Another excellent example of how dogs "know" what their duties are. Their barks and other sounds they make often signal various situations...in my opinion.
Drover is not much of a barker, but when he does, we know it. At first, when something is going on, he just stands there an looks, seemingly assessing the situation. When he is inside and pokes his big blocky head through the vertical blinds, visitors take notice.
Often, the bark is preceeded by a low rumble and a low pitched "woof".
I really appreciate our group. Sometimes when I go on about dog stuff to non-dog people, their eyes glaze over.
Maybe Lucky sensed something more to that person. Sometimes that can be the case. We think they are just doing their job, yet they have a sinister aura. Dogs can sense that.
Gorillagaurd, you go ahead and talk about Drover all you want. We love hearing all about him. So talk away.
I can only hope Buddha becomes a great dog like Drover. Buddha is learning and doing so much better the older he gets. I am hoping he loses the "rocks for brains" when he is three and can take his CGC also. Right now, I don't trust Buddha and that is not good. He is such a sweet dog but sometimes those rocks show up and he becomes a thick, headed Rottie. Like I said, he's showing improvement though.
Thanks DFL.
When we trained Drover in the beginning, the trainer told us to "trust your dog". This came up especially when we learned the exercise of the dog doing a "down" and we handlers would turn our backs and walk away twenty five feet or so. At first some of the dogs (including our boy) followed, not staying down. But they soon got the idea and stayed down until called and rewarded with a treat.
Even so, trust does not mean just letting them go, especially Rottweilers. They CAN NOT be the alpha male in the household. We do not let Drover off leash while out and about. Even though we have an invisible electric fence and Drover obeys it, he does not play outside unsupervised. You just never know. Some nut case teaser might come by and provoke. No one likes to be teased.
So stick with it and Buddha will soon get the idea. Rotties do like to do their jobs and please their humans.
And thank you also. Buddha still has moments when he thinks he's the boss. But intensive training has helped. He is so good to humans in public but not other dogs. He even has to wear a muzzle in the house because he was after the cat. I still can not pet him for as long as I want and I'm in the process of figuring out how to do this without help from my daughter. He misses me touching him but he is accepting that also. Soon. Very soon, he will be a great dog.
