Home
List of Articles
|
 |
Why Train Your Dog?
Understanding the manner in which dogs evolved, and how dogs interact with each other, is very important to understanding how to properly train your dog to be a devoted, loyal companion.
Originally, dogs were probably orphaned wolf pups adopted by early humans. These wild dogs probably learned to perform behaviors that their human protectors valued, such as guarding the cave or scaring off predators. In exchange for these valued behaviors, the humans probably provided their new companions with foods, protection and shelter.
That kind of relationship still exists today, of course, and dogs still can, and do, perform valuable jobs for their human benefactors. Those jobs include herding and guarding livestock, guarding property, guarding people, and finding game.
There are many reasons for teaching proper dog behavior, and teaching such behavior has many benefits for both you and your dog. Dog behavior training is vital to such life and death issues as preventing aggression, controlling dog on dog aggression problems and teaching dogs to interact properly with both their owners and with other members of the family.
When planning a dog training program, it is important to know that dogs are pack animals. In wild dog societies, packs are formed, and each member of the pack quickly learns his or her place in the pecking order. Except in the event of death or injury to the alpha dog, the hierarchy never changes once it has been established. The lower dogs know not to challenge the alpha dog, and the alpha dog understand his place as leader of the pack.
All the other dogs in the pack look to the alpha dog for leadership, in important survival issues like finding food and avoiding larger predators. In order to properly train your dog and gain its respect, it is important for you to become the alpha dog.
That is because a dog that sees its owner as a superior leader will follow the commands the owner gives without question. Getting the respect of the dog is the most important step to proper dog training, and it will form the basis of all subsequent training.
The reasons for training a dog properly are many, especially in today’s world. A well mannered, obedient dog is a joy to be around, both for the owner and his or her family, and for people in the community at large. In addition, seeing a well mannered dog sets people’s mind at ease, especially with breeds of dog thought to be dangerous, such as Dobermans, rottweilers and pit bulls.
When training dogs and dealing with unwanted dog behaviors, it is important to understand the motivating factors behind those behaviors. For example, many dogs exhibit unwanted behaviors such as chewing and destroying furniture due to separation anxiety. Dealing with the sources of problem behaviors is an important first step toward eliminating those problem behaviors.
Many dogs exhibit unwanted behaviors as a result of stress in the animal’s life, and its inability to cope with that stress. The goal of a good dog training program is to allow the dog to tolerate greater levels of stress without becoming a problem animal.
When dealing with dog behavior, it is important not to confuse human behavior with dog behavior. While there is a great temptation on the part of dog owners to see their dogs as almost human, in reality dogs and humans have very different motivations, and very different reactions to similar situations.
One trait that humans and dogs do share, however, is the need to form close social groups and strong bonds within those social groups. This bonding is important to both humans and dogs, but it has served vastly different ends as both species have evolved and changed over time.
Today it has evolved into what almost everyone agrees is a relationship between man and his best friend. Dogs truly can be trained to be a loyal and steadfast companion who will bring you many years of joy.
About the Author: Brigitte Smith runs two websites dedicated to dog training, dog care and dog health:
Grab your free special report "How to Improve Your Dog's Health Within 30 Days - Maybe Even Lengthen Your Dog's Life!" here:
http://www.HealthyHappyDogs.com or here:
http://www.Dog-Health-Care-Information.com
Source: www.isnare.com
Written by: Brigitte Smith
|
|
Recent Articles
History of Dogs?? or maybe Wolves???
ORIGIN Do you know that the adorable little puppy you bought home last week could possibly be a descendent of a wolf? It may well be true! In fact, many theorists believe that wolf is the direct ancestors of domestic dog. Nevertheless, there are...
Shih Tzu - Housebreaking Your Shih Tzu Using A Crate
Crate training is one of the most effective ways of house
breaking shih tzu puppies or shih tzu dogs. Crate training is
very efficient, and very effective, since it uses the natural
instinct of the dog to achieve the desired result of a...
Training the dog to come when it is called
Training a dog to come when it is called is a vital, and potentially life saving, part of any successful dog training program. All properly trained dogs must learn to respond instantly to the owner's voice, and the sooner this lesson is learned the...
Universal Principles for Successful Dog Training
Dog training is not rocket science and is not as difficult as you think. It is certainly possible for ANY dog owners to train their dogs themselves provided they put in adequate amount of effort. The principles listed here are universal to dog...
|
