Dutch Shepherd Forum

Can anyone tell me why Odin does not listen to my commands when my husband is around?

I am with him all day - he listens and obeys me without any problems. As soon as hubbie comes home, any command I give him he ignores He actually will go to Mark if I recall him or run right past me. Mark does not play into this and will ignore Odin, but it's as if I am mom who?

Any opinions/suggestions out there? We are scratching our heads here trying to make mom get a little respect when hubbie is around.

Two, maybe three possible scenarios.

Maybe (we don't know his baggage) he was just owned by a male and responds and bonds more quickly to them. I know some people think you can over ride it, and maybe you can. But at the end of the day, we all of social preferences and I have to believe that dogs do too. (Have I mentioned that I tend to only work female dogs

Maybe (just maybe...no judgement here) you are more forgiving of some of his demanding behaviors and so he just thinks he has to work harder with your husband. Meaning, he says "Pet me now mom" and you do? Or I have to potty. Or anything else that he can think of during the day. If you are not making him "earn" those things, then he has no need to try to offer them up or comply when you ask for something.

Maybe (what happens in my house CONSTANTLY) is we step on each other. If I ask Matt's dog to do something and he doesn't respond, Matt steps in and makes it happen. Its completely vice versa with my dogs. So we have completely taught our children that the other is irrelevant. I see this happen a lot in pet dog homes as well. Now granted, identifying it should have fixed it in my house.....but we have so many dogs and its so knee jerk, it doesn't matter. It doesn't become an issue until the dog retires anyway and then we just blame it on senility

I had the same problem with my mal, he was "his" dog, and Thalie was "my "dog. If our Mal was home with me there was no problem listening to me, but when the X got home, our mal went righ to him. ALthough it was the opposite as far as commands, since I did the training, but you could tell whos dog was whos.

You could "make him listen", put him on a leash and when you call him and he goes past you, bring him to you. Like Christie said, have Mark ignore him and get him to listen to you.

Christie M wrote:Two, maybe three possible scenarios.

Maybe (we don't know his baggage) he was just owned by a male and responds and bonds more quickly to them. I know some people think you can over ride it, and maybe you can. But at the end of the day, we all of social preferences and I have to believe that dogs do too. (Have I mentioned that I tend to only work female dogs

Maybe (just maybe...no judgement here) you are more forgiving of some of his demanding behaviors and so he just thinks he has to work harder with your husband. Meaning, he says "Pet me now mom" and you do? Or I have to potty. Or anything else that he can think of during the day. If you are not making him "earn" those things, then he has no need to try to offer them up or comply when you ask for something.

Maybe (what happens in my house CONSTANTLY) is we step on each other. If I ask Matt's dog to do something and he doesn't respond, Matt steps in and makes it happen. Its completely vice versa with my dogs. So we have completely taught our children that the other is irrelevant. I see this happen a lot in pet dog homes as well. Now granted, identifying it should have fixed it in my house.....but we have so many dogs and its so knee jerk, it doesn't matter. It doesn't become an issue until the dog retires anyway and then we just blame it on senility

Now that I see it written down, I am definitely guilty (not all the time) of point 2. Hmm.. will have to stop giving him all those kisses He's just so darn cute and affectionate , i can't help myself.


On point 1, he did bond rather quickly with my husband and it was obvious he was handled by a male.

We worked out those kinks on point 3 with Dakota, so it is an non issue with Odin.

Thanks for your input. Having someone else point out the obvious helps, especially when one is close to the situation.

Well, animals pick up on who's the boss and who's the second in command

Mmm, here most dogs wont listen to me when hubby is around. He's definatly the alpha...

My dogs really listen to my husband....when I am not around.
If I literally leave the farm here, they will do whatever he wants. If I just stay in the house and he goes for a spin in the woods, half of them will linger around the front yard and not follow him up the trail. Or he has to call and call and call them before they comply. He is no softie, really, but I am the disciplinarian, for sure. I get upset at an ignored command, he might too, but doesn't follow up (with a correction beyond a change of voice tone) On the other hand: I cannot walk his dog. She will try to avoid me at all cost. I don't dare to discipline her, because yes, that would be an issue. I can feel eyes pry in my back, passing judgement over the level or correction, when I can do whatever with my dogs, and there is no judgement about it. *Sigh*
We have discussed it many a time and both agree that all just corrections are open to anyone by either of us. But at the moment one corrects the others dog? Silent questions will arise. So then that leads to Christie's option 3. The 'real' owner steps in and repeats the command declaring the other nul and void.

This is interesting. I agree too that dogs have preferences in male/female just as I have a preference for female dogs. This may be what Odin is experiencing too. I'm not sure what to suggest though as I am really starting to take the time to study my own dogs and their hierarchy in the home, watching their signals and behavior. I too have been the firm hand in managing the dogs as my hubby could really care less about them unless it directly affects him like one of them chewing on his new leather duty belt.

In the past, having had so many GSD rescues through here, I felt I had to be the alpha person, very firm and totally in control, and everyone had to adhere to a strict regimen because the slightest lapse in judgement could end in a fiasco. That included my own dogs. Now that I no longer do rescue, I can step back from the forest to see the trees and realize that there are alternatives and I am ready to try them. This will be a true test for me.

thanks everyone for all your comments.
Don't get me wrong, I have no problems with him. One on One we are golden - enter hubbie and Odin defers to him most of the time. I just have to work harder when it's the three of us. And, yes, i do give him alot of affection, much more than Mark. As Christiie pointed out, some of it is earned and some not. However, I am going to work on the not earned affection