Category: Dog Training

Before I delve into the details of dog training, let’s talk about training philosophy. If you own a dog, you will quickly find out that everyone has an opinion on dog training philosophy. Here’s mine. If you don’t agree with them, no need to read further than this post, as this blog is not the place for you. 🙂

1. Reward Based Training, not Pain Based Training

Dogs thrive with reward based training with lots of positive reinforcements. If the dog gets praise and treat for following commands correctly, then they want to do it again. It’s simple as that.

Let’s talk about why pain based training is a bad idea. There are two reasons – psychological and physical. To the dog, the handler is their protector. It is your responsibility, as a handler, to keep the dog safe at all times. In order to cultivate a strong bond between you and the dog, it is critical that the dog trusts you. This trust is broken if you are the one inducing pain to the dog. Now the dog thinks that you cannot be trusted to keep them safe. In addition, some breeds of the dog are more prone to clamp their jaw when they feel pain. This becomes rather problematic when your pup reaches 1~2 year mark and you have to start aggression training (there will be a post on this).

2. Crate Training

Do you like having your own personal space? So does your dog. Crate training creates a safe space for your dog, where they can go and relax. Key thing to remember is that crating your dog is not a punishment; it’s a fun activity for your dog. When you do “crate time” or “playpen time,” make sure that the said command is accompanied by a treat, even though the reason they are getting crated is because they are misbehaving.

And yes, there will be a post on crate training and 10+ reasons why it’s useful.

3. Structure

Dogs thrive when there is structure to their daily routine. Knowing when the food is coming, when their humans are going to be around, when it’s hangout time vs. crate time, simply lowers their stress level. Just like if you’re stressed, you are not the most productive person. If your dog is stressed out all the time, chances are it’ll be harder to train the said dog. If you are not the kind of person who does well with structure, you may need to consider training yourself before getting a dog.

4. Flexibility

WTF, you need to have structure but also be flexible!? Yes, you do, and it’s a different kind of flexible. Training your dog is similar to fitness training. You need to keep in mind that every dog is unique, and that dog training is not a one size fits all situation. You need to set a goal (i.e. leash training), then figure out the path to get there by understanding your dog’s temperament and maturity. This is what excites me the most about dog training, and what motivated me to start writing this all down.

5. In Conclusion…There are No Bad Dogs, just Bad Humans

If you feel like smacking your dog, just go ahead and smack yourself instead. Whatever the “bad” behavior that your dog is exhibiting, if you peel back the layers enough, you will reach some root cause where a human is at fault. It is up to the handler to train their dog responsibly, so that they can have a good dog life.

Dog training will teach you humility, and being ok with being wrong. You will often find out that one training method doesn’t work, and you have to adjust. You’re doing a great job as long as you keep adapting your training methods to your dog’s personality and temperament. Above all, please don’t give up.

Raising a dog means you are going to be wrong a LOT, and you are going to have to be ok with that. I was wrong from day 1.

I have always wanted to give the rescue dog a stable home. Little did I know that if you don’t already own a dog, the path to dog adoption via private rescue is a long shot. You can tell the private rescue all the puppy raising books you read and how you are super excited, but in the end, if you have never raised a puppy before, most private rescues won’t dare let you adopt one.

Fed up with numerous rejections from private rescue organizations, I started stalking the adoption page of the Humane Society. One day, after my job interview, I drove over to the Humane Society and picked out the runt of the litter. She was the tiny fearful puppy of 12 weeks, weighing in at whooping 7lbs. I was told that she is a small terrier mix, and would grow to be about 20lb at most.

The only accurate statement above is that I adopted a puppy after a job interview.

Turned out she was malnutritioned, and her growth was stunted. Her teeth indicated that she was closer to 16 weeks at the time of adoption. After 6 months of playing catch-up on growing, the pups turned into a 50lbs border collie-pointer-something mix. Rescues are awesome.

True to her working dog nature, Lucy is a extremely high energy dog. I slacked off with the training at first, thinking that I’ll take care of it at the obedience class.

Nope.

Day 1 of Obedience Class: Lucy had a meltdown due to the fact that she can’t play with other dogs. All parties involved in this exercise are having the worst two hours of their day. Pups is completely stressed and got zero chill. All 6-7 other dogs at the obedience class were doing just fine, focusing on their respective humans and getting snacky snacks…I mean getting trained.

And that’s how I started teaching myself how to train a dog who failed out of obedience class. I had already taught myself the basics of fitness training. Turns out, dog training and human training are pretty similar.

After about a year of training Lucy, I decided to write them all down. Mostly so I don’t forget, but hopefully this might inspire someone out there who might be wondering how to train their sweet hyperactive dog.