In recent years we have been introduced to Cesar Milan, a celebrated dog trainer, who emphasizes that the best way to instill good dog behavior is to establish the right priorities in our interactions with our dogs. Cesar prescribes the priorities as exercise, discipline, and affection — in precisely that order.
Typically, being touchy-feely human beings, we want to love our dogs – show affection – first and often. But this is very often not in our dogs’ best interests and ultimately leads to dog behavior problems.
This is what we are facing now with my dog, after being clueless about proper training when she was a puppy.
A great example is when a thunder storm is approaching. The dog has always been afraid of thunder and I’m sure I tried to comfort and reason with her when she was a pup. That did no good and probably just strengthened her fear.
Now she hides under a bed at the earliest threat of thunder. In itself, that is not a big deal, but if the storm is long enduring, the dog will not come out under any conditions, not even to relieve herself — for as long as 24 hours. Not good.
An additional dog behavior we don’t wish to reinforce is needless barking. If the dog is outdoors in the yard barking and we go out and pet her and reassure her, we are inviting her to bark any time she wants attention. This is behavior we typically do not want to reward, but we did inadvertantly.
The list of dog behaviors we don’t want to reinforce through love and attention is probably endless. But now it’s time to pick up some dog training tips that will help us reestablish Cesar’s priorities in our household.
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