Kirby Mountain Sporting Dogs
Obedience
In dog training when we think of
obedience we think of a class at a gym or some other indoor facility.
Typically, we think of going for an hour a week for 6 to 8 weeks and getting
instruction both for the owner and the dog. After teaching that type of class
for many years, my observation is as follows: If there were ten dogs in the
class, 1 or 2 would be good to excellent, 5 or 6 would be acceptable and the
others would be a mess. There are several factors that play into these results.
Breeding, socialization, and breed of dog all contribute to the behavior of a
dog; but the dogs that really win are the ones whose owner would practice,
practice, and practice. The only place where success comes before work is in
the dictionary.
One of the misunderstandings
about obedience training dogs is that the training ends when the obedience
class ends. The truth is that obedience training a dog lasts forever or at
least for the first 3-5 years of the dog’s life. Obedience training is an
ongoing process. Most obedience problems owners have are inconsistency, not
using the same commands (confusion), and not enough repetition. As a pro
trainer I tell people the dogs need 100 repetitions to truly understand the
concept. PRACTICE. The two essential phrases for dog
owners to learn in dog training are: 1) you are always training and 2) actions
speak louder than words. If you combine these two phrases in your mind with the
practice you give your dog, you can have an obedient well mannered
companion.
Many people think that dog
training is a 10 minute a day practice session and the rest of the day Fido does as he pleases. This concept is why most dogs are
not trained. To have success you must realize that a dog (not unlike a child)
needs on time and off time. Think how you would feel if you were on or working 24
hours a day. By letting a dog do as it pleases for all the time that it is not
being trained puts incredible pressure on the dog, both physical and mental.
So you ask, “How do we give dogs
off time?” You can put the dog in the crate, on a cable, in a fenced in yard or
in a kennel. What this means is that the dog can have activity without being
connected. It is in a safe environment where it can be a dog without having a
chance to misbehave. The greatest problem when you don’t have on and off time
is as follows. Your dog is essentially on 24-7 which means you are constantly
giving the dog commands. Some of these are meaningful (the dog complies) and
some are empty commands (the dog doesn’t comply). The dog that is on 24-7
sometimes seems deaf. The truth is that all of your words are gibberish. He
hears, “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” He is not held accountable
for what you told him to do so you say, “Oh well, I guess he isn’t that smart.”
The dog is immune to your voice because your words mean nothing.
Currently I have a 1 year old
English Springer Spaniel in for training. He is from a
very successful repeat breeding. Dogs from this breeding in the past were
happy, willing, and eager to work. When the dog came to me he was excessively
submissive and scared. After working him in obedience and bird work every day
for 3 weeks, the owner came to watch him work. We saw that the dog had improved
in every way except for retrieving which was a puzzle to me as that is this
breed’s strong suit. This dog acted as though he was afraid to retrieve. When I
asked the owner if something bad had happened to the dog, he couldn’t site
anything that he recalled.
After some time of brainstorming
with the owner, the situation came to light. His wife and children had screamed
at the dog to drop anytime he picked anything up. This dog has been bred to
retrieve, to carry, to run around with things (birds) in its mouth. Though this
training to not retrieve was unintentional, they trained the dog to not do the
very purpose he was bought to do. If the dog had been given off time, it would
be less likely that this situation would have happened as he would not have had
the opportunity to get the shoes, the toys, the socks, or the objects to
retrieve. When he was on he would have been supervised with proper dog toys to
retrieve and carry. This situation may be able to be fixed with countless
amounts of work, but the mind set of this family is what really needs to be
changed. As Delmar Smith said, “You are always training your dog.”
Usually we think that we don’t
train enough, but sometimes we over-train (beating a dead horse) without even
realizing it. An example of this is with the sit and stay commands.
Every time the dog does anything unacceptable we scream, “SIT, SIT, SIT, and SIT.” When we teach the dog
additional commands and we start screaming the new command, the dog will sit or
stay. This type to training leads to confusion and confusion breeds inactivity.
Dogs do not understand language, you have to show and guide them. Also, in case
you didn’t know it, dogs are not deaf so stop screaming at them. Give a simple
command that the dog understands and make
the dog follow through.
Unfortunately, many people today
believe dogs to be on a higher level than they actually are or they think that
the dog has human thoughts and feelings - they anthropomorphize. Because people
do this, I see many interesting situations when people come to train with me.
One thing that happens almost
always is that when a person wants to show me what he has done with his dog he
is in awe when it doesn’t respond as well at my place as it did at home. The
reason for this is that they are training at home in a low or no distraction
level, then they come to my place or any training facility where there is
confusion and the distraction level is usually medium to high. Something I talk
with my clients about is a control zone. This is where the dog does as you
command all the time. It might be in
your house, in your yard, or on a leash or e-collar.
We have many calls from people
who have bought dogs from us so we know what these dogs are capable of - both
good and bad. The people and the dog’s names are different but the end of the
story is the same. Everything from a 3-month-old puppy playing in the yard to
an older dog that someone was hiking or hunting with can cause stress and
grief. The dog was out of control, ran into the road and was killed. Tragic, yes; Necessary, no. If these dogs were on a leash,
or were conditioned and wearing an e-collar, or if they were controllable in
distractions, there could be a happy ending.
In this day and age of free
spirit, we want all of the freedom of life and some of us can handle much
freedom and some cannot. Dogs are no different, except that dogs would rather
have structure. But you say, “But my dog would rather run free.” You are right,
but is that safe? You are RESPONSIBLE for your dog’s
safety. Just like a child, what a dog wants is not always what is best for him.
If you would like your dog to run free, fence in some land. I have a ¾ acre
fenced in area that is safe, and the dogs do very well in their off time here.
You can teach an
old dog new tricks, but it is much easier starting with a pup. Don’t be
afraid of change or doing things differently, we live in a different world with
a different pace than we grew up in, and the needs of an animal are different
today than they were 20 to 50 years ago. As a trainer I strive to train dogs
with less pressure, and I transition them to their owners and help people to
live a productive life with their dogs. Your relationship with your dog should
be as a master/companion not as a parent/grandparent. Have lifestyles changed?
Of course they have, and so has dog training.
Get progressive, find a book,
videos, or find a trainer. Take action and commit yourself. A dog is a
commitment, a very large commitment. You not only have a commitment to feed and
water your dog, but you also have an obligation to the commitment of training
him and keeping him safe.
It won’t happen overnight but
eventually through the action of training you will have an obedient dog.
John
goldy©2003