Dogs are meant to bite. Their teeth are meant to tear. They are built to hunt and run. They were meant to kill to eat. Do we think of this when we bring them into our homes?
Often times people imagine a fairy tale life with dogs. As in Disneyland, dogs would be like Pluto or Goofy: Our story ending in Happily Ever After. Such thinking as "My dog would never_____ (fill in the blank) or never dream of biting" may very well be the case because dogs can be good and nice. They are generally sweet tempered but it is very important to never forget that they do have teeth, claws and growl. Keep in mind, all dogs can bite. Fortunately most don't.
As puppies, we experience first hand dog "wildness". That cute, adorable puppy's first months of life with us make us miserable. They bark, cry, scratch and bite us. They jump up, won't come, pee and poop on the floor and if left unsupervised they will chew up our stuff.
For a dog to get along in the Pack, life is structured. They learn to get along by cooperating. Dogs can cooperate with people. Lucky for us, dogs are trainable. That's why we live with them. To raise a well balanced, healthy dog we must provide Rules, Structure and Leadership. Without being taught how to live with humans, dogs would continue to wreck havoc in our homes.
If there is a lack of a proper Leadership, a lack of Structure, a lack of understanding of what should be the Rules. You will have "Dog Problems". To create Structure we teach the dog what the expectations are and we do this by having the dog work throughout the day. We should have our dog waiting at doors, laying down, sitting before eating, walking nicely on a leash, coming when called every time.
The reality of dogs is far from the fairy tales of Disney. A good relationship is built by providing a safe, structured, place to live. When life is fair, predictable and consistent, then you can have the dog of your dreams.
Out of the DogHouse LLC website www.ohiodogtrainer.com
Contact Dru Therrian 440.286.9070
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