Hello,
readers!
It
has been a while since our last blog; we have been busy training,
gained some insight, and new experiences, so I decided it was high
time to pen one down! In this blog, I will be talking about quite a
few things; so hold on tight!
Genetically,
dogs are descendants of wolves; they have their pack, and there is a
structure within that pack. There is one leader, or a pair, and
everyone else follows. When you bring a dog into your house, you
become their pack; they find out where they land on that line by
testing boundaries. Most dogs will give this up very quickly if you
are consistent with the enforcement of rules, boundaries, and
limitations. This is important to understand, no matter what breed or
age your dog is. All well behaved dogs understand where they rank
within the pack - and a balanced dog should be beneath every human in
the home. If this is not true, then the dog is in control of one or
more humans, and this is where behavior problems come in. If your dog
understands that you and your family members are in command of the
pack, then conflicts of pack command challenges, and certain
behaviour issues will be less likely to occur. If you do not let your
dog know that you like or dislike everything they do, they will
become confused. There should be rules for everything they do.
Establishing
a pack structure is not difficult. The pack commander gets all of the
best things like sleeping place and food; they control the
environment, who eats what, all behaviour, and when behaviour is
inappropriate, they correct that behaviour and assert control over
the offending member. Dogs do not come to us knowing the rules we
expect them to follow; they have no knowledge or understanding of the
very confusing human world. We have to teach them, and be patient,
while they are learning. This is why everything they encounter needs
rules. Your dog will not hate you if you disagree with something are
doing; they may protest immediately, but they appreciate the
boundaries. That being said, with a young puppy, for everything you
stop, you should provide them with an acceptable alternative. For
example, if your dog is play biting, yelp with a high pitched voice,
like they really hurt you badly, and as soon as they stop, offer them
a chew toy. You can also give a chew toy after correction for
chewing on items they shouldn't be. If they are chasing the cat,
teach them fetch.
You
should also restrict space when a puppy is still learning.
Controlling space is easy; in the beginning, if you cannot devote all
of your attention to your dog at that moment, they need to go into a
crate or an ex-pen. Young puppies need to be given freedom very
slowly, because if they are given too much control, they often wind
up thinking they are in control - and it also prevents them from
getting in to things they should not. They should be kept on leash in
the house until you know they will listen to you the first time,
every time, and are house trained. If you would like a greater
explanation, please email us.
Controlling
food is important, and is simple as well. Free feeding, or allowing a
dog to eat whenever it wants, is very dangerous. This is a
convenience thing for us; its easier to let them do this, but it
sends the wrong message, and also disconnects you from a vital need
the dog needs to understand comes straight from your hands, and
doesn't just appear to be scavenged. We recommend having set feeding
times, and leaving the food down for a specific period of time, and
if the dog doesn't eat, put it away. Dogs will not starve themselves;
they are very much like humans in they have times where they won't
want to eat, or will eat at certain times. This will train your dog
to eat when the human says to, not when they decide they want to -
which enforces the human as the provider. It can take a few days for
them to understand that they need to eat when you say so, but they
will learn fast, and will not be stubborn about it for long. Also,
always give your dog access to water, all day (except overnight when
still house training).
Why
do you need to teach your dog obedience skills? The simple reason is
that it teaches your dog exactly what you want, gives them
confidence, and lets them understand a small piece of the human
world. Commands like sit, down, stay, and come, mean absolutely
nothing to dogs. We give them meaning, and it ties into pack
structure, as well as safety, and the ability to get your dog to
place themselves into positions at command when you need them to.
Certain training methods, however, will destroy your dog's
personality, and essentially turn them into robots and teach them to
listen, but not think for themselves. A few techniques like this
involve strong corrections at a young age, the alpha roll, and
dominance theory. We train dogs to pay attention to their owners, and
to think for themselves, while maintaining the ability for them to
have a personality. Without that personality, they no longer desire
to be a dog. These techniques might look showy and have a rapid
response from the dog, but it is so stressful on the dog that you're
not just showing them "who is boss", but it shows them that
they are not valuable to you as a dog. Please do not hire trainers
that teach you to alpha roll your dog or engage in stern handed
dominance theory. Conversely, don't take anyone seriously that tries
to get you to train your dog that thinks pack structure is a myth.
I
went to school to become a dog trainer, I finished a year long course
in 6 months and passed with high honours. If you ask me to come help
you, and I recommend that you take your dog to a vet, or that you
need to buy a different collar, I am doing this because I have
weighed the risks whether or not doing so will benefit you and your
dog. I will always explain why I am asking you to do so, and it is
something I do not do lightly. I know taking a dog to a vet is
expensive, so is buying a collar or a leash. I am impartial. Please
remember that I make no extra money off sending you to a vet, or
asking you to buy certain equipment.
An
example of lack of pack structure (and I will not use any names) is I
recently encountered a client who asked me to come look at his dog.
This dog was jumping up, play biting, pulling on leash, and was cited
as being "violent" (which it wasn't). All three of these
things are totally normal for a 7 month old puppy. The client didn't
want his dog to become better behaved, or to establish anything I had
talked about to achieve his goal; he simply wanted his dog to become
less violent. We explained what needed to happen and why on the first
session, showed him how to do what was asked, and then left. When we
came back for the second session, we discovered none of the
recommended training and been done, though because I had set rules
boundaries and limitations, the dog's play biting lessened with me,
but he was still doing a lot of it to the owner and other people.
This
is a prime example of why pack structure is important. A dog is not
going to change in personality if you teach them that you are in
control. If a trainer is asking you to do too much too fast for you,
it is important to ask them to slow down. This dog is now set up to
become a very vicious pound-case write off, but not because the dog
had a problem - the owner chose not to train the dog. We had several
other recommendations that were ignored, some critical for the safety
and training of the dog. None were followed. On the final session, we
had another client graciously come out and help us as we needed to
see how the dog was around other dogs. Socially, this dog needed
supervision and management, but over all for a dog who is not used to
being social with other dogs he did extremely well - and was not
violent at all. Throughout our time helping this dog, the owner would
tell us what we were seeing was normal for large breed dogs (which
was inaccurate), and argue with us about exercise requirements, and
passive-aggressively tell us we didn't know what we were talking
about. His dog could only travel a few hundred meters before he shut
down, mostly because of the attitude of the owner, and this hip
wobble that caused us great concern. This was not normal for a
species who is bred to run. We recommended that he take his dog to a
groomer to help his dog prepare for the warmer weather (which he
never did). The only recommendation that was followed (sort of) was
getting a harness for the dog to use while he was running with his
owner on a bike instead of having his leash clipped to a choke chain.
The wrong kind and too big of a size was bought, and defeated the
purpose of the item.
The
reason I am telling you all of this (we have graduated very
problematic dogs in a day or two), is because the progress this dog
made was no where near where he should have been; and that is because
the owner didn't follow the advice he had paid for me to give him. He
expected me to work the dog and have it become different. I can set
the rules up for any owner and their dog, but the reality is it, is
not my place to be your dog's pack leader, that is up to you. It will
not work, because your dog will respect ME - not you. It is my job to
teach you how to get there, and teach your dog what is expected of
them. I expect to be told what the problems are, what your
expectations for your dog are, what rules you have, how you learn
best, and how you have your life with your dog structured. With all
of that information from you and what I see from the dog at the
evaluation, I come up with a training plan. It is never set in stone,
as how your dog responds to the initial plan dictates what happens,
and we may discover something else needs to be addressed. It is
always my goal to attain your goals as quickly as possible, while
keeping your dog's personality alive, and making training fun for
everyone involved. I love my job; I love helping dogs and their
owners, and seeing the bond between owner and dog growing and
becoming stronger, as well as the two getting a better understanding
of each other. When we all work together, amazing things happen.
John
Head
Trainer
No comments:
Post a Comment