"I don't need my dog to do fancy stuff." "I don't care if they know obedience." "We want her to be happy, to do whatever she wants." Believe me; I've probably heard just about all the excuses. When I go to someone's house for an obedience session we sit down and I ask "what do you want from your dog?" We discuss specifics; things that they don't care about, things that they really care about and then the things that they hadn't thought of. There truly is no reason not to train a dog; they do much better when they know what is expected of them.
A dog that has never had any training; no guidance once so ever has a difficult time maneuvering through our world without incident. It is funny how some people are offended by the idea of us telling dogs what to do; when in actuality a dog with no guidance truly is at a disadvantage in our human world. So as much as you may think that your dog doesn’t need training; all dogs deserve an education. A little help to make their life in a human world a smooth one.
“The basics” is a common phrase in training; but what does “the basics,” really mean. In my training “the basics” includes a few extremely important behaviors, rules, regulations and manners. The basics includes, name training, house training, sit, down, stay, not bolting out of an open door, walking nicely on a leash, not eating food off the counter, not destroying things that do not belong to you and coming when you are called. This may seem like a lot but it is really what every dog should know “the basics.”
Of course as a dog trainer I love “beyond the basics” stuff. The sky is the limit when educating a canine; they are so smart it can be tough to think things up to teach them. With my basic training I always include a trick; a trick can be the doorway to more training especially with children. Funny, trick training and regular training are the same thing to a dog but not to us. For us a dog sitting or lying down is nothing; but shake a paw and wow, that’s cool. The fact is that it is just as easy for a dog to learn to shake as the sit and down, maybe easier.
All dogs deserve an education; have you given your dog his fair share?