There is much to learn about each individual dog.
You, a dog trainer? Yep. If you have a dog and you’d like your dog to be trained correctly then you have to be your dog’s trainer. I know what you are thinking…”I’m not a dog trainer.” You may not be a dog trainer right now but you can be if you want to train your dog.
“That’s why I hired you to train my dog; because I haven’t a clue how to train my dog.”
As a long time dog trainer, experience has shown me that the most well trained dogs are those who live with people who want to know. K9 guardians who want to know all the ins and outs of their dog’s training and using that training. You have no idea how many times I’ve heard “Sherri, can you just live here?” Of course these folks are kidding, sort of; but the ease they find in dealing and communicating with their dog when I am there is far easier (in the beginning) than when I’m not.
The fact is that I’m leaving at some point and your trainer is leaving as well. So…you better learn from your trainer while you can. Our job as dog trainers is to teach you to train your dog. Sure there are times when we take the reins but our job is to hand them over to you at some point. That is why many dog trainers become expert watchers. It is our job to watch you as you work your way through the learning process. I need to make sure that you understand how, why and when to use your behavior training.
Dogs learn through association which means when you do something they will react and visa versa. This leads to the learning curve that we are going for. You must learn to behave as they learn to behave.
Association - the connection or relation of ideas, feelings, sensations, etc.; correlation of elements of perception, reasoning, or the like.
Have you ever considered that how you behave has a huge impact on your dog’s behavior? As many of you already know, I’m a watcher; my watching behavior has been instilled over years of helping k9 guardians teach their dogs. Every little thing we do impacts our dog’s perception of what we are trying to teach them. Dogs are intense watchers, it is built in as they are master communicators in body language. In fact they are far superior at communicating without sound than we are.
The best way to have a well connected relationship with your dog is to learn all about your dog. That includes learning how they learn, how to teach them and how to better communicate with them. Yep, there are places that will do it all for you but “then what?'“ This might just leave you in a very disconnected human/canine situation of “how do I work this thing.” Learn about your dog today Have a question? Ask me, I love questions. :)