People ask me why I train dogs and the answer is simple, because I LOVE dogs. I love all animals, but dogs have become such a special part of my life and have formed a special bond with me. I understand them, and they understand me. I am perplexed at peoples attitude toward training a dog, and that they consider certain methods mean and cruel.
Basically anything that is strong in the area of correction is considered mean. Unfortunately, what I consider mean in training a dog, is to expect the dog to understand human language and emotions. For a dog that is used to his instincts to suddenly be made to understand that I will “ask” it what to do and reward it with a treat.
When using rewards, they are that, we give the dog a treat or a game of tug to reward a proper behavior. The reason for this is that the dog relates the treat as something he likes, it is coming from you, therefor he relates this back to you and understands that he is doing what we like.
One of the worst things I can imagine is the people that send their dogs off to be trained. They expect someone to take their dogs issues and make them go away and bring them back a perfectly behaved animal. I personally would never trust my dog to “go away” with someone. I want to know what is going on in my dogs life. I have fixed many dog issues in one or two sessions with people who understand it, guided many people along in their training of their dogs and consulted many through this blog and helped them. They key thing to all of this is that I give the people the opportunity to work with their dogs. The fact that the trainer can get the dog to do what they need him to do is not the issue. The owner of the dog needs to be able to do that. The ONLY way that will work is if the dog sees the owner as their leader. A dog is a master of opportunity and will see through a weak leader immediately. Dogs are better judges of character than you or I will ever be.
The way to get your dog to listen to you is not to give him a treat and hug and kiss him and use a clicker. The key to getting your dog to follow you is to be his leader. This structure re-organizing needs to be present in everything you do from the morning to the night. The way you speak to him and the way you avoid him. Every piece of your interaction must be structured toward you being your dogs leader. Its imperative for me to mention here that a leader to a dog must be fair. Being a jerk to a dog and yanking him around pretending your tough is NOT a leader, its a bully. Being a leader means being FAIR. If the dog doesn’t know what you expect of him, you CAN NOT correct him for that mistake.
Why is this so important? Why not just cuddle the dog and let him be as he is? Several reasons… one is that the dog lives in a human world. There are cars, poisons, obstacles and more all around your dog that could cause him harm. If you call your dog and he chooses not to listen, he very well may run into the street and get hit by a car. If your dog does not obey you and runs over to a person and bites them, he’s gonna get killed. The main problem that people don’t understand with dogs is that love and respect are very different in this world. If a dog loves you and doesn’t respect you, the love is useless. A dog can love you and not respect you. However, if the dog respects you, it is greater than love. Please don’t confuse fear for respect. I mean respect. You earn respect, you’ll earn it from you dog.
Gain your dogs respect and you have a friend for life.