Have you ever called in one or more of your hounds, had them look at you –sum you up– and blow you off?
Of course you have. We all have.
Are these the actions of a disobedient mutt? Perhaps... Or maybe, the dog is being motivated to act that way. One of the first things that I will do in that situation is to actively take a deep breath, and try to evaluate what is happening. I'm not talking about getting a cup of coffee and phoning a friend to debrief, I am talking about taking that half a second to get my head on right.
The first thing I will evaluate is what kind of headspace I am in. Am I tired? Hungry? Angry? Hangry? (as a recovering fat dude, it's usually this one). Then I need to consider my tone of voice and, more importantly, what my body language is telling that dog. Is my my posture relaxed, shoulders low, head up and moving? Or am I stiff as a board, shoulders around my ears, and head down and forward?
I will give you an example.
I was hunting fox with another houndsman and his hound. The hound had done a decent days work. She had run the fox past several shooters who had taken shots and missed. Appalling shooting. They should be ashamed (I am). He toned her in as the sun was getting low, and she obediently started in our direction. We were standing on a stone wall, with a clear view across an corn field. As we waited, I observed this guys body language get more stiff, he softly fumed that she was taking her dear sweet time coming in. When she popped out of the trees 100 yards away, she stopped and observed him. He called her in the sweetest voice “come on sweetheart, we're done”.
She took a brief look and dodged back into the trees. I stopped him from stomping off after her and yelling. I told him I wouldn't have come to him either. I asked him to sit down, light a cigarette, take a deep pull and call her again. He did, and she came sprinting over and threw herself into his lap.
That hound could tell by his body language that he was angry. She also was willing to hedge her bets that his anger had something to do with her. So she did what a sensible hound would do, and chose to keep her distance, until his shoulders dropped and he made his body language less imposing.
We may not like it, but dogs gain more information about what we (actually) want, from our body language than from the words we speak. Commands and the tone of voice they are given in are --of course-- crucial. Still, much of the communication that happens is physical. They read each other and us by our body language. From puppies we teach them what cues to look for.
This is as simple and as complicated as it sounds. What makes it complicated is that you can't lie to the dogs. You can use a sweet tone of voice, but the dogs will still know if you are angry by your body language. Those two contradicting social cues cause insecurity and can have a negative affect on how much that hound trusts you. (I know you are lying to me...)
I try to be honest with them. I will literally tell a dog, “Hey, you're pissing me off right now.” Then I will shake (literally shake) it off. I will let the dog see me shake my shoulders; I may even force a yawn. Those two things are my go to's when I am trying to detoxify a toxic situation in training. I have stopped entire teams of sled dogs, gone up front and yawned, just to let them know that I am letting go of the tension that they have been aware of. I am not trying to convince them that I am not tense, they know all to well that I am, but I am conveying to them that I am actively in the process of getting my crap together.
Put yourself in their shoes (booties?)
Imagine someone you know well. He's got a gun. He looks angry. Then he calls you over because he “just want's to talk”. I wouldn't want to go over there either.
