As you can imagine over the years me and my owners have had quite a lot of experience of different dog trainers. In general they are a well meaning bunch and there are as many different ideas about the best way to train a dog as there are hairs on my tail!! Therefore, I wanted to add a few thoughts to this blog about my experiences. Before I start, I want to make it clear that we are not experts, just talking from our own experience so please feel free to disagree with what we say.
But let me just say that there is no 'magic solution' to having a well behaved dog, dog ownership takes time and dedication. It's no good leaving your dog at home all day, taking it for a 10 minute plod when you get back at the end of the day and forgetting about it. You'll end up with problems. There are loads of gadgets including books, clickers, head halters and harnesses and other paraphenalia, but they are only effective in the hands of someone who is patient and dedicated to helping their dog to be better. Are you up for the challenge?
Lets talk about Behaviour Training:
This school of thought is based on the idea of stimulus and reward equals wanted response (think Pavlov's dogs) This is the stuff of puppy classes where you start to get your dog to Sit, Down, Beg and generally be an all round good dog. This may works be enough your average fairly submissive, good dog who is not going to present much of a challenge. However, what you often find is that owners describe how they can get their dog to behave brilliantly in the church hall but are then mystified when they have absolutely no control over them when they leave, they are usually telling you this whilst their 'obediant' hound is happily dragging them back to the car!
Why is this? Well in my opinion the dog treats behaviour training like a game. It's all great fun being given treats and taught to do stuff but actually the dog views it as entertainment. So when the 'entertainment' is over is back to being the Bossdog, listen to my owner? You've got to be joking!!
Why is this? Well in my opinion the dog treats behaviour training like a game. It's all great fun being given treats and taught to do stuff but actually the dog views it as entertainment. So when the 'entertainment' is over is back to being the Bossdog, listen to my owner? You've got to be joking!!
Dog Psychology is completely different, for instance the less sound you use the better as dogs mostly communicate by hearing, scent, sight and body language. If you've ever watched dogs playing in the park you can learn a lot about them by how they interact. For instance, how does one dog gain the respect of another?
Example - an older dog who is going about his business is being invaded by a rather brash newcomer who has not learned his manners. The invader is younger and full of bounce, it rushes up to the other dog doing it's best to be entertaining and get him to play. The older dog continues to go about its business, the invader tries again 'I'm sure I can get him to play if I try a bit harder...', he chases around, barking, getting ever more frantic and excited, the older dog..... he just goes on his way, sniffs a sniff, wanders along, he's very c....a..l...m.....Oh, look at that snail...that's a very interesting blade of grass. In short, he does in a few minutes the best job of ignoring a frantic dog who... guess what? Has to give it up because he's getting NOWHERE, he simply does not exist. Now, he stops bouncing and barking, either leaves the other dog alone or, wanders along with him, giving him some distance, he is silent........he's learnt the first rule of respect with this other dog and the hierarchy between these two is set.
So, rather like horse whispering a dog psychologist teaches you to emulate dog behaviour in order to communicate with your hound. Before you panic, of course we can't completely do this, there is absolutely no way my owner would agree to start sniffing dogs privates in order to introduce herself, she's a woman to be reckoned with at the best of times and I can tell you she would not do this or anything remotely similar. In the same vein, some dog psychology books talk about 'gesture eating' which is the principle that you always eat in first in front of your dog before you feed it, however I am told that in a pack of wolves the Alpha male or Beta female would eat the choicest parts of the kill, so therefore it is not only when you eat as what do you eat that matters!! Is my owner going to ditch her morning cappuchino for a diet of raw kidney and offal just to get me to respect her....what do you think?!!
Example - an older dog who is going about his business is being invaded by a rather brash newcomer who has not learned his manners. The invader is younger and full of bounce, it rushes up to the other dog doing it's best to be entertaining and get him to play. The older dog continues to go about its business, the invader tries again 'I'm sure I can get him to play if I try a bit harder...', he chases around, barking, getting ever more frantic and excited, the older dog..... he just goes on his way, sniffs a sniff, wanders along, he's very c....a..l...m.....Oh, look at that snail...that's a very interesting blade of grass. In short, he does in a few minutes the best job of ignoring a frantic dog who... guess what? Has to give it up because he's getting NOWHERE, he simply does not exist. Now, he stops bouncing and barking, either leaves the other dog alone or, wanders along with him, giving him some distance, he is silent........he's learnt the first rule of respect with this other dog and the hierarchy between these two is set.
So, rather like horse whispering a dog psychologist teaches you to emulate dog behaviour in order to communicate with your hound. Before you panic, of course we can't completely do this, there is absolutely no way my owner would agree to start sniffing dogs privates in order to introduce herself, she's a woman to be reckoned with at the best of times and I can tell you she would not do this or anything remotely similar. In the same vein, some dog psychology books talk about 'gesture eating' which is the principle that you always eat in first in front of your dog before you feed it, however I am told that in a pack of wolves the Alpha male or Beta female would eat the choicest parts of the kill, so therefore it is not only when you eat as what do you eat that matters!! Is my owner going to ditch her morning cappuchino for a diet of raw kidney and offal just to get me to respect her....what do you think?!!
Cesar Millan is the great advocate of dog psychology and in certain quarters he has caused a lot of controversy. Rather like the debate about Marmite, you either love him or, you hate him. There are those who think his methods are archaic and cruel and those who think he is a genius who gains a dog's respect and trust in a way few people have been able to achieve. Watch those videos closely he is not hitting dogs or kicking them he's nudging...there's a big difference!! Personally I think some of the critics may be jealous because they've done all those exams and training and he is working so instinctually, maybe that's something that can't be taught? I'll let you watch him and make up your own mind...
Anyway whatever school of thought you want to go with, standard behaviour training, dog psychology or, a mixture of the two make sure you do your research so you know what you are buying. Employing a dog trainer is very expensive so it makes sense to try to get the right person at the outset.
The first thing the trainer should do is come to your home and do an assessment, most professional trainers would give you a written report afterwards which details the advice you were given. I am still smarting from the trainer who charged me £450 and gave me 4 lines of scribble on an A4 sheet!!! Needless to say, they didn't last.... The assessment can be quite a stressful experience, particularly if you've got an aggressive dog like me, so make sure they write everything down because it's almost guaranteed that you won't be able to remember it all after they've gone!!
But, before they get anywhere near that, talk to the trainer on the phone and ask them how they work, will you be training in a group or one on one? What follow up are they offering you? I would want to anyone who is not prepared to be really hands on and come out with you and your dog. I know some trainers work remotely but for me describing a situation to them over the phone or email is all very well but there is a complex dynamic going on between dog and its' owner, they really can't diagnose it without seeing it in action!! For a dog as tricky as Sonny, this would never have worked.
Now the other thing to realise about trainers is that they are not necessarily 'people' people. I have a brilliant fridge magnet which says 'The more people I meet..the more I like my dog', there's a lot of truth in that and I tend to think that some people who work primarily with animals are not always as comfortable around their fellow humans. This creates a problem for trainers and clients, as by the time you've decided to go to the lengths of employing a trainer, you're usually in a state of either despair or, desperation. You are putting all your faith, not to mention time and money into this expert so you need to feel you like them, trust them and can get on with them (in fact it's pretty much the same as with us and our dogs, as we evaluate the trainer and think 'can I trust this person to lead me?' A good trainer should be able to adapt their methods to the owner and dog that they are dealing with, not offer a one size fits all approach. Sadly this in my experience is a rarity. Some of the trainers I have met have come across have rather poor personal skills and some simply try and 'bully' you into adopting their methods. On the other hand, maybe it's a bit much to ask a trainer to be brilliant with dogs as well as sensitive to people, but that's really what you need. Why? because many people who get problems with dogs do so because they have humanised them, given them a status that they should not have or, simply not provided any boundaries. These issues is very sensitive because we Brits love our dogs and any attempt to change our views of that relationship can meet with some fierce resistance. In short, dog problems bring us up against our own personal demons which we may have to deal with in order to help our pet. Take your trainer's advice, if they tell you to consider getting hypnotherapy because you are fearful, listen to them...they may actually be right!!
Celebrity dog trainers and they are out there, charge lots of money and are very busy people, you can almost never get any direct contact with them. Reading their books is fine but the examples given almost never exactly fit your dog or your situation. If you find one that you particularly like, as I did with Cesar Millan, it's important to look for a trainer who advocates this approach or has very similar methods, otherwise it's not going to work for you because you won't believe in what they are doing!!
