Many people try to win their new puppy's love by letting the puppy always have its way. The pup is showered with affection and attention because he is so cute and cuddly. Buckets of affection is a wonderful thing for most puppies, but it must be tempered with respect. If you give in to your puppy's every whim, your pup will never learn self control and self discipline. Your puppy will never learn to respect you. If your puppy does not respect you, it will have no reason to do anything for you. Your relationship will be like two 5 year olds bossing each other around. Just as a child needs a caring parent; an athletic team needs a coach; your puppy needs a leader and a clear social hierarchy. If you do not take up the role of leader, your dog will; and you will end up with an unruly, disobedient, out of control, often aggressive monster of a dog. Most of these dogs end up living a life of isolation in the back yard because no one can deal with it. They end up at the shelter because either the owner can't live with the dog anymore, or a member of the public has filed a complaint against the dog and government officials have taken the dog away from the owner. DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU AND YOUR DOG! Other people have an equally erroneous misconception of this issue. Instead of showering the dog with love and affection, they think that to earn the dog's respect they must bully, dominate and terrorize the dog into being submissive. A dog treated this way will eventually bite their owner. This is not respect. Respect is not something that is forced. It is won. A dog will not respect someone it does not trust. The old fashioned method of dominance via the alpha roll over does not win respect.
You can win your puppy's trust and respect by asking for simple compliance to basic training commands and through handling and gentling exercises. Of utmost importance, these routines must be predictable as anticipated by your puppy. For instance: * Ask your puppy to sit before getting a dog treat or sit before leaving the house to go for a walk. Follow-up by placing your puppy in a sit using your hands if your puppy doesn't comply (no doggy treat of course, if you have to do all the work! But you must still praise your puppy). Pretty soon your puppy will learn the routine and be more than happy to comply, and all the while you are building a relationship of consistency, love, trust and respect. You've got the idea? - expand on it... * Using your hands, place your puppy in a down and then "examine" your puppy by touching ears, teeth, tail, etc. Let your puppy know this is a fun thing by praising your puppy while you are handling her. An occassional doggy treat while you are handling your puppy should accellerate your puppy's acceptance of being touched and handled. Of course, any biting while handling should receive a resounding "NO" or "Ouch" in a load voice. When the biting stops, tell your puppy what a good girl she is... profusely!
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