A dog is a dog!

There seems to be a rift in dog owners between those that say their dogs are their "furry, four-legged children" and those that say "a dog is a dog and should be treated like one". These extremes of canine ideologies both seem to fail - the "furry children" camp seems to neglect the dog side, not allowing many natural behaviours from flowing and the "dog is a dog" camp seems to justify any less than humane treatment that we may have and still do come up with.

At Doggy Dogma, we agree with accomplished Dog Trainer and Author Suzanne Clothier from her book Bones would Rain from the Sky:

"the dog lying at our feet chewing on a tennis ball is also a sentient being with feelings and emotions and thoughts and humour and language and loves and fears and creativity..."

As Suzanne goes on to point out, if we were to fully accept our dogs as sentient beings in their own right, then we would have to seriously begin to question the methods that we have been using to deal with our pets.

I was recently asked by a woman where she could get a personal alarm for training her 12 week old pup, I must say I had never heard of this training tool, but apparently a TV Vet and her behaviourist had both endorsed this product and therefore this was clearly the product that she needed.

Sound aversion isn't a new technique restricted to high tech devices, whether it is a throw chain or a can of coins, the idea of startling a dog into submission seems to be a popular one.

Yet what will it do for the relationship between this woman and her newly acquired pup? What will it teach a 12 week old about how to handle and react to loud noises? I personally wonder how many people who use these techniques also complain that their dog doesn't listen to them?

I generally ask myself one question and one question only when assessing a training technique - how would I feel if was done to me? (For a pup I may quantify this question - if I have only been alive for 12 weeks how would I feel if it was done to me, given my limited capacity for comparison?)

Now while a mugger might deserve a quick blast from a personal alarm - I can't with the same conviction agree that a dog exercising its curiousity deserves the same. I understand that like all little creatures, a puppy will attempt to put itself in danger - I would also concider it highly unlikely that at this time your going to have the foresight to have your (not so) handy dandy little techno gizmo at your disposal - and that is why consistant training is going to be more beneficial to you and your pooches time together.

You can teach your dog the word "stop" or "no" as these words are more likely going to be what the average joe is going to use in an emergency as a reflex action. The benefit of training a dog to our reflex words is you can add a recall so that you can condition your to head back to you after your reflex word has been used.

Training is a great way to assist you in building your relationship with your dog, enhancing your bond and creating trust and harmony between you.