Hello all
this is my first post as i am kinda stressed about my dogs... so any help, wise words or websites will be very much so appreciated!! Ok, the low down.. i have two dogs, Sasha who's 8 and a german shepard rotty cross.. and Dexter who is a three year old kelpie, long haired chihuauha cross... haha i know.. they are fantastic. i have had both since puppy age.. i used to work from home for their entire lives and now i have to leave home everyday to go to a new job and they are acting weird.. they dont destroy anything or wee/poo anywhere etc, when i get home they ignore me and wont come to say hello as they usually do, sometime to the point we think deckie will wag his ass off.. haha.. so, sash is the main offender she just ignores me and it takes a long time for her to warm up to me again.. its like she punishes me for leaving her haha and deckie just goes along cos he is the younger one haha.. so any help on making them handle it better would be really really good!! thanks all and look forward to some replies .. sashanddex

Hi, SashandDex --

I think if you 'try to get on their good side' when you come home, by trying to play with them, trying to get them to respond to you, trying to get in good with them again, you're first rewarding their aloofness, and you don't want to reward that. I agree that you should just go about your business, and when they see they're not getting their desired reaction out of you, they'll come around. Also, it might be confusing to them as to who is the pack leader -- is it you or is it them? Maybe by ignoring you when you get home, that's their way of getting you to submit to them, and then you've lost control. So turn the tables, and ignore them for a while. I bet they'll get the message.

You have to make it clear to them that you're the leader. You're a nice leader, but you're the leader. And I think they'll be happier for it (not to mention you!)

-- Michelle