Dog Handling

What is Dog Training about?

I had an interesting conversation yesterday about certain dogs who cannot leave home.. What?? That is right, they were born on the property, they do not go anywhere and they cannot cope with new things when they do.

This sounds a little strange but put into context of farm dogs on 400 plus acres they may be born live and die on one property. Most of us live on considerably less land and even a two acre block is sometimes considered enough property for a couple of dogs to rattle around on. They run around on the acres, they play there, they are secure, they know their boundaries, they do everything their owners want them to do.

However most of us are quite mobile. We like to hop in our cars and go, and we like to take our dogs with us. When our dog behaves oddly in the car this is the first indication that he/she is not going to like the change of scenery when we get to the other end of the journey. I get a lot of calls and emails from folk wanting to know what is going on with their dogs in the car. Basically you are taking your dog out of known territory and your dog is starting to have a panic attack. Some of the behaviors that I have witnessed or been told about are - the dog pees or worse the whole time he is in the car, he hides his head under one of the seats and pants and drools till he nearly collapses. He barks the whole time he is in the car, he runs back and forth across the width of the car making the car rock as it goes along. He sits with his eyes shut and water pouring from his mouth, soaking all around him. Oh dear. There are lots of things we can do to make a dog feel secure in the car. We need to do it while the car is still and then we need to drive around the block and let him out at home again and then we need to repeat this. Then we need to feed the dog in the car, but hey by the way - right from puppyhood it would be a really great idea to crate your puppy in the car. It will give him a feeling of security, he will see less, he won't be able to be bowled over so much by the motion of the car and if he makes a mess it is a whole lot easier to clean up.

Some people totally ignore their dog's distress and drive along the road with the dog yodeling and barking and rocking in the car, in some crazy hope that he will grow out of it. He won't. The other solution for them is 'fine we won't take him anywhere in the car, we will get the mobile vet to come to him'. Let's face it it is a solution.

But initial training was actually the solution. So you train your dog to sit and wait for his dinner, to come when he is called, and to do all sorts of little chores with you and be your best pal. He is now 'okay' in the car and so he comes for rides from time to time. Then you walk him to the local Dog Park. All the way there he pants and pulls on the lead and every time you go that way he does this thing. Hang on this is the same manic stupid he used to do in the car before he got used to it. Now I need to train him to be happy in his harness/on his lead and going for walks. There are a myriad of ways we can do this too. Using food, using slow walking and making sure he is marking new territory, putting him in a leash or collar system that he cannot pull because he hurts himself. Then I find I cannot let him off lead at the park because - although he comes back at home when he is called, he doesn't do that at the park, he won't sit and wait at the park either, in fact he is completely idiotic at the park... maybe I won't take him walkies anymore... or MAYBE I NEED TO GET MY HEAD AROUND HOW TO MAKE MY DOG FEEL HAPPY RELAXED AND CONFIDENT WHEREVER WE ARE TOGETHER.

That is what training at a Dog Training School is all about. Training your dog in isolation to other dogs or always in the same place is non-event training. At Puppy school there will be other puppies the same age as your dog. Your dog has been lifted out of a litter and will be struggling to live without his litter mates. Suddenly oh boy I got a whole heap of new litter mates. They run together and play and roll over and bite each other and cry. We don't interfere in this very much, although at my Puppy Classes I am very careful with my tiny breed puppies as some of our large breed puppies are quite boisterous. It would be absolutely impossible to make a 15 week old pup come to us while he was making friends and playing puppies, so why would be try. When they have had enough (in our opinion) and burnt off the dog energy, we can then pop them back on their leads and start getting the dog/people stuff going. After a couple of weeks of this the pups are working in a line about four meters apart and they will sit and get a treat and lie down and get a treat and follow us for a treat and do a little stay and chase their ball for us without being too worried about the other pups, then after a little bit of work they get to play again, then once more back on the lead and we will do some loose lead walking, all together so that we learn not to interfere with other dogs when we are walking with our people. Also we will come when called even if our person is ten meters away.

These exact behaviors are what I ask my students to take with them to the park down the road. Go to the park and do the sit and treat, the lie down and treat. Do the slow walking and marking that we have been learning, do the nice quiet 'follow me' for a treat. Over a short consistent period your dog is happily doing his thing at the park. Now take him somewhere else in the car. Like the beach. Give him a treat before you get him out of the car at a new place, always be consistent with this. Because this is the signal that we are in a 'new place' but it is going to be okay. Then get him out of the car, and right beside the car do your sit and down and any other of the many exercises that you have been learning at puppy school, by now he should be starting to relax, so that by the time he is following you on lead for a bit of treat food and he has found a place to have a piddle, then this new place is really comfortable. I call this work - 'exporting the good behavior'. You are taking the good behavior with you to new places. This dog will grow into a confident well behaved trusting companion who knows you have everything under control.

Oh there she goes again they say, all this food food food, treating your dog at every turn. Oh no that is the next part of the training, how much work can you do without giving the treat. Extend the work times, limit the treats, move the play toy game into center court and move the food back into the fridge. So why train your dog anyway, well because I don't know about you but a dog who is running around like a loose wheel doing stupid things and making bad decisions gets right up my nose and I don't want to live with a dog like that. I want a dog who refers to me 'is this what you want mama', who plays with me 'come on come on throw the ball'. Who works with me around other animals of all types calmly and gently. I want a dog I can be proud of who has his stuff together at all times. Reliability and trust don't just happen, they come from hours of work and training together so that BFF is not a good enough title for my favorite canine friend.

Everybody of any fitness level, with a dog of any sort at any age can come dog training. To those of us who use it as a sport and a hobby it is better than anything. For those who just want companionship for themselves and their dogs, that is a very valid reason for being part of a Dog Training Group. As Dog Ownership becomes a minority activity in the massive cities of the future, it is going to be important that our dogs are paragons of good behavior, as already we can see that any slips a dog makes are legislated for and prosecuted incredibly swiftly. I am not talking about the obvious things such as dogs attacking children or strangers, those things need to be dealt with very harshly. No it is the good old fashioned normal dog behavior that used to be overlooked such as going for a walk on their own, having a bit of a rumble with another dog, barking to guard the house and yard while owners are at work. Pooing on the neighbor's verge. Walking in town off lead with their owner’s. All perfectly normal valid dog behavior's. These are now non-tolerated by the public at large.

The more that Dog Owners can club together the more chance they have of maintaining the opportunity for dog ownership and presenting a united front in the face of opposition. To me a world where there are people only and other creatures are forbidden is a horrible society that doesn't bear thinking about. But we must make sure we are not the authors of our own decline, our dogs really must be able to behave at all times in all places. Get out there and get training