Orca is a three-year-old Husky who has been living with her new family for three months now.

She is proving to be a wonderful, loving and gentle addition to the family and has helped their 8-year-old daughter to get over a previous bad experience with a dog. The gentleman freqently takes Orca to work with him at his garage where she is hooked up for safety; she is as good as gold and friendly to everyone.

She ‘doesn’t listen’.

Out on walks however, Orca ‘doesn’t listen’ – especially when she is off lead. She has had the man waiting for two hours on several occasions. It’s not that she actually disappears but she stays out of reach!

I noticed at home that everything Orca wanted she got immediately. This was the case when she pawed him and when she jumped at him. Sometimes he reprimanded her, sometimes he actually fussed her when she did these things, whilst also saying they were behaviours that they didn’t want – especially with guests and the children’s friends.

Basically, every time Orca wants attention she gets it. Attention isn’t so freely available from the lady and consequently Orca pays more attention to her. You can easily understand how people adore her and want to fuss and touch her all the time.

Coming back when called

In addition to putting in some good recall training over a period of time both at home and when out, Orca needs to want to come back. As I often say, anything that is too readily on tap loses value, and this goes for an individual as well as for food. I did notice that when I ignored Orca’s jumping on me by tipping her off and then shortly afterwards I called her to me and offered her the attention under my own terms, she didn’t come. She just sat a little way away and looked at me! It illustrated my point perfectly.

The sort of jumping welcome I received seemed like a mix of excitement tinged with anxiety. It sounds like this is the sort of reaction she has to meeting other dogs when out. He needs to work at getting Orca’s attention on himself when required, rather than on other dogs. By earning her respect and attention at home through being a bit more consistent and not quite a pushover,  keeping her attention on him when out should be lot easier.

Changing one’s own behaviour in this respect can be quite hard if it goes against ones own nature, but playing a little hard to get can work wonders at times.