Training your Dog or Puppy
Basic Training Part 1: About me PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Monday, 19 July 2010 05:45
My Journey:

    This will be the first part of my training series, there will be many future volumes to expand on this, but I wanted to provide some background in order to help people make an informed decision when it comes to a training method, and to let you know where I'm coming from. I didn't learn about training my dogs in a classroom setting, I haven't taken tests or earned certifications. My knowledge comes from practical use of many methods, trial and error, and lot's of research. I do not pretend to be a canine behaviorist, and there are many issues that would warrant the consultation of a licensed professional, such as aggression. I do have 3 mannerly, and well-behaved dogs. I get compliments on their exemplary behavior whenever I take them out, and Thrall, my bulldog, who is my pride and joy, spent a long time as the office mascot at my previous job, where he came to work every day to our busy and very upscale office.

    I have been a dog lover and owner for most of my life. As a child, growing up in my grandparents' house, we always had dogs, and it never occurred to me that there was a life without them. There have been times in my life where circumstances didn't allow me my own dog, such as apartment living in my early twenties, and I pined for a dog.  When my husband was offered a job in another state, I made one condition clear - if we move away from everything we know, we have to get a puppy. That's when Thrall came into our lives.

    Thrall was our first dog as adults. Both of our families had seen many beloved family dogs come and go, but neither of us had raised or trained a dog on our own. I am a research fanatic, so since I chose Thrall at 5 weeks and had plenty of time to kill while anxiously awaiting his arrival, I hit the net. I joined forums, read ebook after ebook, and watched countless hours of video on Youtube. Still, nothing could prepare me for the pudgy ball of energy that turned our lives upside-down.

    Thrall was a very challenging puppy. I have raised several pups since, and still hold to my belief that he was a particular challenge. He was a voracious chewer, which made him a terrible mouther. We consistently corrected him and it took nearly a full month to break him of mouthing us. Chewing inanimate objects, however, was another story. He chewed steps, walls, doors, boxes, and his crowning glory was when he chewed a brand new PS3 that I had preordered to sell online to fund Christmas that year. Bitter apple became my best friend, there was a long period of time when everything from 3 feet and below was covered in a thin glaze of this magical jowl deterrent.

    I knew right away that he needed professional training, so I hit the web again, and found a training school local to my home at the time. As a teen, I regularly attended classes at a chain pet supply store with our family dog, but without the support of the rest of the house, she never even progressed into a mannerly dog who could safely be indoors. My grandmother had been a breeder of Siberian Huskies, she took her last dog to obedience and agility training classes as he was too tall to be shown. I attended all of these classes and tried to apply the techniques at home, but it was just too much for me at that age. Back to Thrall, I decided that this place near my home was for me, they used correction based techniques, and I fell for all of their hype. I happily handed over ALOT of money after watching their demo dogs do what I thought were miraculous things. I thought that maybe the reason I had been so unsuccessful with our dear Shiloh was because she had needed correction and not praise.

    The class I took started with 4 weeks of private sessions in our home. On the first day, the trainer handed me an e-collar, (aka shock collar). She had me put it in my hand and activated it so I could feel the shock and rest assured that it would not hurt my dear little boy. There will be a future topic involving Praise vs. Correction, so I won't get into that here too much, but too much correction on a "soft dog" is a very bad thing. Poor Thrall to this day hates any kind of collar, even though it has been years since he last wore the dreaded e-collar. He greets training and obedience with sadness and fear, and even a stern "come" makes his face droop, and fall, as he reluctantly shuffles over.

    Fast forward a few months to the arrival of our dear Raisin. We decided that Thrall should have a friend to keep him company while we were at work. When we brought Raisin home it was love at first sight. Unfortunately, Raisin is what can be described as "the Forrest Gump of the dog world". Even basic commands were a challenge for her. She is desperate to please us, but has no idea what we want from her. Repetition after repetition and she still looks at us with wonder and confusion.  Because she refused to be house trained, she spent most days in her crate, and we would come home and see that Thrall spent his time trying to spring her. We tried everything, but she is naturally what's called a "dirty dog", meaning she has no aversion to her own waste. This condition is commonly seen in pet shop puppies, because they are forced to defecate and urinate in their kennels for most of their young lives prior to being purchased. Raisin did not come from a pet shop, she had never even been in a crate before she came to our house.

    After months of consulting with experts and behaviorists, we decided the best we could do was damage control, since we couldn't have poor Raisin living her life in a crate. Believe me, I am all for crate training, but I also believe that a dog needs to progress to more freedom eventually. When put into her crate, Raisin would immediately defecate, even if she had just been out. If we were home, she had no problems, she asked to go out, and never had an accident, but we couldn't leave her alone, because once we left and she had no one to turn to to open the door, she just pottied on the floor, and would often lay in it. So we hung thick insulating curtains in the doorways, put a padlock on the privacy fence, and left the slider open for her to go out as she needed. This worked about 85% of the time. At night we gave up crating her, and let her sleep on the bed (where she never ever went to the bathroom). Most dogs need to earn rewards like sleeping in the bed, but I was tired of waking up to a pug wearing a Phantom of the Opera Mask made of poo.

    So here's where we got completely crazy - we brought home Lady Am Bully. Once again we had been offered work out of state. My family had moved south several years before, and the drive was very stressful for when we visited. My mom only made the trip up to see us once, but the Belt Parkway and the Verrazano Bridge are very daunting. The new job would take us to an hour from my mom, and it was a pleasant drive. Plus, we could bring Thrall to work! So the condition this time (once again) was that I would agree to uproot, and we had made some really terrific friends in NY, if we could get a puppy to keep Raisin company at home. We ended up with Lady, a big, clumsy, loving mess. Lady and Raisin were instant best friends, but Thrall was not amused. They got along, but she was too overbearing for our gentle boy. This is where I really learned how deficient Raisin was in the brains category. I had previously (with Thrall) sworn off treat training because I felt the dog needed to listen whether or not I had a reward. Raisin had pushed me so far I decided to try other methods. I was sitting in the spare room (now known as Lady's room), trying in vain to make Raisin understand that "down" meant to lay down. I put her in a sit (the one command she mastered) and gave the command,  I pulled her legs down, I praised her and gave her a treat. We did this several times a day for 10- 15 minutes each time, only trying to master this one command. It had been months and she still couldn't understand. I say "down" her face lights up, tilts to the side, her tail wags, and she doesn't lay down. I pulled her front legs down, praise, treat, she still doesn't understand.

    During her first week in the house, 13 week old Lady sat at the dog gate, watching me work with Raisin. Suddenly, I said down, and I hear a shuffle behind me, and Lady is laying down! What a relief, it wasn't me! Lady was house trained in a week or two, and though she had some chewing issues, she was a delight to train. She could do all sorts of tricks, she picked up new things so easily. She even fell over "dead" if you made a finger gun and said "bang bang". I was so happy, I had big plans for her to be my agility dog, but then the unthinkable happened, and an injury at the vet's office left her with 2 pins and a wire holding her knee together. She had a pronounced limp until the day she tragically died at only 17 months old.

    Enter: Miko. After the loss of Lady we had a big empty hole in our hearts and home. I wanted a puppy to help me get my mind off sadness and to give me a new focus. Prince Thrall is the light of our lives, he is a wonderful, loving and mannerly boy, with all of the dignity befitting a man of his royal standing. Raisin is our goofy monkey-dog. Neither of them are working dogs who desire to work and learn. I have always loved the Chinese Shar-Pei, and I spent a lot of time researching breeders and we now have lovely 12 week old Miko. She is everything I could have hoped for and more. We have started a basic obedience class to socialize her, and she is the best one there. I have big hopes for my girl, showing, sports, you name it, she can do it.

    The school Miko and I attend focuses on reward based training. A lot of research that I've done supports this approach as it build a strong bond between dog and handler. However, I don't believe that there is only one "right" way. The approach to training depends on the dog.As far as Correction vs. Reward, I think most dogs need a little from Column A and a little from Column B. If you have a rebellious pup, you need more correction in order to lead them to the reward (whether the reward is praise or food is up to you and I plan to cover that in later installments). If you have a soft pup that is eager to please, but confused, they need encouragement to get to the reward. You can train your dog just as well by yourself at home as you can by taking a class. All you need is the knowledge. I didn't join a class with Miko because I feel that I'm not capable, Shar-pei are natural guardians and I wanted to make sure she is properly socialized as many of the curly tailed breeds are notorious for being aggressive, when in reality it is just lack of socialization coupled with their protective nature.

    I know a lot of this isn't fascinating to all of you, but I wanted to give my readers my background, and let you know that everyone starts from scratch at some point. Even if you've made mistakes, there's always hope, and training is a very personal journey between you and your canine family. Yes, some poor training will leave permanent emotional scars on your dog, but that doesn't mean they can't have a bright future. Thrall hates any kind of obedience work, it makes him scared and miserable. He is still a wonderful companion, and very obedient and well-mannered dog. Will he ever excel in Rally-Obedience, no - but he came to work every day with us to a very professional office where he was the pride and delight of everyone there. He has impeccable house manners, he never mouths, never jumps, never has an accident. Our neighbors in the building, including a very nice dentist, would visit him regularly. Unless you called him, or someone was playing with him in a common area, you would never have even known he was there. Even Raisin would often come to work as well, and she was just as mannerly, but 2 dogs in my cubicle was too crowded for it to be an every day occurrence. So keep your spirits high, and remember that even the most wild and disobedient dog can find a comfortable place in a civilized home.