Small Dog Training

All dogs need training, be they small or large breeds. Among the biggest complaints dog trainers are asked to address are: incessant barking, chasing the vacuum cleaner, aggressive behavior toward visitors and other family members, other dogs during their walks, or other dogs and cats in the home. All too often these dogs are “toy breeds.”

If you have a dog that fits this description, it’s very possible that these are some of the causes:

• Do you take “Buffy” with you everywhere in your purse?
• Is Buffy pushed in a baby stroller?
• Do you fail to correct aggressive behavior displayed toward family members, friends or other animals?
• Do you talk in a high-pitched voice when you want to correct a behavior?
• Do you allow Buffy to enter the house before you or other family members?
• Have you ever asked a family member to move so Buffy can sit next to you?

If you are doing one or more of the above, you are in effect creating a monster. Dogs are not human beings and don’t understand all this pampering. They were born and bred to do a job and to be part of pack structure. That pack can be amongst other dogs or in a pack where the owner is the pack leader. But when dogs are elevated higher than humans (due to incessant pampering,) they develop aggression.

If you treat Buffy like she’s a human, this will only serve to confuse her, as this is contrary to what the species is about. It’s cute for you, but it’s anything but cute for your dog. She lives to serve you, not the other way around. But to assume that your toy breed doesn’t need training will only be a disservice to Buffy, you and anyone that comes in contact with her.

Training should be positive, never abusive. Either seek professional advice (most towns and cities have several dog trainers) or peruse the Internet. There are several top-rated dog trainers who share their information either for free or you may buy their DVDs.

Cesar Milan is extremely popular, given that he hosts a weekly television program on the National Geographic Channel. There is also the lesser known but highly effective Ed Frawley whose career started out as a police dog trainer.

Both follow the pack leader approach to training. The packer leader should always be the person who is alpha in the family. This is not gender or age dependent. It could be father, mother, or one of the children. However, it is extremely important that all members of the family treat the dog in the same manner. One can’t be pack leader while others pamper.

The good news is that it is never too late to create a pack, train your dogs and correct previous bad behaviors in both Buffy and you. Dogs live in the moment and if you throw the baby stroller away, Buffy will forget it ever existed.

Photo Credits: adria.richards

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aggression, aggressive behavior, creating a monster, disservice, dog trainers, dogs and cats, family member, family members, human beings, monster dogs, pack leader, pack structure, pitched voice, professional advice, purse, these dogs, towns and cities, toy breed, toy breeds, vacuum

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Dog Training, little dogs

Posted by Dog Training Pet on August 25, 2010 in Dog Training, little dogs. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.