I had a dog trainer come to my house today to help me train little Darwin, the “Play Biting Monster.” It turns out that I’m the one who got trained. After all, what the human does, results in how the dog behaves. My actions, hysteria (or lack thereof) directly resulted in what Darwin did. Essentially I got trained in how to calmly and lovingly) change his undesirable behavior. I learned how to teach him how to play with me, rather than nip at me. I’ve got to be consistent, and good puppy behavior won’t happen overnight. It takes time and discipline on my part.
Does this sound familiar?
It should.
I hate to compare canine “children” to human children, but there are similarities. The kind of pet we ultimately have depends mostly upon our diligence and discipline. The same holds true with our kids. Of course mother nature has something to do with it too – personalities and genetics are just what they are. But bad behavior is something that can be prevented or changed with the right consequences – both the child’s and and the parent’s.
We’ve also seen the quintessential brat having a fire-engine red temper tantrum at a store. The next time you see that, pay more attention to the parent than the child. You’ll see that the parent will be the one who needs to be trained to discipline his or her child effectively and consistently.
Undisciplined children (and puppies) make for the most unpleasant, unhappy and unproductive adults.
I’ll let you know how the rest of my training goes.
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
No comments yet