DOGGIE DOG BLOG

Written and Posted by: David Harris

Recently I have cruised the Internet and have been amazed at the large volume of doggie advice available to the general public.  I couldn’t be more pleased with the quality of the writing and the accuracy of the information available on a very wide range of subjects.

But, what I have found missing is relevance.  The point is that information can be correct and incorrect at the same time.  Sound crazy?  Well, it’s not and here is an example of what I mean.  Let’s say that you have a 97 Ford Mustang and you need to repair a faulty fuel line.  You go to the local parts supply store and they give you a very well written book on repairing fuel lines in Volvo’s.  Are you going to be successful in repairing your Ford with the information just given you?  Not likely.  The point being simple.  The information is correct in the Volvo book, but you drive a Ford.

Most of the articles and books that are written about dog training tend to be written from a very narrow perspective and that perspective typically comes from the author and his or her personal experiences.  These are people that for whatever reason have an innate ability to teach dogs behaviors almost magically and sometimes without reason.  They are natural Dog Whispers of a sort.  So, when they write their article or books,  they often assume that everyone should or will have this natural ability to teach dogs to stop this or start that.  But, as I have learned in my twenty five years of profession practice this is often very far from the case.

I have learned that my clients often do not have anywhere near the same level of innate dog training talents that I possess without even understanding.  So, it is very important for me as the trainer to understand and to work with the owner to come up with solutions that are not just accurate from a technical stand point, but have validity when it comes to the owners ability, the type of dog they have and their life situation.

Unfortunately many trainers come at clients with a ONE SIZE FITS ALL approach to training dogs.  They are so good at applying their method that they cannot conceive of their method not being valid to you.  But, that doesn’t change the fact that there is NO ONE SIZE FITS ALL METHOD of training and for each owner and each dog to reach their personal potential, methods of training have to be adjusted to fit their individual needs and abilities.

There are many factors, actually more than this tiny article can cover, that will go into my decision as to what is a valid method and what is not.  Here are just a few with the briefest of explanations.

Goals: Depending on what your long term goals are, your method to training should vary wildly.  A pet Golden Retriever with a jumping problem can be dealt with one way, but that method of training may be totally inappropriate for someone with a German Shepherd destined to be a working, sport or police dog. And vice versa.

Nervous Structure:  Your dogs reactivity is key to understanding what type of training will be effective.  Nervous, hyper, reactive dogs will respond much differently than a dog with a calm, laid back or introverted type of nature.  Both these types of dogs can have the exact same behavioral problem, but will react totally opposite when it comes to correcting their behavior.

Breed: Terriers do not train the same as Golden Retrievers and Border Collies.  Enough said.

Owner Experience:  Sometimes owner experience is helpful and sometimes it gets in the way.  Training New Roy with methods that worked well for Old Roy often leads to failure.  I never tire of hearing that my customers old dog never did this and their new dog won’t stop even though they have raised them exactly the same.

Owner Expectations: What I expect from my dog and what I find as acceptable behavior has no correlation to what you may or may not expect from your dog.

Age of dog:  Methods of training that work easily with a puppy of any breed may not work with an adult dog of the same breed.  For example it is relatively easy to get a Scottish Deer Hound puppy to roll over for a treat.  Try that with an adult Deer Hound with no previous training and you will have much different results.

Age of owner: Methods that work well with children often fail miserably when applied by adults. Vice Versa.

Upbringing: How a dog was raised will have a major influence on what methods of training will be effective and which will not.

Environment: A dog raised in a quiet, well order home will react totally different from a dog raised in a home with four young boys and a cat, two ponies and a clown.

Time: Methods of training have to take into consideration how much time an owner realistically has to apply these methods.  Someone working twelve hour days and has 2.5 kids to run to numerous activities is not going to have the same success with a method designed by a trainer with no kids and trains dogs full time with no outside job to attend to.

Desperation:  You need it when?  Some perfectly valid methods of training are designed to be applied very slowly and patiently over a very long period of time.  Done correctly they have 100% efficacy.  But, if you have a puppy that is play biting your small children do you really have six months to get a handle on the problem?

Learned behaviors:  Some bad behaviors have been learned, actually taught by the owners via miscommunication or intent.  If the behavior is learned and has no genetic component the dog will react differently to corrections verses a dog that is reacting to stimulus due to a genetic factors.

Ok, what is the point of all this?  The point is simple. Buyer beware.  Methods of training are a numerous as the volume of trainers who think them up.  It is up to the consumer to decide what method of training suits the needs of their dog and their family.  Do not be misguided or bullied into using a method simply because it is the latest fad in dog training, or has been made popular by a well know celebrity trainer or writer.  Bring your issues to a trainer that has an open mind, an open training bag with a huge variety of options to chose from and ultimately trust your own judgement.

One very simple indicator of whether a method is right for you and your dog is results.  Pick a method, give it a fair try and if it works keep using it.  If it does not work, or yield results in a time line that is not helpful, then you must shelve that method and look for another that is more suited to your needs.  Do not assume that all methods are created equally.

And most importantly do not blame the dog for the failure of a method to solve your issues.  The dog is what it is.  They did not ask to be brought into this world and they did not ask to be thrust into your crazy lifestyle.  It is up to you to become educated, become observant and to find methods to training suitable to both you and your dog. You cannot force a dog to become something that it is not regardless of the method of training you use.

As always, I hope that you find this information helpful and please feel free to ask questions.David Harris
www.doggiedogblog.com
502-542-9747
Midway, Kentucky