In the beginning, there was dog training....

When you decided to bring a dog into your home, we usually think about the obvious-- things like food, shelter, and affection. Most of us tend to over look one of the most important things you can do to have a wonderful dog-- training.

I can not tell you how many people when they see Buttercup, they go on and on about how their dog could never behave like that. And maybe they are right, my first dog, Oliver, was no walk on the beach (we will get into him later). But I do think that you can have a wonderful dog with a few simple steps.

In the following entries I will share some of the lessons I have learned over the course of the past 5 years since I first laid eyes on Oliver. I will go over my journey to create a dog I wanted to live with, including both how I train and how I have been trained. Some stories have a happy ending, some are about perseverance and what it means to really love. It will include various training methods and concepts.

I will start here with three concepts that are the foundation of my training philosophy:

1. Create a Plan: Dream the about the Dog you will Create-- revisit this idea often.
Yes, that is right, the dog you will create (within reason of course). Most dogs, can and want to be "good dogs." You as the human have the responsibility to train them to be able to live and share the human world. We expect a lot from our dogs -- and reading our mind seems to be the number one thing we think they should instinctively do. While dogs seems to have a natural ability for figuring out our words, body language, and seem to have an amazing ability to forgive us repeatedly for having no clue what they are trying to communicate to us. But despite what we seem to think, they do not get the rules of the human world though osmosis.

To achieve the dog you dream, write down a few sentences on why you want a dog, and what you want your dog to be able to do. This is important for many reasons. This will let you know what you need to train for and it will let you know what type of dog you will want to have in your home.
If you already have a dog, it will give a good place to restart your relationship. I would add habits your dog currently has that you want to replace with other habits.
I revisit this list often.

By jotting down your desires for your dog will help you match up your training style and desires with the various methods.

2. You are the source of Food
When the food bowl hits the floor, it does not mean time to eat, it means "Look at me." Yes, that is right, your dog will not go for the food bowl till you give a release word. I use the word "Break" because it is not commonly used in everyday conversation like the word "OK" is. I will describe later how to train for this, but it is pretty simple concept that will translate to other training areas.


3. 30 minute down stay
I was in a training class a while back and the trainer wanted me to use food for her stays. I told her that we don't use food for stays. She was not happy with me. There are two morals to this story. One, use the training method that you feel comfortable with and where you feel you see results. Your dog will sense if you are uncomfortable and react. Two, with that said, I recommend not using food for training the long down stays, short stays are fine. The reason I don't use food is that you want your dog to listen and respond to your praise. Some people feel uncomfortable with this, and like I stated, pick the method that works for you. The 30 minute down-stay does a couple of things. First, it establish you as pack leader. Second, it calms your dog down. Third, it comes in very handy when you go places with your dog. I will discuss how to train for this in a future entry.

(Please always discuss with a licensed Dog trainer and use common sense.)