn’t malicious) and stopping in front to force his attention was beginning to aggravate him, and he thought it was time to reverse this behavior.

After further correspondence, he told me that she had shown similar tendencies when he and a friend took their dogs to a local pheasant club to shoot released birds. She wouldn’t leave his side, and when his hunting partner’s female dog got too close, she tried to run her off — which, this time, resulted in a major fight. When he had taken her waterfowl hunting, she had become very possessive of the birds in the blind and wouldn’t let his friend or his friend’s dog anywhere near them. Yet, if he took her hunting alone, she paid little attention to the dead birds in the blind and handled very well.

In an attempt to fix the problem, he put a bark collar on her when he was working with his male; it quieted her down, but she still continued to make a mess. He tried nicking her with an e-collar when she tried to run his friend’s dog off, but that just precipitated the resulting fight.

Trying to map out a course of action to correct the problems he described, I asked the usual questions to find out as much as possible about the dog and the training he had done. I found that her on-lead and off-lead obedience was acceptable but could use more work. She was steady in a blind but would break when another dog was around. She would regularly ignore his command to come if something more interesting demanded her attention. Also, she had not yet been through a force-fetch program — and, since she would “fetch, “hold,” and carry both bumpers and birds naturally, he was considering that force-fetch might not even be necessary.

Throughout our discussions, it became apparent that this young dog had some gaping holes in her training that needed correcting. And, in all likelihood, when some of these seemingly unrelated problems were addressed, many of what he perceived as “jealousy” issues would probably also be resolved.

Don’t get me wrong — dogs have emotions and feelings, somewhat more basic perhaps, but similar to humans — and dogs certainly can become jealous. My old female Chesapeake displays her jealousy and disgust with me for bringing another dog into “her house” by giving me looks out of the corners of her eyes and totally ignoring me. Sure, it’s gratifying to us when our dogs want our attention and to interact with us, but you must be careful not to let a dog think he can control your actions and get your attention anytime he chooses. They should never be allowed to force you into giving them attention whenever they want it — it’s a sly way of challenging the owner’s dominance, and was exactly what this young female Labrador was doing.

To begin, I suggested that he back up all the way to reviewing her on-lead obedience lessons. On the surface, this might seem like a rather simple strategy; but reinforcing her obedience would be the first step in regaining control, not only of her actions, but of her mind as well. This young female needed to realize that her owner was the dominant member of the pecking order and that she was a subordinate.

Her nipping — regardless of whether it was malicious or not — suggested that she was challenging her owner’s position of dominance and needed to be firmly corrected. Smacking her across the nose when she nipped would have likely just heightened the problem because it gave her the “negative” attention she was demanding; by nipping or by acting up in her kennel, she was forcing him to stop what he was doing and come to her, even though it was to provide discipline. And, even though it was negative attention, she was trying to force any kind of a reaction from him. So, I suggested that he begin by reasserting his leadership, being authoritative, and reviewing her obedience. Once he was satisfied that he had her obedience unquestionably under control, he was to continue the obedience drills for a minimum of an additional two weeks without fail.

To further reinforce the chain of command, we decided that after her obedience was solid, he would move ahead by taking her through the entire force-fetch process — whether she seemed to need it or not. I reminded him to begin and end every force-fetch session by reviewing her obedience drills — that would further serve not only to sharpen his control but also to add structure, focus, and effectiveness to the force-fetch program.

If she did nip or stop in front of him, he was to completely ignore her and walk right over her if necessary. By doing this, he would make the point - very clear that she couldn’t force him into giving her attention or control him by invading his space.

He would give her attention only when and how he chose and not when she was seeking it. And I suggested that the attention that he gave, rather than petting, should be to grab her around the nose and give it a firm but playful shake, which the dog would interpret as a strong form of domination.

After about two months of reviewing and reinforcing her basic training and force-fetch, the annoying behavior ceased. It has now been a little over six months, and the nipping, possessiveness, and stopping in front all seem to have totally disappeared.

Dogs have a strong need to be either the leader of the pack or to recognize a well-defined leader. If a dog isn’t aware of the pack hierarchy and its place in it, there is a good chance of it revealing itself in a variety of neurotic responses — like this young female was showing and which her owner perceived to be “jealousy.”