Does your dog think he owns you?

Author: Ruth Bird

I once again feel compelled to write about dog training. Our dogs need to know and obey at least the very basic obedience commands, commands that will keep our dogs safe.

Today, much more so than ever before, dogs are very much included in daily activities. Families take their dogs with them on family outings. Young people take their dogs out to-well, wherever they go. And the golden middle aged couples seem to take their dogs with them everywhere they go.

Dogs find themselves boating, biking, swimming, scootering, traveling, and doing just about everything humans do. Dogs need to be courteous, well behaved, and clean when in public. A dog that falls into this category is well accepted in most places. Even welcomed. A well behaved dog is a pleasure to have around. And, a well behaved dog is a safe dog.

Dogs need to obey instantly when given the command to stop. They need to obey instantly when called to come, when told to sit, when told to lie down, and when told not to bark. A dog needs to walk properly and not pull the walker. I remember the time when I ran into a very dangerous situation with my three dogs. I though my dogs were trained to obey at all times. Surprise, even well trained dogs makes mistakes.

Read about our adventure here ""The Great Escape"" about my three dogs.

http://www.happypetstop.com/articles/dogtherapy/thegreatescape.ht ml

My name is Ruth, and two of my dogs are visiting therapy dogs. My third dog is blind. He is very well behaved. He also loves to walk and go for car drives.

I have done a lot of walking with other dog owners. Dog owners can be categorized into different groups. Here are some groups we are all familiar with.

1 - There is the ""I'm only going to tell you 10 times"" dog owner: ""Heel, Shadow, Heel, Heel, Heel Shadow, Heel, Heel, Heel, Good Boy"" ""Heel, Shadow."" Or, Sit, Shadow, Sit, Sit, Sit Shadow, Sit, Sit""...These commands will be repeated many times during the duration of a walk.

2 - Then there is the ""clenched teeth whisperer"":

Very quietly but very intensely the dog owner pleads with his dog. ""Sit Shadow"", teeth are clenched tightly together; hands are clasped on the leash and the eyes are popping out of their sockets. Sometimes the dog owner may actually lean down closer to his dog to be heard. Shadow responds by looking up at his owner, tail wagging, ready to keep walking and not quite sure why the owner is making faces at him.

3 - Of course there is the ""reverse command"":

The owner does the classic recall; calling Shadow to come and at the same time running in the opposite direction to make sure Shadow knows which way to run. Shadow's owner is by now half way across the park; Shadow on the other hand has found a tree worthy for a deep and lengthy sniff and decides to wait there for his owner. The owner finally comes to the conclusion that to Shadow the command ""come"" means to stay put. Instead, -HE, the owner- must"" come"" to Shadow.

Many dog owners will start a command by calling the dog's name to get their dog's attention. I will tell a short story here. One I have written about before.

A while back I watched a T.V. program about a dog trainer who went to someone's home to solve an obedience problem the owners had with their dog. Mr. Trainer and Mr. Owner took the dog for a walk so that Mr. Trainer could observe the problem first hand. About 5 minutes into the walk Mr. Trainer already came to a conclusion. The Problem? The dog did not recognize its own name. I thought right away ""NO WAY"". How can a dog NOT know its own name? I tested this theory on some of my neighbours and their dogs. And sure enough, most of the dogs actually did not recognize their names. When an order was given, like, let's say ""Shadow, Sit""; then Shadow did sit. BUT, when Shadow was called by his name NOT followed by a command, Shadow did not respond! Actually what is happening here is that Shadow recognized the commands that followed his name, but, he did not recognize his name!!! The next time you call your dog's name expecting him to respond by looking up at you but he doesn't maybe he does not recognize his name. Disobedient dog? NOPE, just not trained properly. Put an End to the Stress and Annoyance of Your Dog Behavior Problems! Use Techniques That Give You Immediate Results. You can learn to train your dog at home.

Make it a priority to train your dog. You will benefit from this the rest of your dog owning life.

About the author: My name is Ruth Bird. I have been married for 27 years to my husband, Chris. Chris has been battling the monster, MS, for a number of years. People and Pet Health Care are my passions. Contact me here http://www.mimfreedom.com My dog training information site. htpp://www.happypetstop.com/adamstraining.htm