When I do a home assessment visit I'm frequently baffled by the confusion of rules and commands families apply to their dogs. I often have to guess what they mean. If I don't know, what chance does the dog have?
That's exactly why dogs have so much difficulty learning what's expected of them. I watched a lady today tell her dog to 'stay' then dragged it outside through the door. So... what does 'stay' mean to that dog?
Frequently members of the family apply different rules. If mum keeps the dog off the furniture and the kids encourage it to jump on what's the dog to think? Not only is it confusing it's cruel to correct your dog today for something he was encouraged to do yesterday.
Most families just have too many rules for the dog to comprehend. Come here-go there-sit-stay- get down- get off- come back-go away-lie down-get up-roll over-etc.etc.
Most families could improve the behaviour of their dog immeasurably by simply taking a blank sheet of paper and writing down house rules and agreeing to use the same ones.
I have six basic house rules that I never change:
- No jumping up.
- No teeth on skin ever.
- No growling or annoying another dog/cat.
- Stay off the furniture.
- No going upstairs.
- No stealing food.
Together with basic commands like sit, stay, lie down and come are all I need to keep order in a house of five dogs.
If every member of the family consistently uses the same rules and commands the dog will learn them in no time but only if they are followed through.
Telling a dog to stay and then laughing as it bolts away is a sure way to bad behaviour. Once you have given a command you are committed to seeing it obeyed. It's a simple process.
We restart all our classes this week and if you'd like to learn how to do it just click on this link and enrol.
