Obedience From The Dog’s Point Of View

dog training

Do You Know How A Dog Learns?

During obedience dog training, a dog learns, just as the puppy does via

associating his every act, with pleasing or displeasing results.

It is these associations, matched up with the trainer’s commands and

signals, that indeed cause a dog to obey.

When such commands and signals are repeated sufficiently and often enough

causing the dog’s behavior to become a habit, then that very habit becomes

the obedience.

Teaching A Dog Obedience

Dog training is an art in which the technique will vary with the individual,

but the core principles remain constant. Your voice first commands

obedience and is right away followed by the application of force with the

leash, after which – a word of praise or a good pat will make the dog

forget the correction and put him back in good spirits and standing.

Proper co-ordination between the trainer and the dog, and accurate timing of the

entire action sequence is a must. When this method of training is followed,

the dog then learns to be obedient without associating any unpleasantness with

the training.

You may hear a lot about so called psychoanalysis of dogs. And as the dog’s

behavior is the subject under discussion, I suppose this term can be relevant

here, without any mystery about it. The only reason a dog becomes to behave

in a certain way can almost always be traced to a sensual relationship.

Happily dogs do not reason as humans do, and they act on natural instinct as

to ensure their own self-preservation.

How To Know Your Dog’s Disposition

At the very beginning, it is critical that the owner should realize that

training a dog will not change a dog’s natural temperament. Therefore, a dog

that is by nature shy and retiring cannot make a good attack dog, and

conversely a vicious dog should not be completely trustworthy.

Good dog training brings about a better understanding between the dog and

the master because dogs, like people – do vary in disposition and must be

accordingly handled in different ways. Obedience training makes this sympathetic

relationship possible.

Why Dog Type Selection Is Important

If you are going to get a dog just for training, you should, naturally

select one with the right temperament. One that is not too sensitive

nor too clownish, and one that is anxious to please. It is to be supposed

that a quiet, friendly dog with steady nerves and a keen interest in what

goes on will be more responsive to training, than the dog that is stubborn,

sully, vicious, or even shy for that matter

As a matter of discussion, let us assume that a lady up the street already

owns a dog. Let us scrutinize him a bit and see how he should

be approached.

1) Is the dog shy, for example? Shyness may be acquired or it may be inherited,

but whatever the cause, the dog must be handled gently and his confidence won

through exaggerated encouragement and kind praise. Every effort on the

dog’s part must be of necessity recognized. However, the owner must not

baby the dog too much.

Sometimes it may be necessary to force him to do something against his will

for the sake of his own good.

Obedience training will definitely give a shy dog confidence, and over a

reasonable time-interval,the dog will show remarkable improvement.

2) How about- is the dog lively, aggressive and determined? In which case quiet

handling with firmness and, if necessary, severity is required. The owner

must be very definite in the way he gives the commands and signals to leave

no doubt in the dog’s mind as to what is expected of him. Praise should

be given rather sparingly, while the owner prepares for a battle, for he most

certainly will have one, at the beginning.

3) What if the dog is lazy, slow, and lackadaisical? The objective then will be

to get more pep into him. The recommended way to accomplish this is through

sudden or snap bursts of speed in all one’s actions. This should be accompanied

by considerable amounts of praise and petting, and the dog should be talked to in

a – come on, come on, hurry up – tone of voice.

Experience seems to suggest, that corrections coming from a second

person rather than from the owner will have a more lasting effect on the

slow-moving type of dog.

4) And there is a dog that likes to clown. Here too one must be firm and give

scant praise. This very type of dog seems to think everything is a game and

the slightest thing will set him off in a jolly play again. No circumstance

must his antics bring laughter or applause. This dog must be taught when

he can clown and when clowning is not appropriate.

5) The most difficult types of dog to train is the one that has a suspicious

nature, borne of experience before. He regards every movement with distrust,

and he remembers every correction that has ever been made to him. Training this

kind of dog, one must be clever and resourceful enough to invent new ways

of doing things – otherwise the dog will outsmart the dog trainer.

6) And there is also a type of dog that is over-anxious and must be steadied

down by the dog trainer using a slower training tempo. Voice commands

play a decisive role here, as they enable the trainer to keep one jump

ahead of the dog.

7) No doubt there are those dogs that want to fight every dog they see,

and those that are simply mean enough to turn on their own masters. One

cannot reason with these last two and, to get results, the owner must be

a lot more resourceful than these types of dogs.

Where Does A Dog’s Personality Develop From?

In the realm of dog ownership,it is accepted theory that the personality of the

owner will be apparent in his dog. It is true that, over a period of time, a dog

will take on certain characteristics reflective of his master.

Here are some dog personality examples:

A) A nervous, energetic person will often find himself with a restless and overactive dog.

B) A phlegmatic person ends up with the very placid, slow-moving dog.

C) An organized person will almost always have an orderly dog.

D) A careless person will have the dog reflect that back.

It may well be that is why we like certain breeds and dislike others.

There is no harm in a dog’s readjusting himself to his environment as long

as his character does not suffer.

One hears remarks made that an obedience-trained dog will lack spirit and

act unhappy about the obedience training. That is true sometimes especially

if the training that has been too severe or of a nagging nature making a dog

sulky and somewhat indifferent.

Withal, the lazy type of dog may give the impression of Jacking vivacity,

but such is the dog’s natural temperament and ought not to be blamed on the

training.

Successful obedience training is the result of knowing what one can expect from

from a dog on the basis of his temperament. When behavioral dog training is done

properly, it will not at all make a dog less spirited, it will help

to overcome the shyness, develop his personality, and bring out his best

qualities in the circumstances.

Does Color Influence A Dog’s Temperament?

From experience of canine obedience training, both with numerous all-breed

training classes, and in the breeding and handling of poodles, one can be

of the informed opinion that color can affect temperament and has some relation

to a dog’s ability to be trained. After all, it is known that color can

affect human mood, and does affect human digestion.

Nevertheless, in the realm of dogs, this subject matter is enormously intricate

and complex, with all the cross-breeding and thus and so.

Voice Of Dog Commands and Signals

The Commanding Voice

There are three known tones of voice used when training dogs.

The coaxing tone of voice is for the beginner who is just starting to learn.

The dog trainer coaxes the dog along step-by-step as he reassures him and gives

him an extra confidence.

When the lesson has been learned, the ordinary voice is then used to give the

command so the dog will know what action he is expected to take.