by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com
The Association of Pet Dog Trainers decided to pick a great theme for the month of January, National Train Your Dog month. While you should be training and working with your dog all year, this campaign helps raise awareness of the importance of having a well trained dog. Here on Long Island we are fortunate to have dog trainers offering all kinds of training methods from one end of Long Island to the other. There really is no excuse to not take a training class, lecture or at least speaking to a trainer on what may best suit your dog and your situation, become a better dog owner and have a happier dog.
Often time’s dog owners have ‘heard’ things about certain training methods, and already have an assumption in their mind, like the prong collar is horrible and mean, or that they would never ever be able to do clicker training with their dog. But once they are educated how to properly use ANY type of dog training method, you can see the transformation on their face on what they were originally thinking about. (The Human’s face!)
Every month in our Responsible Dog Owner Class (a dog training and education class for humans only) our volunteer dog trainers from Doggie U K9 Academy and Dog Training 101, go over nearly every type of collar, leash, harness, no-pull harness, etc. and talk about how each is meant to work. Like not pulling or yanking your dog while he is wearing a prong collar, that they are self correcting, or when to ‘click’ that clicker so the dog starts to associate the click with doing the command correctly and getting rewarded.
I have read recently on some blogs dog trainers bashing each other for their various training methods, and I think this negativity doesn’t help the dog training industry. I have used treats, positive rewards, and evaluate (over days and weeks) what might work best for each dog. And let me tell you many dogs react, act differently to different training methods. I have worked with dogs who could care less if you are holding a filet mignon in front of them – if they are aggressive or leash aggressive they don’t give a bleep what food you have. It’s not always about food reward. While most dogs are food motivated, not all are.
I have worked with dogs in the past year, that were so highly aggressive towards humans that most behaviorists would suggested they be put to sleep. One dog who was so aggressive (territorially so) when she in her house, she came very close to attacking me (and viciously) more times than I could count. She was only like this at the door when I arrived at the house to walk her (the owners were not there). Why go back and work with the dog? Because I could see how there was an amazing dog in there – she was fantastic with her owner – super smart and very well trained – but at the door it was almost like she was seriously bi-polar and would go off the deep end. Once out of the house (with TONS of patience on my part), she was just the most fantastic dog, friendly to people – so well trained on and off leash – it was well, insane. It did take me four months to get a leash on the dog, FOUR months! Did I mention the patience part? Once she trusted me, she loved going for walks, listened, watched me for commands, and even was very affectionate and sweet. This same dog that was trying to kill me at the door – the transformation was awesome. (This dog was abandoned and her owner was the only one that could get near her, and luckily for her he did and was very committed to working with her). Oddly enough she ended up being one of my favorite dogs to walk and work with because of how she blossomed. I don’t take credit for her training – I give her owner all the kudos for it, but if I was not patient and gave up on her I would never have seen her wonderful transformation. She was a dog that was food motivated and the only way to get her out of the house was to bribe her with treats – but on a walk, she wanted your attention and didn’t need the food, verbal praise and petting she adored. So it was interesting to see a dog you had to use food with in one instance and not in others.
Most dogs want to bond with you, learn from you, some love to have a job to do – and your verbal reward and attention is all they are striving for. Think about the drug and bomb sniffing dogs, ever watch what the handlers reward them with? It’s usually some sort of toy, tug toy, ball, handmade toy or something along those lines, not food. It’s still a positive reward, but it’s not food.
To be a dog owner, and want a well trained well mannered dog – you as the dog owner need to do your research. Find out about different training methods, interview different trainers, get referrals, and if one trainer doesn’t work out – don’t be discouraged, move on to the next trainer. I have had people hire me after they went through a dog trainer or two – and I asked what did the other trainers tell you – and often times, I would say, well I agree with what they said, you need to do your homework, work with the dog, etc. So sometimes it’s not that the first and second trainer you met with didn’t work, it’s that the owner didn’t want to follow their instructions or do the work! A well behaved dog does not happen over night. I mean do you expect your human kids to learn to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ by telling them only once to do it? I doubt it.
Another piece of advice would be don’t be scared of trying different training methods – you might go through a couple before you get to the one that you see the light bulb over your dog’s head go off!
You can find many different dog trainers in your area by clicking here.
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