Posted by Wolf on June 24, 2009, 11:06 pm
Some things have come to light of late that I feel should be addressed. Dogs are losing ground with owners because of a lack of understanding. We expect our dogs to understand us but we do not try to understand them. There is a language barrier we must overcome.
Dogs live in the moment and when the moment changes the dog changes. Any dog must first trust before it will respond well. Human bonding is necessary and once established is a strong bond. Some dogs only bond with one human. This is an unbreakable bond which only ends when death intervenes.
There are many people who consider themselves trainers and some even have formal training but again not all are able to train. Positive reinforcement works well when a trust is in place. Basic obedience is a series of simple commands that almost anyone can teach almost any dog. To go beyond this requires that communication be established between the dog and the human and takes a long time and much patience as the dog while retaining almost everything it has been taught does not always see the logic in what is being demanded.
While dogs are basically pack animals and a pecking order is established in the pack for protection and survival needs it is not as easy to do so with a human as the human does not always act in the best interest of the pack. We expect the dog to understand this but it does not. They are consistant and we are all over the map depending on our moods yet we expect them to react even when we are wrong.
Dogs do not make mistakes, people make mistakes. These mistakes usually do not end well and are sometimes fatal. Do not blame the dog when the mistake is yours.
58 
Message Thread:
« Back to thread