I once again feel compelled to write about dog training. Our dogs need to
know and obey at least the very basic obedience commands, commands that will
keep our dogs safe.
Today, much more so than ever before, dogs are very much included in daily
activities. Families take their dogs with them on family outings. Young people
take their dogs out to-well, wherever they go. And the golden middle aged
couples seem to take their dogs with them everywhere they go.
Dogs find themselves boating, biking, swimming, scootering, traveling, and
doing just about everything humans do. Dogs need to be courteous, well behaved,
and clean when in public. A dog that falls into this category is well accepted
in most places. Even welcomed. A well behaved dog is a pleasure to have around.
And, a well behaved dog is a safe dog.
Dogs need to obey instantly when given the command to stop. They need to obey
instantly when called to come, when told to sit, when told to lie down, and
when told not to bark. A dog needs to walk properly and not pull the walker.
I remember the time when I ran into a very dangerous situation with my three
dogs. I though my dogs were trained to obey at all times. Surprise, even well
trained dogs makes mistakes.
Read about our adventure here “The Great Escape” about my three
dogs.
http://www.happypetstop.com/articles/dogtherapy/thegreatescape.html
My name is Ruth, and two of my dogs are visiting therapy dogs. My third dog
is blind. He is very well behaved. He also loves to walk and go for car drives.
I have done a lot of walking with other dog owners. Dog owners can be categorized
into different groups. Here are some groups we are all familiar with.
1 - There is the “I’m only going to tell you 10 times” dog
owner:
“Heel, Shadow, Heel, Heel, Heel Shadow, Heel, Heel, Heel, Good Boy”
“Heel, Shadow.” Or, Sit, Shadow, Sit, Sit, Sit Shadow, Sit, Sit”…These
commands will be repeated many times during the duration of a walk.
2 - Then there is the “clenched teeth whisperer”:
Very quietly but very intensely the dog owner pleads with his dog. “Sit
Shadow”, teeth are clenched tightly together; hands are clasped on the
leash and the eyes are popping out of their sockets. Sometimes the dog owner
may actually lean down closer to his dog to be heard. Shadow responds by looking
up at his owner, tail wagging, ready to keep walking and not quite sure why
the owner is making faces at him.
3 – Of course there is the “reverse command”:
The owner does the classic recall; calling Shadow to come and at the same
time running in the opposite direction to make sure Shadow knows which way
to run. Shadow’s owner is by now half way across the park; Shadow on
the other hand has found a tree worthy for a deep and lengthy sniff and decides
to wait there for his owner. The owner finally comes to the conclusion that
to Shadow the command “come” means to stay put. Instead, -HE,
the owner- must” come” to Shadow.
Many dog owners will start a command by calling the dog’s name to get
their dog’s attention. I will tell a short story here. One I have written
about before.
A while back I watched a T.V. program about a dog trainer who went to someone's
home to solve an obedience problem the owners had with their dog.
Mr. Trainer and Mr. Owner took the dog for a walk so that Mr. Trainer could
observe the problem first hand. About 5 minutes into the walk Mr. Trainer
already came to a conclusion.
The Problem? The dog did not recognize its own name. I thought right away
"NO WAY". How can a dog NOT know its own name?
I tested this theory on some of my neighbours and their dogs. And sure enough,
most of the dogs actually did not recognize their names.
When an order was given, like, let's say "Shadow, Sit”; then Shadow
did sit. BUT, when Shadow was called by his name NOT followed by a command,
Shadow did not respond!
Actually what is happening here is that Shadow recognized the commands that
followed his name, but, he did not recognize his name!!!
The next time you call your dog’s name expecting him to respond by looking
up at you but he doesn’t maybe he does not recognize his name.
Disobedient dog? NOPE, just not trained properly.
Put an End to the Stress and Annoyance of Your Dog Behavior Problems!
Use Techniques That Give You Immediate Results.http://www.experts-at.com/DogProblems.htm