Relationship experts state that you can improve any relationship that you have (personal, business, etc.) by learning to look at things from the other person's point of view.
In this first lesson I want to take it a step further and advise you to look at things from your dog's point of view.
Now, before you think I'm crazy, I want to explain what I mean and why I think it is so important.
When I first started training dogs I thought that training was simply a "means to an end." I wanted the dog to do things for me, no questions asked. When a dog would not perform the command I would get upset and blame the dog.
I would make comments like "He's stubborn, he's trying to spite me," and so on. The result was that the dog would often get a correction.
As I began to study behavior and training, I learned to look at things differently. I began to ask questions like "Why doesn't the dog come when I call?" and "Why does he jump on me or my guests when I walk in the door?"
When I started to answer those questions I began to come up with better solutions for the problems instead of blaming the dog.
Now when the dog did not come I would ask myself "Why is he not coming? " I would then look at the problem from the dog's point of view. The answer to my question was often very easy to figure out.
A basic formula to use is as follows: My dog will not (fill in the blank) because (fill in the blank).
Here is an example: My dog will not come because: He has been in a crate for the last four hours.
My dog will not come because: I never taught him the command come. My dog will not come because: The last time he ran away I scolded him when I got him back.
My dog will not come because: A rabbit ran through the yard a few minutes earlier and he is distracted by the scent.
Once I started to do this little exercise I began to look at training in a different way. Instead of always blaming the dog I started to ask, is there a way to change the circumstances to get the dog to do what I want.
This is absolutely critical! In fact, I cannot stress this enough.
