As I have mentioned before I am pretty accustomed to dogs and their ways and have always managed to train my dogs for all day to day needs without going into circus mode.
Apart from his learning going right out of the window when it comes to nose blocking ears at any interesting scent, Jules is pretty well trained, and has long been a star in this performance
But, one thing I teach all my dogs, in order to not be overwhelmed by enthusiasm, is to sit and wait before any food offer and then ‘bon appetit’ is the signal to go/come forward and eat (all commands are in French with a local accent). I could even get him to sit and wait without moving towards a bowl of scrumptious stuff and walk out of the room before giving the signal to eat. His only movement is to turn his head 90 degrees to make sure he hears the magic words.
Recently this has changed. He halts and waits on command but doesn’t sit. Sometimes I have to repeat it 3 times before he does so. This is most puzzling because I am convinced there is nothing wrong with his bum, he shows no hesitation to sitting on other occasions even without a command or reward. Today was a case in point. He needed the repeats as now normal but then as he follows me out for his pain grille on the terrasse, he sat automatically without a word from me.
As he is an old boy, and we share that experience between us, I have decided to merely give the ‘attam’ to bring him to a halt and then go direct to the bon appetit missing the ‘assis’ altogether. That is fine with me the end result is the same, but I wondered if anyone else has experienced a similar puzzle.
He may have arthritis in his back hips/legs which may make moving into a sitting position a bit uncomfortable.
He may have a touch of confusion - old dogs can get eccentric.
Good that you’re not forcing him.
I could never get Bertie to sit on command (our rescue mutt). The best I could do was to get him to stand and wait. In his case I’m pretty certain it was because he was a street dog for a while and he was wary of sitting, in case he needed to snatch the food and run.
Yes, I think you are right and am pleased that you agree with me. The thought of having to sort out internal problems in the ejection area was not something I was looking forward to, on the other hand he does not show obvious signs of pain or disability so I think the wise course is to cut out assis.
Usually what dogs do if there are problems there is lick excessively and / or “scoot” which means they slide, with their bottom in contact across a convenient piece of carpet! Whereupon the carpet has a less than appealing smell.
I flipped the photo so you won’t get a stiff neck !
I usually look up when I’m hiking because the pavement isn’t very interesting… but in this case, I happened to look down just as I was walking past Jules in Gonneville-sur-mer
Sorry, he was unimpressed, all I got was nose in air and head turned. He’s a bit snooty these days he even remains lying on the bed to receive his morning pill pressed into a slice of his beloved chevre.
!