I mentioned before that Freya and Axel have different learning styles. Since we’re still working through Susan Garrett’s “The Five Minute Formula to a Brilliant Recall,” I am doing the same set of games and lessons with both dogs, which makes the differences a little more obvious.
One of the key points throughout the recall course is building value: making it valuable for the dog to come to me by reinforcing his/her decision to do so with high-value rewards. After a few weeks of this, it seems that I am way more valuable to Axel than to Freya. Looking back on our lives together, this is not a new development. I think I’ve always been more valuable to Axel than to Freya. I wonder if this is a gender thing, or an individual learning styles thing?
My dearly departed boys Jake and Oscar thought the sun rose and set on me. I’ve often said that I don’t know if any other living creatures will ever adore me the way those two did. My dearly departed girls Heidi and Missy liked me just fine, but they never gave me the impression they would crawl over broken glass to get to me like the boys would. Heidi was my heart dog, female version. I’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that though she loved me, I was not her heart person (that would be my husband, and really, that’s fine).
It might sound like I’m anthropomorphizing, and maybe I am, a little. But I definitely see a difference in how much the current two dogs value me after a few weeks of specifically working on building value for being with me.
So… if you are male, do your female dogs like you better? If you are female, are you in a similar situation to mine?
(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 27 of 31)
Rosalind says
Mika has always been my dog and my boy. I know he will love me forever and even with three legs hopping around, he tries to follow me everywhere I go. Sometimes I have to sneak away so he won’t notice.
Laura, our previous rottie, was my daddy’s girl. I guess she would listen to him more than she would listen to us.
To me, it’s a gender thing.
Rosalind recently posted..9 months old today!
Amanda & the Mutts says
My heart dog is a female. I love Bailey, and being not only my first dog (first dog that is mine alone), but the dog who has taught me more than any dog ever will – he is very special to me, but he does not adore me. Lilly, on the other hand, looks to me for guidance, comfort, love, and every other need in her life. She travels everywhere with me and is fine no matter what we do as long as she’s with me.