TRAINING FOR YOUR RESCUE DOG
- Sunday, September 23 2012 @ 04:39 pm UTC
- Contributed by: erik
- Views: 1,881
TRAINING AND RESCUE DOGS Regardless of the lineage of your dog, he or she does not come with a training SIM card and therefore needs to be trained in order for you and your family to have that perfect pet.
Not every dog is right for all training methods and not all trainers are good for your dog. Not all families should have a GSD and not everyone is cut out to be a dog trainer. That said we believe that training for rescue dogs needs to be done quickly, by competent trainers and in a social setting. The reasons are simple for this recommendation. Rescue dogs can come from a loving home or from the street. They could have been left at a shelter or locked in home, abused and abandoned. They may or may not have been trained prior to your getting them, and they may or a not be predisposed to every form of training. One thing however is that you can rest assure that if they come from us, they have the right temperament to be trained.
A dog cannot tell you about his background. He cannot tell but he can show you his trigger points. He can be anxious about meeting other dogs. He can be fearful of men or women. He can be child, food or noise averse. He can have fear aggression or he can show you nothing until his trigger point is reached. We do test all dogs for most of these traits but obviously we cannot ask them either, and we hope we get it right. We do always share any and all information we get from the dogs source or from what we have learned hand-on. Training does bring out all aspects of the dogs personality and only tough training can a dog be re-programmed to accept new leadership, learn new skills and overcome certain fears and bad habits.
Training is essential because regardless of the dogs background, they are now yours. They must learn to respond to you under all conditions, which includes distractions, venue, situations etc. This leaning can not only save their lives in a recall sense, but they also have to respect your alpha status and respond to your direction regardless of other distractions whenever or where ever they may happen. The dog must lean to accept your alpha (dominance) status in making determinations when faced with situations that happen daily. You do not want fluffy to determine who can or cannot enter your home, nor do you want your kids friends to be excluded or bitten or even intimidated by the dog. If fluffy gets into bed with you, surely it is your bed and if you say off, you want this 80+ pound critter to leave! Since we do not know what the dog has or has not experienced, we assume that we are starting from a clean slate and re-training and re-programming him to what we require. Some dogs take longer to learn then others which can be due to the fact that the particular behavior you want to change, is already part of their personality and make-up. Dogs do live in the moment and if you respect that positive learning can change behaviors, you will not be disappointed. Never say never in changing a behavior, but remember it does not happen over night and small consistent steps OVER TIME are the only way to make it happen.
We require socialization training with all puppies paid for at the time of adoption, but with dogs 1 year and older we can only recommend (strongly) that you get involved with a quality social setting training group, such as Schutzund, or here in town, with the Peace River Dog Fanciers Club. Some small training at facilities like you would find at Petsmart, have been effective, but purely based on the quality of the trainer. If your facility does not have at least 5 dogs in each class, seek training elsewhere. Without distractions during training, this form of training is ineffective.
Some dogs respond better to a softer approach while others may be stubborn or very alpha themselves, which requires a more firm hand to be effective. A positive training approach is always better and more lasting. GSD's to me, do their best learning and work for praise and treats. I personally use a high squeaky voice to praise them, they seem to like that and to work hard for it. Negative training formats such as using shock collars, in my book is not a positive system for your rescue dog. It might make them do what is asked of them, but it rarely is pleasant for the dog, and with bad timing, ineffective for both the trainer and animal. A positive training environment need not ever be mean, but rather focused on learning and with praise or food rewards for correct responses. Your dog will learn that muck faster if you are patient and understanding and know how to cook hotdogs. My dogs work for a 1/8 inch square piece of soft treat or hotdog. Too much volume, supersized treats or the wrong treats give them to poops and put on weight. Be frugal with your treats and always combine and alternate praise with food and you have a winning combination.
Dogs want to please you. They will do whatever it takes to make sure you get the behavior you what from them. As you don't speak dog and they have issues with language, the best way to teach your dog is by getting guidance from a skilled instructor and doing your homework. Beyond sit and down, which every GSD dog learns in 15 seconds, you must develop the skill to move to more sophisticated training techniques. Schutzund is certainly one of the best methods we have found to not only socialize your dog, but to keep his mind sharp and focused and to develop his skills and talents in a positive and fun venue. We have found that private home training falls way short of the effectiveness of Schutzund, because what fluffy does at home, means little when he is distracted. If you do not know what your dog will do with other dogs and people around, how can you in good conscious, take fluffy to the dog park, dog beach or grandma's house or to visit your grand children? Social training is the trick to success and it need not be painful to you or your dog. It takes time to develop canine skills, it takes patience AND PRACTICE to develop canine trust and it takes love to do both simultaneously. Don't short change your pet or your family by ignoring the need to train your dog…. that's the reason many wind up back into rescue!
Not every dog is right for all training methods and not all trainers are good for your dog. Not all families should have a GSD and not everyone is cut out to be a dog trainer. That said we believe that training for rescue dogs needs to be done quickly, by competent trainers and in a social setting. The reasons are simple for this recommendation. Rescue dogs can come from a loving home or from the street. They could have been left at a shelter or locked in home, abused and abandoned. They may or may not have been trained prior to your getting them, and they may or a not be predisposed to every form of training. One thing however is that you can rest assure that if they come from us, they have the right temperament to be trained.
A dog cannot tell you about his background. He cannot tell but he can show you his trigger points. He can be anxious about meeting other dogs. He can be fearful of men or women. He can be child, food or noise averse. He can have fear aggression or he can show you nothing until his trigger point is reached. We do test all dogs for most of these traits but obviously we cannot ask them either, and we hope we get it right. We do always share any and all information we get from the dogs source or from what we have learned hand-on. Training does bring out all aspects of the dogs personality and only tough training can a dog be re-programmed to accept new leadership, learn new skills and overcome certain fears and bad habits.
Training is essential because regardless of the dogs background, they are now yours. They must learn to respond to you under all conditions, which includes distractions, venue, situations etc. This leaning can not only save their lives in a recall sense, but they also have to respect your alpha status and respond to your direction regardless of other distractions whenever or where ever they may happen. The dog must lean to accept your alpha (dominance) status in making determinations when faced with situations that happen daily. You do not want fluffy to determine who can or cannot enter your home, nor do you want your kids friends to be excluded or bitten or even intimidated by the dog. If fluffy gets into bed with you, surely it is your bed and if you say off, you want this 80+ pound critter to leave! Since we do not know what the dog has or has not experienced, we assume that we are starting from a clean slate and re-training and re-programming him to what we require. Some dogs take longer to learn then others which can be due to the fact that the particular behavior you want to change, is already part of their personality and make-up. Dogs do live in the moment and if you respect that positive learning can change behaviors, you will not be disappointed. Never say never in changing a behavior, but remember it does not happen over night and small consistent steps OVER TIME are the only way to make it happen.
We require socialization training with all puppies paid for at the time of adoption, but with dogs 1 year and older we can only recommend (strongly) that you get involved with a quality social setting training group, such as Schutzund, or here in town, with the Peace River Dog Fanciers Club. Some small training at facilities like you would find at Petsmart, have been effective, but purely based on the quality of the trainer. If your facility does not have at least 5 dogs in each class, seek training elsewhere. Without distractions during training, this form of training is ineffective.
Some dogs respond better to a softer approach while others may be stubborn or very alpha themselves, which requires a more firm hand to be effective. A positive training approach is always better and more lasting. GSD's to me, do their best learning and work for praise and treats. I personally use a high squeaky voice to praise them, they seem to like that and to work hard for it. Negative training formats such as using shock collars, in my book is not a positive system for your rescue dog. It might make them do what is asked of them, but it rarely is pleasant for the dog, and with bad timing, ineffective for both the trainer and animal. A positive training environment need not ever be mean, but rather focused on learning and with praise or food rewards for correct responses. Your dog will learn that muck faster if you are patient and understanding and know how to cook hotdogs. My dogs work for a 1/8 inch square piece of soft treat or hotdog. Too much volume, supersized treats or the wrong treats give them to poops and put on weight. Be frugal with your treats and always combine and alternate praise with food and you have a winning combination.
Dogs want to please you. They will do whatever it takes to make sure you get the behavior you what from them. As you don't speak dog and they have issues with language, the best way to teach your dog is by getting guidance from a skilled instructor and doing your homework. Beyond sit and down, which every GSD dog learns in 15 seconds, you must develop the skill to move to more sophisticated training techniques. Schutzund is certainly one of the best methods we have found to not only socialize your dog, but to keep his mind sharp and focused and to develop his skills and talents in a positive and fun venue. We have found that private home training falls way short of the effectiveness of Schutzund, because what fluffy does at home, means little when he is distracted. If you do not know what your dog will do with other dogs and people around, how can you in good conscious, take fluffy to the dog park, dog beach or grandma's house or to visit your grand children? Social training is the trick to success and it need not be painful to you or your dog. It takes time to develop canine skills, it takes patience AND PRACTICE to develop canine trust and it takes love to do both simultaneously. Don't short change your pet or your family by ignoring the need to train your dog…. that's the reason many wind up back into rescue!