Training Your Dog is Essential to a Good Relationship
Jun 2006
By Don Hanson
When we bring new dogs into our homes, one of the first things we can do to ensure a happy life together is to train them. Dogs are a separate species and as such, have their own special needs and instincts. Dogs communicate differently from the way we do, and many of their behaviors are counter to our own.
When we ask dogs to share our lives, we are asking them to change much of what is natural about theirs. We not only need to teach a dog how to fit in, we also must teach ourselves about our dogs' needs so that we can learn to accommodate them. We must adjust our expectations to make the best possible situation for both species—dog and human.
When we do not take the time to train our dogs and educate ourselves, we both become frustrated. The first step in training your dog is to educate yourself. You can do that by reading books, watching a video or attending a class. Just be careful that you select books, videos and classes that are dog-friendly.
Dog-friendly training is all about understanding and meeting a dog’s individual needs and teaching him with methods and tools that are humane, gentle, kind and effective. This means we encourage behavior we like with frequent and high-value rewards and either prevent or ignore behavior we do not like.
Dog-friendly training never uses any methods or tools that work on the principal of intimidation or coercion or that have been designed to cause a dog physical, mental or emotional pain. Shock, choke and prong collars have no place in a dog-friendly training program, and neither do scruff shakes, alpha rollovers, squirt bottles or other inhumane tools and techniques.
I believe the most effective and economical way to train a dog is in a group class. Classes have several advantages over trying to train a dog individually. First, you have an instructor with whom you can communicate and ask questions. Good dog training instructors recognize that individual students learn differently. Some learn best by reading, some by observing and some by doing.
The best classes will provide ample written instructions, a demonstration of how the instructor would train for a particular behavior and an opportunity to practice the behavior while the instructor observes and assists. Group classes also perform a valuable social function, providing an opportunity for puppy and dog guardians to share frustrations, and more importantly, successes. They also meet part of the dog's need to socialize with other people and dogs.
The best time to begin training a dog is when he is a young puppy, between nine and 17 weeks old. This is when a dog’s brain is most receptive to learning new things. It is never too late to begin training, but early training will be easier because neither you nor your dog will have acquired bad habits that will require “un-training.”
A good class will use dog-friendly techniques to teach how to train a dog to offer attention, to sit, to lie down and to leave things when given a visual or verbal cue. It will offer lessons to use visual cues or hand signals before verbal cues, as these are a dog’s primary means of communicating.
Preventing undesirable behaviors through proper management will also be discussed, as will ways of dealing with jumping up on people, chewing and play biting. Lastly, a class will begin the process of teaching a dog to walk nicely on a loose leash and to come when called. These two behaviors, more complex than “sit” or “down,” run counter to a dog’s instincts, so it will take longer to train a dog to perform them.
Help your dog or puppy be everything you want him or her to be and sign up for a dog-friendly training class.
Don Hanson and his wife, Paula, own and operate the Green Acres Kennel Shop in Bangor, where he is the director of behavior services and training. He is a Bach Foundation Registered Practitioner animal specialist, Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and Certified Pet Dog Trainer. Hanson hosts the “Woof-Meow Show” 8:30 p.m., Sunday, on WVOM, 103.9FM.
