Never send your dog away to be trained

DOGS want to be trained and there is so much proof that trained dogs are invariably happier than an untrained dog. 

All trained dogs have happy owners. Great satisfaction can be derived from training a dog. It is not time consuming and most training can be done whilst exercising the dog. If you do not have the time to exercise your dog then you should not keep a dog.

Training classes undoubtedly contribute to better training of dogs. One great advantage of classes is that they accustom the puppy or young dog to meeting other dogs and the owners get an opportunity to meet people with a common interest and often the same or similar problems.

Many people are regarded as experts when they have trained a dog of one breed to a very high standard. Faced with a difficult dog they would not know where to start. Training methods vary just as much as dogs and their owners do. There are however, many accepted exercises that form a useful basis for most dogs and most owners.

Owners must not regard dogs as almost human; this is an insult to our canine friend. In this day and age we still do not know how dogs do some of these things, such as detecting mines and drugs. Intelligence is not an important factor in a dog’s make up.

Dogs and indeed all animals learn by association of ideas. Animals do not reason at all, they simply react to what is happening and do not think what has happened or is about to happen. It is believed that they do sometimes work out a problem for themselves.

For training purposes we try to create associations we want and avoid those we do not want, by what is known as correction and reward. Correction does not mean beating the dog or jerking him on a choke chain it means any act, which forces the dog to obey, like pushing him into the sit position.

Many dog owners will never know or have any idea of the pleasure they are losing in not having a dog that is trained to be a faithful companion and partner.

A dog will accept a human as a substitute for a canine leader and this willingness to accept a human makes him easier to train than most other animals.