Do You Speak Dog?

There are people who think that any form of dog training is "cruel" to the dog - but nothing could be further from the truth.

You see, dogs are both pack animals and creatures of habit. They like to know who's in charge, they like the top dog to call the shots, and they like to know what's going on. Of course, the top dog should be you, and dogs who don't have a recognizable pack leader feel they have to make up the rules as they go along. That's when the trouble starts...If you have a timid dog, the chances are that they will act out their fears in various ways, like destructive chewing, or excessive barking. Bolder dogs will often behave in socially undesirable ways, like jumping up on people, and ignoring your commands. Either way, it's NOT a good thing.

The solution for many problem dogs lies in training the owner. Yes, that's right - training the owner. Because the problem almost always starts with the owner. Unfortunately, even people who make the effort to train their dogs often approach dog training from the perspective of changing the dog's behavior, while not thinking about changing their own behavior.

I speak from experience here. When I began training my own dogs, I believed that I was supposed to make the "understand". And there was the assumption that onece they "understood", the job was done.

Ah, what fools we mortals be!

Then the light bulb went on. If I looked at life from the DOG'S perspective, it suddenly became obvious that what was very clear to me, was not clear at all to her. For example, alpha dogs (or "Top Dogs") don't make high-pitched sounds. They make low-pitched sounds in a low tone. I was telling my dogs to "Come" in a high-pitched tone, and letting the inflection go up at the end. This is not the sound of a dog in charge. So it was obvious to my dogs that my request was not serious, and could be safely ignored. As soon as I lowered my voice and changed the inflection, my "return rate" increased.

I am fascinated by the whole animal psychology thing. It's like learning another language and another culture. Very, very cool.


[dog training]
[puppy training]
[dogs]