06/02/2024
I've now trained almost 500 puppies and more importantly trained almost twice that many humans in the last 8+ years. With each and every dog, I've learned something new about puppy behavior and human behavior. I've always said that dogs are easy, humans not so much. This is because humans come with their own background on what they think dog training is or they just don't know what they don't know. I will never know everything about dog training since I work with mostly young puppies and my job is to prevent the bad stuff from happening instead of fixing problems. It doesn't mean that I don't know how but that just isn't where I have the most experience. This being said, I am always very direct with my clients in helping them make their dog the best that it can be. My job is to show them how to train, what to be watch for, and lessons that need to be practiced with calm and consistency. I don't live in their homes with their dogs 24/7 so I can only coach them on how and how often to practice the lessons. Dog training is for the life of their dog, not just during the six weeks they come to me. Something that is very common is that once the new puppy isn't peeing on the floor and chewing up everything in sight, owners get complacent and stop correcting the little things and these things soon turn into bigger things as their opportunistic puppy learns what he can and can't get away with. Dogs learn with every interaction they have with us so if they can steal food or not come when they are called, each time it will get worse because we taught them there is no consequence to that behavior. They can't read our minds and know what is a good behavior and what is a bad behavior in a human's eye because in the dog world, everything that feels good at the moment is a good behavior. Recently I have had several past clients tell me that their dogs have become reactive and even getting aggressive. When asked if they are still correcting bad behavior and limiting affection and setting boundaries, the answer is no. They tell me that their dogs are just as****es and it isn't because of them, the owners. Unfortunately, this is just not true. These dogs had a great foundation and knew the rules in the beginning but somewhere along the line, the owners slacked off. Maybe a family member made them feel bad for correcting the dog or maybe they never thought the behaviors would get to where they are now. This is sad for the dog because reactive behaviors are very stressful for the dog and the owner. It also makes the dog's life smaller because they can't be taken out in public when they are reacting to dogs and/or people. Yanking on the leash, barking wildly and sometimes redirecting on to the owners by biting them is not good behavior for a dog in public. I know that there are many dogs out there with these behaviors but when they are past clients, it hits me harder. For the dog's sake, the owner's sake and the public's sake, I hope they can find the help they need to get their dogs back to the calm, well-mannered dogs they used to be. I don't know if this counts as a soapbox moment but there it is. Keep up the training people and don't just accept that your dog is just an "as***le" because they can be better.
