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294 Posts
Serious question. Does your dog have a brain? Does he use it? Is he smart or has he just become a robot and goes through every day just doing what you tell him to do over and over again?
We work so hard, putting our blood, sweat and tears into training our dogs and sometimes we get so caught up in the process that we don’t think about how it affects the DOG. We forget that our dogs are still dogs and while we’re busy teaching them cues and behaviours, they’re being so accommodating and compliant but sometimes they just don’t want to do it.
Training is one thing. But teaching my dog to become a robot is NOT something I want to do. I want him to WANT to train, to learn and to listen. I don't want to treat my dog as a slave who must obey me, rather a companion that has free will but has been taught appropriate behaviours and my language so that he can understand when it is imperative that he listen to me (for safety or simply for reward).
There are times where I need my dog to defer to me and to respect my wishes, but there are also times where I need to let him be a dog and do what he wants (when it is safe). Most of the time they do it because we’ve spent so much time “programming” it into them, but they just want to be dogs and they work so hard to please us and our silly requests that they deserve it.
So, do you think it's possible to have a well trained dog, a HAPPY dog, without turning him into a robot?
We work so hard, putting our blood, sweat and tears into training our dogs and sometimes we get so caught up in the process that we don’t think about how it affects the DOG. We forget that our dogs are still dogs and while we’re busy teaching them cues and behaviours, they’re being so accommodating and compliant but sometimes they just don’t want to do it.
Training is one thing. But teaching my dog to become a robot is NOT something I want to do. I want him to WANT to train, to learn and to listen. I don't want to treat my dog as a slave who must obey me, rather a companion that has free will but has been taught appropriate behaviours and my language so that he can understand when it is imperative that he listen to me (for safety or simply for reward).
There are times where I need my dog to defer to me and to respect my wishes, but there are also times where I need to let him be a dog and do what he wants (when it is safe). Most of the time they do it because we’ve spent so much time “programming” it into them, but they just want to be dogs and they work so hard to please us and our silly requests that they deserve it.
So, do you think it's possible to have a well trained dog, a HAPPY dog, without turning him into a robot?