Patience
■ BY HARRY KALAJIAN
The word patience is defined by the dictionary as “able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious” The biggest hurdle in any situation of life is having the patience to do or to achieve specific goals.
The one thing that owners lack is the patience for training their dog. As owners you must understand your dog is an animal, a complete different species. You must take time to show and guide of what is expected of them. All animals including your pet dog learn through several different ways or a combination of different ways.
Using their way of understand include; Instincts, Habituation, Associated learning “Action / Reaction”, Imprinting, Observation learning or imitation. Every command you try to teach your dog can be understood quickly or slowly. Just because your dog isn’t grasping quickly does not mean they are not smart. Some take more time, and if you are using the right equipment and put in the patience required you will be able to achieve any type of training. Never force your dog, if you do they will regress and fight you all the way. Short repetitive training and several times a day is best. Never compare your dog to another; it’s not fair, because many different variables that you don’t see are at play. Examples: (age, environment and the time the owner has put with their dog to name a few) A puppy is like a baby or toddler; don’t expect it to behave like an adult dog that has been trained or like your previous dog that was older. There is a saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” It takes weeks and months to have a well balanced trained dog. The only way is through patience and step by step … training isn’t hard as long as you are willing to put time and follow my formula to have success; Patience, Persistence, Consistency & Repetition. If you still fail, it’s on you not your dog. You didn’t stick to the formula.
When training a puppy remember that when you get them at eight weeks it’s the bonding stage and familiarization of its new home. The only few things you can start teaching them is the potty training and showing them things that you don’t want them to do as an adult. At the age of three months you can start the training.
Step by step with patience, short frequent training periods. This can also be used as a guide for older dogs. Do Not Force, be patient and work them gradually. Make every verbal command clear so they can associate the action with it. Every command should be followed through, no matter what.
When asking a dog to sit be clear, and show them over and over till they understand. Always wait 15 seconds between each different command. If your patience are running low, stop and do it later.
You can train your dog to do almost anything and everything, as long as physically they can and also age must be taken in consideration. Always follow what your trainer is telling you, and not what your neighbor is. To succeed follow the formula and practice religiously, because if you don’t your dog will tell the trainer. Added note: If you are planning to buy a puppy or adopt one from a shelter, hire a professional trainer to go with you. They can evaluate if the character and temperament will be suitable according to your home & lifestyle.
They can also know if the puppy or dog will have or has aggression issues of any sorts. The trainer will ask you a series of question prior, to make sure you adopt the right dog.
Have a woof woof of a month.
Harry Kalajian M.D.T. With over 35 years experience All aspect of training, Behaviorist, Ethologist & Psychologist Executive Dog Training Inc. executivedogtraining.com caninebehavioraldiagnostics.com 941-447-8234
