Andrews Farm Dog Training

12/16/2024

12/07/2024

11/24/2024

11/21/2024

Or dog training, or any training!

"Advanced training is just the basics done really well." - Ken Ramirez
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"Training often fails because people expect way too much of the animal and way too little of themselves." - Bob Bailey
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"Please just do your homework." - Fred

11/13/2024

Due to unfortunate messaging over the years, coupled with a lack of knowledge, and compounded by the human tendency for denial/delusion, what should be obvious and commonly accepted is anything but.

A few of the messages:
-There are no bad dogs, only bad owners. Wrong.
-Any dog can be “fixed” if you’ll get your energy right. Wrong.
-Every dog should be saved. Wrong.

The knowledge gap:
-We have a chaotic house, with lots of kids running all over, and we adopted a highly nervous but “sweet” herding breed. Bad.
-My dog challenges everyone in our family, and has bitten us all, but is great with my trainer. Bad.
-We got a guarding/working breed so it can protect the family, even though we’ve never had a dog before. Bad.

A bit of denial:
-He only bites us when we kiss/dance/move too fast/leave the house/vacuum because he had a traumatic early life. Delusion.
-She’s guards her spot on the couch, her toys, and her food, and will bite us if we get too close, but it’s only because she never had things of her own before. Delusion.
-He always growls at or bites my husband, but I’m sure he was abused by a man before I adopted him. Delusion.

Can people improve? Absolutely. Can dogs improve? Almost always. Does that mean that all fits can be made healthy and happy, or are wise? Nope. People and dogs come in many flavors, and many of these flavors work wonderfully well together, some work with certain other flavors, and some (human and dog) don’t work well at all. It’s a sad reality, but a reality nonetheless. We should be choosing the dogs we share our lives with based on an honest and informed assessment of who we are, what our lives look like, and what dog—both breed and individual personality—fits that reality best.

Ignore the silly messages, do your homework, and lose the denial.

Fairytales in dog land often end up as nightmares.

10/31/2024

The good thing about training a dog for work is that he doesn’t need to be perfect.
Shepherds used to train their dogs for work, and the trials were secondary; dogs would be polished up so they could compete with excellence, but work was the priority.
Today, most train for trials first, and the work is an afterthought.
When a dog is doing practical work, he can make mistakes and learn through experience with guidance from the handler, until he understands the task. This allows the dog to develop without a lot of pressure before he’s mentally able to handle it.
With most people now training for trialing, some make the mistake of striving for perfection, rather than excellence.

“Perfection” doesn't allow room for dogs to make mistakes and work things out on their own.
Those who strive for excellence understand that mistakes are inevitable and part of the path to learning and improvement, while perfectionists tend to see mistakes as failures.
Excellence we can reach for with effort, practice, and persistence. But pursuing perfection sets an impossibly high standard, not only for us but also for our dogs.

Some ideas perfectionists pursue is for their dogs to: work at the perfect distance off sheep, drill them for the perfect walk, make sure every flank is perfectly square, to name a few.
The problem with this, is assuming it is the same for all dogs- instead of making adjustments for a dogs individual type and amount of ‘eye’, directness, presence, excitability, temperament, etc.
Often these handlers have young dogs that “never really got keen enough to train” (when it was the initial over training that caused it) or an open dog that flanks rather than walks up, lacks enthusiasm for shedding, stopping running sheep, enjoying turning back, or other.

If you require perfection you can diminish your dogs spirit and their ultimate potential.
Perfectionists may sometimes gain 2-6 months at the start of their young dogs career, but often lose years at the end of it.

Dogs, and trainers alike, learn from being allowed to make mistakes, and, in turn, learning from those mistakes will pave the way for excellence.

macraeway.com

Patricia Alasdair MacRae

10/27/2024

One more reason we do not use or recommend the "gentle leader or other harnesses that come across the dogs face.

Here is the vascular system in a canine head. This highlights the enormous amount of blood flow in the dogs nose. This blood flow serves many purposes, fuels the scent chambers, aids in temperature regulation, allows dogs to effectively track, but this also makes the dogs nose incredibly sensitive to touch. This is the main reason you should not use face harnesses. There are plenty of tools designed to communicate with dogs that do not put pressure on one of their most sensitive features. I Credit this post to Grant Teeboon AKA the PawMan

10/25/2024

09/27/2024

Putting a dog down and condemning them to death because you refuse to use any method that isn't "positive only" isn't very positive...

Sedating a dog into a zombie because you don't like other training tools isn't very positive...

Restricting a dog to a confined life without the chance to thrive isn't very positive...

Telling someone to put down their 8 month old working line dog for having lots of energy and acting like an 8-month-old working dog isn't very positive...

Guilting a young family that lives in an apartment into adopting a large dog with behavior issues isn't very positive...

Telling an older lady their dog would be better off dead then using a prong collar that helps her walk and control her dog isn't very positive....

Bashing other trainers because they don't train dogs using only one method isn't very positive...

Having an owner put a 5 month old puppy on 400mg of trazadone isn't very positive...

Harming dogs because of your own ego isn't very positive...

All of the things I just listed are REAL things that owners have dealt with by "certified positive only trainers and behaviorists."

Anyone can be certified online for $50. It means nothing.

Dogs and their humans deserve real trainers who care and emphasize for both ends of the leash. Trainers who will tailor training to each dog in front of them. Don't be fooled by the "positive" sounding approach. That's just fancy marketing from people who care more about their ego and lining their pockets rather than helping the dog community.

I've chosen to speak out on this because I care and hate seeing dogs harmed. The positive only cult is doing more harm than good to dogs. Dogs and owners that are already having a difficult time. Enough is enough.

09/19/2024

Everyone who is thinking of getting dogs should read this because you need to understand this reality:

***I am a 21st century dog.***
-I'm a Malinois.
Overskilled among dogs, I excel in all disciplines and I'm always ready to work: I NEED to work.
But nowadays I get asked to chill on the couch all day everyday.

-I am an Akita Inu.
My ancestors were selected for fighting bears.
Today I get asked to be tolerant and I get scolded for my reactivity when another approaches me.

-I am a Beagle.
When I chase my prey, I raise my voice so the hunters could follow.
Today they put an electric collar on me to shut up, and you make me come back to you - no running - with a snap of your fingers.

-I am a Yorkshire Terrier.
I was a terrifying rat hunter in English mines.
Today they think I can't use my legs and they always hold me in their arms.

-I'm a Labrador Retriever.
My vision of happiness is a dive into a pond to bring back the duck he shot to my master.
Today you forget I'm a walking, running, swimming dog; as a result I'm fat, made to stay indoors, and to babysit.

-I am a Jack Russell.
I can take on a fox, a mean badger, and a rat bigger than me in his den.
Today I get scolded for my character and high energy, and forced to turn into a quiet living room dog.

-I am a Siberian Husky.
Experienced the great, wide open spaces of Northern Europe, where I could drag sleds for long distances at impressive speeds.
Today I only have the walls of the house or small garden as a horizon, and the holes I dig in the ground just to release energy and frustration, trying to stay sane.

-I am a border collie
I was made to work hours a day in partnershipwith my master, and I am an unmistakable artist of working with the herd.
Today they are mad at me because, for lack of sheep, I try to check bikes, cars, children in the house and everything in motion.

I am ...
I am a 21st century dog.
I'm pretty, I'm alert, I'm obedient, I stay in a bag...but I'm also an individual who, from centuries of training, needs to express my instincts, and I am *not* suited for the sedentary life you'd want me to lead.
Spending eight hours a day alone in the house or in the garden - with no work and no one to play or run with, seeing you for a short time in the evening when you get home, and only getting a small toilet walk will make me deeply unhappy.
I'll express it by barking all day, turning your yard into a minefield, doing my needs indoors, being unmanageable the rare times I'll find myself outside, and sometimes spending my days sunk, sad, lonely, and depressed, on my pillow.
You may think that I should be happy to be able to enjoy all this comfort while you go to work, but actually I’ll be exhausted and frustrated, because this is absolutely NOT what I'm meant to do, or what I need to be doing.
If you love me, if you've always dreamed of me, if my beautiful blue eyes or my athletic look make you want me, but you can't give me a real dog's life, a life that's really worth living according to my breed, and if you can't offer me the job that my genes are asking, DO NOT buy or adopt me!
If you like the way I look but aren't willing to accept my temperament, gifts, and traits derived from long genetic selection, and you think you can change them with only your good will, then DO NOT BUY OR ADOPT ME.
I’m a dog from the 21st century, yes, but deep inside me, the one who fought, the one who hunted, the one who pulled sleds, the one who guided and protected a herd still lives within.
So think **very** carefully before you choose your dog. And think about getting two, rather than one, so I won't be so very lonely waiting for you all day. Eight or ten hours is just a workday to you, but it's an eternity for me to be alone.

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