Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!!!

This is about the power of competition in the multiple-dog household!  It can be your worst enemy or your best friend if you know how to make competition work for you.  I know only barely a few folks that do not have multiple dogs in their home.  Competition can lead to aggression in the worst cases, but the skilled knowledge of the owner can turn it into a tool for quick and gleeful obedience!

First, one must plan ahead to think about places where competition could become an issue. The door is the first thing that comes to my mind.  All my dogs want out the second the door opens.  This can be very dangerous, especially if it is the front door that opens to a nearby busy street or out of the car at the vet.  I have everyone sit before I open the door. The dog that sits first goes out first.  

Getting out of the car at a trailhead, the dog who sits first gets a treat. During your hike, when you call the dogs, the one that gets back to you first gets the “chicken dinner.”  The more you practice this game, the faster they get at coming to you!  Getting back into the car at a trailhead can be frustrating, but if the dog that gets in first gets a treat, pretty soon, getting in becomes effortless on your part.  If they all climb in quickly, then make the problem a little harder.  They get in and then one that lays down first gets the treat.

Right now, I have a visiting dog that is learning how to go potty on a grass pad.  If he doesn’t go quickly, one of my dogs gets the treat he wants!

Barking at the front door can be a horrible situation in a multiple dog household.  Well, if one dog does NOT run and bark at the door, she gets the treat.  Imagine how quickly the others will stop barking and charging the door if they know that NOT barking and charging the door gets them a treat!

Food aggression can become a huge competition in multiple dog households.  I had a Labrador training with me. When she turned two she decided she was going to growl and snap at any other dog that came near her bowl. This had to do with her maturity and confidence.  The second she did that, I pushed her away from her bowl, then took her bowl of food and gave it to the dog she growled at!!! Imagine her surprise!  She never did it again.  This also meant I had to be supervising feeding time ALL the time.  It also meant I had to have a relationship of respect with her already so I knew I could approach her without her reprisal.  

The hard thing for we humans is that we always want things to be fair with all the dogs.  In the dog world, NOTHING is fair.  It’s all about hierarchy.  If I use that to my advantage by controlling food and giving treats only to the well behaved dog, then very quickly I become a ridiculously powerful leader without much effort, and my pack begins to behave quite quickly.  

With multiple dogs, human safety is always first.  If I use competition between the dogs to my advantage I can keep my pack motivated, happy and doing the things that keep me safe.

Caption:  In my house, the one that gets to me first gets the “chicken dinner!”