|
GENERAL INFORMATION
People may wonder why we are giving away useful information for free. Here at Top Dawg Dog Training, we are dedicated to the humane treatment of all animals and making sure all owners possess the crucial and essential knowledge in raising a dog properly. We look forward to doing business with you in the future and hope that this general information page helps you in some preliminary training as well as proper care for your dog! Whether or not you’re paying for professional training it is important for you – the owner – to understand some of the basic concepts to help you get the most enjoyment and companionship with your four legged friend!!!
It breaks our heart to see dogs being mistreated, reprimanded, scolded and sometimes even verbally and/or physically abused, because of the lack of knowledge on behalf of the owner. A dog that is misunderstood is as bad as a waste of talent! Many dogs are labeled as problem dogs but most of the time it’s either an owner misunderstanding their dog’s behavior or their dog misunderstanding them. If you want to understand the natural behavior of dogs, you have to appreciate their social heritage. You also have to understand the significance and meaning of their complex behavioral patterns. Hopefully, this information page, will lend a helping hand to all of those who need it! As always – We would love to hear from you, so if you have any questions, comments and/or suggestions, please feel free to send us an e-mail!
RECOMMENDED BOOK LIST: (Here are some great books that anyone raising, training or owning a dog should read.)
1. The Koehler Method of Dog Training, by: William Koehler
2. The Evolution of Social Canine Behaviour, by: Roger Abrantes
3. Dog Language, An Encyclopedia of Canine Behaviour, by: Roger Abrantes
4. Dog Problems, by: Carol Lea Benjamin
5. How to Speak Dog, Stanley Coren
6. The Dog’s Mind, by: Bruce Fogle
7. Good Owners, Great Dogs, by: Brian Kilcommons & Sara Wilson
SEVEN SACREMENTS OF DOGHOOD:
1. Leadership - The ability to connect authentically with the thoughts and feelings of others in order to motivate and inspire them to achieve a desired outcome. This, by far, is the most important skill needed by anyone handling a dog.
2. Patience - A composed tolerance of delay, insult, trouble, or unmet expectations. Dogs don’t reason like we do so you have to maintain the proper patience.
3. Respect - An attitude of admiration or esteem, to take notice of, to regard as worthy of special attention. Respect your dog and your dog will respect you!
4. Knowledge - The act or state of knowing; clear perception of fact, truth, or certain apprehension. Not only does your dog have to have the knowledge but any dog handler needs to posses the proper knowledge to correctly train and/or raise a dog.
5. *Timing – The regulation of occurrence. Research has proven that after 1.3 seconds, a dog will not make the same connection as a human would. Because of this – your correction or praise has to happen within that time span. If not, the dog will not understand why he or she is getting praised or reprimanded.
6. *Motivation - The combination of a person's (or dog’s) desire and energy, directed at achieving a goal. It is the cause of action. Influencing people's (or dog’s) motivation, means getting them to want to do what you know must be done. All dogs are different – Some work for praise – others for treats or affection. Understanding what motivates your dog is a very important thing to understand.
7. *Consistency - A harmonious uniformity or agreement among things or parts; logical coherence and accordance with the facts. For a dog to be consistent with any type of obedience, a handler must exhibit a flawless consistency with their techniques. Without being consistent, your dog’s success will be short lived!
*Signifies The Three Golden Rules *
FEEDING:
Although it may seem crazy, the way some people feed their dogs could possibly be the cause of some their dog’s behavioral problems.
Some people leave food down all day, allowing their dog to pick and choose when they want to eat. This, in turn makes the dog think he can eat whenever he wants giving him an option to be picky. Although it might be more convenient for the owner, an opportunity to display good thorough leadership is being passed on and basically wasted. Nothing says Leadership like deciding when your dog will get its next meal. In the wild, the mother wolf decides when to eat. But since she’s not around you have to let your dog know – you are in command and you will call the shots.
Feeding is also important because it lets the dog know who’s who in the pecking order of its family. Dogs think with a pack mentality. From the day they are born, they are taught there is an order in life. The Alpha-male gets the nipple first and then it’s every pup for themselves. The order in which they eat in is the hierarchy they will follow!
A woman approached me the other day and asked me why her 2 year old dog was growling and being aggressive towards her 6 year old dog? She explained that if the older dog goes near the younger one’s bowl (or anything for that matter) – he gets aggressive and growls, showing his teeth. I asked her who she fed first and she told me that she feeds the younger one first because the older one was easier to control. This formula, however, was actually making things worse.
Often, people forget that dogs think like dogs – not humans. This woman, by feeding the younger one first was signifying that he, although younger in age, was the TOP DAWG in the family. He eats first therefore he thinks he comes first. According to the older dog – he thought he was the TOP DAWG in the family because he gets to sleep in the bed with his mommy. So now, she has two male dogs constantly fighting because sometimes the younger one is the hierarchy and sometimes the older one is. But now, all this confusion is creating other dominance issues within the household. I can’t emphasize enough about how important feeding your dog is. Food is 1 of the 3 things (the other 2 are territory and sex) dogs will be aggressive over. Because of this, you have to help them in their understanding of their ranking order.
Some Simple Feeding Tips:
1. Never leave the bowl down all day.
2. Feed your dog after you eat.
3. Make them sit before each meal is placed down.
4. Try to stick to a time schedule. Dogs have unbelievable internal clocks!
5. Only allow 10 – 20 minutes to eat. If they eat slow and aren’t done – let them finish - but when they decide it’s time to walk away – that’s it!
6. They only eat when you say it’s time to. If they don’t want it – let them miss a feeding or two. Don’t worry – they’ll be hungry – eventually!
7. Every now and then – pick up their bowl while feeding and place a treat down. After they eat the treat – give them praise and put the bowl back down. Repeat this 3 – 5 times when feeding. Make them understand - it’s o.k. for you to touch their bowl.
PETTING:
Have you ever heard the saying “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone?” Well, unfortunately – it’s true! And that’s how you have to make your dog feel about being petted. DO NOT SOLICIT PETTING! Think about it - If you constantly pet your dog for no reason and he or she does something good – petting them is probably not going to be a significant enough praise. It’s not going to have any special meaning to them especially if they normally receive petting as a daily routine. Unfortunately, this habit that’s been developed has to come to a halt! As cruel as it may seem, you have to use physical contact as a tool of motivation. Keep your petting limited and make them work for it! Get them to understand that your physical affection towards them is simply a gesture of appreciation as well as a reward for behaving with obedience! Believe me; they’ll appreciate it a lot more if they know they have to earn it!
MOTIVATION:
How you use motivation is the key to success when it comes to training dogs! However, most people forget that there are two types of motivation:
1. Positive Positive motivation is when you use treats, praise, affection or attention to encourage the dog to reach a certain potential.
2. Negative Negative motivation is when you use a corrective method to encourage the dog to reach a certain potential.
There has to be a fine balance of both positive and negative motivation if you want to optimize the potential of your dogs success!
The use of motivation, within the Dog Training world, was best described by world renowned Canine Behaviorist, Mike D’Abruzzo. He made an analogy between properly training a dog and properly operating a steam engine train. If the workers loading the coal – were to put too much coal in – the engine would produce too much steam and might possibly explode. If the workers used too little coal – the engine wouldn’t produce enough steam to keep the train moving, ultimately resulting in it slowing down. But to keep a consistent speed during travel, the workers knew that they had to use the right amount of coal to keep it constant and consistent. Not too much, not too little – but just the perfect amount and things would run smoothly!
It’s important to understand that you shouldn’t overwork your dog but at the same time, you shouldn’t under work your dog either. You have to remember to keep a steady routine which is both balanced and consistent!
DRIVE:
The compulsive energy a dog possesses. Drive is extremely important as it is ultimately a necessity to motivate a dog’s performance.
INSTINCT:
The inborn ability to perform a complete behavior sequence.
* This Information page will be updated as often as possible *
TOP DAWG DOG TRAINING…
WHERE EVERY DOG SUCCEEDS!!!
|
