An ounce of prevention
Even though my practice, if you will, focuses more on the hunting side of dog training, I still work with a lot of clients who are just looking for a dog that can behave in public. With this specific demographic the conversation always tends to take a shift towards talking about an issue that a dog may have. Issues pop up within the hunting space as well, whether we’re talking about holding issues or minor inconsistencies with expectations. So don't think this is a problem solely for the non-working breeds.
In fact, I get asked a lot by both owners of non-working breeds and working breeds, “Can you fix X about my dog?”. The short answer is yes, almost anything is fixable, but the best fix is just not to allow the behavior to develop in the first place.
Most issues that come up behaviorally are due to inconsistency with how an owner handles their dog in the circumstances in which they were bred. Think of the dog that jumps up and is readily given pets by its owner, yet the owner is then perplexed as to why his or her dog jumps on guests. Or the dog who bolts out the door as soon as it's opened, because the owner is always in a rush any time they take their dog out and does not first ask the dog to sit and show patience. These behaviors were created, unintentionally, by the owner.
If you don’t want your dog to have bad behaviors, don’t let them develop in the first place. And if, heaven forbid, they have already started developing, take a step back and look for any inconsistency on your part that may be adding to the issue. Ten times out of ten, it’s always our fault. Once you have found the cause of the behavior, it is time to get to work on correcting or rewriting the habit little by little.
The old saying still holds true, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
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