Tricks, They're Important Too

I've had several clients go cross eyed at me when I'd give them the homework of teaching their dog a trick.  After all, what does 'giving paw' have to do with top obedience or protection training?  Plenty.

What if your life revolved around work, more work, eat dinner, potty, sleep and more work?  Everyone whether human or animal needs a break, we all need to do something fun.  I have yet to meet a dog who didn't love to perform some action, that didn't have to be exact, and get rewarded for doing it.  After doing obedience command, after obedience command a trick is a perfect release for all that work.

There's more than just adding in fun to your dog's life by teaching them tricks.  You are developing your dog's mind and body.  Most obedience commands are harnessing movements and actions that dogs naturally do.  How challenging is it for your dog to lay down?  You might be challenging your dog by asking hem to hold that down for a length of time, but they already lay down.  But do they commonly kick out a front paw?  Or hide their eyes, spin in circles, jump through your arms, stand on their hind legs?  Tricks make your dog think outside of the box and use different muscles they don't use daily.

Training a dog tricks require the owner to get on the floor, face to face with their dog.  The owner has to act more openly then usual, they have to act silly, and give praise when they might not normally give praise.  These interactions with your dog deepen the bond between the owner and the dog.  The dog receives tons of attention and play time, and you the owner get to relax and have fun with your canine friend. 

Tricks also re-enforce commands the dog already knows and encourages the dog to respond quicker and more happily to their normal obedience commands.  Also tricks are a great way to finally get the kids involved in your pet's training.

Tonight spend 10 minutes teaching your dog a new trick, there's millions of reasons why you should, and you can get your whole family in on the act.  Stay tuned to our blog in next few weeks as we post some great tricks to get you going! 

Imprinting

This week on a local radio show, the guest, a 'dog trainer' from a rather commercialized and popular kennel, was asked a question as to wether or not a certain breed of dog was still concidered 'nippy'.  Her answer was "Oh, no.  We've bred that trait out of the dog".  Now, I'm not here to discredit any other trainer... and we all know that not two trainers can agree on anything, but I had to share some insight on this topic.

As we all know there's two different factors that scienest have agreed on that affect the outcome of a living thing.  Nature vs. Nurture.  Let's look at a rather uncommon breed, the Belgian Malinios.  The malinios is much like your German Shephered, but they tend to be more intense by nature, more wolfish than our well known shepherd.  My husband has owned two Malinios since I've known him.  One bit me, sending me to the ER and later went on to military work, the other bounces around like a Labrador with our children. 

Now by nature both dogs love to work.  Meaning they'd rather be out doing obedience or chasing prey than sitting inside next to you on the couch.  Both dogs are cautious around strangers, always keeping one eye on them, and both were extremely loyal to their main owner.  These are common traits of this breed.  Something you will find in 99.9% of Belgian Malinois no matter who bred them or where they are from.  Just like the howl of a Beagle, these things are innate.

So if they are so alike, why did one scar me and not the other?  This would be your nurture side, or in the dog world, Imprinting.  The one who bit me was imprinted for intense work, the other to be a family dog.  The family pet was trained while a two year old was tugging on his tail, and with neighbors riding by on bikes.  Every aspect of their young lives formed what kind of dog they would become, even though at birth they were almost exactly alike.

This isn't to say that breeding doesn't affect a dog's outcome.  It can to a certain extent.  Two dogs with really good noses, who love to use them, usually produce pups with that same trait.  But you could take  two pups from that litter and train one to use his nose, while discouraging the other from using his nose as much.  By the time you were done you wouldn't know they came from the same parents.  In fact during school I met a man who had my German shepherd's brother from the exact same litter.  I had focused my shepherd's training on Schutzhund, and he had done no training with his.  My shepherd was confident and had high drives (wants) for balls and tugs.  His was very shy and very lazy, never wanting a ball at all.  The parent of our pups were both Schutzhund competitors, the father being a National's Champion.  Imprinting.

This is why you could very well have a pit bull around a new born baby without worry, and have a poodle attack it's elderly owner.  It's all in the way a dog was raised and trained.  Now of course I have to mention that you still need and have to do your research on a breed before you bring home a new pup.  If you go back to the Malinois breed and study about them, you'll find that they are not for a novice dog owner.  The chances of an inexperienced dog owner turning out a malinois that acts more like a lab is rare.  They are a challenging breed, quick to out smart their owner, and would never fare well in a sedate lifestyle.  An improper environment for this breed could and probably lead to am unwanted bite down the road.  But to say that all Belgian malinois are aggressive would be untrue.  Just remember it's nature and nurture that makes the dog.

Barking

Ask around and the number one complaint from neighbors of dogs is nuisance barking.  But what is considered excessive barking?  Normally it can be considered as any barking, yelping, howling or crying that happens during normal sleeping hours, that happens frequently or habitual.  Imagine your phone ringing... how many times can it ring before you become annoyed?  A few phone calls in a day and your probably not bothered... 2 calls twice an hour all day... and well, you can see where I'm going here.

But why do dogs bark? 

For Attention.
Humans have bred dogs to bark for a number of reasons, and yes we have even encouraged and praised barking.  How else would we know if there was a stranger lurking about?  Or where the rabbit had gone?  This would be good attention.  But because dogs are social animals they will bark for bad attention too.  This means if the only time a dog gets any attention, even if it's a punishment, is if it barks, then it will do so.

To Communicate
As we know from countless documentaries on wolves, dogs are social creatures.  Naturally they choose to communicate mainly with body language and other audible communication.  Just like for attention some dogs bark just in effort to communicate with their humans... even if the human is yelling for them to be quiet.

Out of Boredom
Like a child who will talk to themselves when left to play alone, a bored dog will bark just for something to do.


What can be done about nuisance barking?

• Spend time with your dog everyday.  This not only ensures that their social needs are fulfilled, but also keeps down on boredom, desperation and anxiety.
• Train your dog.  You cannot correct a behavior if your pet does not know the right behavior to begin with.  Contact our trainers for more tips on training both the "Quiet" and the "Speak" command.
• Problem solve.  If your dog is barking out of boredom, try new chews and toys to occupy their time if you can't be there.  See if you need new privacy fences or plants to protect your dog from taunters such as neighborhood children or passing dogs. 

These are all just a few basics to help you start.  Remember barking may not bother you, but bothers around 95% of people around you.  And the best time to solve nuisance behavior is to keep it from starting!  Keep your pets happy, healthy and well trained.  For more information please contact one of our trainers at http://www.gatewayk9training.com/ .