Understanding
the Breed is the Key to Good Training
By Donna Lindell
Knowing
the characteristics of your breed or breed mix may be the difference
between success and failure in training your new friend. After
all, you must understand the special needs of any “student”
before you can be an effective teacher. It’s all well
and good to borrow from experts’ horse training tips while
working your quarter horse, but all the advice and training
in the world won’t make your Llama canter for you.
It sounds funny,
I know, but how you train your dog will have direct bearing on
what kind of dog he becomes. Poodles, for example, do not respond
well to heavy handling, to hard corrections. They are highly intelligent
dogs who are sensitive to harsh tones and physical corrections.
However trying this soft approach, whispering sweetly into the
ear of a Beagle, may yield results that are neither soft nor sweet.
In addition to personalities,
your work schedule and lifestyle must be factored into what
kind of dog you hope to have. There is a reason, in centuries
past, why kings and queens did NOT own Boxers and Pit Bulls.
It is very hard to be a lady or lord of leisure when you’re
being dragged outside for a rousing game of tug-of-war every
two hours. Dogs such as Shih-Tzus, Greyhounds and Pekingese
are great dogs for lounging about (although Greyhounds do need
to be exercised). But you cannot expect working dogs, like Fox
Terriers and Jack Russell Terriers who were bred to chase and
kill vermin, to sit quietly in your apartment while you are
at work all day.
Over the
years, many a Jack Russell owner has come home to find his/her
brand new carpet destroyed. And many an owner has believed –
wrongly – that the offending dog was misbehaving badly.
But in reality, in the Jack Russell world, each of these “bad
dogs” probably heard a noise or sensed a presence beneath
the carpet that he believed to be a rat and, being protective
of and loyal to his home, he tried to do what any good Jack
Russell should – locate and kill the invading beast. Okay,
so the carpet was ruined, but, by golly, he needed to kill that
rat! Understanding the nature of the beast is extremely important
for everyone’s welfare and happiness. Without properly
understanding what drives and motivates your dog, the relationship
between you will be strained and confused at best; at worst,
it may be doomed.
Yet all
of this unhappiness can be avoided. It can be avoided simply
by understanding what drives and motivates your dog.
Is your dog a scent or sight hound? The Labrador Retriever is
driven primarily by sight. It is the Lab’s job to join
his owner on the hunt and spot and retrieve the quarry. And
this is why dog trainers don’t take Labs near water during
basic obedience, not until the dog has been in weeks of training.
To train any Retriever around birds, animals, or playing children
is torture for the dog. Instead, you should begin training a
Lab in fairly uninteresting places. Only when the dog begins
to have a real grasp of the commands can you add new distractions.
Similarly, to begin training a Basset Hound on grass –
a place filled with millions of luscious smells – would
be an exercise in futility. You can physically correct the Basset
until your arm is broken; you won’t be able to keep his
concentration while his extremely sensitive nose is being assaulted
by so many interesting smells. So begin on a blacktop. Even
then you will see how often the nose drops to the ground, picking
up scents. Is he blowing you off? Not really. He’s doing
what he has been bred to do; hunting like his great, great,
great, great grandparents did– possibly even hunting the
same scent.
Ever wonder
why Lassie was so darned agreeable with little Timmy? Little
Timmy was a very gentle boy who spent most of each day at school
while Lassie roamed a seemingly endless expanse of land. She
was well-exercised and socialized (always in town, for example,
surrounded by dozens of people). Now flash forward to reality.
Your little boy climbs all over your penned-up, restless, un-exercised
dog 24/7. He pulls the dog’s tail and whiskers, jumping
off the couch and using the dog as a landing pad. After enduring
the unendurable, enough is enough, and finally the otherwise
really sweet dog snaps.
Despite
what many parents believe, the size of a dog matters less than
the breed, although it is good to take a hard, realistic look
at your children. Certainly, a robust 80-pound Lab will do better
with an active 5-year-old child than a Lhaso apso or Cocker
Spaniel will. But parents often think a small dog will be less
inclined to bite. Not so. In fact, most dog trainers will tell
you they have been bitten more often by smaller, more temperamental
breeds than by large dogs. And some small dogs are much tougher
than their little bodies would suggest. Corgis, for example,
are very tough little herding dogs. Don’t forget it is
the Corgi who runs up behind 1,500-pound cattle and nips at
their heels. The Corgi may be categorized as a small dog, but
if this dog can handle Brutus the Bull, he can certainly handle
your 60-pound kid.
Breeds that
tend to be a little flighty – Afghans, Dalmatians, young
Dobermans and Rottweilers (until they are about two years old)
– need to be trained in quiet, dull areas until they learn
more commands and can sit for a full 30 seconds. Because these
breeds are so active and – shall we say – enthusiastic,
it is extremely difficult for them to fully concentrate on you
when another dog is walking by. You wouldn’t expect your
five-year-old child to jump from kindergarten to the third grade,
so why ask it of your dog? The thinking is the same: move slowly,
thoroughly building on each level.
Perhaps
one of the biggest mistakes dog trainers and animal behaviorists
report seeing with well-intended owners is the “perfectly
trained dog” syndrome. Owners who have put in hours and
hours of training with their dogs still find out the hard way
that genetics play an equally important role in each dog’s
development. Dog-aggressive breeds, such as the Pit Bull, may
be extraordinarily well behaved, incredibly sweet and loving
with people (as most Pits are), lulling their owners into thinking
they can attend dog parks – free reign with other dogs.
This can spell disaster. If a dog has ever shown signs of dog-aggression,
no matter how perfect he is on leash, this is a dog that should
never be allowed off-leash and should NEVER be allowed in a
dog park. Yet every year dogs who were otherwise “perfect”
attack, and sometimes kill, unsuspecting dogs (and may accidentally
harm the people trying to intervene). An important note: If
your dog has ever shown aggression toward people – particularly
children – you should consult a professional dog trainer
AT ONCE. This is a very dangerous warning sign which should
be taken extremely seriously.
So, what
motivates your dog? Certainly love and affection do. But there
will always be something else – something you have not
considered – that will help your dog be the best he/she
can be. Talk to experts, dog trainers or your vet, and research
your dog’s breed or breeds. Learning what instincts drive your dog is the first and most
important step in understanding him and training him accordingly.
With the proper tools and realistic expectations, you can motivate
your new dog – whatever his heritage – to be your
Lassie.
Donna
Lindell is a long-time dog owner; foster mom for stray and abused
dogs; assistant to professional dog trainer Alexandra Allred;
and part of a writing/editing team for dog training, social
behavior, and proprer nutrition. Lindell lives outside Washington,
D.C., with her dog Nadia and is active in educating the public
about bully breeds. Additionally, as the owner of the late,
beloved Kinder Katherine -- an ADHD Doberman with Nephragenic
Diabetes Insipidus, Wobbler's Disease, Lyme's Disease, severe
allergies, incontinence (among other problems), and ultimately
Osteosarcoma -- Lindell fancies herself (as do many others seeking
her advice) a veterinarian-in-training.
Let
Them Dig!
by Claire Liston
Let
them dig, run, chew or bark if they need to. Whatever
your dog's instinctual needs, why not try to meet them
halfway? Here are some tricks I've used to curb "bad
behavior."
Provide
your little excavator with an area that is okay for digging
by putting woodchips in a far corner of the yard.
Some
breeds just have to run like the wind
-- find a large fenced park and tire them out a few times
a week.
All
dogs need to chew, but can easily learn
to chew their own toys. Provide different textures so
they can choose.
Curb
barking by praising short notification
barking, but then correcting continuing nuisance barking.
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