Doing it Right...the first time.

On one of the blogs I frequent there is discussion about training methods, and the place that corrections have in training.

I wanted to comment, and give my opinion. It took a long time to write! I kept writing, and rewriting. In the end it is longer than most of my blog posts!!

Anyway, one of the points I was trying to make was "Imagine how it would be if we taught our dogs how to do it right, the first time."

Before I moved out of my family house, and before Corgi, my family got a puppy. He was the cutest, fuzziest ball of lazy. His mom was a Rottweiler, and his sire was an Akita. We knew he was gonna be big. He was born in a garage to a family of drug dealers, and was dumped in our laps around 8 weeks old.

He was my guinea pig. I wanted to try raising a puppy the right way. I got the clicker out, and began educating him. I taught him to walk nicely beside me, I taught him tricks, I taught him how to listen, and I taught him how to be a great family dog. It worked.

He is now 7 years old and around 80lbs. He does not pull on a leash. Ever. Serious. I don't think he knows there is an end of the leash. It doesn't matter if it is a 6ft leash, or a flexi. If he feels the end he comes back to your side. Could he pull? Certainly! Will he? Why would he? He understands his job. It is clear to him what is expected. Because I spent so much teaching him HOW TO DO IT CORRECTLY before he knew how NOT TO DO IT. Cookies, Praise, and Good Timing. He never got where he wanted to go by pulling. That is how he learned how to walk on leash.

Now, I am not saying it's easy. After all, if it was easy I'd be able to say that none of my dogs pull. Which is not the case. The difference is that Drew was my total focus. I was going to school and didn't work and I had LOTS of time to spend with him.

But it does put things into perspective a bit I thought. It was an experiment that worked out pretty well I'd say!