Living At Home
We all have goals for our dogs - how we want them to behave at home, how to behave when we are out visiting or just how we want them to interact in our lifestyle. Sometimes these goals seem an impossibility to achieve. It is easy to become disillusioned and give up, and to begin thinking, "my dog is crazy" or "I have been sold the worst pup in the litter". It is normal that there will be times when you think you are not progressing with your training, as you should. This is often magnified when you look around the class and see others getting the control that you would like.
Soon you begin asking yourself why your dog can't be like the others in your class, and unless you are careful, you will end up not only disliking your dog, but worse, giving up on your training.
It is important to remember that all dogs can learn. Some will learn faster than others, some, because of their breed characteristics will find some behaviours more difficult that others, but they can ALL learn! You as the trainer must now be patient, you must be consistent and you must insist the dog continue to make progress toward the end result you have set as your goal.
Remember the two main
causes for a dog being unmanageable:
1. LACK OF LEADERSHIP. Solution - Submission and Dominant Eye Contact.
2. TOO MUCH FREEDOM. Solution - Tethering and Adequate Exercise.
About the best advice I can give you at this stage of your training is to continue to work towards your goal. Take new steps in the chain of learning only when each step has been learned.
Don't rush your dog. Remember, as with people, some dogs take a little longer to catch on to what we want from them, than others do.
Whatever else, Don't
give up. Look at each problem objectively. Ask in class if what you are
trying does not work. There are many solutions to one problem. Your dog
can be the one you wanted when you bought him!