Guess who's going for training

Last night, mon chien stayed over at day care coz he thought it was a good idea (NOT)to take a dip in his pool just as I was trying to get him into the car. He was too wet to get into my car to go home.

So, tonight he's back home and has been ultra clingy the whole night. He came nudging me every 5 minutes to get me to follow him. When I ignored him, he'll nudge even harder to the point of barking at you. Then, when I finally relent to his pleas, he'd make sure that I follow him wherever he wants to go. Like sometimes to the garden...he'll sit on the grass and do his thing. I'm left standing on the driveway not knowing what I'm I suppose to do. He just wants me to stand around.

I feel like he's training me now to take his instructions. OMG, this so describes my situation:

You’re lying on the couch reading a book and your dog wakes up from a nap and decides that it’s time to play. She gets her ball, comes over to you, and then drops it right in your lap. You ignore her and just keep on reading. After a second of confused silence, she nudges your hand with her nose and then lets out a bark. Then when you look over at her, she assumes the "play-bow" position - elbows at the floor, but in the air, and tail wagging. You return to your book and she barks again, and when there is no response, she barks again. This time, she keeps up the barking. After a minute or so of this, you sigh and put the book down. You finally pick up the ball, and take her outside to play fetch. She then immediately stops barking.

In order for her to be honorable of your respect, she must also respect you, too. Something that many warm-hearted souls struggle to come to terms with is that dog ownership is not about equality. It’s really about you being in charge, and her being the pet. Dogs are not children. They are most comfortable and best-behaved when they know that you are the boss. A dog has to respect your leadership in order to be happy, well-adjusted, and a well-behaved pet.

In the situation above, the dog wasn't showing any respect. She wasn’t welcoming her owner to play, she was harassing her owner to play. And even worse, the bad behavior was being reinforced by the owner by giving in to the behavior. This has taught her that if she wants something, she has to bark – and she has to keepdoing it until her goal is achieved.

Photo on 30 November 2008