Are You Ever Finished Training Your Dog?
Articles Dog TrainingPublished June 9, 2010 at 1:17 am No Comments
More and more puppy owners are taking training seriously by enrolling their new pups in dog obedience class. Call it puppy kindergarten, basic puppy or household manners class. It doesn’t matter. The results are the same—a better behaved dog and a better trained dog parent.
Yet many dog owners discontinue training after one or two classes. They and their dogs do not return. I am not one of them. I’m a lifer.
Dog training is a lifetime commitment of reinforcing wanted behavior and discouraging or reminding pets of behaviors you find undesirable. Hopefully, with consistency, repetition and praise, the good behavior wins. But there is more to dog training class than instruction. There’s bonding.
Bonding is the human/dog connection. Since the vast majority of dogs love people, you would think that bonding was a no-brainer.
Dogs long for human attention by word and touch. It strengthens the human/dog bond. It reinforces trust. Yet some dog owners think filling an empty water dish or tossing Fido a bone equals a relationship. Not so.
Great parent/child relationships and great marriages have two things in common: communication and time. Why would the human/dog relationship be any different—especially when dogs look to their owners to supply life’s essentials?
Responding to a dog in a positive tone of voice and remembering human touch bolster a dog’s self-confidence. That is why voices commands and atta boy pats make for a happy dog. A human’s praise raises confidence levels; their love creates security.
Lifelong training is so much more than cultivating a fifteen minute sit-stay. It is cultivating a lifelong relationship.
