Love the idea, not sure if it is right for me

[Paradoxgirl]

Hi all,

A little introduction: I'm Ally and I adopted a 4.5 yr old female Mastiff in Jan. She really is very well behaved already. I went to a Dog Whisperer inspired training class last month and completed the class, but I am definitely not all about the methods they teach. My dog is VERY laid back and pretty submissive, but I went because the rescue group recommended training to help us bond. The only real issue I am trying to change is her reaction to other dogs when on a leash. She sometimes barks/snaps at other dogs, but when properly introduced (walking in same direction, pee sniffing) she is find with other dogs.

So I am not sure if NDT is the thing for us. I have read over the site for the past few days. My dog isn't very food driven and she is definitely not high energy/excitable. I can get her excited, but she doesn't jump or anything. Her tail just wags a little faster. She isn't mouthy either. I can't get her to play with any toys. I know she plays with some when I'm gone due to slight teeth marks, but mainly she just likes to rip paper up. How would I go about with pushing when she never seems to really want anything other than to be with me?

Alison

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Hi, Paradox Girl,

The fact that your dog isn't food driven, or highly excitable doesn't matter. All dogs learn the same way: through the reduction of internal tension or stress.

From what I can tell, your dog's stress shows up most clearly in her behavior toward other dogs on the leash. There may be a number of other indicators that I'm not aware of (though "submissiveness" is actually an indicator of anxiety). And by the way, tension and stress are part of daily life, so don't think that NDT is only for animals who are clearly stressed or bouncing off the walls.

The Pushing Exercise will help a lot of areas with your dog, things you might not have even considered much of a problem will start to melt away.

So my recommendation would be to read through Neil's blog articles, read some of mine, go to Kevin's website, which has a huge, and still-growing database of NDT concepts and techniques, and in the meantime, start pushing! After all, your dog has to eat!

LCK

[Chris]

Hi and welcome

I'm pretty new to NDT and yes I found it due to one of my dogs having 'issues' but something I have learnt is ALL dogs benefit from NDT.

My older dog Zeke is a gentle giant, nothing seems to worry him, he's just that prefect pet dog but since I took up NDT and pushing with Ty I've also included Zeke with pushing. I really thought I had the best relationship with Zeke but all I can say is it has greatly improved with me pushing with him as well as my change in ideas about how dogs react to different things.

So even the gentlest of giants enjoy NDT not just the excitable ones.

Give pushing a go for a month, I know you'll see an improvement in your relationship with your dog, it's worth it.

[Margot]

One thing that NDT really does is build a strong bond with your dog. I raised Butters the NDT way and he really did not have any issues you would notice except for some leg nipping as a pup.

When you start pushing you will notice that it takes a while to build enough trust to have your dog eating his dinner out of your hand. It was like feeding a wild animal the first time I did this with Butters, its actually quite an intimate thing.

When you can do an off lead walk with your dog without having to say a word or make a sound you have an extraordinary bond with your dog. My dog mostly does what I think rather than what I say anyway.

[Heather]

Pushing/barking/jumping up/tugging has been great for my dog Happy, I think it has built a lot of trust, and it also makes working together/training a lot more fun. I don't think there is any downside to it! With a large dog things can get a bit messier and it may be hard to absorb enough push so the dog's feet actually leave the ground, but what I have done with my extra large dog is to move backward to absorb the push, and we do jumping up as a separate activity.

Maybe Neil or others have some insight into this, but my dog won't eat his meals until we push a little first now. I am sure he would eat eventually, but if I am rushed and just set the bowl down, he leaves it alone. I take this to mean that he really enjoys the time we spend together at mealtime. If nothing else he is not inclined to guard his food!

[Margot]

Butters also dpes not food guard around me, Heather. He even invites me to come chew his bones with him. Only exception is when he runs to his friends house and steals one of her bones. Then the Tasmanian devil comes out. Stolen bones seem to be much more special than own bones.

He does guard my food from the cats though:-) and he did go through a short phase of - no cats in the house are alowed to eat any of the food. I asked him to stop that and he did.

[neilsattin]

Hi Alison,

I was just wondering if you found the comments in this thread to be helpful, and if you did, indeed, give these techniques a try.

Thanks in advance for letting us know!
-Neil