There are basically two types of training, intentional and passive. A dog comes into your house knowing nothing about you or the environment. The way they behave in response to any situation is solely based on what you communicate or fail to communicate to them.
Not unlike teenagers, if behavior goes unchecked by the family sooner or later something will occur that results in outside intervention. When it comes to dogs, this may range from a dog running away and getting picked up by animal control or the dog biting someone resulting in injury, a police report, contact from animal control, or an insurance claim. In 2019, the average insurance payout in PA for a dog bite was $45,000. Yes, you read that right. Primarily the reason is that most of the time a person is bitten by a dog it is on the hands and the hands are very expensive to care for.
We teach our clients what we call Focus Based Canine training that requires a time investment of 20-30 minutes a day with their dog . It is designed to condition your dog to focus on you by using the canine language of movement and touch, not talk and treats. It is simple, intuitive, and repeatable. This is their “Love Language” and once you learn it the sky is the limit. Face it, we lead busy lives and 20-30 minutes a day can be hard to come by. If you can only do it a few times a week than that is better than nothing, but as soon as your dogs shows signs of reverting to bad behavior you have to increase your frequency. That is your intentional training.
Most training that dogs receive is passive. The dog does something and either gets a reaction or non reaction from you that is either positive, negative, or neutral. Take in consideration that there are usually several people in the house and you can see how a dog can get confused and just end up doing whatever they want.
Just about all bad behaviors are actually encouraged by the natural human response to them. For instance, a dog that is mouthing is encouraged by you quickly moving your hands and telling them to “stooooop”. When a dog jumps up, people bring their hands up which means “jump on me” in dog, and then turn their back which means “come get me” in dog.
Too often the dog sadly just becomes another chore at then end of a long day with too little time. It would be good for dogs and people alike if we would schedule a time in our day to focus on being with our dog, moving with them, leading them, building our relationship with them , without talking. They are supposed to add to our well being. Let’s add to theirs.
None of this can be accomplished with boxes from Chewy and Bark. It takes commitment and the investment of time. Anything worth having is worth working for. I can tell you from experience that one of the simple joys of life is a calm canine companion that you can spend time with. It is within reach for every dog owner. Make the commitment.
This is addition to any breed specific needs.