Why should you Obedience Train your dog?
By Tiffany Greer

Obedience training is the most important ingredient in raising a dog. Teaching a dog obedience commands and manners makes that dog a joy to be around. And didn’t you get a dog to be with it, enjoy it and love it? If those aren’t the reasons, then maybe you don’t need a dog!

A well trained dog is by far a happier dog and more confident dog! Why? Because a trained dog is more enjoyable to be around, can taken more places, you and the dog will develop a much closer bond if you obedience train him. The dog is more confident because he knows what is expected of him. And when company arrives in your home, there's no need to banish a well-behaved dog to another room for fear that he will be a royal nuisance. Moreover, because a well-mannered, obedience-trained dog is both appreciated and welcome, he receives more attention and interaction from family members, visitors, and passers-by, than does the ill-mannered dog.

Training serves to strengthen the bond between a dog and his owner. It builds communication, understanding, and mutual respect, and subtly but effectively demonstrates to your dog that you're in charge. You set the rules and he has to follow them. The can be done humanely and safety with training. Your dog won’t even realize that he is now following your rules and loving it! Some of the more aggressive/dominant type dog personalities benefit greatly from training that teaches them “their place” in life. You can do many simple things in every day living to help enforce to the dog that you are in charge. Training your dog becomes a way of life for both you. You will do it automatically and not have to think, “I am training.”

At What Age Should I Train My Dog?
I am asked this question so often. If you have a puppy, you start training the day you get it. Puppies are like little sponges, they soak up the training. They are so willing to learn at that age, and you can prevent the pup from learning bad habits by avoiding the behavior from the beginning. For instance, one the most common complaints I get is, my dog jumps on me. Why? Most likely when he was a little thing, you let him jump up on your leg (much more convenient for the human to pet, instead of bending all the way down to the pup on the floor!). We even go so far as to pat our leg for him to jump up. Then we pet and love him, rewarding that jump on the leg. Then pup becomes Dog, he is no longer little and cute when he jumps on the leg, or by now, the chest area, especially when he is wet and muddy. So you scold, fuss and slap at him. But you actually created the problem when he was little. From the dog’s point of view, all he knows is that he used to jump on your leg and you petted and praised him. He can’t reason that he is no longer 10 pounds but 50, so he should know better than to jump on his human. Now he does it and you get mad. When you have a pup, never let it jump on you (unless you like a dog jumping on you). When it does jump on you, push it off of it (NEVER pet while it is on your leg), tell it to sit and praise it. Then pup learns that the way he gets petting and praised it to sit nicely.
But don’t think only puppies can be trained. Older dogs are completely capable of learning new things. They may take a little longer to train if they have learned a lot of bad habits in their prior life. Any age dog can benefit from training. If the training makes the dog easier to live with and control, you will spend more time with the dog so the dog definitely benefits.

What Happens to Untrained Dogs?
The dogs go to shelters, or live their lives out in a dog pen isolated from its humans or in terrible cases, they just get dumped by the side of the road. Usual reasons people give me for getting rid of the dog are: the dog won’t come when I call it; it got so much bigger than I thought and it scares the kids; dog jumps up on my kids and hurts them; dog is too aggressive; dog won’t stop going to the bathroom in the house, dog won’t listen to me, dog digs up flowers. Most all of these problems can be fixed. I say most, because depending on what is meant by aggressive and the situation, it may not be fixed easily. Aggression problems are much more serious and should be evaluated in person by the trainer. So most untrained, out of control dogs usually end up in a shelter. Usually people wait to re-home a dog when the cute, puppy stage is over, usually between 7 months to 2 years. There are absolutely wonderful dogs in shelters that people have just thrown away for silly reasons. Lack of training being the main reason!

Obedience Training Benefits Everyone
A well-behaved, obedience trained dog is a pleasure to own because he can go virtually anywhere without being a risk or nuisance to others. And don't we all want a dog who exhibits appropriate behavior in a crowd, good manners when we have guests in our home, is reliable around children, and who doesn't threaten other dogs or passers-by?

The bottom line is that dog obedience training truly benefits everyone.
If you are interested in learning more about Dog Training or Obedience Competition, please contact Tiffany Greer at 662-247-3409 or tiffany@hcia1.com.