2 replies to this topic

[inea]

There is a program on television about dogs. There is a man who helps the owner of a dog. The dog usually has behaviour issues. Like the dog pulls very much, barks too much, people are afraid the dog will bite. In general the dog shows a behaviour the owner doesn't like. The dog whisperer visits the owner and the dog. He teaches the owner how to understand the dog. And he teaches the owner of the dog how to approach the dog in order to get a nice behaviour of the dog. The question raised in this topic is if the approach of the dog whisperer is approved with. It seems the approach of the dog whisperer needs a lot of time and attention of the dow owner to get some results. And other dog owners don't usually have many problems with their dogs. So the question is if the approach of the dog whisperer is necessary for every dog owner. Or maybe other dog owners react towards their dog in the right way. And with the right way is ment a way that causes the dog to behave and react towards the dog owner, other people and other dogs and other pets and traffic and cars and the furniture in a way the dog owner likes and approves with.

[sheepdog]

Great post. I love talking dog!

There are a lot of variable to this subject. It almost boils down to 2 simple facts however. Dogs are predictable. Humans are not. There are far too many quirks in the nature of the human. Dogs are in comparison, simple creatures. Humans tend to not realize how the basic instincts in dogs are the ruling force in a dogs life. Dogs don't worry about how they look, smell, if there is a purpose in life, if God really exists, if there will be a big enough pay check to pay all the bills this week, etc, etc.

Humans don't get dogs. They tend to try to make dogs more complicated than they really are. Humans see a pile of poop on the sidewalk, and think eeewww, how terrible. A dog just sees it for what it is. It has no preconcived notions of the pile of poop being bad, or anything other than another dogs calling card. It sniffs it without hesitation.

One of my favorite books is "Your Pet Really isn't Sick" by Herbert Tanzer, I believe is the author. I often recomend this book to my puppy customers. While it was never intended to be a book about dog training, it goes into various true life experiences between dogs and their owners where the owners behaviour has influenced the dog to act in ways that the owner finds to be disconcerting. Most owners don't even realize what they are doing that is effecting the dog.

The dog whisperer is without a doubt, a good trainer, and is very popular. His methods work well with many dogs. However, he is not special. For every dog there is a way to train and a way not to train. And what works with one dog and the dogs owner, may not work with the next pair. Profesionals aren't really always needed, but they can be a help when a problem arrises. The most important thing is really for the owner to understand the nature of the dog, and not screw it up in the first place. If a person is not familiar with dogs and dog training, their very first step would be to read SEVERAL training books. Not just one, because there are literally thousands of different ways to train a dog. And as I have already said, what works with one dog may not work with another.

[inea]

It is probably not necessary to tell about this topic but in order to make sure it won´t be overseen here is the link to the topic about how to train your dog.

dog training topic