17/02/2025
Another great post by Thinkdog with Lewis Nicholls
Dog training is not just about the training.
When most people think of dog training they think it’s the only way to modify their dog’s behaviour.
What most people don’t realise is that dog training is more about training the human how to train their dog. When owners think their dogs are a bit on the dumb side, I’d bet if the dog could talk they’d be saying the same thing about their owners as well.
Training for the dog is just one of five major things we need to get right if we want to see behaviour change long term.
The 5 things we need to get right are:
Management. If we keep allowing our dogs to do the things we want them to stop doing or change we are never going to get anywhere. The amount of people that say their dog just runs off and doesn’t come back but then keep letting them off leash to run off and not come back is mind boggling to me. We have leashes for a reason and we have long leads too to help even more.
Health. Pain and aggression go hand in hand. Pain is one of the most correlated issues when it comes to aggression. Any dog that is not feeling 100%, whether that be due to itchy skin, or bad teeth will need to have these issues looked at before training should even be considered.
Nutrition. Dog nutrition is a bit of a mine field. There are so many dog foods that have misleading branding that are just full of crap it’s unbelievable. I know if I have a day eating cookies and ice cream it might feel momentarily amazing but within a few hours I will feel headachey and miserable. Check what ingredients are in your dogs food and if you’re still not sure we even have dog nutritionists to help these days.
Enrichment/lifestyle. How good is your dog’s life? Not from your perspective but from your dog’s biological perspective. An hour walk a day might just not cut it for most dogs. What natural behaviours are they allowed to practice on a regular basis and what fills their days when you’re out working.
And finally training. Once we can tick off the 4 previous things we can then implement a training plan. If we don’t and just focus on the training then it would be like going to the gym but still eating pizza and cake every day and wondering why we can’t lose any weight.
So if you’re not happy with how the training is changing your dog’s behaviour, ask yourself if you have everything else put it place as well.
Here’s Sunny exploring her new backyard. She’s a great example with how lifestyle and management have been the main factors that have kept her alive.
www.Thinkdog.nz
