By Norma Bennett Woolf
There’s no doubt that the popularity of dog training has increased and that this boost in popularity has opened new doors for pet owners, breeders, and performance exhibitors – in short, for everyone who lives with and loves a dog or two or three or ....
The American Kennel Club pioneered dog obedience clubs more than 60 years ago, and now has a network of hundreds of affiliated clubs that conduct public obedience classes. Independent training clubs and businesses and thousands of experienced instructors also conduct training classes or spend time one-on-one with dog owners. These schools are assisted by an abundance of articles, books, and websites devoted to preventing and solving the problems inherent in life with members of the canine species.
Obviously, dog training is not a new phenomenon – it has simply become a hot topic as pet owners, shelters, and rescues have embraced that which breeders and performance dog owners have known all along, namely that a well-mannered dog is a joy to live with and work with. As this acceptance has grown, new organizations and new professional specialties popped up, many top performance dog handlers offered seminars touting various techniques, and dog training schools and businesses seemed to spring from a broad scattering of seeds.
If time on task is a good predictor of the success at an endeavor, this richness of opportunities is wonderful to contemplate. There’s a training philosophy to fit every dog owner, plenty of tools and techniques to aid in achieving training goals, and a broad spectrum of training instructors to help folks along the way.
Got a new puppy? Most training clubs and businesses offer some sort of puppy class to teach basic commands, help with socialization, and answer questions about diet, housetraining and behavior.
Got an eight-month-old dog that obeys sometimes but thinks a walk in the park is training for the Iditarod? Most clubs and businesses offer good manners classes to get that pooch under control.
Got a 15-month-old dog that never saw a person he didn’t want to jump on or a dog he didn’t want to fight? There are trainers who specialize in helping these dogs as well.
Is your pooch a shy rescue dog? An older dog that’s been shuffled from owner to owner? Have no fear – there’s an obedience instructor or a book or a breeder or competitor who can help you build or repair the mystical bond that can exist between humans and dogs.
We also have cause for caution, for this breadth and depth of potential is increasingly marred by a fragment of trainers who characterize many training methods and tools as abusive, at least in the hands of trainers other than themselves. But the truth is that training tools are not abusive unless they are incorrectly or inappropriately used, and no training method is one-size-fits-all. Some dogs are so eager to please that the merest suggestion of a correction for inappropriate behavior makes them melt. Other dogs pay little or no attention to the person on the other end of the leash. Some owners have the time, patience, and skill to teach a fast-growing, rowdy, and easily-distracted pet to walk on a leash or stop jumping on guests, but others need a whole cookbook of recipes and equipment to help them reach the full potential of the human-animal bond.
The beauty is that the broad spectrum of trainers, techniques, and equipment allows a dog owner to find one that meets his needs. The beast is that many owners believe the emotional appeal of those who claim that only certain methods are humane. When training fails because the method is not suited to the owner and the dog, heartache and surrender to a shelter or rescue may follow. The training division of the NAIA Advocacy Center will address different training methods and creative approaches to training problems, profile some trainers who get good results by matching the techniques to the dogs and their owners, and keep up-to-date on training news.
So, come on in and sample the buffet; we’re sure you’ll find something here that get expands your training knowledge and enhances your abilities.
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