Lots of people confuse dog ownership with parenting. Their unnatural relationships with their dogs create weird, clingy, reactive and insecure dogs.
There is no such thing as an untrained dog. Every dog is been “trained” from the moment it enters its new home. Training takes place every moment of every day – based on what their owners do. Our dogs are a reflection of us; they watch us and they learn from us.
Although there may indeed be some similarities between parenting and dog ownership, there are also significant differences between being a good parent and being a good dog owner:
- Good parents talk to their kids all the time; verbal communication is the key.
Good dog owners say very little in words and prefer to communicate in actions; what they DO, not what they say, is the key to the relationship.
Good dog owners say very little in words and prefer to communicate in actions; what they DO, not what they say, is the key to the relationship.
- When a child gets anxious about something, good parents reason with them logically, helping them put life’s trials into proper perspectives.
When a dog gets anxious about something, great dog owners identify environmental stimuli that are creating anxious behaviors and they work to systematically desensitize and counter-condition their dogs in order to create new conditioned emotional responses.
When a dog gets anxious about something, great dog owners identify environmental stimuli that are creating anxious behaviors and they work to systematically desensitize and counter-condition their dogs in order to create new conditioned emotional responses.
- When a child does something wrong, great parents give advice and counsel. They wait for the right moment, which might be hours or days later.
When a dog does something wrong, great owners correct their dogs within 2 seconds of the mistake.
When a dog does something wrong, great owners correct their dogs within 2 seconds of the mistake.
- A good parent makes sure that they help a child begin to develop social skills at around the age of 3 or 4 years old.
A good dog owner makes sure that they help a puppy begin to develop social skills at around the age of 7 weeks old. The window of socialization closes at 5 to 6 months of age.
A good dog owner makes sure that they help a puppy begin to develop social skills at around the age of 7 weeks old. The window of socialization closes at 5 to 6 months of age.
So if you want to raise a happy, confident dog:
1) Make sure that they meet 100 friendly people and 20 friendly dogs by the time they are 6 months old.
2) Use your brain, not brute force. You will gain respect by controlling resources and teaching your dog what is expected of him. You will not gain respect by following old-school advice such as, “pin him on his back and show him who’s boss.” (This type of handling creates behavior problems, not respect.)
3) Spend lots of time with obedience training (sit, down, come, stay and drop-it). Don’t teach tricks (like “give paw”) until your dog has mastered the 5 basic obedience commands and can do them under distraction, without food treats.
4) Provide exercise, interactive play, mental stimulation and lots of rituals and routines in his everyday life.
4) Provide exercise, interactive play, mental stimulation and lots of rituals and routines in his everyday life.
5) Ignore advice from well-meaning friends,
neighbors and relatives. Their advice will be based on anecdotal experience,
and not all dogs are the same.
6) The Internet is a great resource, but there is a
lot of conflicting advice out there. It’s best to take everything you read on the
Internet
with a grain of salt - except this blog of course. :)
