Obedience training for dogs is the same as pre-school for children, or higher education in some cases. It teaches them (both children and dogs) to sit, stay, share, pay attention, how to socialize, and to ask to go potty (or at least not have an accident). Taking on the responsibility of an animal is a huge undertaking and can be stressful if you are not prepared. If you know the basics of what you need to do ahead of time then it will be an easier transition for both of you until the puppy training can begin. I can speak from experience on how stressful an untrained animal can be. My boyfriend procrastinated on getting Angel and Demon into obedience classes due to his own schedule and it was a constant battle trying to get them to behave. Obedience training establishes rules for the dog. If they do not know what they should and should not do inside/outside/around company/around other dogs then they will keep doing what they are doing and that can potentially be dangerous. There are several young children in our families so getting the dogs trained and to learn how to be "gentle" (calm and not jumping up on people) was very important to us. Also learning to share their bones and toys was important also. We plan on having children someday and kids tend to take things from others (such as a bone from the dogs) so they need to know its ok to share and they will get it back. HOWEVER- children need to also know not to torment or tease the dog. Pulling on their tail, purposely taking away the dogs toys/bones and not returning, and other intentionally mean behaviors are unacceptable and should not be tolerated. Dogs are trained to behave and I do not blame them if they lash out in self defense, the child should have been raised better than to treat an animal cruelly.
The ASPCA Complete Dog Training Manual by Bruce Fogel, DVM looks to be very informative and covers a wide variety of situations that may come up in training and throughout maturity. According to nylabone.com there are 6 Principles of Successful Training: Be Consisten, Be Concise, Be Generous, Be Smart, Be Prepared, Be Happy. For more details on these principles feel free to migrate to nylabone.com. Also remember that training your dog at a young age helps them to adjust to your lifestyle and schedule, making it one less thing you need to stress about in your day. Just remember that dogs forget just like adults too, so refreshing their memories with their obedience training is ok to do as they get older.
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| Angel was not to thrilled to wear her graduation cap. |
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| Demon graduated with honors :) Which basically means he was a huge suck up to the teacher for treats... |
Good Luck and have fun :)
Resources:
http://www.nylabone.com/dog-101/training-behaviors/dog-training-tips/
I loved that you incorporated your experiences with your dogs on the blog. Also on how you used pictures of your dog as well. By reading your dog post it made me realize that its time to take my two dogs to obedience school, especially for my pit-bull who is energetic and playful all the time.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, your dog is absolutely adorable with that hat on! I felt like you did a very good job with this post, you gave the facts on why you should train your dog, and then you gave people the resources needed to get in touch with people who offered that kind of training.
ReplyDeleteHearing your personal experiences was super interesting and it was a very personable and I was able to relate to from trying to train my dog myself.
ReplyDeleteAnother great post. I never would think that obedience training would tie into my dog's health but after reading this, you are exactly right. It was very interesting. I also love that you related it to children. Because who doesn't love dogs and kids? Loved your personal pictures of your dogs. Very cute and it shows that you went through this first hand so you really know what you are talking about. Good work!
ReplyDeleteI love how you incorporate your personal experiences into this post. I do not have any pets, but have plenty of friends who have dogs that could use obedience classes. I never thought of it as the Health of the pet, but after reading you post I can understand why theses classes would be needed.
ReplyDeleteI don't own a pet but the information was very good. I did not know that the obedience of a pet ties into their health. Now after reading this post if i decide to get a pet i know some things to do and look out for.
ReplyDeleteI like how you told your personal experiences is was good.I like that you showed picture, It was very clear and concise post. It was very informative about how obedience training can make your pet healthy.
ReplyDeleteSo adorable how you added your personal experience. I have a puppy, and I learned a lot while reading your blog. He still won't eat healthy but we can take it day by day.
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