# Help with others commanding your dog



## Rashmi Kumar (Apr 7, 2006)

Guys,

How can I prevent from othes giving command to my dog OR I SHOULD asay from my dog obeying the commands given by strangers. Remember is in 14 months old. 

There are some commands that he knows in German. For these commands, he does not react but for the commands he knows in English, he sometimes obeys others. I would like him not to react when others tell him to sit/ stay and...If he has their attentions, there is a 50-50 chance that he may listen to them. But most of the time, he doesn't care.

Is this possible?

Rashmi


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## Anne Jones (Mar 27, 2006)

Rashmi, I think that one of the ways that this can happen is when a dog lives in an environment where there are multiple people within the dogs life (pack) and giving it commands. The dog kinda gets used to many people telling it what to do. The only way that you can prevent this is to be the only one that the dog has contact with as far as training is concerned & even then some dogs are more biddable to people. The only way to fix this would be to correct the dog when a command is given by someone other than you that the dog listens to. My female will usually only listen to me & to my son, some of the time, (she was raised with him living in the house at that time)& sees him freequently now. As far as anyone else that she knows & has a relationship with (my friends that she sees often)giving her commands...she may occasionally listen if she feels like it or not. I do not praise her or repremand her when she does either. I pretty much ignor it. I don't particularly want her to listen to anyone except me (& my son in my absence) but she also doesn't do it enough at this point to correct her for complying. If she were to listen with some regularity, I might consider correcting her. My male is pretty indifferent & aloof to others. He will very rarely listen to my son that he sees freequently. He is not too interested in bothering with others, especially strangers, let alone listen to them if they give him a command.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

What is the end result you are looking for? Ever plan on going on vacation, or out of town on business trips?? If so, having a dog that ignores others sucks.

If you really want to do this, then tell the dog down, and have someone tell him something else. When he gets up, he gets a correction and is placed forcibly back where he started. Do this for all your commands and do it with lots and lots of different people.

Personally this is always more of an ego thing don't you think??? I have owned dogs that only listened to me, and they were horrible to take care of for my friends if I was out of town. To actually train for it????? WOW.


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

Ok, here's another question; IF you were training your dog not to obey others, what would you do if the other person reprimanded your dog for not listening to them when they gave him a command?

For example, say a relative was visiting, and told the dog to sit, or whatever. The dog does not sit, and the relative tells the dog "NO! Sit" and maybe or maybe not tries to force the dog into a sit? Now of course you're most likely going to yell at the relative, but what do you do with the dog? If you are training the dog not to obey others, he's going to be really confused at this point. :?


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

Ok, here's another question; IF you were training your dog not to obey others, what would you do if the other person reprimanded your dog for not listening to them when they gave him a command?

For example, say a relative was visiting, and told the dog to sit, or whatever. The dog does not sit, and the relative tells the dog "NO! Sit" and maybe or maybe not tries to force the dog into a sit? Now of course you're most likely going to yell at the relative, but what do you do with the dog? If you are training the dog not to obey others, he's going to be really confused at this point. :? 



What about training the dog to obey only certain commands from other people? Like just the basics.


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## Al Curbow (Mar 27, 2006)

Rashmi, maybe it depends on the dog. My oldest male will happily jump in any strangers car and will listen to any command anyone gives, it's just his nature, he figures a ball is gonna pop out sooner or later if he does what people say, his ob is great and he's a fun dog. Be careful what you wish for...., 
AL


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Al Curbow said:


> Rashmi, maybe it depends on the dog. My oldest male will happily jump in any strangers car and will listen to any command anyone gives, it's just his nature, he figures a ball is gonna pop out sooner or later if he does what people say, his ob is great and he's a fun dog. Be careful what you wish for....,
> AL


I love that -- "He figures a ball is gonna pop out sooner or later if he does what people say." 

I have one of those, but he figures a treat will pop out. He will even go through a routine WITHOUT commands, of sitting very straight and very much in the line of vision, because he has learned to do a calm sit while their food is being prepared. 

But I have a question. Total strangers are giving commands to your dog? 
(Rashmi did not mention family members; she said "strangers.")

P.S. My experience, which is NOT implying that this is Rashmi's experience: When my dogs came to me, untrained, and jumped up on people in greeting, lots of strangers commanded.  Once that was stopped and they were trained, strangers did not try to command them. :lol: :lol:


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## Al Curbow (Mar 27, 2006)

Connie, i'm not sure if you were asking me or Rashmi if strangers were giving commands to my dog but if you were asking me, the answer is no, strangers don't give him commands but if they did he'd oblige, LOL


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Al Curbow said:


> Connie, i'm not sure if you were asking me or Rashmi if strangers were giving commands to my dog but if you were asking me, the answer is no, strangers don't give him commands but if they did he'd oblige, LOL


Mine would too. OTOH, back in his jumping-on-people days, he wouldn't. That was before he learned how treats happened. :lol: 

Your post also reminded me of my Luna, now gone, who was always alert to a car door opening. Any car. Anywhere. 

She heeled off-lead, except for this one thing. If a car door opened along the sidewalk, she'd hop in like a flash.

Food and car trips were her heavens on earth! 90% of the pictures I have of her feature a wide grin.  

And, like your guy, "her ob was great and she was a fun dog."


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Although Thunder is a pretty social dog, as he matures, he's becomming less responsive to people he doesn't know really well. I think maturity does that to a lot of dogs.


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## Guest (May 5, 2006)

I was forced into this by an autistic dog, but now that you mention it, I must admit I kind of like it. Call me egotistical  . It all depends on the purpose, of course, but I think a PPD should be quite selective. You don't want him listening when the bad guy tells him to stop biting :lol: . I think it also depends on the dog's personality, but correcting is probably the only way to go, unfortunately. Maybe if you told strangers specifically not go command him at all, he'd not listen to them b/c he wasn't accustomed to it, but if you really need reliability, correcting for it is probably a necessary evil.


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