02/19/2022
I cannot stress this enough. It is vitally important to do your research, know the breed, and be honest about your lifestyle, before you add a furry member to your family.
Know your breed’s origins. No breed is a fluke. Every dog breed out there was bred for a specific job at one point in time. These dogs helped advanced civilization for humans by doing jobs that humans simply could not. Although most of these jobs have been abolished, the personality traits in the breeds still live on. Some were bred for hunting, others bred for herding while many were bred for vermin extermination. These jobs created the personality traits we see in our dogs today. If you have a terrier most likely they have heavy prey drive so don’t be surprised when they lunge at squirrels on a walk and you’re having trouble stopping it. If you have or herding dog most likely they like to herd other dogs, people and often nip at our legs. Whatever the case may be you must be understanding of their genetics and you absolutely must be reasonable when it comes to training them. You can’t expect a hound to have a great attention span when their nose is telling them to hone in on something several blocks away. Understanding your breed type is vital to the expectations of results you’ll get while training them. Everyone sees videos of border collies, Aussie shepherds and Malinois’ on the internet doing incredible tricks and stunts and the first thing that goes through their mind is “I want my dog to be trained like that!” I wish it was that simple. If I’m training a hound I’ll expect that hound like most to have a short attention span, be a bit ornery, clumsy and I’ll find myself repeating something several times before they respond. I accept that as typical genetic hound behavior. Instead I’ll choose to do nose work with that hound where they excel. Once you learn to accept your breed type for what they genetically are it makes training them a lot simpler.
